Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ECONOMICS AND
BUSINESS
RESEARCH
Year XVI, No. 1/ 2010
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JOURNAL OF
ECONOMICS AND
BUSINESS
RESEARCH
Year XVI, No. 1/ 2010
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Editorial Board
Associate editors
Editorial Secretariate
Address
University “Aurel Vlaicu” of Arad
Romania, 77 RevoluŃiei Avenue, Arad
Tel/fax: 0040-257-280679
E-mail: luielacs@yahoo.com
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CONTENTS
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6
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 7-12
Abstract
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, after a continuing
terrorist threat airports reported, after the aircraft collapse of
some planes - like Tupolev 154 on board which was Polish
President Lech Kaczynski with another 95 people including
87 members of the delegation of Poland - a new airline
crisis is announced: Eyjafjallajokull. A volcanic eruption
has become a phenomenon of an unimaginable scale,
managing to reach the forefront of the world, the headlines
and opening all the newsreels. Volcanic ash cloud was seen
as a threat to mankind. The main news channels have taken
advantage of volcanic eruption in Iceland in order to make
audience and terrify viewers with alarmist statements and
assumptions. Even the funeral of President Kaczynski was
overshadowed by a cloud of ash. And tens of thousands of
flights were canceled in Europe, America and Canada.
These are some of the effects of volcano Eyjafjallajokull, a
hard name to pronounce. Furthermore, Icelanders had fun in
those days on the British account, because they couldn’t
pronounce the volcano’s name under Eyjafjallajokull
Glacier.
Keywords: volcanic cloud, ash, flights, transport, global
economy.
CET the next day. Milano and Padova sectors were closed at 04:00 CET.
Zurich, Geneva and other sectors in Germany were closed during the
night of April 17th. Maastricht and the Rhine area requested to allow
flights, but only exceptionally. Some airports were planning to open in
Britain (Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford) and there was thus a
progressive decrease in airspace restrictions. Estonia and Poland were
closed. Munich sector started to close at 05:30 CET. Prague airspace
closed at 11:00 CET, Slovakia at 13:10 CET and Hungary and Vienna, at
17:00 CET (the latter was finally replaced with a danger area). At 21:00
CET, Romania and Ukraine started closing their sectors.
On April 18th 2010, there were 5204 actual flights, compared with
24,965 the same day one week before. The night of April 17th to 18th was
more stable. Most control centers were forecast to 12:00 CET. At 12:00
CET, Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) showed improvements. At
16:00 CET the airlines were beginning to open in the following areas:
Maastricht, Rhein, Bremen region, all Spain, France, Austria, Poland,
Italy and Switzerland. At 17:20 CET, Milano and Padova regions
opened.
On April 19th 2010, there were 9,330 actual flights, compared
with 28,126 the same day one week before. European Commission and
EUROCONTROL held a morning meeting to prepare for EU transport
ministers meeting at 15:00 CET. A press release presented revised
approach to air traffic affected by the cloud of volcanic ash.
On April 20th 2010, there were 13,101 actual flights, compared
with 27,508 the same day one week before. During the day, most of the
airspace reopened, except the United Kingdom which was not available
until 20:00 CET.
On April 21st 2010, there were 21,916 actual flights, compared
with 28,087 the same day one week before. From 09:30 CET, most
European airspace opened, except for areas in Northern Scotland,
Sweden, Helsinki, Finland and the northwestern area of airspace Brest. At
14:30 CET teleconference aircraft operators to CFMU was suspended.
On April 22nd2010, flights were almost back to normal, with
27,284 flights, up from 28,578 the same day two weeks ago.
This small calendar meant a "black week" for airline companies,
making an impressive bill: 1.5 billion euros. Cumulative losses in
Romania reached 11 million euro and were affected over 1.2 million
passengers, of who 80,000 travel tickets with flights to and from
Romania.
The Iceland cloud of volcanic ash - an environmental issue … 11
had also suffered. The impact of these events on tourism was small. The
money which the tourism industry has lost as a result of tourists who
were unable to reach their destinations, have been recovered mostly from
tourists stranded in various locations, having to spend more than they had
planned.
But some companies have benefited from cancellation of flights.
Railway company Eurostar, linking London, Paris and Brussels served
more customers than normal, all trains have reached full. Ferry operators
have reported a growing number of passengers. Great winners of the
week were rail carriers, the naval and road ones.
In Romania, according to CFR, traffic has averaged more than
1,800 passengers per day extra. The international trains were also
supplemented, the number of their carriage being double than in the
normal period.
The same growing demand has been registered on bus transport.
For example, Eurolines supplemented the number of flights to Europe
with 25.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) accused
European states that they panicked unnecessarily. Many airlines demands
compensation, although the National Authority for Consumer Protection
sustains that major force does not affect the rights of passengers.
Bibliography
Kirby Calvert
Dragoş Şimandan
Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Brock University, St.
Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
While geography has always mattered for the energy sector,
the relative effects of location and distance on the
economics of energy regimes are increasing as we begin to
deploy more renewable energy technologies. This re-
introduction of the friction of distance is leading to an
energy landscape that is far different from fossil-based
regimes. The new energy paradigm, based as it is upon the
physics and the economics of renewable energy, is being
reflected in the landscape as distributed, decentralized, and
diversified patterns of energy generation. Because the
increased use of renewable energy technologies is beginning
to change the spatial patterns of political and socio-
economic activities, a thorough understanding of these
patterns is crucial to increasing the socio-political
acceptability of new technologies and to avoiding the
socially costly unintended consequences of policy and
investment decisions. This paper proposes a theoretical
foundation upon which economists and economic
geographers could scaffold their analyses of the spatial
characteristics of the economics of energy use. To this end,
we bring together two complementary conceptualizations of
economic geography: firstly, as the study of the effects of
location and distance on energy economics, and secondly, as
the study of the ways in which political, economic, and
technological energy-related practices give rise to particular
14 K. Calvert, D. Şimandan
Introduction
There are (albeit few) global truths about the economics of
energy, and our discussion must begin by elucidating some of them.
Most important is the economic manifestation of the laws of
thermodynamics, particularly as they apply to exhaustible energy
reserves: as we exploit the highest grade and most accessible reserves
we proceed to a state of higher entropy – i.e., marginal energy gradients
and thus less ‘useful’ energy – in which capital and energy expenditures
increase and future returns on investments decrease. It is thus inevitable
that we will eventually become ‘priced out’ of fossil energy (Banks,
2000). As a consequence fuel mixes invariably become more
heterogeneous with time as alternative sources of energy become
competitive. Such transitions are slow and arduous, however, as a
function of the ‘lock-in’ effect whereby significant investment and thus
sunken costs in energy infrastructure encourage preferential political-
economic treatment for incumbent energy sources. This is currently the
case with respect to fossil energy sources – a situation that observers
have called ‘carbon lock-in’ (Unruh, 2000). Such ‘lock-in’ effects [1]
cannot be overcome by market forces alone but require deliberate and
delicate public management schemes (Unruh, 2002; Weiss and
Bonvillian, 2009); and indeed all major historical energy shifts were
driven by some form of public investment (Podobnik, 2006). Public
investment is justified not only by the fact that access to reliable energy
is a prerequisite to socio-economic development, but also by the fact
that immature energy technologies become more efficient and cheaper
when privy to collective investment and to guaranteed market
opportunities (Söderholm and Sundqvist, 2007). The final truth worth
Energy, space, and society: a reassessment of the changing landscape … 15
cartographies, the other two being rhythms and events). Stocks are the
explanation for the inertia of the energy systems because the weight of
the past is embodied in stocks. The current stocks of the energy sector
constitute the memory of past deeds (inflows, outflows) in that sector.
The energy sector we have today is the accumulation of decades of past
practices and beliefs, fact which begins to explain why change will not
happen overnight and why the enthusiastic predictions of the 1970s
about the dominance of renewables by the year 2000 turned out so
wrong.
Conclusion
While geography has always mattered for the energy sector (see
Wilbanks, 1982), the relative effects of location and distance on the
economics of energy regimes are increasing as we begin to deploy more
RETs. This re-introduction of the friction of distance is leading to an
energy landscape that is far different from fossil-based regimes, and
which will only be overcome if advanced hydrogen-based regimes or
solar fibre optics come to fruition. This is to say that the new energy
paradigm, based as it is upon the physics and the economics of
renewable energy, is being reflected in the landscape as distributed,
decentralized, and diversified patterns of energy generation. But this
transition will be slow so long as incumbent fossil energy sources
remain privileged by political-economic power holders. Since
economic geographers already study economy-environment
interactions, we are well positioned to provide valuable conceptual and
analytical tools with which to help structure a renewable energy
revolution. Given the site-specificity of renewable energy fluxes and
the localized nature of renewable energy, these tools are most
effectively directed at local and regional scales.
The increased deployment of RETs is beginning to change
patterns of political and socio-economic activities. Understanding these
patterns is crucial to increasing the socio-political acceptability of new
technologies and to avoiding the socially costly unintended
consequences of policy and investment decisions. Indeed, we need to
be sure that analyses are not privileging production at the expense of
consumption (or vice versa). To this end, geographers should strive to
unpack geographical patterns of energy related socio-spatial change and
to examine the causes and consequences of alternative energy policies.
Surely there remain regulatory and technical concerns that are
just as, if not more, important than the geographical and the spatial-
analytical issues that we have highlighted in this paper. The point,
however, was to demonstrate that all of these other variables being
equal, geography is a hugely important limiting factor when it comes to
renewable energy utilization. These spatial characteristics of the
economics of energy use have yet to be fully explored. We hope that
our contribution has provided a theoretical starting point from which
these issues might be addressed.
32 K. Calvert, D. Şimandan
Bibliography
Alexandru Vlasiu
PhD in economics – accounting area
Abstract
The accounting information system of the commodity
exchanges is a cohesive organisational structure: a multitude of
processes and procedures, objects and elements, events and
activities that are directly and indirectly related. All these
components are designed with the purpose of providing
information to users, meaning a system that: collects, registers,
stores and processes data to produce information for the
decision factors.
Keywords: accounting information system, commodity
exchanges, globalisation, information, information users and
business.
year 2009, according to the Provision no. 02/2007 regarding making and
handing in the annual financial statements by the authorised entities,
regulated and supervised by the National Commission of the Movable
Values, modified by NCMV Order no. 13/ 2010 regarding the approval of
Provision no. 1/2010 for the modification and completion of Provision no.
2/2007 regarding making and handing in the annual financial statements by
the entities that are authorised, regulated and supervised by the National
Commission of the Movable Values, that comprise the following forms:
1. balance sheet(code 10);
2. profit and loss account (code 20);
3. statement of changes in equity;
4. statement of cash flows;
5. explanatory notes to the annual financial statements.
The annual financial statements of the commodity exchanges are
handed in at the NCMV headquarters during a period of maximum 150
days from the end of the financial exercise.
The commodity exchanges that from their creation until the end of
the financial exercise did not have activity will hand in an affidavit to that
effect at the NCMV, during a period of 60 days from the end of the
financial exercise, which will comprise all the identification information of
the society, respectively:
-the complete name, according to the registration certificate;
-the complete address and phone number;
-the registration number at the Registry of Commerce and the code
regarding the activity;
-the fiscal code/ unique registration code;
-the social capital.
A similar affidavit will also be handed in by the commodity
exchanges that are in the process of liquidation, according to the proper
legal provisions.
In order to ensure the information meant for the state institutional
system, a copy of the annual financial situation and of the affidavit will be
also handed in at the subsidiaries of the Ministry of Public Finances, during
a period of 150 days, respectively 60 days from the end of the financial
exercise.
According to the provisions of article 30 from the Law of
accounting no. 82/1991, republished, the annual financial statements of the
commodity exchanges will be accompanied by a written statement of the
people who are responsible for making the annual financial statements and
who confirm that:
Delimitations and considerations … 45
a) the accounting policies that are used when making the annual
financial policies are according to the applicable accounting
regulations;
b) the annual financial statements offer a true image of the
financial position, financial performance and other information
regarding the undertaken activity;
c) the legal person undertakes its activity under conditions of
continuity.
After the last G20 reunions of the year 2009, organised as a result
of the financial worldwide crisis, a series of actions that must be urgently
undertaken in the area of commodity exchange accounting have been
presented. They have regarded, mainly, the just evaluation of the financial
instruments, reducing the complexity of the accounting standards referring
to the financial instruments.
Thus, regarding the accounting regulation of the financial
instruments, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has
launched a revision of IAS 39, “Financial instruments: recognition and
evaluation” in three phases:
- classifying and evaluating financial instruments;
- the depreciation of financial instruments;
- risk coverage accounting.
Simplifying the classification of the financial instruments was
firstly wanted:
-financial instruments measured at the amortised cost;
-financial instruments measured at their just value.
Thus, a financial asset or a financial debt will be measured at the
amortised cost if two conditions are met:
-the instrument has classical loan character;
-the instrument is managed based on a contract.
The financial assets or financial debts that do not meet the two
conditions will be evaluated at their just value.
The generally accepted objective of the commodity exchange
accounting is of offering valuable information to the current investors as
well as the potential investors, in order to make investing decisions
regarding the creation, owning or capitalising financial instruments. The
accounting information, through the qualitative attributes that define it, is
useful in the decision process. Due to the complexity and specificity of the
language that is used in the commodity exchange area, an important
mission in “translating” the content of the accounting information, often
46 A. Vlasiu
Bibliography
Ede Lázár
Sapientia University Miercurea - Ciuc, Romania
Abstract
Thanks to the development of information technology the
market researchers faced new challenges: there are new
developments in data collection techniques and in the research
process but also in data analysis methodology. A complex area
of the market research is concerning to the price of a product
or services. We aim to present a methodology able to predict
the demand and the optimum price of a new product or service.
It is based on a binomial logistic regression model which
estimates the multidimensional demand function, which
provides the optimum price as a marginal effect of the price
variable in the model. The optimum price is an optimum in the
sense of maximizes the income. The method of defining the
optimum price is proved throughout a real price researching
project of a new mobile phone service in the Hungarian market
of the mobile phone service providing.
Keywords: pricing methods, optimum price, price elasticity
coefficients, logistic regression
Introduction
Theoretical background
2. The methods based on the real buying data. Besides the different
data sources here may be mentioned the simulated purchase tests, the store
tests which are able to measure considerably better the reservation price,
than the market research methods from the previous group, because the
purchase situation is placed among the real marketing/mix conditions
(Wertenbroch-Skiera, 2002).
Pritchard (2009) in his excellent article divides in two more groups the
methods based on the willingness to pay:
The premise of the direct price research techniques is that the
interview subjects included in the target market know what the studied
product/service worth for them and they can interpret the question aimed
directly towards the price issue. These include the Gabor-Granger model,
the Van Westendorp model and the model for the accurate determination of
the demand function aiming to maximize the revenue.
The indirect methods ask questions about the whole package taking
into consideration besides the price other product characteristics and from
these take conclusions about the price. Of such kind are the conjoint model
types, the discrete choice models and here may be enumerated the
econometric models.
Within the limits of the study there is no possibility to present in
detail the price research methods and to analyze them. Beyond the
hereabove mentioned methods there appear in the offer of the larger
companies self-developed methods "branded products", but from their
short description it is generally not deductable whether it is about the
adaptation of a commonly known method or an entirely new approach. As
a typical trend it can be observed that the simpler methods (like the Van
Westendorp method) will disappear from the market research practice, and
the Choice -Based Conjoint and other econometric - model based products
become more and more popular. This ground gain is induced by the
development of the increasingly adaptable and user-friendly branded
products and the increasing econometric professional skills of the market
researchers. The traditional, linear model-based conjoint solutions will
deteriorate from the sides of the Choice-Based Conjoint and econometric
models, because they do not apply a simpler survey for the significantly
worse results, as compared. In the future the high/quality data collection
imitating as much as it is possible the purchase situation will be a narrower
cross/section, than the market researcher having econometric professional
skills. Besides these complex models possibly there may exist simpler
methods more competitive in price and speed, like the open-ended question
based or the different purchase situations better imitating experiments.
50 E. Lázár
probability the likelihood varies between 0 and 1. The log likelihood is its
logarithm and alters from 0 to minus infinite (because the logarithm of a
number less than 1 is negative). MLE is an iterative algorithm which starts
with an initial arbitrary "guesstimate" of what the logit coefficients should
be, the MLE algorithm determines the direction and size change in the logit
coefficients which will increase LL. After this initial function is estimated,
the residuals are tested and a re-estimate is made with an improved
function, and the process is repeated (usually about a half-dozen times)
until convergence is reached (that is, until LL does not change
significantly). The initial function (log likelihood –2*LL (Do)) is given:
Do = -2{(nY=1)ln[P(Y=1)]+ (nY=0)ln[P(Y=0)]} (3)
where nY=1 is the frequency, and P(Y=1) is the probability of an event
occurrence. Multiplication with –2 of the likelihood function is
necessary because thus the function has approximately χ2 distribution and
let us to test if the model changes significantly with introducing a new
independent variable. This test is similar to F probe of the linear regression.
The iteration steps of the parameter estimation continues until the decrease
of the likelihood function is significant.
From this formula it may be easily calculated the value meaning the
optimal price, referred as for the differentiation of the estimated
probability of purchase from the expressed willingness to buy :
(7)
According to the formula (7) the value of the optimal price depends
on the b parameter and the estimated purchase probability, from the y,
meaning that it differs from case to case, as the explaining variables take
new fixed values.
advantage of CAPI was that during the quota sampling the required quotas
were precisely respected, so there was no need for posterior data
weighting.[1]
The number of observations of the sample was 400 cases, we tested
during the price test the following price/minute tariffs: 48, 54, 60, 66, 72,
78 HUF. After the presentation of the characteristics of the new tariff
package we presented randomly a price/minute from the six tested prices to
the interviewees, asking them about their willingness to make a contract.
Those, who answered yes were given a higher price with a "degree", those
who answered no got a lower price, and then the price test ended
independently from the second answer. One big advantage of this two-
steps method testing two prices is that the observations number is almost
doubled. (It is just almost, because we did not tested further the price
among those who rejected the lowest price, or accepted the highest price.
So the sample created based on the two price tests increased in number of
cases from 400 to 729.)
It is more important than this, that the questionnaire technique
turned out to be a very successful choice in the case of the direct
application of the price researching method, also. When we specified the
logistic regression model based only on the answers for the first questions
about price in the case of the 400 cases sample, the price of the product was
not significantly influencing the demand. We met at other researches too,
this unpleasant situation for the market researcher, which makes almost
useless the results oriented towards determining the demand and the
optimal price and makes the researcher disbelieving. The fortunate feature
of the two, consecutive price testing methods is that "draws the attention of
the interviewee" about the price, increases the price sensitivity and
consequently the probability of the significant impact of the price. So, the
phenomenon, that the interviewee recognizing the price test, immediately
relocates itself in a bargaining position, the effect of which is considered by
many harmful (Lyon, 2002), at this time proved to be a necessary criteria.
The demand modeling by any econometric model - logistic regression
equation - assumes that the price, as a coefficient of the independent
variable shall be significantly different from zero. However we consider
the use of the "price ladder", that is testing a third price after the second
question is meaningless, in this case it would be indeed a significant
distortion of the price sensitivity, of the slope of demand function.
54 E. Lázár
Model specification
At the applying the method, the first and most important task is the
binomial logistic regression model specification, in which the dependent
variable is the demand, and the explanatory variables are the different
features of the product and the respondents. This equation is the
multivariable demand function of the product, in which we take into
consideration not only the effect of the price on the demand but also the
effect of the other significant variables.
At the construction, specification of the model, it is to be decided
which criteria make a model better than the other. In the case of the linear
regression model our job it is relatively easy by studying the R2, such a
quasi-R2 exists in the case of the logistic regression as well. Without a
detailed examination of the specification criteria we may determine two
groups: the groups of the likelihood function value based and the groups of
methods based on the forecasting accuracy of the model. This latter group
includes the classification table, also very popular in the marketing research
methods practice for its easy readability, which compares the observed
values for the dependent outcome and the predicted values (at a cut-off
value of p=0.50). Besides the classification table of the final model we
presented the b1 parameter of the price, as independent variable and other
important specification indicator, too:
1. table. Classification table of the model
Estimated
No Yes
No 212 58 78,5%
Observed
Yes 26 322 92,5%
Total goodness of fit: 86,4%
b1=0.032 -2LL:420 GF:526
Nagelkerke R2:668
The determinant authors of the relevant econometric literature
mention an important argument against the application of the indicators
derived from the classification table, namely that these are in a large extent
influenced by the distribution of the dependent variable. Like Greene
(2003), Hosmer & Lemeshow (2000) as well, draw the attention that the
goodness of fit value of the classification table is influenced by the relative
Microeconometric models … 55
Bibliography
[1] This is important, because at the non-linear models, as the logistic regression the
weighting issue is more problematic than in the case of the linear regression.
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 60-67
Silvia Hanganu
Faculty of Economics
”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania
Abstract
The paper covers aspects of management systems and methods
of the widest applicability in the education system.
The management system having the widest applicability is the
management by objectives, which tracks the orientation of all
managerial activities towards achieving the major goals of
universities, arising from their mission.
The mission of the universities consists of the didactic activity
supported by research.
The management by projects is the management system used
by universities in scientific research because it allows solving
complex problems in a given period of time. The management
by projects is based on distinct organizational components
(team project) which aim to solve complex problems, well-
defined, with innovative character, by the participation of the
best specialists in the field.
Other systems and management methods used in universities
are the management by budgets and the participatory
management.
Keywords: mission, objectives, projects, creativity,
participatory bodies
Management by objectives
Management by objectives aims to orientate the entire management
and organizational activity in order to meet organizational objectives,
closely related to its mission.
In order to achieve the management by objectives, it is necessary to
meet the following principles:
‐ to assume individual responsibility and to be able to direct the
necessary efforts in order to develop the teamwork, which should
satisfy everyone’s ambitions and also those of the whole team.
‐ rigorous determination of the objectives of the organization up to
the performer, who directly participate in their establishment.
‐ partial objectives should be subordinated to the overall objectives
and contribute to their achievement.
Thus, between the manager and its subordinates a tight bond is
created, determined by the setting of goals together, as well as for the
survey of obtaining the results. `
Management by objectives is a complex system of management,
which includes all organizational activities, with the following
components:
‐ objective system, which includes both major objectives of the
organization, as well as those that derive from them,
‐ action programs prepared for all organizational structures, based on
revenue and expense centers. The action programs establish the
activities that will take place, as well as the financial, material and
human resources necessary to achieve the targets,
‐ time schedules, including deadlines for achieving the major goals
and those derived,
‐ income and expenditure budgets developed for each organizational
structure established as a center of revenues and expenses,
‐ catalogs of methods, including methods and techniques set to be
used in accordance with the objectives,
‐ guidelines which reflect the manager's outlook on how to achieve
the objectives. Guidelines are developed for both revenue and
expenditure activity centers, and for all activities, based on the
relevant legislation and the experience of the manager.
62 S. Hanganu
Academic Administrativ
leadership. The leadership D.G.A.
Senate
Rectoratul
Objectives of the
faculty and Head of the
Management administrative
administrative
mediu compartments
departments
Faculties
councils -
deans
Management by projects
The management by projects is based on creating temporary
organizational structures in order to meet specific objectives, well defined.
The management by projects consists in grouping some employees,
specialists in one certain area, for a complete project, within cost, time and
quality.
In the universities, this management system is used primarily in
academic research, an activity which is part of the university mission.
An accurate definition of project management is necessary to
define the notion of project.
The project consists of a set of work processes with the innovative
nature, which aims at fulfilling a mission with a highly specialized degree.
Therefore, the project aims at achieving a prestigious original scientific
research, requiring more people from the university, but it can also attract
specialists in various fields outside the university.
In the management by projects, the organization depends on the
novelty and complexity of the project, on its amplitude and period of
implementation, on the need for specialists from inside and outside the
university, on the projects’ manager personality.
The features of the management by projects are:
‐ uniqueness and complexity of the project and of the obtained
results,
‐ time limitation in project implementation,
64 S. Hanganu
Conclusions
All these systems and modern management methods are
increasingly used by organizations in all fields, in terms of
competitiveness.
Also, creativity is a key component of business management and an
essential feature of the manager in terms of globalization, a powerful
manifestation of the scientific and technological innovation, of an
increasing competition in all areas, including higher education; creativity is
an essential condition for survival.
Therefore, stimulating the creativity of the managers and of the
staff should be an ongoing concern.
Bibliography
Abstract
„Feminine traits are called weaknesses. People joke about
them; fools ridicule them; but reasonable persons see very
well that those traits are just the tools for the management of
men, and for the use of men for female designs.” Immanuel
Kant, Anthropology, p. 217
Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, difference, self
employed
enterprise. Small firms in crafts and the retail trade are therefore dominant
in such an economy. A major route for ambitious wage earners to increase
their income, then, is to set up a shop and become an entrepreneur.
Economic development subsequently leads to a rise in wages, which
stimulates enterprises to work more efficiently. In a later stage of economic
development, services become more important and a new rise in
entrepreneurship will occur. The advent of information technology, the
availability of capital and the differentiation of markets (niches) lead to the
occurrence of diseconomies of scale. (Audretsch and Thurik, 2000)
In the last few decades, the participation rate of women in the labor
market has increased substantially in most countries. This can be attributed
to changing values and attitudes toward working women and resulting
changes in behavior of working women. However, an increase in the
participation rate does not necessarily imply an increase in the number of
female entrepreneurs. When focusing on the female participation rate
relative to the labor force, it can be said that the increase in participation
rate of women has a negative impact on the level of entrepreneurship.
(Verheul et al., 2000)
There may be a number of factors that explain the fact that a
smaller proportion of working women start their own firms (although this
pattern may again be changing in some of the most economically advanced
societies). In many countries, married women have a shorter employment
history than men, most often due to a break to raise a family, thus reducing
the chance they will become self employed. Furthermore, the life style for
entrepreneurs often requires longer working days, which women cannot
easily combine with their family obligations. Finally, the direction of
causality may also be reversed, in that a high percentage of (male) self-
employment ties down many women in a supportive role of paid (or
unpaid) family worker. Combining these arguments, we predict female
labor share to be negatively related to level of entrepreneurship.
Countries vary in the distribution of income over wages and all
other income categories. Based on expectancy theory and other
psychological theories of motivation, we might reasonably assume that
individuals compare expected profits and wages when weighing the
possibilities of future self-employment or wage-employment. They
probably also consider the risks they will take with either choice.
Relatively high business profits are thus seen as a pull factor for
entrepreneurship.
A pragmatic proxy for the earning differential on the country level
is the „labor income quota”, which measures the share of labor income
Entrepreneurship, woman and self employed 71
Conclusions
The cultures of relatively poor countries can often be characterized
by large power distance and low individualism, and often also by strong
uncertainty avoidance. At the same time, their population is often relatively
dissatisfied with society and life in general. All these circumstances give
72 M. Iacob
Bibliography
Altio I. and Mills A. J., 2004, Gender, Identity and the Culture of
Organizations, Routledge, p. 92-113
Audretsch D. B., and Thurik A.R., 2000, ‘What is new about the new
economy: sources of growth in the managed and entrepreneurial
economies’, Industrial and corporate change, 10 (1), 267–315.
Gartner W. B., 1989, Who is an entrepreneur? Is the wrong question,
Entrepreneurship in Theory and Practice, p. 47-68.
Fayolle, A. (2002)," Le management entrepreneurial: mythe ou réalité? ",
Transdisciplinarité : Fondement de la Pensée Managériale Anglo-Saxonne,
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employment model: the case of Italy’, Small Business Economics, 6, 81–93
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Verheul I. et al., 2002, An eclectic theory of entrepreneurship,
Entrepreneurship: Determinants and Policy in a European–US
Comparison, Economics of Sciences, Technology and Innovation, vol 27.
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 73-83
Jasmina Starc
Faculty of Business and Management Sciences Novo mesto
School of Business and Management Novo mesto, Slovenia
Abstract
The article deals with some factors which have significant
influence on motivation for education of employees on
independent business and economics schools in Slovenia. In
the article the study of motives for the education of adults on
independent business and economics schools is presented. We
have tried to identify and justify basic theoretical assumptions
about the role of motives which are verified in the empirical
part. In the research the author find out that one of the most
significant factor is socio-economic environment as well as the
offer of study programmes itself. Important roles in the
decision for study and during the study have the spouses /
partners of students, their co-workers and superiors. The
lengths of study, which is three years only, the vicinity of
school or its branch, where they study, to their home also
affect their decisions.
Keywords: socio-economic environment, education,
economics and business study programmes, motivation for
education
Introduction
Research methodology
Here is the opportunity for meeting different people, some of whom one
finds friendly and compatible while others remain more or less
acquaintances without much social contact.
The impact of work organisations can either be formal or informal.
Its personnel policy encourages the employees to take up studies, as do the
attitude of the management and the momentary needs for human resources
in the company. The informal influences in the company are the co-
workers, who have the power to establish and develop a competitive spirit.
A similar percentage of work organisations and co-workers offer support or
strong support to their fellow students (44,2 % : 43,4 %), a fact which tells
us the organisations are aware of the importance of studies and of
appropriate education of their employees. Good education and qualification
can be seen as a competitive advantage, where employees with high
education can provide quality services to their business partners, customers
and potential buyers.
In spite of all this moral support, however, only very few work
organisations offer their employees any material support, for example
paying their tuition fees. Only 16,5 % and 7,3 % of organisations
participate in the financial part. Since the respondents were not asked to
supply this information, the exact percentage unfortunately remains
unknown.
The decision to take up studies is influenced by the size of the work
organisation. Large and middle-size work organisations employ a large
number of people. Among them there exists certain competitiveness for
chances of promotion because a larger number of employees might be
trying to get the same work post, which is not true of small work
organisations. However, all of them are aware that without good work,
which is undoubtedly also a result of high education and life-long learning,
they do not have much opportunity for advancement on their career ladder.
Due to scientific and technological advances and higher requirements of
the work itself, which dictate education at a tertiary level and not anymore
only at a secondary level, the work organisations frequently need to change
their classification of work posts. Thus, those who are aware of the
importance of education decide to study, whereby they are also aware of
the recognition this will bring them and a possibility to perform better in
their profession or even advance to a better position which also means a
higher salary.
78 J. Starc
they are well aware they will have to do the work regardless of the
additional study obligations. They are mostly concerned about the time
dimension, how they will manage to fulfil the needs of their family
members and also how their decision will be accepted by the wider
environment and the closest family members. Because they are now in
their second year, they obviously managed to overcome all the initial
difficulties, which contributed to their self-confidence. They have proved
to themselves and to others that they can successfully manage all their
obligations. The male students do not have any such doubts because they
know that their partners will successfully take care of all the family and
other social obligations. Greater satisfaction with their decision to study
was observed in those respondents who attend lectures during the week and
not over the weekend (χ2 = 13,696 > χ2 0,05). Although these students
agreed to the offer of lectures during the weekend, after a year and a half
the situation proved to be too strenuous since they practically did not have
any free weekend. At the end of the work week they are tired from all their
obligations at work and at home, so that they use their last energy to attend
lectures or compulsory seminars. More satisfaction about their decision is
experienced by those who are also satisfied with their lecturers (χ2 = 85,213
> χ2 0,001). Such an opinion is shared by 91.8% of respondents. All the
lecturers should be aware of the importance their attitude and approach to
adult participants plays in their education because the student’s satisfaction
about his/her study choice is strongly influenced by them.
Most of the students who are satisfied with their study choice
intend to finish their studies in prescribed time (χ2 = 26,799 > χ2 0,01). We
suppose them to be highly motivated since the satisfaction with their study
choice stimulates them to finish as soon as possible. The dissatisfied
students mostly complete their studies with a one year delay.
When we tried to establish a connection between satisfaction with
the study choice and a repeated decision to study, we established that the
majority of satisfied students (97,1 %) would again enrol at the same
institution they are attending now (χ2 = 133,755 > χ2 0,001).
Conclusion
Adult education needs to take into account the fact that within its
framework external as well as internal motivation factors originate and
develop. It is of course impossible to draw a sharp line between them, but
they are both extremely important to maintain one’s motivation to study.
Adults experience education as a life’s necessity, and the goals that
motivate them to study have a solid time frame and are clearly defined.
The influence of socio-economic environment… 81
They search for reality and application of knowledge and try to get
information about the contents, study methods and educational forms well
in advance. They decide to study on the basis of their own judgement in
spite of the underlying needs of material, intellectual, social, cultural and
emotional nature.
When studying the specific study motivation factors, we need to
observe individuals in their specific social environment. Study results of all
motivation factors bear a strong social character so that they are usually not
applicable to any other social environment. They depend on the cultural
status of the environment where the individuals reside and work, therefore
the motivation hierarchy changes from one environment to the next. We
speak of external motivation when we learn because of external
consequences, therefore this is not permanent. The individual surrenders
passively to various external stimuli. Among the expressed external
motivation sources we can count all those motivation factors that depend
on the narrower and wider socio-economic environment and on the
suitability of educational programmes.
It frequently happens that the attitude of the family or closest
friends exercises a strong impact on the student’s attitude towards
education, on how much s/he actually values it, which in turn leads to
corresponding consequences. The majority of participants of education live
in an environment which values education highly and ascribes great
importance to it. Work organisations and colleagues at work encourage
individuals for studies to a similar extent. They are a positive factor which
provides especially moral and much less material support. The research did
reveal a similar opinion about the awareness of the importance of education
on the part of the management but without providing any available
financial means for it. The question remains about how to ensure such
means and encourage work organisations to invest in education, motivate
its employees in order to decide to study, and how to convince the state
about the necessity of its involvement. We cannot count on the self-
enlightenment of a company’s management, on the enthusiasm of the state
and on a great desire of employees to study. Although company’s
management staff is willing to invest in its employees, they do not know
how to go about it. The state could assist companies in this respect by
organising seminars for the management staff about the importance of
education of human resources, by encouraging life-long learning as a
positive organisational culture and by developing it as such, by bringing it
closer to its employees so that they would adopt it as its own and not feel
they are being forced into it. This would be the beginning of the
82 J. Starc
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wherefores of older people learning, Leicester: National Institute of Adult
Continuing Education, 2008.
Anderman, R., Hicks Anderman, L., Classroom motivation, Upper Saddle
River: Merrill, 2010.
Appleby, Y., Bridges into learning for adults who find provision hard to
reach, Leicester: National Institute of Adult, 2008.
Daines, J., Adult learning adult teaching, Nottingham: Department of
Adult Education, 1993.
The influence of socio-economic environment… 83
Edwards, J., Inviting students to learn: 100 tips for talking effectively with
your students, Alexandria, Va., 2010.
Jarvis, P., Adult and continuing education: theory and practice, London,
New York: Routledge, 1995.
Jarvis, P., Ethics and education for adults in a late modern society,
Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 1997.
Jarvis, P., Learning to be a person in society, London, New York:
Routledge, 2009.
Knoll, J.H., Motivation for adult education, Muenchen: Saur, 2004.
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Rossiter, M., Narrative perspectives on adult education, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2010.
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Wlodkowski, R. J., Enhancing adult motivation to learn, San Francisco:
Jossey Bass, 2008.
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 84-95
Matei Şimandan
Faculty of Economics
”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania
Abstract
This article approaches the problem of ethical principles and
norms referring to the specific case of accounting. In the first
part, we discuss a few aspects of professional or deontological
ethics and its necessity in the organization of the practical
activities of different professions. The second part of the article
insists upon the contractual feature of professional ethics and
upon the way in which the obligations of the professional as
opposed to the demands of the client are perceived. With this
purpose, we discuss the different alternatives of the
professional – client report, by presenting the moral
responsibilities and risks that these can imply in one situation
or another. The last part of the article analyses the practical
meaning of the ethical code of accountant professionals by
highlighting the importance of principles such as: integrity,
objectivity, competence, confidentiality, prudence,
independence and professionalism in respecting the technical
norms connected to the specific of the accounting profession.
Keywords: professional ethics, ethical norms, principles,
ethical code, professional accountant
targets of the client, there are however certain limits to the attachment for
him, as follows:
- professionals have the role and obligation of the third person,
who limits from the normative point of view the expectations of
the clients;
- professionals aren’t simple executants of the orders of the
client, they have the necessary experience and authority in
terms of knowledge in their field which give them the right to
refuse a client in certain conditions.
Although the situation of the reciprocity between the rights and
obligations between the client and the professional involves an equal share
of responsibilities, the application of this model is difficult due to the
following reasons:
- between the two parties there is usually an inequality in
negotiations, in terms of differences in knowledge or
asymmetry of the necessary information;
- there are situations when the professionals have greater access
to the clients’ information then the other way around, as in the
case of public workers for instance;
- there are cases when the client can have greater power than the
professional, especially in the situation when a local or
governmental authority employs the professional;
- even if between the client and the professional there are
relationships of cooperation, mutual trust and partnership, the
relationship between them remains asymmetrical; this concern
of the professional is actually a paid service, not an amiable
activity.
The situation when the responsibility and the authority go to the
professional as opposed to the client, we have the following
presuppositions:
- the professional acts for the welfare of the client, having a
professional authority that is good for the client;
- the client hasn’t got sufficient knowledge and information to
decide properly, his consent usually being post factum, namely
after he realizes that the professional’s services would bring
him benefits.
The moral risk which emerges in the described situations is that of
violating the personal autonomy and the self determined liberty, a risk that
can be diminished by informing the client, by presenting his alternatives of
90 M. Şimandan
knowledge and skills, but also the ability to use them in the interest of the
employing organization.
Regarding the principle of professional competence and prudence,
the Ethical Code insists upon the obligation of the professional accountant
to keep his professional knowledge and skills to the necessary level “for his
clients and employers to be sure they receive competent and professional
services. Moreover, clients and employers have to be convinced that he
acts with prudence, according to the technical and professional standards
from his field of activity (2006, p.29).
Starting from these requirements, the Ethical Code highlights: “The
maintenance of a level of professional competence requires permanent
awareness and understanding of the relevant evolutions on the professional,
technical and business level. Continuous professional learning forms and
maintains the competences which give the professional accountant the
chance to do competent work in a professional environment” (2006, p.30).
• Confidentiality
The principle of confidentiality requires professional accountants to
refrain from revealing information outside the employing firm or
organization as a consequence of a professional or business relationship, as
from using the information obtained while working in the personal
advantage of a third party.
What is important to highlight is, on the one hand, the obligation of
continuous confidentiality even after the end of the relationship between
the professional accountant, client and employer. On the other hand, the
professional accountant has to be aware of the possibility of information
leaks especially in situations which involve a long term business
association with an associate or a relative. For this reason, he must
maintain the confidentiality of information in front of a possible client or
employer, in the employing firm or organization, as well as in front of the
staff controlled by him and offering him specialized consultancy.
Even when there are fixed conditions when information can be
revealed, one must consider whether the interests of the parties involved
could be prejudiced, if all significant facts are known and can be supported
with proof, what form of communication is most appropriate, whom it
addresses and whether the judicial responsibility of the beneficiaries of this
information is regulated.
Professional thinking is involved even in the situation when the
revealing of information is necessary to prevent infractions. Consequently,
revealing information is justified and compulsory if the presumed
The importance of ethical norms in the accounting profession 93
Conclusions
The following aspects should be highlighted at the end of this
discussion.
Firstly, we have to remember that the ethical principles and norms
have important moral functions: they promote the fundamental
requirements of a certain organization system, correctitude being a demand
of interpersonal relationships; it expresses the body of cumulated
knowledge, many norms having a technical characteristic shaped as
recommendations connected to a set of previous knowledge; it represents a
94 M. Şimandan
Bibliography
Appelbaum, D.; Lauton, S.V., 1990, Ethics and Professions, New Jersey,
Prentice Hall.
***** , 2007, The National Ethical Code of Professional Accountants,
Bucuresti, Editura C.E.C.C.A.R.
Cristea, H., Toma, M., 2003, Doctrine and Deontology in the Accounting
Profession in Romania, Bucuresti, Editura C.E.C.C.A.R.
Davis, N., 2006, Contemporary Deontology, in Peter Singer (coord), Ethics
Treaty, Iasi, Polirom Publishing House, p.235-247.
Mercier, S., 1999, L’etique dans les enterprises, Paris, Editions la
Decouverte et Syos.
Miroiu, M.; Beblea, G., 2001, Introduction in Professional Ethics,
Bucuresti, Trei Publishing House.
The importance of ethical norms in the accounting profession 95
Marian-Nicu Spînu
Faculty of Economics
”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania
Abstract
In establishing an optimal communication system for an
organization it is necessary to analyze its
configuration/structure. Several organization
configurations/structures have been defined, formal, informal,
various types of systems have been defined, such as
bureaucracy, adhocracy, etc., some of which have survived.
Combinations of configurations/structures have been proposed
as solutions, as creative bureaucracy, the matrix structure, the
six-part structure, presented in detail in this paper. The
organizations have understood that their configuration and
internal/external operation have communication as a vital
ingredient, which should be organized in an adequate system,
to ensure the organization’s survival and progress.
Keywords: communication, structure, communication
network, entrepreneurship, adaptability, technology
1977, Davies and Lawrence promoted this new type of structure, showing
that a single boss and a single chain of command must be replaced with two
bosses and a multiple command system. From the communication point of
view, the matrix structure bases on the following principles:
- principle of combining communication, decision and authority
vertical lines with the horizontal ones (lateral ones)
- principle of the dual activity system (of interacting with both the
manager from the functional compartment, and with the
product/project compartment)
- principle of specialization (skilled people in project teams)
- principle of competitiveness and creativity, BUT
- Conflicts may occur in relation to the allotment of resources and the
division of authority among project groups and specialists on
functions
- The relative dilution of managerial, functional responsibility
- The risk of dividing loyalty for the manager with the superiors of
positions where they belong.
The six part structure, outlined by Henry Mintzberg who starts from
the existence of several structural factors, without which there is no
organizational structure, the configuration bases upon six parts, in his opinion
the maximum six valid coordinating mechanisms in an organization:
1. operating core – consists of personnel that does the work
2. strategic apex – president, executive board that supervise the activity of the
operating core
3. middle line – vice-presidents, middle management, a new form of the
administrative type
4. technostructure – made up of analysts, consultants performing duties of
strategic planning, control, personnel training, production scheduling.
Technostructure is not part of the hierarchical structure
5. support stuff – it has auxiliary activities: public relations, research,
development, prices, legal consulting – this category is not included in the
hierarchical culture.
More specificity is provided to organizational configurations by the
following:
- age and size of organization – the bigger an organization is, the more
elaborate its configuration
- the technical system – the more regulated the technical system is, the
more formal the work relations become
- the environment – the more complex, dynamic the environment is,
the more dynamic the organization’s configuration is.
100 M. N. Spînu
Bibliography
[1] Professor Michio Kaku, Ph.D., University of Princeton, Albert Einstein’s former
student, Professor Kaku is a specialist in quantum physics and author of several books:
Visions, Hyperspace,etc.
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 101-110
Emilia Ungureanu
Felix-Constantin Burcea
University of Piteşti, Romania
Abstract
The political business cycle can be seen as a business cycle
that results from the manipulation of policy tools (fiscal
policy, monetary policy) by incumbent politicians in hope to
stimulating the economy just prior to an election and thereby
greatly improving their own and their party's re -election
chances or from the competition amongst political parties with
the different ideologies.
The first model on political business cycles was developed by
Nordhaus. It is based on the assumptions that politicians care
only about their re-election and voters judge the incumbent's
performance by the state of the economy.
In this paper are presented the cyclic effects of elections in the
developing countries, being presented also the Romanian case
in the period 1990-2000.
Keywords: political business cycle, elections, developing
countries
JEL Code: E32
Nordhaus Model
The first model on political business cycles was developed by
Nordhaus (1975). It is based on the assumptions that politicians care only
about their re-election and voters judge the incumbent's performance by the
state of the economy. The economy is characterized by an exploitable
Phillips-curve and the incumbent can directly control the rate of inflation.
Nordhaus assumed that the government was responsible for both monetary
and fiscal policy.
Under the assumption of adaptive or non-rational expectations, the
government has an incentive to pursue expansive economic policies before
elections to enhance its probability of re-election by lowering the
unemployment rate. After elections, the government has to fight inflation
with contractionary monetary policies, thereby raising the unemployment
rate, before switching to expansionary policies again as the next election
approaches. Due to the poor memory of the voters, this cycle might be
repeated endlessly.
Such behavior is called 'opportunistic'. The testable prediction of
the model is that before elections the unemployment rate drops due to
expansive policies, while after elections inflation is high and contractionary
measures are taken. Similar patterns apply to economic instruments. A
common criticism concerned the assumption of adaptive expectations. This
has led to a reformulation of the model by Rogoff and Sibert (1987) who
expanded the framework to a 'rational political business cycle model'
(RPBC). They assume that voters lack information about the competence
of the politicians and in order to appear 'competent', policymakers
manipulate policy instruments. The RPBC model predicts visible cycles in
economic instruments, and short, possibly irregular cycles ('blips') in
economic outcomes such as the inflation rate or the unemployment rate.
Elections can affect economic policy both through their effect on
the incentives facing politicians and through selection. By making
politicians accountable to citizens they increase the incentive to adopt
socially beneficial economic policies. Selection is both a direct
consequence of electoral choice and, more fundamentally, because if
politicians are accountable the profession becomes more attractive for
people who aspire to further the public good and less attractive for people
104 E. Ungureanu, F. C. Burcea
who are ill-motivated (Besley, 2006). Hence, through both incentives and
selection elections may enhance political motivation to adopt good
policies. Further, an elected government may face lower costs of doing so.
By conferring legitimacy elections might make it easier to face down
vested interests that oppose reform. However, in addition to the structural
change of accountability, elections introduce friction. Elections are periodic
events the timing of which may affect the incentives facing politicians. In
particular, elections as events may disrupt policy. If elections affect policies
both structurally and cyclically the empirical relationship between elections
and policies may appear confused because of opposing effects. Elections
may improve the average level of policies, yet worsen them in the short
run.
Policy relevance
The intuitive explanation concerning the existence of political
business cycles in Eastern European economies is that poor and lower -
educated voters in these countries are more myopic and hence more
susceptible to short -term political manipulation. Seminal analyses confirm
that the Eastern European Countries' governments act similarly with their
European Union Countries counterparts. However, these resemblances in
political behaviors doesn't imply the fact that such the existence of
politically driven business cycles will be eliminate in Eastern European
states, and therefore, not in Romania too.
Independent monetary authorities can eliminate such cycles in
countries with flexible exchange rates. On the other hand, in developing
countries, like Romania, political upheavals may be more frequent, and
interest group politics more fractious, leading to higher discount rates for
politicians, and poor institutional monitoring of performance in public
works may provide considerable room for improvement under political
pressure (Khemani, 2000). In these conditions, from a normative
perspective, institutional mechanisms which are adapted to each country's
institutional framework and which constrain discretionary government
policies, might be worthwhile considering if expansionary policy making
around elections is perceived to be undesirable (Schuknecht, 2000, p.127).
For example, the strengthening of fiscal rules and institutions may well be
a key element towards reducing policy volatility around elections
(Schuknecht, 1998).
Hallenberg and Souza argue that such constraining domestic
institutions can be a strong finance minister or negotiated fiscal contracts.
In their opinion, given that strong finance ministers tend to work best in
Interference between electoral cycle and economic cycle 105
countries with one – party governments or in countries where there are two
clearly opposing blocks of parties (currently a rarity in the European
continent), it is likely that only negotiated fiscal contracts will be effective
constraining domestic institutions.
Conclusion
Elections are periodic events. One effect of an election is to create a
discrete difference between the period prior to the election during which
the government is in power and on which it may be judged by voters, and
the period after the election when it may not be in power. Elections in
Interference between electoral cycle and economic cycle 109
Bibliography
Abstract
The mandates of higher institutions are pursued through its
main functions and activities of teaching, research,
dissemination of existing and new information, and
community services. However, in discharging these
responsibilities, there are always conflicts within and among
the groups of people in the educational system, namely
students, academics, administrators, non academics and their
unions. These categories of people have different purposes
and expectations. The basic element of the paper is the
concept of poor, power and politics otherwise referred to as
the three PPPs in this paper. This paper examined the major
issues, causes and concerns of labor conflict in Nigerian
tertiary institutions. These causes were identified as conflict
among unions, demand for better incentives against the
available resources, breakdown in communication, conflict of
interest, defiance and challenge to authority, over-estimation
of individual freedom in democratic society, demonstrations
against government policies and institutional decisions and
others. Recommendations were made to the authorities to
improve the situation.
Keywords: conflict, labor, Nigeria, tertiary institutions
112 E. Ungureanu, F. C. Burcea
Introduction
Throughout history staff unrest or uprising has existed. However,
its impact has never been felt as was the case since the 19th century.
Workers today are concerned not just with their immediate adjustment,
but also increasingly concerned with the societal and environmental
factors or forces which seem to impinge on them as member of human
race. Consequently, they participate actively and sometimes aggressively
in organizational development, societal reconstruction and reformation.
Across the globe, the academic communities have been known to
have shaken their political systems for one reason or the other. In sub-
Saharan Africa, staffs’ activism or rebellion has been known to have
threatened governments. It is clear that staff discontent with institutional
authorities, government and the society at large is as old as the
institutions.
It is not a phenomenon limited to a particular area, rather it occurs
all over the world but the form it takes may vary from place to place
depending on the cultural, economic and socio political situation
prevailing in the area in question (Ajayi 1989). Our concern in this paper
is to examine the phenomenon of labor crisis in Nigerian higher
educational institutions in the context of poor, power and politics with
the view of reflecting on some of its nature and causes, with a view to
recommending some solutions.
Conflict revisited
Conflicts are important instruments in organizational development
and learning especially in an organization as the school with a structure
that provides for two or more groups or units with differing nature to
work harmoniously as a team. These categories of people have different
purposes and expectations. The non-academics who perform auxiliary
function might feel unappreciated by the other groups in the system.
Also, the academics have a complex dual role of teaching and research.
These groups though reinforce one another could be a source of much
tension over the individuals division of time, energy and commitment.
Conflicts emanating from individual as grievances usually result with
activities such as disruption of academic calendar and closing down of
institutions. Poor management of conflict has created a lot of problem in
tertiary institutions in Nigeria, culminating into truncated academic
programmes with the attendant effect of elongated academic calendars
(Alabi, 2009).
Understanding labor conflict and industrial relations… 113
● Societal gap
The academic and non academic staff of institutions of higher
learning posses traits in several respects. They try to demonstrate their
coming of age and they seem to revolt against certain established norms to
prove to the society that they have arrived. This is mainly due to the
fundamental changes within the social system which are manifested in the
current craze of urbanity and modernity that not only challenge but
obliterated the accepted moral values of the society. However, the failures of
the authorities to understand these traits often lead to conflict between them,
and consequently their explosion at the slightest suggestion that they do not
know what they are doing. This notion of general gap when carried to the
tertiary institutions could serve as a potent source of labor unrest, especially if
the institutional leadership tends to be conservative and strict with staffs.
Understanding labor conflict and industrial relations… 119
Conclusion
Labor unrest and conflict at the tertiary level of institutions in
Nigeria could be attributed to wages related issues and lack of adequate
provision of certain support services as well as unionism complexities. These
are traceable to personal factors (home circumstance, and financial worries),
academic factors, and facilities, unsuitable residence, poor communication,
unclear institutional structure and policies and undefined regulations), and
external factors (socio political, in equalities, government infringement of
institutional governance and policies, and staffs being increasingly better
informed of standards and practices elsewhere). It should therefore, be upper
most in the minds of all concerned (i.e. the staffs, parents, institutions and the
government) as to how to provide suitable environment through which each
individual within the system can develop to the fullest of his/her abilities and
capabilities in terms of democratic ideals. When adequate support services
are provided in all our tertiary institutions, it will not only assist in increasing
the staffs’ feelings of satisfaction, belongingness, identification and
achievement to reduce if not totally eliminates unrest in Nigerian institutions
of higher learning. The tertiary institutions should strive to lay emphasis on
good working environment and conditions of service, admissions,
registration, records, orientation of new staffs/students, counseling, housing,
food and health services, labor activities and conduct. When these are
provided, it will no doubt help to facilitate the optional coordination and
integration of the academic and non academic needs of the students. Besides,
since the needs of the staffs are not likely to be met all times, they too should
shun strike actions in the bid to seek better solutions to whatever problems
that might be confronting them. These suggestions would facilitate conducive
for teaching and learning. If these recommendations are considered, our
tertiary institutions would be a better place for students, staff and institutional
authorities.
Understanding labor conflict and industrial relations… 123
Bibliography
Abstract
The evolution of human society evolved people's demands
regarding the degree of comfort and safety at home. To this, a
significant contribution has had the housing provision with
various electrical and electronic machineries. Each of them
performs a specific function, satisfies a certain human
need. Taken together with the related complex installations,
such machinery and household equipment can form a "home
automation system", a unitary system, easy to manage.
Keywords: domotics, digital technology, home appliances
References
Instructional technologies
and life-long literacy centers in Nigeria
N. S. Oguzor, H. E. Adebola
Abstract
Learners in adult literacy centers form a special class of
learners. Usually these learners may include those who have
missed for a variety of reasons, or those who had earlier
dropped out of the system but later drop-in again or those who
are interested in continuing or life-long education and willing
to discover new interests and aptitudes. It is essential therefore
that these learners are made comfortable through the use of
instructional facilities. This study was directed towards
assessing the instructional facilities that are in use in adult
literacy centers in Anambra State. The study which was guided
by two research questions was carried out through the use of
questionnaire. The population of the study was 889 adult
literacy learners from 13 adult literacy centers. 160 adult
learners constituted the sample of the study. Simple random
sampling technique was used in selecting the sample. The data
collected were collated and analyzed in frequency and mean
scores. The result obtained showed that adult literacy centers
in Anambra State use instructional facilities. The study also
revealed that television, video, radio, primers, booklets are in
use in these adult literacy centers. Based on the findings, it was
recommended that modern instructional facilities such as
computers, internet connection, CD-ROM, should be provided
in these adult literacy centers.
Keywords: adult literacy centers, literacy education, life-long,
instructional facilities
Instructional technologies … 131
Introduction
The main purpose of this study was to assess the instructional facilities in
adult literacy centers in Awka South Local Government Area. Specifically,
the study aimed at finding out:
132 N. S. Oguzor, H. E. Adebola
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study:
1. What are the instructional facilities that are in use in adult literacy
centers in Awka South Local Government Area?
2. What are instructional facilities in adult literacy centers used for?
Method
The study used the descriptive survey design. The population of the
study was 889 which was made up of all the adult education centers in
Awka South Local Government Area in Anambra State. The simple
random sampling technique was used in selecting 160 respondents from
the centers. The population with the sample is represented in the table
below:
Results
The findings of the study are presented in accordance with the research
questions that guided the study.
Research Question 1
What are the instructional facilities that are in use in adult literacy centers
in Awka South Local Government Area?
Answer to this research question is presented in Table 2.
Research Question 2
What are the instructional facilities in adult literacy centers used for?
draw pictures
that stimulate
reading
Table 3 above shows that all the respondents agreed to the items 7,
8, 9, 10. This implies that all the instructional facilities are meant for what
have been indicated.
Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendations
Bibliography
Ramona Lile
Florentina Barbu
Mioara Florina Pantea
Grigorie Sanda
Faculty of Economics
”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania
Abstract
This article provides an overview of the crisis impact over
women entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship should be seen as a
key element in the development and revitalization of the
Romanian economy. Women see entrepreneurship as an
opportunity to take advantage of business opportunities, to
improve quality of life. Female entrepreneurial environment is
clearly affected by: high cost of tax credits associated with
instability, which generates fear woman investor impossible
not to reach financial debt payment; access to credit weight in
the case of newly established firms; lack of bank advisors
prepared for "dialogue" with potential investor specialist;
difficulties in accessing grants due to the lack of education of
entrepreneurs and officials from the ministries which are
interested in accessing these funds by business.
Keywords: woman, entrepreneurship, SMEs
cycle on an upward spiral to general prosperity. The State need only refrain
from interfering in the economy and enabling the market to generate,
through private initiative, the solutions exit.
But such legislative and regulatory factors are generated mainly by
the Romanian state, by its institutions. These factors directly concerning
laws, regulations, government ordinances, the provisions of a special
nature or other bills relate directly to the business environment. Report
these uneven forces. Regardless of status, industry or closely related
elements that the person contractor, the factors listed company has
discretion within the meaning of change.
Enforcement is one of the most frequent reasons dispute between
companies and the Romanian state, many of the laws, for not research of
consistency between the needs of business environment and what those
needs will be.
Thus, the entrepreneurial environment is affected by the instability
of the tax system - lack of financial legislation simple, clear and stable
financial framework is unfavorable and SME development.
Entrepreneurship should be seen as a key element in the
development and revitalization of the Romanian economy. But instead the
state to support private initiative, has introduced new chore as the flat tax,
bankruptcy measures that have resulted in many small businesses.
President of General Union of Industrialists of Romania (UGIR-
1903), has indicated that the number of firms in services, trade and industry
will go bankrupt by the end of 2010 will be about 100,000, but will in
2011, their number decline to about 50,000. All this happened because of
the crisis and the introduction of the minimum tax of 2,200 lei per year,
respectively 550 lei per quarter.
In Arad county the situation is shown in the following table:
Tabel nr.1 The legal position of companies in the period 2009 - July
2010
Period 2009 Ian-July-
Indicators 2010
Number of firms deleted 981 1144
The number of companies with suspended 3188 1925
work
Number of companies set up 1353 728
142 R. Lile, F. Barbu, M. F. Pantea, G. Sanda
The situation reflected in the chart is not encouraging given the fact
that the basis of comparison is only half the full year 2009 and 2010.
3500
3188
3000
2500
number of entities
1925
2000
2009
ian-iul 2010
1500 1353
1144
981
1000
728
500
0
deleted firms suspended firms new firms
Conclusions
Bibliography
Arenius P., Minniti, M., A Cross-Country Study of Gender Differences in
Self-Employment. A preliminary draft, GEM Research Conference, 1 – 3
April 2004, Berlin;
Carter S., Anderson S., Shaw E., Women’s business ownership: A review of
the academic, popular and internet literature, Report to the Small Business
Service, RR 002/01 Available at: http://business.king.ac.uk/research
/kbssbs/womsbus.pdf;
Levent T., Masurel E., Nijkamp P., Diversity in Entrepreneurship: Ethnic
and Female roles in urban economic life, International Journal of Social
Economics, 30 (11-12): 1131 – 1161;
Delmar F., Holmquist C., Women’s Entrepreneurship, Issues and Policies’
2nd OECD Conference of Ministers Responsible for Small and Medium-
Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Istanbul, Turkey 3-5 June 2004;
O. Driga, L. Gonzales Esteban,, Antreprenoriatul feminin în România,
Centrul pentru Cercetare în Antreprenoriat şi în Afaceri;
Wagner J., Sternberg R., Start – up activities, individual characteristics,
and the regional Milieu: Lessons for entrepreneurship support policies
from German micro data, The Annals of Regional Science, 38: 219 – 240.
Sima M. G, Factori majori de influenŃă ai competitivităŃii IMM-urilor
româneşti în contextul economiei actuale, Jurnalul Cercetării Doctorale în
ŞtiinŃe Economice , Vol. I nr. 2/2009: 25-35;
*** www.wall-street.ro
*** orcar@ar.onrc.ro
*** www.femeiadeafaceri.ro
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 146-151
Petru Tărchilă
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
“Aurel Vlaicu” University, Arad, Romania
Abstract
Throughout time, credit institutions have been represented by
legal persons who work in finance, banking and can operate
like banks, credit cooperatives, electronic money institutions
and savings banks for housing.
Keywords: company, bank, law, contract, bank management
Banking companies
Under Article 11 of Law on Lg.58/98 banking [1], banks can
develop, within the authorization granted, the following activities
(considered to be the main activities of the bank):
a) financial leasing;
b) money transmission services;
c) issuing and administering means of payment;
d) assuming issuance of guarantees and commitments
e) trading for own account or the account of clients, under the law,
with:
-money-market instruments, such as: checks, bills, promissory
notes, certificates of deposit;
-currency;
-futures and options contracts;
-instruments based on the interest rate and currency;
-real estate and other financial instruments
h) mediation, under the law, the offer of securities and other
financial instruments, underwriting and placement of them or by placement
and related services;
i) providing advice on capital structure, business strategy and other
aspects related to it, consulting services on mergers and acquisitions of
companies;
Companies in specific areas 147
j) interbank intermediation;
k) customer portfolio management and advice related to it;
l) safekeeping and administration of securities and other financial
instruments;
m) provision data and credit references in the field;
n)rental of safe deposit boxes
Banks can take place, within the authorization granted, and other
services permitted by applicable law, such as storage assets of investment
funds and investment firms, the distribution of units in investment funds
and shares of investment companies, acting as operator of an electronic
archive of security interests, transactions with precious metals and stones
and objects made of them in office operations, data processing services,
database management or similar services to third parties, participation in
social capital of other entities. [2] Banks can provide ancillary services or
related to activities carried out, such as ownership and management of
movable and immovable property necessary to the activity or use of
employees, and can perform any other activities or operations necessary to
achieve the object of activity authorized without be necessary to include
them in the authorization granted.
Financial leasing is conducted operations since Romania's EU
accession date.
Banks can not perform the following activities:
a) transactions in movable and immovable property, except as provided in
Article 8 [3];
b) pledging their shares in bank debts;
c) granting loans or providing other customer services, conditional sale or
purchase of shares of the bank;
d) loans secured by shares issued by the bank;
e) the receipt of deposits, securities or other valuables, when the bank is in
cessation of payments;
f) loans conditional on acceptance by customers of other services that have
no connection with the operation of that credit.
Bank authorization
Banks, Romanian legal persons, can work only on the basis of the
authorization issued by the National Bank of Romania.
Capital of banking companies is at least equivalent in RON of EUR
5 million (58, paragraph 2). Capital of a bank to be paid, in full and in cash
at the time of subscription.
148 P. Tărchilă
Withdrawal of authorization
National Bank of Romania may withdraw the authorization granted
to a bank, Romanian legal person, or a branch in Romania of a credit
institution with headquarters abroad or at the request of the bank [5], while
shareholders have decided to dissolve and liquidate its request that the
lender foreign, or as punishment or for the following reasons:
a) the bank has started operations for which it was authorized, within one
year of receiving the permit, or has not exercised for more than six months,
the activity of taking deposits;
b) the authorization was granted based on false statements or any other
unlawful means;
c) there was a bank merger or division;
d) the competent authority in the country where foreign credit institution is
established to set up a branch in Romania withdrew its authorization to
conduct banking activities;
e) has passed a decision to shutter the bank's bankruptcy, if it holds the
operating permit delivery of the decision;
f) no longer meets the bank's shareholders conditions provided by law and
rules to ensure a healthy and prudent management of the bank or do not
allow for effective supervision;
g) The National Bank of Romania considers that endangers the interests of
maintaining the permit bank depositors and other creditors of the bank, in
that the bank does not have sufficient equity to the development of normal
activity or there are elements that lead to the conclusion that within a short
bank will not be able to meet obligations to depositors or other creditors or
the bank no longer justify its presence in the market because their activity
does not meet the purpose for which the bank was established and this
activity can be performed only by drawing on resources from interest rates
much higher than those prevailing in the market;
h) the bank's management was not provided at least two persons for a
period not exceeding three months;
i) are not met any other conditions that led to the issuance of the permit.
registered address, the unique registration number in the trade register, the
number and date of registration in the register bank.
The Bank is committed by the signature of at least two leaders,
having powers under the articles of association, or at least two employees
of the bank authorized by the management.
Leaders and managers of banks should have a good reputation,
qualification and competence appropriate to achieve the objectives and
prerequisites necessary for the activity of the bank in accordance with the
requirements of the law and rules of prudent and sound banking practices
in order to ensure credibility and viability of the banking system, including
protecting the interests of depositors and other creditors of the bank [6].
Bank management must be ensured at least two people. Leaders
must be employees of the bank may be members of the board of directors.
Bank managers should ensure effective management of daily bank activity,
to exercise sole function for which they were appointed and at least one of
them to prove knowledge of Romanian. They must be licensed in one of
the economic, legal or other area that is circumscribed in the financial and
banking activity and / or have completed graduate courses in one of these
areas and have at least 7 years experience in finance and banking, to be
specific and relevant to the volume of activity undertaken by the bank.
Bank managers may be only individuals. These individuals must
have at least 3 years experience in finance and banking or in another area
may be considered relevant to the bank.
If bank managers on the board of directors, the number of its members
should be set so administrators do not have the capacity to represent the
majority leader.
Apart from the conditions stipulated by the legislation in force in
respect of directors, a person can be elected to the board of a bank, and if
elected, or if the decade of the mandate:
a) is an employee of that bank, except its leaders;
b) is an employee, director or auditor to another credit institution, the
Romanian legal person, unless the bank is a subsidiary of the credit
institution;
c) in the last five years has been withdrawn by the competent authority
approval to conduct a credit institution or has been replaced as a result of
the remedial measures taken by a credit institution;
d) is barred by a legal provision, a court order or decision of another
authority, to conduct a credit institution, a financial institution or an
insurance / reinsurance, or to work in one specific fields institutions
respective.
Companies in specific areas 151
Bibliography
[1] Law no. 58 of March 5, 1998, banking activity, republished in the Official Gazette,
Part I 78 / 24 January 2005, amended by Law nr.131/2006
[2] S.D. Carpenaru, Romanian Commercial Law, All Beck Publishing House, 2004,
Bucharest
[3] Article 13 provides that banks may conduct these transactions in movable and
immovable:
-Operations necessary to the activity;
-Operations with movable and immovable property for improvement of professional
education of employees, organization of leisure and recreation spaces housing
insurance for employees and their families;
-Lease of movable and immovable assets to third parties, provided that the value of
movable and immovable property leased should not exceed 5% of the bank's own
funds that total revenues from these operations do not exceed 5% of total bank income,
less revenues from these operations, these levels can be exceeded in duly justified
cases, only with the approval of the National Bank of Romania;
-transactions in movable and immovable property acquired as a result of the execution
of the debts had forced the bank. Movable and immovable property acquired after the
execution of bank debt will be forced to bacna sold within one year from the date of
acquisition. For justified reasons, the deadline may be extended with the approval of
the National Bank of Romania
[4] D. Mazilu, Course commercial law, general part, Ed Lumina Lex, Bucharest,
2009.
[5] For instance, The decision of the National Bank of Romania no. 461 of 2004
(published in Official Gazette no. 946 of 15 October 2004) on the withdrawal of
authorization Banque Franco Roumaine, Paris-Bucharest Branch. Withdrawal of
authorization was granted on the request of the bank's sole shareholder. Moreover, on
20 October was announced "merger by absorption of Anglo-Romanian Bank Limited,
a member of the group Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), Frankfurt Bucharest Bank
(BCR former subsidiary in Germany) and Banque Franco-Roumaine (French
subsidiary of BCR ) "
[6] I. Turcu, Business Law, Chemarea Publishing House, 2002, Iasi
Journal of Economics and Business Research, ISSN: 2068 - 3537,
Year XVI, No. 1, 2010, pp. 152-168
János Varga
Ph.D candidate in economics, Szent Istvan University, Gıdıllı,
Budapest, Hungary
Abstract
The process of globalization creates the possibility for the free
movement of products and factors of production that results in
numerous positive consequences in the world economy.
Today, it has become obvious that even globalization is not
able to ensure the conditions of development for everyone.
Real winners of globalization are global and transnational
companies, because they are able to acquire low-cost labor,
preferences and enter new markets, although at the expense of
domestic economic units and domestic competitiveness.
However, another solution exists to create the opportunity of
development: Localization. The development which has
happened in the past few years in Finland is simply called ’The
Finnish Miracle’. The most important question is to find out
the path to this result and to analyze the role of enterprises in
the process. According to the findings, the answer is
localization. At the same time, in the last few years Hungary
showed a serious economic decline and Hungarian enterprises
had also represented a big role in the process. The greatest
result is: localization is viable also for those countries that
were characterized by the impacts of globalization until now.
Keywords: globalization, localization, competitiveness, small
and medium sized enterprises
expenditures were made long before the economic crisis and state aids to
education were not decreased during the recession either. Due to European
Union membership the country’s competitiveness further boosted. Finnish
companies recognized economic opportunities created by the EU
accession; which is also shown by their investment enthusiasm into Baltic
countries and other new member states in relation to investments in
production plants and service concepts. These enterprises exploited
opportunities created by globalization as they got access to a much cheaper
labor force in the receiving countries. The evolution of information society
was a key to the country’s success, since technological development had a
great impact on the entire Finnish society. Finland has one of the highest
rates of regular internet users in the world and the number of mobile phone
subscriptions already exceeds the number of fixed line phones’. The most
important Finnish export items are electronic devices, paper industry
products and various chemical products and in addition forestry (producing
specialties, products of quality and high added value) and food industry are
significant.
Hungary Finland
S&E Graduates / 20-29 years 4,80 17,20
Population with tertiary education 15,40 33,20
Participation in lifelong learning 6,00 17,60
Employment in med/high-tech manufacturing 8,27 6,85
Employment in high-tech services 3,14 4,68
Business R&D / GDP 0,36 2,37
SMEs innov co-op 11,10 20,00
Innovation exp 1,40 2,50
ICT expenditure / GDP 9,40 6,60
High-tech manufacturing value added 16,00 24,90
Bibliography
R. Lile, M. Iacob
Ramona Lile
Mihaela Iacob
Faculty of Economics
”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of women entrepreneurship
and the importance of ethical behavior in all business. Ethics
play a major role in today's "arm's length" business
transactions, and in turn, those transactions play a major role in
the lives of all stakeholders. Taking a closer look at today's
business ethics and how each party is affected can benefit all
the participants in this dynamic process.
Keywords: ethics, women, entrepreneurship
Bibliography
Abstract
It has been traditionally recognized that agricultural production
has primary role in the alleviation of poverty. However, more
recently, produce processing and preservation and marketing
have received increased attention in food security
considerations of developing countries (Bencini and Watson,
1991). This is due to the fact that although self-sufficiency in
food remains one of the priorities of the Nigerian government,
this objective cannot be solely achieved by increasing
production. This paper therefore examines how agricultural
products processing and marketing can be used as a strategy
for poverty alleviation in the new millennium.
Keywords: agricultural production, government, sustainable
solution, marketing infrastructure
Introduction
Dimension of poverty in Nigeria
Nigeria. However, important for landless poor and other categories of asset
poor such as rural women, is the consideration and assistance inherent from
produce marketing enterprises. It is common knowledge that agricultural
and fish marketing enterprises employ large numbers of people directly.
The economic benefits (employment in particular) derived by rural women
in the processing and marketing of agricultural produce and fish products
are well known.
Defective infrastructure
Defective infrastructure, particularly roads and transportation
services is a major cause of marketing problems in Nigeria. Ahmed and
Rustagi (1993) estimated that more than half the higher marketing cost in
Africa in comparison with those in Asia is due to inadequate marketing
infrastructure, leading to high transport costs and commodity loss. Some
traders cut down the number of trips that they can make because of
massive increases in transport costs (Thompson and Terpend, 1993). Lack
of ownership of trucks is often the basis for local monopolies in the
transport sector, which can increase transport costs. Many roads suffer
from gross negligence leading to rapid deterioration. As feeder roads
deteriorate progressively, trucks refuse to go into rural area because of the
high cost involved.
The lack of electricity had made cold storage of perishables or
essential seasonal products such as fruits and vegetables impossible.
Likewise the establishment of rural processing outfits. In locations where
government has invested in physical marketing facilities such as storage,
processing, market centers, etc. the policies have been directed towards
government involvement with often doubtful results and much less towards
encouraging private participation and investment (Mitterndorf, 1993).
Organization problems
There are man producers who are scattered all over the rural
landscape. And since they are not yet well organized into cooperative
societies, they lack the bargaining power as a group. Generally,
cooperatives are indispensable tools for improving small producers’
bargaining power in the market. The activities of agricultural marketing
Agricultural produce processing and marketing … 179
cooperatives may include all the arrangement and preparations which assist
the farmer in disposing of his marketable produce. Regrettable, agricultural
cooperatives in Nigeria have shown a wide gap between their promise and
performance. Some of the reasons are internal and may be specific to some
cooperatives while others are common. Among the latter may include what
Puri (1979) referred to as the bane of adhocism in cooperative policies and
program's leading to the absence of a long term integrated strategy and
resort to frequent and fitful changes in policies. Evidence of the bane of
adhocism could be found in such programs as FEAP, Better Life etc.
Administrative problems
Administrative problems usually arise from the fact that it is
virtually difficult to administer, control or influence large number of
producers, middlemen and retailers who are scattered all over the region
without a co-coordinating central body (Okorie, 1981). Allied to this is the
failure by policy makers in authority to understand marketing link and
concept. There is always the tendency to limit their definition of marketing
to the assembly of produce at rural markets r exports or the flow of produce
from production to consumption. Little is often mentioned about the
strategic role of efficient input supply or the role of marketing in providing
incentives for production or as a multiplier for development (Abbott,
1984).
In spite of several attempts by successive Nigerian governments to
bridge the financial gap in the rural areas, particularly by establishing credit
institutions, there are clear indications that these attempts have led limited
effect (Nweze, 1995; Ijere, 1986). The credit problem of the poor is not
necessarily a problem of high interest rate but of access to the formal
money and capital market. Evidence abounds to show that the poor pay far
higher interest to money lenders than that demanded on the formal capital
market. (Hemmer, 1994; Nweze, 1992).
Storage problems are the most recurrent in Nigerian agricultural
scene. Food losses estimated at 25.30% of total annual production
contribute to inadequate food supply create prices increases and exacerbate
concern about food poverty. A UNICEF household survey in 1991 blames
food insecurity on food consumption imbalance throughout the year and
general food storage during some parts of the year a situation attributed to
in efficient storage facilities (FGN, 1992). To increase the quantity of grain
tored, government planned a Strategic Grain Reserve Programme which
requires 5%, 10% and 85% storage of total annual grain output at the
180 A. N. Eze, P. O. Eze
Federal, State and on-farm levels respectively. The laudable proposal has
been pipe down.
Government policies
Processing and marketing improvement require a favorable
economic environment. For example, a price policy that makes import
more expensive is bound to benefit small producers, processors and traders.
It does so by making local output more valuable (Abbott, 1993). The policy
and strategy outlined above have to be supported by policy changes which
facilitate strong participation of the private sector in the planning, financing
and maintenance of processing and marketing infrastructure. For purpose
of sustainability, promotion of self-help at the grass roots level should be
encouraged by government policy.
Conclusion
Bibliography