{"title":"The Central and Eastern European Countries: A Cluster Analysis from a Bioeconomy Perspective","authors":"E. Bălan, L. Cismaș","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The bioeconomy is an area that encompasses more economic activities and is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Bioeconomy contributes to the economic development of a state by creating new jobs, expanding the business environment and making activities more efficient. In this context, the bioeconomy is an element of economic development that helps the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) to bridge the gap with the other countries in the west of the continent. The article aims to analyze the grouping of CEECs based on indicators specific to the bioeconomy, to highlight similarities or discrepancies between them. Moreover, we conduct this study in order to identify Romania’s position among CEECs in terms of specific bioeconomy indicators. The study is based on the European Commission’s Joint Research Center database for the bioeconomy indexes for these particular regions. We employed a hierarchical cluster method using SPSS software. The sample consisted of the 11 CEEC Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), and the period under review was between 2008 and 2019. The research indicators included turnover, number of workers, apparent labour productivity, and added value. The results show that Slovakia, Croatia and Romania form individual groups at an iteration level between 0 and 15, indicating significant discrepancies between countries in the region. The novelty of the research derives from the fact that there are no previous analyses that compare Romania’s status with other CEECs from the perspective of bioeconomy. Therefore, the paper can contribute to the implementation by the Romanian authorities of a set of measures necessary to develop the strategy dedicated to the bioeconomy based on good practices from the other CEECs.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"35 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44618745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Labour Market Challenges: Will There Be “Dystopian” Risks?","authors":"L. Cismaș, Cornelia Dumitru, T. Negrut","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The current labour market is at a crossroads: on one hand, there are challenges triggered by technological pressures and perks, aiming at a greener, more sustainable and resilient economic growth, and on the other hand, there are the changes and tensions generated by the current institutional frameworks, that show delays in mitigating the apparent “de-socialising” of this market. The pandemic paradox of 2019-2021 has emphasized several vulnerabilities particularly of economic-institutional nature. Traditional theories seem unsatisfactory while unorthodox approaches are faced with hesitancy. The present paper intends to present a brief analysis of labour market’s challenges in the immediate future by proposing a mixed approach combining traditional statistical-data with a less employed institutional framework. The approach is substantiated and constructed by the structural and cognitive features that the new labour market would require. It suggests a possible way for considering the aims of the Green Deal, the vulnerabilities highlighted by the pandemic and by the recent conflict in the immediate proximity of the EU-27. All these developments bring about changes for several socio-economic categories, rendering most of them vulnerable. The split between “essential” and “non-essential” economic activities, platform work and the gig economy hint to increased relevance of the three types of intangible capital: human, social and intellectual. This will require an integrating perspective, if severe economic and social effects are to be avoided in the immediate future. The model we propose aims to show how, by taking account of the human, social and intellectual capital, better policies can be developed as regards labour market efficiency and efficacy.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"91 - 110"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46158198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Artificial intelligence algorithms applied in business and accounting","authors":"Réka Török","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper provides an explanation of some terms used in the field of business and accounting when it comes to the implementation of artificial intelligence in these areas. The development of artificial intelligence began in the 1950s, of course at first with small steps, but in the last two years it is developing at the speed of light. In order to understand the algorithms with which artificial intelligence works, I chose to outline the work machine learning, big data, neural networks. The benefits of business and accounting can be observed in easing and reducing the time in data processing. From the applications used in accounting we chose the presentation of AlphaSense, TensorFlow, Kensho, Clarifai. If we think about accounting, that until now it involved archiving on paper, blockchain and cloud accounting intervene towards our help which, thanks to distributed accounting technology, eliminate the need to enter accounting information in several databases.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"73 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49054408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Social Media in Enhancing the Activities of SMEs: Case Study in Gwanda Town","authors":"T. Nyanga","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Social media has positioned itself as one of the most effective and efficient engines of disseminating both social and business information throughout the world. The purpose of this study was to establish the role of social media in enhancing business activities of SMEs in Gwanda town. The study used a qualitative research methodology where 23 participants who were drawn from 7 organizations were interviewed using face to face interviews. A combination of purposive and convenience sampling techniques was used to select the 7 organizations and 23 participants who participated in the study. Thematic data analysis was utilized to analyze the data that was solicited using a 14 item interview guide. The study established that to a larger extent social media is a business enabler. Social media improves the effectiveness and efficiency of organizations by promoting an easy flow of information within departments and with external stakeholders. Social media increases the profitability and the general performance of SMEs and directly and indirectly reduces operational costs. Social media helps managers to keep workers updated about the developments taking place in the organization. It was also found that to a lesser extent social media hinders the performance and growth of organizations since it can easily be abused by employees who spend most of the business time chatting and conversing with friends and relatives on issues that are not related to work.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"23 - 34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48131426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Effective are Monetary Policy Tools in Controlling Inflation in Nigeria? An Empirical Investigation","authors":"Ashiru Ibrahim, J. David","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In applying the monetary policy in controlling inflation, the monetary authorities employ a mix of tools, which when varied, transfer their effects to the target outcome of inflation control. Despite monetary authorities having employed series of strategies including recently, inflation targeting, the Nigerian inflation rates have remained uncontrollable, thereby, suggesting that the question could, however, be of the effectiveness of tools being employed. This study thus, examines the effectiveness of monetary policy rates, treasury bills rates and liquidity ratio in controlling inflation in Nigeria using annual data covering the period between 1981 and 2019. Unlike most existing studies that employed a combination of policy tools and intermediate outcomes, this study employed only monetary policy tools in its analysis. Results obtained from the estimated ARDL (2, 2, 1, 2) model suggest that both in the long-run and short-run, monetary policy rates have insignificant impact on inflation rates, thus, implying that they have been ineffective in inflation control. More so, treasury bills rates were found to be effective only in the short-run as lagged treasury bills rates showed a significant negative impact on inflation in the short-run while liquidity ratio proved effective only in the long-run with an unfavourable effect on inflation control in the short-run. It is recommended, therefore, that the monetary authorities reduce the size of the informal financial system by strengthening the official financial system in a bid to make the monetary tools of choice more effective for inflation control.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"1 - 22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48780977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Income Shock and Coping Strategies of Government Workers in Southwest Nigeria: Evidence from the Survey Data","authors":"B. Kudaisi","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Consumers’ response to income shock have been a source of concern over the years. Unexpected negative income shock, such as nonpayment of salaries, or salary reduction may cause an individual to react differently. Coping may be easy if an individual is well-prepared and has fully insured coping strategies prior to the income shock, hence, a negative income loss would have less impact. Otherwise, an income shock could be deleterious and leave an individual vulnerable. Therefore, ability to cope during negative income shock is determined by consumers’ preparedness as well as the effectiveness and appropriateness of available coping strategies. This study, therefore, examines the coping mechanisms of government employees in southwest Nigeria during the unexpected nonpayment of salary between 2015 and 2018. Both quantitative and qualitative methods using a structured questionnaire and FDGs are employed. The data is analyzed using descriptive statistics and OLS methods. The findings suggest that durable and service goods are substituted for food consumption, while the impact of coping strategies varies across the states. Empirical results from the OLS show that workers use personal savings and credit-purchases to smooth-out consumption, borrow and reallocate resources from durables and service for food consumption. Education, spouse occupation and age also have a positive impact on consumption. Evaluation of the coping strategies indicates that they are insufficient to satisfy the needs of the workers during the shock. The study, therefore, recommends that governments should provide a flexible working environment, formulate a policy that will allow workers to diversify into businesses, provide business loans and encourage mandatory saving for uncertainty.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"51 - 72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41397484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The contribution of statistical models in the field of real estate valuation","authors":"Helga Flavia Tothăzan","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2022-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2022-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Testing a model in property evaluation can be a difficult task due to the large variety of these models. The most popular models used in valuation are regression and neural networks. This paper applied a systematic review study and presents 11 types of regression models and 9 types of neural network models applied in real estate valuation. Our aim is to provide a tool for model selection applied in real estate valuation. The selection criteria were based on their applicability, user preferences and price estimation performance. The findings were slightly different from our expectations. Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Multiple Linear Regression (GLM) are the most applied and popular models in valuation.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"15 1","pages":"111 - 126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41666679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coping with the Exceptional Economic Problems in Turkey: A Field Survey on SMES","authors":"Ercan Özen","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2019-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2019-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Developing countries need higher economic growth to reach the level of developed countries. When developing countries exceed the potential economic growth, problems, such as, high external debt and high current deficit emerge. Such situations increase the financial risk of the country; in addition, international political risks, fluctuations in capital inflows and some manipulative movements have subjected countries to extreme exchange rate fluctuations. Purposes of this research: (1) to uncover the impact of high exchange rate volatility on small business activities and (2) to determine whether the level of exposure of the exchange rate shock on business owners varies by age. The methodology of the study involved a survey administered to 390 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The findings of the study show that after a period of significant exchange rate fluctuations, business activities were negatively affected, sales decreased, and job cuts increased. On the other hand, the exchange rate effect was mostly felt by all business owners of different ages. According to the study, it can be concluded that small enterprises are vulnerable to rising exchange rate volatility. The effect on SMEs with more work experience is not different. In order to alleviate the effects of adverse exchange rate movements, enterprises should be more cautious in their activities. Two suggestions can be made at this point: (i) Governments should follow optimal growth policies and (ii) Small businesses that have an important place in the economy should be made aware of the exchange rate risk and crisis management.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"12 1","pages":"109 - 126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44069192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Labour Market and Self-Employment: The Israeli Case","authors":"Iyad Snunu","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2019-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2019-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the labour market from the perspective of self-employment. It investigates the phenomenon of this form of employment from several aspects: on the one hand, it examines the factors influencing the choice of Israelis to be self-employed among Arabs and Jews in Israel, and, on the other hand, it examines the extent to which human capital and family background characteristics determine the employment choice. The main aim of the paper is to characterize the phenomenon of self-employment in the labour market. By using 2008 data Israel Census, hypotheses concerning the effect of demographical variables on self-employment are formulated and tested, using logistic regression. The results support the research hypotheses, and the most notable predictors of self-employment are discussed. Thus, we conclude that family background, gender, age, number of children and an interaction between nationality and occupation are the most significant predictors of self-employment. Many factors affect the self-employment status of citizens of Israel, with the single strongest predictor being gender – males in Israel are more likely to be self-employed. Also, more urbanized areas such as Tel-Aviv and the Centre, have higher self-employment rate than less populated areas such as the South.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"12 1","pages":"108 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47536766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Assessment of Regional Innovation Capacity as a Factor of Economic Growth of Romanian Regions","authors":"Raluca Irina Clipa, M. Ifrim, Flavian Clipa","doi":"10.2478/tjeb-2019-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tjeb-2019-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract According to Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2016, Romania’s regions, including the Bucharest-Ilfov region, are classified as modest innovators. This paper’s objective is to identify certain potential ways of economic growth of the Romanian regions through its innovation absorptive capacity and innovation development capacity, according to the AC/DC model of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), UK. Using the 2016 pillar scores of the Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI) - Innovation sub-index, we analyze their compatibility with the NESTA model and assess the potential of Romanian regions to absorb external innovation. The paper proposes a qualitative and quantitative approach based on empirical evidence. The poor performances of the Romanian regions regarding innovation, as they were analyzed in this paper, draw attention to Romania’s need to exploit innovation brought in from abroad. The main conclusion of our analysis is that Romania has failed to reach the absorption threshold of innovation that would allow it to accelerate the value-creating processes. The ability to innovate completes the ability to absorb. A detailed analysis of the causes of the reduced absorption capacity could also provide solutions for accelerating economic growth. We also formulate policy recommendations to increase Romania’s regional competitiveness through the development of innovation capacity.","PeriodicalId":30596,"journal":{"name":"Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business","volume":"12 1","pages":"227 - 242"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46501321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}