”THE EUROPEAN DREAM”- A MORE SOCIAL EU. FROM THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS TO EUROPE’S 2020 AGENDA

Author(s): Claudia Anamaria Iov,Ioan Bogdan,Claudia Maria Mera,Claudiu Marian / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2014

Major challenges have been created by the unprecedented international economic and financial crisis (starting Autumn 2008) with significant impact on the EU’s social sector calling into question not only the banking sector, but also many of the achievements that had already been taken for granted in the EU like the Schengen Area or the Euro zone. This article argues that, in the last five years, the impact of the crisis throughout Europe has become more evident on the employment market, the relation of the majority with the immigrants, minorities and the marginal members of the society. Our approach underlines that there is a real need for increased European trans-national socio-economic cooperation and policies in order to deal with the causes of the crisis and such a “coherent European exit strategy” could be Europe 2020 Strategy.

„All inclusive tourism – boutique tourism” or the struggle for leadershipin the profit on the global tourism market

Author(s): Miglena Temelkova,Iliyan Bakalov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

The struggle for revenue, profit and financial added value, image and customer added value in the global tourism industry today is directly manifested in the intense competition between the mass all inclusive tourism and the unique and individually oriented boutique tourist product. The leadership in profit today is a result of the flexibility, creativity and innovation of the strategy used, and in the opposition"all inclusive tourism -boutique tourist accommodation" the emphasis making a difference is not limited to prices,services, quality and number of tourists only. The essential difference consists in the clash of strategies with different philosophy and target audiences-diversification,differentiation and cost leadership applied by the all-inclusive-tourism strategy as opposed to the strategy of focusing which is typical of boutique hotels and destinations. Despite the different strategic approaches, the goal is one and the same -leadership in terms of generated profits.

„Arabska wiosna” – fala demokracji w warunkach islamu. Spojrzenie z polskiej perspektywy

Author(s): Marian Muszkiewicz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 01/2014

The revolutionary wave in North Africa brought about deep changes − both social and political − in the region. Islamists have grown to become the most important political power in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Muslim Brotherhood, a while ago referred to as Islamic extremists, stands for democratic changes in the Arab world nowadays. However, a belief that the Arab revolution should create constitutional democracies modeled on western democracies is unjustified. The article indicates problems with the democracy in the Islamic world, but does not show the way to resolve them. Taking into consideration complexity of relations between Western and Islamic civilizations, differences in understanding the worth of culture and religion and requirements of current politics, it is hard to achieve a common ground. The fact has a significant influence on the possibilities of spreading the democracy across Muslims. One thing is sure: lack of knowledge cannot be superseded by fear and prejudice.

„Auditarea” auditorilor - supravegherea: necesitate sau obligativitate?

Author(s): Camelia-Daniela Hategan / Language(s): English,Romanian / Issue: 157/2020

Through their activity, financial auditors contribute to the investors' decision making, so that providing quality services leads to the increase of the confidence in the profession of financial auditor. In order to guarantee quality services of the statutory audit missions oversight bodies were created, which have the legal mission to verify the activity of the financial auditor. The purpose of this paper is to make a comparison of how the oversight bodies in countries of the European Union are regulated, their attributions, as well as the stage of the statutory audit reform in Romania, based on Directive 2014/56 / EU. The establishment of the oversight bodies was carried out as a result of poor-quality audit services, the oversight being necessary, but this activity could be the attribution of the professional bodies, if they had a greater coercive power over the members. Most irregularities arise as a result of non-compliance with all ethical principles, which is a challenge for every professional accountant. The institutional harmonization process is still ongoing, and the credibility of the oversight bodies can be confirmed in the medium and long term by the efficiency of the inspection actions on the financial auditors and by improving the quality of the audited financial reports.

„Back-Office” Darbuotoju Pasirengimo e. ValdžIos Jgyvendinimui Vertinimo Priemonės

Author(s): Marijn Janssen,Devender Maheshwari / Language(s): English / Issue: 02/2012

Purpose—Public organizations deploy state-of-the-art technological advancements to facilitate sophisticated services to the citizens, businesses, and employees. The maturity of back- office staff to adapt, use, and utilize these technological changes at the organizational level is a prerequisite to introduce cutting-edge services. This paper investigates the maturity of back- office staff and proposes a conceptual framework, measurement constructs, and subsequent measures for the assessment. Methodology/Design/Research—Design methodology focuses on combining research with practice. An initial framework and measurement constructs are developed based on the literature review, which are further investigated by conducting a case study at Inland Revenue, Karachi to test the usability in practice using the directive content analysis qualitative method. Findings—the outcome of measurement reveals that though the proposed framework and measurement constructs i.e. roles; responsibilities; trainings; capacity building; capabilities; and attitude are relevant and useful to assess the back-office staff readiness, the measures to assess the constructs may vary in practice depending on the size, scope, and type of the public organizations. Research limitations/implications—although the proposed measurement constructs and measures proved to be useful for assessing the back-office staff maturity, the relationships among different measures and constructs affecting the staff readiness require further research. Practical implications—the case study was conducted at single public organization, which will be extended to multiple public organizations in practice. The extension will not to allow effective testing of the usability of the proposed conceptual framework and constructs, but will also broaden the benchmarking scope. Originality/Value—back-office staff education is discussed and described in the literature as well practice, but there is hardly any existing framework for the assessment and benchmarking of staff maturity. Often viewed in isolation, the practitioners hardly realize the long term intangible objectives to understand how research (literature) can help improve the maturity. Similarly, the academics also describe staff education at generic level, which may or may not be applicable to the different types of organizations. Therefore, we propose a conceptual measurement framework with constructs and subsequent measures and show that combining the research (literature) and practice (Inland Revenue, Karachi) provides deeper insights.

„Bike S Szczeciński Rower Miejski” jako przedsięwzięcie prowadzące do wzrostu jakości życia mieszkańców

Author(s): Marta Stępień-Słodkowska,Przemysław Ustianowski,Anna Krajewska-Pędzik / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2/2017

Celem badań było uzyskanie informacji od Prezesa NiOL Spółki z o.o. na temat rozwoju systemu rowerowego w Szczecinie oraz jego wpływu na jakość życia mieszkańców. Metodą wybraną do badań była metoda sondażu diagnostycznego,techniką − wywiad. Uzyskane dane posłużyły do charakterystyki rozwoju systemu rowerowego w Szczecinie ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem wpływu na poprawę jakości życia mieszkańców. System Bike_S został uruchomiony w sierpniu 2014 roku w odpowiedzi na wnioski mieszkańców Szczecina, którzy obserwując powstawanie podobnych systemów w innych miastach chcieli korzystać z takiego rozwiązania również w Szczecinie. Pierwszy etap budowy systemu zakładał 33 stacje, na których można było korzystać łącznie z 342 rowerów. Obecnie system składa się z 82 stacji rozlokowanych zarówno na lewobrzeżnej, jak i prawobrzeżnej części miasta, a do dyspozycji użytkowników oddano ponad 700 rowerów. Z uwagi na podwojenie liczby stacji rowerowych oraz rowerów wzrosła również dzienna liczba wypożyczeń rowerów, a liczba zarejestrowanych użytkowników sięga prawie 30 000.

„Criza de model moral” – o realitate?

Author(s): Anca Borza,Codruţa Osoian,Mirela Popa / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 1/2007

What society considered a while ago as being "correct", may be considered today as being "wrong", what some of us considered as being wrong, in a not too distant future, now we can say that it is "correct". A fundamental value of the contemporary society is moral freedom, in the spirit of existing laws and legally standardized responsibilities, and also based on moral, religious, professional, cultural principles. Some specialists consider that, during its evolution, the moral conscience has encountered three phases: brute selfishness ("Live for you!"), ego-altruism ("Live for you and for the others!"), altruism ("Live for the others!"). Every person can become a moral personality in function of his/her wish. We can not all become great scientific or professional personalities manifesting especially originality and creativity. But we can all become, according to our self and with the social conditions of every day life, moral personalities. A behavior opposite to ethics seriously harms and the society per ensemble, causing the appearance of some scourges created by the modern life (crime, abuses, liberty restriction, discriminations, influence traffic, corruption etc), at the prejudice of the human condition. Of the affective and moral maturing grade of each person depends the public morality mood itself, it depends the health, the social, economical, juridical, political, relations, etc. We are of the opinion that moral improvement must be necessary and possible. We must become better, more spiritual, aware of our condition dignity, more responsible, more open one to each other, etc.

„Crowdfunding” jako oddolne narzędzie realizacji zrównoważonego rozwoju

Author(s): Agnieszka Sobol / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 37/2/2014

The paper presents crowdfunding as a modern tool for supporting sustainable development. Crowdfunding can be perceived as a significantly democratic and market-oriented tool. Without different barriers, especially space limits, helps people support other people's initiatives. This wonder as crowdfunding is sometimes called, carried away in short time millions of people around the world and enabled to realize many of socially desirable projects. The popularity of crowdfunding on one hand can be attributed to technological progress, on the other hand to economic crisis that limited funding from the conventional sources. Social funding is a form of bottom-up initiatives and a way of civil society activity in modern times. It's a sign of changes that appear in technological space as well as in socio-cultural one

„DIE ENTDECKUNG DER VOLKSSELLE“: OSTEUROPÄISCHE SPRACHMINDERHEITEN ZWISCHEN IDENTITÄTSPFLEGE UND SEPARATISMUS: DAS BEISPIEL DER KARPATHO-RUTHENEN

Author(s): Marc Stegherr / Language(s): / Issue: 2/2015

In spite of unfriendly remarks about provincialism and warnings of possible separatism attachment to Europe’s historical regions is rising, as the Catalan or Scottish examples show. A lesser known regionalist issue is the Rusyn/Ruthenian one in the Carpathian border region. While their situation regarding minority rights is quite favourable in Northern Serbia/Vojvodina, their demands to have their ethnicity and language recognized by the Ukrainian state were more than once ignored. The reason often mentioned in similiar cases is fear of separatism. The Rusyns‘ struggle with identity, the difficult task of keeping their language and culture alive in complex political circumstances, namely the present Ukrainian-Russian crisis, is being described in this article and compared to similar regional cases.

„Drugie domy” a zrównoważony rozwój obszarów wiejskich

Author(s): Adam Czarnecki,Krystian Heffner / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2008

The idea to possess a 'second home' is becoming increasingly popular and leads to the emergence of vast zones of concentration of such second homes in rural areas. This phenomenon attests to progressing urbanisation and gradual materialisation of the post-industrial paradigm of development through new trends in consumption and satisfaction of modern demand for tourist services. Various forms of realisation of the 'second home' need materialise chiefly in rural areas, impacting strongly on the structure of their space and its arrangement, as well as on social and economic relations. In the zones of concentration of this form of the urban population’s operation in rural areas significant changes become observable in the landscape, economic and social-cultural activity. 'Second homes' undoubtedly constitute a development opportunity for rural areas (mainly in respect of economic activity) but they also can impact negatively on the natural environment and rural landscape. The article presents an analysis of the evolution of views on the phenomenon of 'second homes' and discusses its meaning for the development of rural areas (in respect of economy, social relations and natural environment). The article marks also an attempt at arranging the principal definitions and research problems essential for the shaping of rural development in Poland. Intensywny rozwój zjawiska „drugich domów” oraz powstawanie rozległych obszarów ich koncentracji na obszarach wiejskich świadczy o postępującej urbanizacji oraz stopniowym urzeczywistnianiu się postindustrialnego paradygmatu rozwoju poprzez nowe trendy konsumpcyjne i zaspokajanie nowoczesnego popytu na usługi turystyczne. Różne formy realizacji potrzeby „drugich domów” materializują się przede głównie na obszarach wiejskich, silnie oddziałując na strukturę ich przestrzeni, jej zagospodarowanie oraz na stosunki społeczno-gospodarcze. W strefach koncentracji tej formy funkcjonowania mieszkańców miast na wsi dochodzi do istotnych zmian w krajobrazie, gospodarce i warstwie społeczno-kulturowej. „Drugie domy” stanowią niewątpliwie szansę rozwoju wsi (głównie w aspekcie ekonomicznym), ale powodować też mogą niekorzystne zmiany w środowisku przyrodniczym i krajobrazie wiejskim. W artykule prześledzono ewolucję poglądów na temat zjawiska „drugich domów” oraz znaczenia tego procesu dla rozwoju obszarów wiejskich (w sferze ekonomicznej, społecznej i przyrodniczej). Podjęto również próbę uporządkowania podstawowych terminów i problematyki badawczej istotnej dla kształtowania rozwoju obszarów wiejskich w Polsce.

„EASILY DIGESTIBLE ECONOMICS”. THE DRAGON AND THE ELEPHANT

Author(s): Gabriela Gavril-Antonesei / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2008

„EFEKT UKĄSZENIA WĘŻA” JAKO PRZYCZYNA OBJAŚNIANIA ANOMALII W DZIAŁANIU INWESTORÓW. PRZEGLĄD BADAŃ

Author(s): Anna Przyszewska,Anna Przytuła,Mateusz Szymański / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2014

This article examines research of the „snake bite effect” as one of the irrational behaviors occurring on the capital market. The presented considerations are based on the literature on behavioral finance, although the present publications devote little interest to this subject. In the article there are elaborated the scientific experiments which show only signs of behavior defined as „snake bite effect” because it is often omitted in more serious studies or it is indirectly presented with regards to other aspects of behavioral finance. This article confirms the existence of „snake bite effect” and emphasizes its influence on investorsʼ decisions

„Gender” w teorii ekonomii - wprowadzenie do ekonomii feministycznej

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 33/2/2013

In the article one of the newest schools of heterodox economics - feminist economics - is presented. The article begins with the historical analysis of women and men economic activities and their presentation in the main stream economics. Then feminist school of economic thought is described - its main assumption, themes analyzed by feminist economists, and research methods used. The introduction of the concept of gender in the economic theory broadens the area of research interests of the discipline, as well as leads to changes in the instruments used in economic reality

„Gyvenimo ciklo “ fondų investavimo strategijos pritaikymo privačių pensijų fondų sistemoje galimybių vertinimas

Author(s): Tadas Gudaitis / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 1/2012

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami „Gyvenimo ciklo“ fondų sistemos investavimo strategijos formavimo principai bei analizuojami „Gyvenimo ciklo“ fondų sistemos privalumai ir trūkumai lyginant juos su tradicine „Gyvenimo stiliaus“ fondų sistema. Straipsnyje didelis dėmesys yra skiriamas „Gyvenimo ciklo“ fondų sistemos pritaikymo Lietuvoje veikiančioje privačių antros pakopos pensijų fondų sistemoje galimybių vertinimui. Investment strategy concept of “Life Cycle” funds’ system is approached in the article. Pros and Cons of “Life Cycle” funds’ system comparing it with traditional “Life Style” funds’ system are discussed. The possibilities of transforming existing private 2nd pillar pension system to “Life Cycle” fund system in Lithuania are evaluated in the article.

„Homo oeconomicus” jako podstawa ekonomii – krytyka i alternatywy

Author(s): Anna Horodecka / Language(s): / Issue: 347/2014

The aim of the article is the critical evaluation of the concept of the man as the basis of the mainstream economy and to show possible, alternative directions of this concept transformations. The paper criticizes “homo oeconomicus” theory which focuses on methodological problems, inconsistency with the empirical knowledge on human functioning, omitting key elements in this human model which affect it and which adversely influence human behavior as an individual and group, as well as short-sightedness of this approach and inapplicability to current economic problems. Therefore there are among others alternative pictures of a human connected with the emergence of new economic directions, methodological changes and the extension of the range of research methods.

„Huffinizacja” treści medialnych

Author(s): Mariana Petrova / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2015

Convergence has contributed to placing some media contents on different electronic platforms. Bloggers and internet users have almost taken professional journalist’s place. The evolution has affected all branches of media sector, the citizen journalism has entered into the new media and social networks have become a source of information for many people. New models of media content management are primarily targeted at reducing costs and increasing profits and at splitting off from the traditional bilateral management model. In the modern chaos of information overload society needs to have not only free, clear and segregated media content available from a variety of devices but also to share their opinion with others.Such demand was sensed by Arianna Huffington who created the whole media empire counting more than 100 million readers from all over the world. She has created a huge opinion-forming platform (The Huffington Post) which combines a news aggregator and blogging platform together to which you can add TV channels, magazines and e-books activity. Such combination of media content aggregator activity with bloggers platform activity can be defined as “huffinization”. Media content are created by the platform users and more than 30 000 unpaid bloggers that is allowed not only to ramp up profits but also stimulate the development of political and social events.

„Idealus lyderis“ Lietuvos sveikatos priežiūros įstaigų darbuotojų požiūriu

Author(s): Auksė Endriulaitienė,Aurelija Stelmokienė,Inga Minelgaitė-Snaebjornsson,Romie F. Littrel / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 75/2016

The main aim of the article is to disclose employees’ expectations towards their ideal leader in Lithuanian health care organizations. According to the results of the empirical research, employees from health care organizations perceive the task-oriented leaders who are also able to perform a representative role as ideal ones.

„Industry 4.0” changing the economic and social realities

Author(s): George Chobanov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

„Jakie znaczenie ma religia?”. Religia w badaniu stosunków międzynarodowych

Author(s): Anna M. Solarz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2017

An overview of books and academic journals allows one to come to the conclusion that scholars have taken note of and analysed the role of religion in international social relations more or less since the end of the Cold War, that is since the 1990s, particularly after the Al-Qaeda attacks of 11 September 2001. Events of key significance to the world order in recent decades have also become a pretext for giving more attention to religion. This is not a coincidence. International relations as a discipline is still searching for its place in science. Driven by the ambition of constructing global visions and theories, it must first of all transcend its original Eurocentrism and hence encounter religion and religiousness, among other things. The author of the article sees a need for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the international reality as well as going beyond positivist research methods. She outlines the origins and development of international religious demographics and addresses the problem of including religion in international relations literature. She claims that although much is already being written on the subject, we are still at the beginning of the road. The challenge is worth taking up; on the one hand, it forces scholars to look beyond the boundaries of their discipline, and may significantly impact its identity on the other.

„Jelenia strzałem zwalam z nóg…”. O znaczeniu polowań w „Scenach myśliwskich z Dolnej Bawarii” Martina Sperra

Author(s): Zbigniew Feliszewski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2018

The article is an attempt to read the early play of a German play wright Martin Sperr, from the perspective of hunting theory. In the play „Hunting scenes from Bavaria” of 1966, Martin Sperr shows the mechanisms of exclusion of a human being from the society. The play is set in a Bavarian village – a community on the threshold of economic, political and cultural changes, transforming from a production society into a consumer society. The economic crisis exaggerates the processes of exclusion, which culminates in the literal hunting for homosexual Abram. The article is an attempt to analyse the hunting artefact as a way to show the individual processes of exclusion from the community.