Catalin M. Barbu

University of Craiova · Department of Management, Marketing and Business Administration

Promoting the principles of circular economy and the new business models advocated by the circular economy can represent a solution for a more prosperous society, less dependent on primary and energy resources and more environmentally friendly. The sharing economy, which primarily involves the transformation of traditional market behaviors into col...

Social responsibility of organizations is a business philosophy that emphasizes the need for organizations to look beyond their ultimate goal (customer satisfaction in order to maximize the profit that will be distributed to equity holders), and to pay attention to other stakeholder categories in order to minimize the negative impact which these co...

The services are intangibles, therefore their quality is difficult to be evaluated by the client and building a strong brand image is a challenging task. The services are distributed using diverse channels such as: company retail stores, dealers, franchise. The service companies are interested in the environment of the location, not only to increas...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal the conditions that facilitate or hinder a favorable reaction of fans to the resurrection of sport club brands. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed model was empirically tested by applying partial least squares-SEM to a sample of 462 fans of five Romanian football and handball clubs that were...

In this paper we analyzed the branding in small business. Using a desk research on Internet and the press we have identified the practices small businesses use to enhance their brand and the brand dynamics in small business. Our main contribution is that we tried to figure out the strategy of branding in small business. This need further to be inve...

The sustainability of the transport sector is targeted by various policies adopted by the European Union, and their impact must be constantly monitored in order to maximize the desired objective. This paper, through a two-stage investigation, aims to present a systemic approach of the sustainability dimensions in transport and to introduce an innov...

Purpose Drawing on signaling theory, this paper aims to argue in favor of a “placebo outsourcing effect” (POE) consisting of a positive relationship between provider’s bluffing and customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied prediction-oriented segmentation SEM on a dyadic sample of 171 outsourcing relationships. Findin...

The purpose of this paper is to analyse customer experience (CX) in the fintech sector. Fintech is a dynamic and innovative field that fully benefits from advances in information and communication technology. The concept of customer experience is multidimensional, analysed from various perspectives, and with distinct valences in different industrie...

The aim of this research is to analyse the way young people perceive the food waste process, as well as the determinants and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the responsible behaviour of young people towards food waste. The research design involves a study on a sample of 375 students from Romanian universities and the development and validati...

Sharing economy is a common presence in our lives. This new form of consumption started a decade ago, following the 2008-2009 crises, the development in mobile communication and a trend toward sustainable consumption exhibited by more and more people. Today sharing economy is widely debated in academic journals and popular press. In this paper we a...

The complexity of social problems involves sustained interventions not only from state actors but also from non-profit organizations. These initiators are called upon to address various issues, of a large group of beneficiaries, in the most creative way and with the few available resources. In this sense, social innovation is required to create sus...

Sharing economy is a process of consumption and production in which the accent goes on shared access to resource, recirculation and reutilization of resources. As consumers embraced this concept, sharing economy has led to the development of innovative businesses that compete with traditional businesses. The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it...

Internal communication is important for organizations because it creates a conducive organizational climate for performance. However, internal organizational communication did not receive proper attention in organizational management, nor the resources required for effective implementation. We proposed a framework to analyze organizational communic...

In this paper we realized an analysis of factors that influence the brand internationalization. Brands are stories that go beyond the borders of the nation-state. Globalization and trade liberalization leaded to a proliferation of global brands. We showed that brands that want to go abroad must carefully plan their internationalization and choose t...

Succession management is a comprehensive system of assessment and development processes that support the attraction, development, rewarding and retaining talented individuals, from entry level position to senior management level. The succession in management programs may include employees and volunteers of the organization's top to lower levels. De...

Public funded sport clubs are facing tough times with the crises, due to the fact that their resources decrease significantly. Also the private resources are becoming scarce. In this condition the survival of the clubs is a major challenge. The motivation of athletes and stuff must be maintained and the managers must find resources to finance the p...

In this paper I studied the meanings of made in Romania concept among the Romanian consumers. The methodology required that respondents were interviewed about their attitudes. The results show that made in Romania has a negative connotation, and that made in Germany and made in USA are better appreciated. Still, made in Romania has obtained a bette...

In this paper I discussed the factors that influence the cultural adaptation of products. Globalization determines the companies to operate abroad; therefore the firms sell their products to markets where the consumer patterns might differ from their national market. It is of high importance to be able to understand and to adapt to local consumer h...

In this paper we investigated the sources of “Buy Romanian” attitude. We formulated three constructs namely Buy Romanian, nationalism and internationalism and we measured them by developing three scales. The scales were included in a questionnaire that was administered to 110 respondents. Performing statistical analysis, the results showed us that...

In this paper we realized an extensive review of the decision-making process as it was developed in the specialty literature. Decision-making is one of the most important managerial issue to which a great attention was devoted by the specialists. However the efforts to synthesize all the vast research were scarce. For this purpose we present in our...

This study is related to public policy issues, such as the ethics of marketing practices and the dynamics of popular culture. Although textbooks often present the consumer as a rational decision maker, often harmful for consumer activities of the individual or society. Often, the consumer's worst enemy is himself. Growth is still important, even mo...

Our purpose, in this paper, is to identify the modalities deployed by consumers to evaluate and appreciate the brands. In the marketing literature there are a few models that gained recognition among specialists. Customers do not relate to brands only as the names of the products they buy but, between the customers and the brands there are certain...

In this paper we investigated the influence of the country of origin effect on the success of the products in international markets. The country of origin effect consists in the totality of influences that the country of origin has on the buyer behavior of a product or service. The methodology of research required the classification of brands in fo...

As a long-term strategy, outsourcing involves a series of risks that are underestimated by the managers, strongly attracted by the short-term profitability. While the risks of outsourcing cannot be eliminated completely, one must found the mechanisms to manage those risks efficiently. A way to manage the risks is to transfer the perspective from sh...

The increasing productivity of production factors, due to progresses in science and technology is today the engine of economic growth. The economic theory managed to endogenize the technical progress, first as a result of the unintended activities of firms, then as the result of profit driven behaviour of economic agents. In globalization the stock...

Good corporate governance is an important step in building market confidence and encouraging more stable, long-term international investment flows. Many countries see better corporate governance practices as a way to improve economic dynamism and thus enhance overall economic performance. This paper sets out to further develop our understanding of...

This paper clarifies the links between employment, productivity and output growth and traces prospects for the Romanian economy. Because it always remains true, the fundamental identity which relates employment to output and labor productivity is the starting point for this paper. We present three scenarios for future employment, productivity and G...

Today’s environment determines companies to use scanning activities in order to seize the opportunities and to avoid the threats. Individual factors and organizational factors influence the scanning behavior. The examination of the environment can be presented in a model based on environment analyzability and organizational intrusiveness.

The complexity of economic life and the necessity to prepare the students for a very competitive environment has determined the members of the teaching body to find new teaching methods. An increasing importance was awarded to the study case method, successfully promoted by Harvard Business School. The case method is also used as recruitment techni...

In the evolution of pricing strategy, yield management gained a significant importance in the latest years. Revenue Management/Yield Management helps businesses selling services at the right time, to the right customer, at the right price. Revenue management can be applied to all service businesses and especially to those in which lower price units...