This study assesses the impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors that are likely to have effe... more This study assesses the impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors that are likely to have effects on the development of artificial intelligence at the national level. This technology is evaluated both globally and in terms of its components: qualified users, technical capabilities, regulations, societal support, academic support, algorithms and platforms, support from public authorities, and private economic initiatives. Socioeconomic determinants include economic development and the speed of economic growth, funding for education and research and development, high-tech exports, urbanisation, population, and workforce. Cultural determinants are represented by national aggregate Hofstede's cultural indicators. The available data cover 60 countries from all continents and the period from 2012 to 2022. The research methodology employs hierarchical clustering and robust cross-sectional regression models to avoid heteroscedasticity. The main results indicate highly significant effects of GDP per capita, its growth rate, research and development funding, and the degree of urbanisation. Among cultural factors, only uncertainty avoidance is statistically significant. The multidimensional hierarchical clustering identified six groups corresponding to different national behaviours regarding preferences for the development of certain artificial intelligence technologies and activities.
Analele Universităţii "Dunărea de Jos" din Galaţi. Fascicula I, Economie şi Informatică aplicată, Dec 30, 2023
The production structure of farms has a great importance in the context of Romania where there ar... more The production structure of farms has a great importance in the context of Romania where there are many mixed farms and most of them have problems of economic viability. Optimization of the production structure is essential in ensuring the viability of farms therefore our study focuses on applying the model of linear programming for the optimization of the production structure. The model was applied to a case study where the optimization was performed from different perspectives by using various economic indicators such as the standard output, gross margin, profit per hectare and production costs. The results have shown that the optimal structure differs depending on the farms' medium and long-term objectives. As a result of the analysis for the proposed scenarios, to increase the efficiency, the use of the category of youth under 1 year old must be abandoned and the cattle for meat category should be developed. Gross margin was found to be the most suitable indicator depending on which the optimal production structure should be modeled.
Proceedings of the International Management Conference, 2013
Ethical decisions making in the agri-food sector is a topic of multiple dimensions. In the presen... more Ethical decisions making in the agri-food sector is a topic of multiple dimensions. In the present paper we have choose to focus on aspects regarding ethical and unethical activities of agri-food enterprises in relation with its stakeholders. Based on literature review we highlight the role of ethics in decision making and then the objective was to link the body of literature on business ethics to the food sector, and especially to the agrifood enterprises. Taking into account that the food supply chain connects important and diverse actors the aim of the present paper is to provide an overview on the impact of ethical and unethical decisions making by agri-food companies on selected stakeholders. Findings of the paper show that among the Romanian agri-food enterprises, few are concerned to integrate ethical decision in their activities and act responsible. Also along the entire food supply chain individual consumers and producers are the most exposed and affected by unfair practices. The article concludes that for the agri-food sector, which is dependent on natural, human and physical resources, responsible innovation and ethical behaviour should be increasingly seen by firms, as a corporate and strategic necessity to ensure long-term sustainability.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2012
This study is part of a broader research on work motivation in the Romanian local public administ... more This study is part of a broader research on work motivation in the Romanian local public administration, based on Vroom’s motivational model. The research has tried to diagnose Romanian local public institutions (city halls in particular) regarding the work motivation level of their civil servants. Since the research was too broad to be presented entirely in this article, the authors will show only the findings obtained in one city hall from a city, county residence. Due to the same reason, this paper refers to just one of the Vroom’s model elements (the expectancy) and to one of the aspects that could influence it: the probation period for the debutant civil servants. The probation period is critical in preparing civil servants for their future job and career within the local public administration. That is why it can influence the expectancy of civil servants, which in its turn, (from Vroom’s’ model perspective) influences work motivation.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2013
This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of wor... more This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of work motivation. The research is based on the expectancy theory developed by Victor Vroom and is meant to show that performance evaluation influences one of the factors from the VIE model, the expectancy. The empirical part of the research aims to show the above mentioned in the context of local public administration, namely in the case of the Romanian civil servants from the North-West Region. We have presented the particularities of civil servants performance evaluation in the Romanian local public administration, and its connection to their expectancy and work motivation. The results have shown that civil servants performance appraisal influences civil servants expectancy and this in its turn influences their work motivation.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2006
For Romania agritourism development represents the opportunity to differentiate between the rural... more For Romania agritourism development represents the opportunity to differentiate between the rural and urban environment, as well as the best way for the preservation of traditions and customs in the rural areas, supplying a sustainable rural development. This work portrays agritourism as an element of rural development and critically analyzes the way in which the public administration should become involved in sustaining rural development in general and in sustaining agritourism development in particular.
This study assesses the effect of economic, institutional, and cultural factors on green energy p... more This study assesses the effect of economic, institutional, and cultural factors on green energy production. The present research considers only sources for which the European Union cofinances investment in production capacity; thus, we exclude hydroelectric power. The economic determinants are internal consumption and national income, the institutional ones are the Worldwide Governance Indicators, and the cultural ones are the national cultural indicators of Hofstede. Data comprise the European Union countries for the 2007-2015 period, the longest time period in which the structure of the Union has remained mostly unchanged. We employ random effects panel data models and hierarchical clustering. Our main results emphasise the significant impact of internal energy consumption per capita, government effectiveness, rule of law, control of corruption, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. The multidimensional hierarchical clustering points out three behavioural groups based on these variables. Two of them are quite homogeneous with respect to the geographical distribution of the countries on the European continent.
This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of wor... more This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of work motivation. The research is based on the expectancy theory developed by Victor Vroom and is meant to show that performance evalua-tion influences one of the factors from the VIE model, the expectancy. The empirical part of the research aims to show the above mentioned in the context of local public administration, namely in the case of the Romanian civil servants from the North-West Region. We have presented the particularities of civil servants performance eva-luation in the Romanian local public administra-tion, and its connection to their expectancy and work motivation. The results have shown that civil servants performance appraisal influences civil servants expectancy and this in its turn influences their work motivation.
This paper analyses the extent to which aspects contributing to sustainable development are integ... more This paper analyses the extent to which aspects contributing to sustainable development are integrated at family farms level. The present research aims to inventory the state of family farms from the Nord Vest development region1 from Romania, to see how they can contribute to the sustainable development of the area. Another objective is to investigate the availability of the family farm to develop and to identify the variables that can influence this desire, given its role in the existence of the Romanian village. As it was noted from the literature review, family farms have different characteristics from one country to another and even from one area to another, thus requiring different approaches. The characteristics revealed at the level of family farms from the Nord Vest Region outline a low economic viability, which indicates a low probability of economic development in the absence of coherent policies to support them directly.
The paper presents how recruitment is done in the local public administration from Romania and Be... more The paper presents how recruitment is done in the local public administration from Romania and Belgium (The Brussels Region) since this is one of the first steps an individual has to make in order to become a public servant and stat a career in local public administration. The paper aims to show what the common points are when referring to the recruitment in the local public service in both countries.
Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, 2014
Confronted with more complex and numerous environmental issues many companies realized that envir... more Confronted with more complex and numerous environmental issues many companies realized that environmental initiatives can be more effectively managed through an EMS which provide a systematic and coherent approach of their activities. In the present paper we describe the two most recognized and widely applied systems for environmental management-EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) and ISO 14001 certifications. Once viewed as an external cost, environmental responsibility is fast becoming a competitive advantage for companies and for the whole economy of a country. Our paper adds new perspective to the literature framework, by showing that even if the differences between ISO 14001 and EMAS still exist they are not competitors, moreover ISO 14001 requirements are integrated into EMAS scheme, become compatible to each other. To achieve the objective of this paper we make an analysis regarding the number of Romanian organizations that have a certified environmental management system, in compliance with the two main international references. The results show that in our countries the number of organizations with an EMS certified by ISO 14001 is much higher than the number of organizations registered under EMAS. This represents an opportunity, given that once with the adoption of EMAS II, ISO 14001 is a step stone towards EMAS certification and companies can integrate both standards in their management system, achieving more benefits on the European markets. Another opportunity to increase the number of EMAS registration are economic and financial incentives offered to small and medium sized companies.
Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 2015
As a result of the stakeholders' growing pressure and global environmental challenges, many corpo... more As a result of the stakeholders' growing pressure and global environmental challenges, many corporations across the world have to integrate environmental issues into their strategic decision-making system and operations function. The objective of this paper is to identify to what extent the activities regarding the environmental issues are successfully integrated into general and functional strategies of a multinational company from production field. We have analyzed these aspects using the model proposed by Paul de Baker and data were collected by applying questionnaires. The results show that the highest score was obtained in the case of production strategy, while integration of environmental issues into human resource strategy is the biggest challenge that an organization has to face. The value of global diagnosis points out an average concern for integrating the environmental aspects in the overall company strategy, fact that is also confirmed by the scores obtained for each dimension and per total.
In the present paper we have chosen to make an analysis of the performance of the SME sector duri... more In the present paper we have chosen to make an analysis of the performance of the SME sector during the period 2008-2013, under the impact of economic crisis and taking into consideration three core indicators: number of SME, number of persons employed and gross added value. Due to the fact that rural sustainable development become at present a strategic priority for European Union, the research aims to bring into attention the divers potential of SMEs sector in the rural area of Romania, in order to identify solutions that contribute to economic recovery for the next period in concordance with the Europe 2020 strategy. We conclude that the future for developing rural enterprises and diversifying the rural economy will depend very much on integrating both agricultural and non-agricultural activities by attracting government and community funds.
Revista Transilvană De Ştiinţe Administrative, 2007
The article aims to identify those indicators that can be used for evaluating the sustainability ... more The article aims to identify those indicators that can be used for evaluating the sustainability of the Romanian agricultural uses. The three main domains: ecology, economy and sociology influence the development process of these indicators, which also relies upon the wellrecognized methods IDEA and IDERICA. Some of the assumptions used for constructing the sustainable development model of the Romanian agricultural uses are: the complex and competitive managerial techniques that foster ecological protection of the natural environment, as well as of the consumers, the flexibility, the size of the agricultural use that has to correspond to its specialization, the long term profitability and the economic efficiency.
This study assesses the impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors that are likely to have effe... more This study assesses the impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors that are likely to have effects on the development of artificial intelligence at the national level. This technology is evaluated both globally and in terms of its components: qualified users, technical capabilities, regulations, societal support, academic support, algorithms and platforms, support from public authorities, and private economic initiatives. Socioeconomic determinants include economic development and the speed of economic growth, funding for education and research and development, high-tech exports, urbanisation, population, and workforce. Cultural determinants are represented by national aggregate Hofstede's cultural indicators. The available data cover 60 countries from all continents and the period from 2012 to 2022. The research methodology employs hierarchical clustering and robust cross-sectional regression models to avoid heteroscedasticity. The main results indicate highly significant effects of GDP per capita, its growth rate, research and development funding, and the degree of urbanisation. Among cultural factors, only uncertainty avoidance is statistically significant. The multidimensional hierarchical clustering identified six groups corresponding to different national behaviours regarding preferences for the development of certain artificial intelligence technologies and activities.
Analele Universităţii "Dunărea de Jos" din Galaţi. Fascicula I, Economie şi Informatică aplicată, Dec 30, 2023
The production structure of farms has a great importance in the context of Romania where there ar... more The production structure of farms has a great importance in the context of Romania where there are many mixed farms and most of them have problems of economic viability. Optimization of the production structure is essential in ensuring the viability of farms therefore our study focuses on applying the model of linear programming for the optimization of the production structure. The model was applied to a case study where the optimization was performed from different perspectives by using various economic indicators such as the standard output, gross margin, profit per hectare and production costs. The results have shown that the optimal structure differs depending on the farms' medium and long-term objectives. As a result of the analysis for the proposed scenarios, to increase the efficiency, the use of the category of youth under 1 year old must be abandoned and the cattle for meat category should be developed. Gross margin was found to be the most suitable indicator depending on which the optimal production structure should be modeled.
Proceedings of the International Management Conference, 2013
Ethical decisions making in the agri-food sector is a topic of multiple dimensions. In the presen... more Ethical decisions making in the agri-food sector is a topic of multiple dimensions. In the present paper we have choose to focus on aspects regarding ethical and unethical activities of agri-food enterprises in relation with its stakeholders. Based on literature review we highlight the role of ethics in decision making and then the objective was to link the body of literature on business ethics to the food sector, and especially to the agrifood enterprises. Taking into account that the food supply chain connects important and diverse actors the aim of the present paper is to provide an overview on the impact of ethical and unethical decisions making by agri-food companies on selected stakeholders. Findings of the paper show that among the Romanian agri-food enterprises, few are concerned to integrate ethical decision in their activities and act responsible. Also along the entire food supply chain individual consumers and producers are the most exposed and affected by unfair practices. The article concludes that for the agri-food sector, which is dependent on natural, human and physical resources, responsible innovation and ethical behaviour should be increasingly seen by firms, as a corporate and strategic necessity to ensure long-term sustainability.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2012
This study is part of a broader research on work motivation in the Romanian local public administ... more This study is part of a broader research on work motivation in the Romanian local public administration, based on Vroom’s motivational model. The research has tried to diagnose Romanian local public institutions (city halls in particular) regarding the work motivation level of their civil servants. Since the research was too broad to be presented entirely in this article, the authors will show only the findings obtained in one city hall from a city, county residence. Due to the same reason, this paper refers to just one of the Vroom’s model elements (the expectancy) and to one of the aspects that could influence it: the probation period for the debutant civil servants. The probation period is critical in preparing civil servants for their future job and career within the local public administration. That is why it can influence the expectancy of civil servants, which in its turn, (from Vroom’s’ model perspective) influences work motivation.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2013
This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of wor... more This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of work motivation. The research is based on the expectancy theory developed by Victor Vroom and is meant to show that performance evaluation influences one of the factors from the VIE model, the expectancy. The empirical part of the research aims to show the above mentioned in the context of local public administration, namely in the case of the Romanian civil servants from the North-West Region. We have presented the particularities of civil servants performance evaluation in the Romanian local public administration, and its connection to their expectancy and work motivation. The results have shown that civil servants performance appraisal influences civil servants expectancy and this in its turn influences their work motivation.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2006
For Romania agritourism development represents the opportunity to differentiate between the rural... more For Romania agritourism development represents the opportunity to differentiate between the rural and urban environment, as well as the best way for the preservation of traditions and customs in the rural areas, supplying a sustainable rural development. This work portrays agritourism as an element of rural development and critically analyzes the way in which the public administration should become involved in sustaining rural development in general and in sustaining agritourism development in particular.
This study assesses the effect of economic, institutional, and cultural factors on green energy p... more This study assesses the effect of economic, institutional, and cultural factors on green energy production. The present research considers only sources for which the European Union cofinances investment in production capacity; thus, we exclude hydroelectric power. The economic determinants are internal consumption and national income, the institutional ones are the Worldwide Governance Indicators, and the cultural ones are the national cultural indicators of Hofstede. Data comprise the European Union countries for the 2007-2015 period, the longest time period in which the structure of the Union has remained mostly unchanged. We employ random effects panel data models and hierarchical clustering. Our main results emphasise the significant impact of internal energy consumption per capita, government effectiveness, rule of law, control of corruption, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. The multidimensional hierarchical clustering points out three behavioural groups based on these variables. Two of them are quite homogeneous with respect to the geographical distribution of the countries on the European continent.
This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of wor... more This study aims to highlight the importance of performance evaluation from the perspective of work motivation. The research is based on the expectancy theory developed by Victor Vroom and is meant to show that performance evalua-tion influences one of the factors from the VIE model, the expectancy. The empirical part of the research aims to show the above mentioned in the context of local public administration, namely in the case of the Romanian civil servants from the North-West Region. We have presented the particularities of civil servants performance eva-luation in the Romanian local public administra-tion, and its connection to their expectancy and work motivation. The results have shown that civil servants performance appraisal influences civil servants expectancy and this in its turn influences their work motivation.
This paper analyses the extent to which aspects contributing to sustainable development are integ... more This paper analyses the extent to which aspects contributing to sustainable development are integrated at family farms level. The present research aims to inventory the state of family farms from the Nord Vest development region1 from Romania, to see how they can contribute to the sustainable development of the area. Another objective is to investigate the availability of the family farm to develop and to identify the variables that can influence this desire, given its role in the existence of the Romanian village. As it was noted from the literature review, family farms have different characteristics from one country to another and even from one area to another, thus requiring different approaches. The characteristics revealed at the level of family farms from the Nord Vest Region outline a low economic viability, which indicates a low probability of economic development in the absence of coherent policies to support them directly.
The paper presents how recruitment is done in the local public administration from Romania and Be... more The paper presents how recruitment is done in the local public administration from Romania and Belgium (The Brussels Region) since this is one of the first steps an individual has to make in order to become a public servant and stat a career in local public administration. The paper aims to show what the common points are when referring to the recruitment in the local public service in both countries.
Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, 2014
Confronted with more complex and numerous environmental issues many companies realized that envir... more Confronted with more complex and numerous environmental issues many companies realized that environmental initiatives can be more effectively managed through an EMS which provide a systematic and coherent approach of their activities. In the present paper we describe the two most recognized and widely applied systems for environmental management-EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) and ISO 14001 certifications. Once viewed as an external cost, environmental responsibility is fast becoming a competitive advantage for companies and for the whole economy of a country. Our paper adds new perspective to the literature framework, by showing that even if the differences between ISO 14001 and EMAS still exist they are not competitors, moreover ISO 14001 requirements are integrated into EMAS scheme, become compatible to each other. To achieve the objective of this paper we make an analysis regarding the number of Romanian organizations that have a certified environmental management system, in compliance with the two main international references. The results show that in our countries the number of organizations with an EMS certified by ISO 14001 is much higher than the number of organizations registered under EMAS. This represents an opportunity, given that once with the adoption of EMAS II, ISO 14001 is a step stone towards EMAS certification and companies can integrate both standards in their management system, achieving more benefits on the European markets. Another opportunity to increase the number of EMAS registration are economic and financial incentives offered to small and medium sized companies.
Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 2015
As a result of the stakeholders' growing pressure and global environmental challenges, many corpo... more As a result of the stakeholders' growing pressure and global environmental challenges, many corporations across the world have to integrate environmental issues into their strategic decision-making system and operations function. The objective of this paper is to identify to what extent the activities regarding the environmental issues are successfully integrated into general and functional strategies of a multinational company from production field. We have analyzed these aspects using the model proposed by Paul de Baker and data were collected by applying questionnaires. The results show that the highest score was obtained in the case of production strategy, while integration of environmental issues into human resource strategy is the biggest challenge that an organization has to face. The value of global diagnosis points out an average concern for integrating the environmental aspects in the overall company strategy, fact that is also confirmed by the scores obtained for each dimension and per total.
In the present paper we have chosen to make an analysis of the performance of the SME sector duri... more In the present paper we have chosen to make an analysis of the performance of the SME sector during the period 2008-2013, under the impact of economic crisis and taking into consideration three core indicators: number of SME, number of persons employed and gross added value. Due to the fact that rural sustainable development become at present a strategic priority for European Union, the research aims to bring into attention the divers potential of SMEs sector in the rural area of Romania, in order to identify solutions that contribute to economic recovery for the next period in concordance with the Europe 2020 strategy. We conclude that the future for developing rural enterprises and diversifying the rural economy will depend very much on integrating both agricultural and non-agricultural activities by attracting government and community funds.
Revista Transilvană De Ştiinţe Administrative, 2007
The article aims to identify those indicators that can be used for evaluating the sustainability ... more The article aims to identify those indicators that can be used for evaluating the sustainability of the Romanian agricultural uses. The three main domains: ecology, economy and sociology influence the development process of these indicators, which also relies upon the wellrecognized methods IDEA and IDERICA. Some of the assumptions used for constructing the sustainable development model of the Romanian agricultural uses are: the complex and competitive managerial techniques that foster ecological protection of the natural environment, as well as of the consumers, the flexibility, the size of the agricultural use that has to correspond to its specialization, the long term profitability and the economic efficiency.
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Papers by Maria Mortan