Business Administration

Biottery is a brand founded by passionate outdoor and urban sports fans.It is a pilot project, which aims to introduce a honey-­‐based organic power boosting drink to the EU market.
Inspired by Bulgaria's honey production traditions, it is intended for the needs of people with high-­‐paced lifestyle who want to eat healthy and have a sport routine. Biottery will be positioned as an organic power shot by approaching the biggest group of sport enthusiasts – the city runners. This assignment involves developing an environmental analysis and competitor’s overview of the organic food and the functional drink and food markets on four geographical arenas: Bulgaria, France, Netherlands, and the UK. The end objective being to generate fresh ideas for business development for Biottery.

There is experimental evidence that the neuronal network in some areas of the brain cortex presents the scale-free property, i.e., the neuron connectivity is distributed according to a power law, such that neurons are more likely to couple with other already well-connected ones. From the information processing point of view, it is relevant that neuron bursting activity be synchronized in some weak sense. A coherent output of coupled neurons in a network can be described through the chaotic phase synchronization of their bursting activity. We investigated this phenomenon using a two-dimensional map to describe neurons with spiking-bursting activity in a scale-free network, in particular the dependence of the chaotic phase synchronization on the coupling properties of the network as well as its synchronization with an externally applied time-periodic signal.

Neuron activity presents two timescales, a fast one related to action-potential spiking, and a slow timescale in which bursting takes place. Bursting activity in neuron ensembles can be synchronized, meaning the adjustment of the bursting phases due to coupling. We investigated bursting synchronization in a non-locally coupled lattice using a two-dimensional map to describe neuron activity. The coupling involves all sites in a lattice, the corresponding strength decreasing with the lattice distance in a power-law fashion. We observed bursting synchronization for wide intervals of the coupling parameters. We also investigated the bursting synchronization of the ensemble with an external time-periodic signal applied to one or more selected neurons.

Quite a few disturbing themes emerge from The Virgin Suicides, that are better grasped through a psychoanalytical study, utilizing Freudian and Lacanian concepts. The novel’s themes require a psychoanalytical explanation which sheds a deeper light into the twisted, pathological world of the Lisbon family, the Lisbon girls’ melancholia, the nature of their suicide, and the eccentric fascination of the narrators with the feminine sexuality and beautiful, young women as intangible objects of desire.

Sustainable consumption is an up and coming trend in Marketing. Eighty-three percent of all consumers have purchased or are purchasing a form of sustainable products or services. Nevertheless, Albania, as a developing country, has been slow to adopt the trend of purchasing sustainable foodstuff, mainly due to lack of seriousness by Albanian authorities and the lack of information on the benefits of sustainable foodstuff. This research studies the perception and behavior pattern of food consumers in Albania and more specifically sustainable foodstuff, as well as the success of Albanian suppliers of sustainable foodstuff in marketing their offerings. To understand attitudes and barriers to wider adoption of sustainable foods on the Albanian market, and to support the efforts of suppliers, producers, and intermediaries, the author has done secondary data review on trends and marketing activities, conducted qualitative interviews with consumers which were used as a basis to create a quantitative opinion study. The answers to this anonymous online survey of Albanian consumers in relation to sustainable foodstuff have been analyzed, and subsequently the author has conducted in-depth interviews with three sustainable foodstuff businesses in Albania to understand upstream supply chain considerations. The results of the survey show a growing consumer desire to purchase sustainable foodstuff amongst Albanians, but they currently face barriers such as high pricing and lack of product standardization and certification which would serve as indisputable proof of the origin and quality of the food. Subsequently, this would assure consumers do not fall victim of greenwashing or intentional misrepresentation of the products they consider. Furthermore, sustainable foodstuff businesses claim that foodstuff from Albanian farmers is not fully reliable in terms of sustainable produce due to the lack of renewable energy used in production in Albania and the guarantee that the product is free of pesticides or other non-organic substances. From a marketing perspective, this study proposes price, place, and promotion recommendations useful to Albanian sustainable foodstuff businesses on how to improve the process of creating, delivering and communicating value to the prospective consumer.

The video that we have watched in class "Don't Panic -The Truth about Population" is one of the most thought provoking and very inspiring about the future of the human population. Prof. Hans Rosling successfully managed to show that most of mine thoughts and understandings about human population are completely wrong. I thought that the population rate increase abruptly and uncontrollably. However it turned out that people will not suffer a shortage of water or food because the population will stabilize at 11 billion and will normalize the rate it increases.

Being the most frequently-cited example of customer service, the Ritz Carlton hotel is often the subject of empirical research and analysis. The unique relationship between staff & personnel has become a trademark of the company allowing it to comfortably occupy the top positions in servicing the highest end of the hospitality industry. In order, however to successfully continue to pursue management contracts and open new hotels and resorts, Ritz Carlton has adopted several key principals as integral part of their business model.