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The aim of this paper is to assess the importance played by economic divergences in the current crisis of the euro area. Since the introduction of the single currency there were many debates regarding the heterogeneity of the countries that adopted it. Heterogeneity represents an impediment for the smooth adjustment in the event of asymmetric shocks. The optimal currency theory was the first to present the adjustment mechanisms. In order to quantify the influence of structural diversity on the disturbances in the euro area, we have analyzed the evolution of standard deviation for some of the key indicators. This study will provide a clear understanding of the factors that caused imbalances in the euro area. It is common to draw conclusions upon isolated factors that led to the present financial crisis and to find extreme solutions like the collapse of the monetary union in Europe. This article shows that analyzing the structure of the union gives an appropriate understanding of the mistakes that have been made.
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This paper basically investigates the relationship between capital structure and the financial performance of listed firms in Nigeria. The study considered a total sample of 31 listed firms on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange. The annual reports for the period 2005-2009 were analyzed using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) technique of model estimation to test the research propositions stated in this study. The study observed that two of the explanatory variables in this study (i.e. short-term debt and shareholders’ funds) have a significant positive impact on the financial performance of listed firms in Nigeria. In addition, the study observed that long-term debt has a significant negative impact on the financial performance of firms. To this end the study concludes that employing high proportion of long-term debt in firms’ capital structure will invariably result in a low financial performance of a firm.
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The paper approaches some aspects regarding the use of the borrowed capital by the companies, in the light of the effects generated by it in relation to their own activity. The treatment of these effects starts from the premise that, beside the effect of increasing the total capital of which the company can dispose by obtaining loans, there are complementary effects such as increasing of costs, financial leverage and financial risk, which are analyzed in terms of the specific implications on the company’s activity. There are taken into consideration some particularities and their implications which come from the formation of the borrowed capital for the company, determined, in principal, by the use of the bank loans, respectively the use of the bond loans, inclusively in relation with the use of equity.
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This review article aims to develop an integrating overview of the present status of the theory and research of the individuals` expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Given the veritable explosion of CSR research during the recent years, there is a genuine need for the field to take stock of what has been learned so far and what that implies in terms of consumers expectations and where researchers should be headed. In order to clarify the concept of consumer`s expectations we analysed books and articles in leading economic journals. In the last years, expectations towards CSR have been increasing and, with this, the demand of having businesses behaves in a socially responsible manner. The main implications are the potential for adopting and incorporating CSR in the marketing and communications strategy of the company. In the paper, different theories are promoted, definitions and researches concerning the present status of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the individuals` expectations towards it, enriching the literature from this field of study.
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Successful managers find ways to overcome situations of uncertainty. The strategies adopted are based on a series of simplistic reasoning such as analogy, taking into account the ideas of experts, rigorous debate and experimentation. Napoleon Bonaparte said that "there is nothing more important and more valuable than being able to make decisions." Business leaders today must deal with an avalanche of ambiguity, it must decide on the future of the company. I intend to expose some successful methods by which top managers were able to transform into opportunities, challenges of economic crisis.
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Based on data of inflation forecasts provided quarterly by the National Bank of Romania, forecast intervals were built using the method of historical forecast errors. Forecast intervals were built considering that the forecast error series is normally distributed of zero mean and standard deviation equal to the RMSE (root mean squared error) corresponding to historical forecast errors. We introduced as a measure of economic state the indicator– relative variance of the phenomenon at a specific time in relation with the variance on the entire time horizon. For Romania, when inflation rates follows an AR (1), we have improved the technique of building forecast intervals taking into account the state of the economy in each period for which data were recorded. We consider really necessary the building of forecasts intervals, in order to have a measure of predictions uncertainty.
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The insolvency approach and the protection of the creditors’ rights are regulated in all the national laws and the general policies promoted in this matter are in accordance with the international trends. In all the cases, the insolvency is “treated” by means of a special procedure, the main differences consisting in the purpose targeted by this procedure, by the means used for reaching the purpose and by the main features of the procedure. Undoubtedly, the rights of the creditors are protected and achieved as far as the insolvency law contains objectives suitable to their interests. By this paper we intend to determine whether the purpose of the insolvency procedure is only the one of accomplishing the rights of the creditors of the „bankrupted” entrepreneur, by the collective and equalitarian payment of the same, or, if the case, of a secondary and implicit purpose of the insolvency procedure: financial recovery of the debtor’s activity.
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The paper attempts to investigate how the Maastricht criteria and the Stability and Growth Pact have impaired the capacity of EZ national authorities to conduct discretionary fiscal policy. We estimate fiscal determinants for the structural public deficit over the period of 1981-2010, estimating panel data equations in order to increase the strength of the test by enhancing the time series dimension of the data by the cross section. We argue that the degree of the countrecyclicality of discretionary fiscal policy has been reduced significantly after the Maastricht Treaty. Also, the empirical evidence shows that national fiscal rules have a significant positive impact in budgetary outcomes.
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This paper aims to analyze the main motivational factors identified in the literature concerning the passenger car consumer behavior in the light of the changes induced by the economic crisis. The passenger car industry suffered quite hard since the start of the economic crisis and in Romania things don’t show any improvement in the situation, as the sales continue to decrease. From the marketing perspective it seems like most of the tools that were involved in influencing the consumer behavior don’t work anymore. So, this situation creates the need for a more profound analysis in the consumer psychology and the identification of the changes happening at this level. The findings of this paper indicate that there are three kinds of motivational factors involved in the car purchasing decision, but only two of them could empirically be tested through the methodological approach we took. The affective motives, which are more profound and hidden would need a psychological approach in a further stage of research.
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The main issue of the article is the process of ideologization of the discourse on modern art. The author analyses media statements following the burning down of Julita Wójcik’s art installation “Tęcza” in Warsaw. The dispute mentioned did not focus on the aesthetic judgements, but on the symbolic value of the work. Built to symbolize the tolerance for homosexuals, the installation prompted intense aggression (both physical and verbal) among representatives of the extreme right. The author juxtaposes statements coming from both sides of the conflict. What merits particular attention here is the strategy of hybridization of discourses that are mutually exclusive (discourse of tolerance and discourse of exclusion). It aims at devaluing the discourse of tolerance and “softening” the negative image of the discourse of exclusion.
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The study raises the problem of the functioning of the academic didactics against the backdrop of new reality, socio-economic changes, and mental changes observed in young people. Based on the previous findings concerning the crisis in the academic didactics, the author proposes a reorientation within the scope of the target group of the prospective students. In her opinion, there is a need for drawing attention to the group of mature people (40+) as candidates for studies in humanities.
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The article discusses various factors which are perceived as important in discerning linguistic phenomena recognized as languages or dialects. Among the said factors the author mentions the necessity of codification, commenting on the state thereof in relation to the Silesian ethno-language, as well as other linguistic factors. The author states that social issues cannot be omitted, even though establishing the status of a regional language is a legal and political matter. As a vital argument in this discussion, she points at the data collected in the national census from 2011, and particularly at the answer to the questions about one’s national/ethnic identity as well as one’s mother tongue and language used at home. The author also quotes the opinions of the supporters and the opponents of the idea of granting the Silesian ethno-language the status of a regional language.
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In this article the author proposes Polish readers a post-structural view of the semantic evolution of words – the classical problem of historical semantics. The author presents Geoffrey Hughes’s theory presenting the problem of meaning changes of words and their typology from the point of view of major processes of European civilization and history development: printing, mass media, political and religious doctrines (totalitarisms and Protestantism. In the author’s opinion Hughes’s conception is of a methodological value because – in agreement with the spirit of cognitivism and the 19th c. language studies – it enables recognition of a close relationship between language and institutionalised forms of human existence. The article is a discussion of Hughes’s typology of semantic changes based on the social criterion (social factor). The description presents three types of the changes: 1) symbiotic, 2) mediated, and 3) orwellian.
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