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Long-term government responses to sustainable tourism development: principles and strategies
89-92Views:234Tourism is one of the leading sectors in the world economy. Enhancing its well-known economic, social and environmental benefits while managing its negative impacts are highly important for the national governments in European Union. Strategic planning is essential to meet the long term requirements of sustainability. National sustainable development strategies and tourism strategies are fundamental means of strategic planning as they provide guidance for the decision-makers of the tourism sector. The member states of the European Union have prepared their national sustainable development strategies, furthermore the Union’s common strategy and the national strategies of some member states have already been revised and renewed by now.The Hungarian strategies – National Sustainable Development Strategy and National Tourism Development Strategy – were completed the World Tourism Organization published its twelve aims for an agenda for sustainable tourism in 2005. Consequently these strategies are expected to contain references to the sustainability requirements and environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. In the present study we analyse the issues of sustainable tourism development in the sustainable development strategies of the EU and Hungary and the National Tourism Development Strategy of Hungary 2005-2013 with special attention to the principles laid down by the WTO in 2005. Our aim is to investigate the cohesion between the principles of sustainable development and sustainable tourism, and their manifestations in some of the strategic documents influencing Hungarian tourism development.
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The problems of regional development in Montenegro
85-88Views:125Economic development is a continuous, stochastic process considering that development depends on a multitude of historical, political, economic, cultural, ethnic and other factors. In the process of development, each country puts effort into strengthening their manufacturing potential, increasing the competitiveness of their economy by modernizing technology, and raising the level of education, culture etc. Owing to the accentuated actions of these factors, and different social, economic and other circumstances, there has been emerging polarizations in regional development, urbanization and so on. Proof of a country’s level of economic development can be found in various indicators such as capital equipment; the share of manufacturing, agriculture, and foreign trade; the share of the private sector in total ownership; the development of financial institutions and capital markets; the development and stability of the legal system; the development of transport, telecommunication and other infrastructure; the realized standard of living; the development of democracy and human rights protection; preserved environment etc. Economies of developing countries, including Montenegro, are usually characterized by a low capital equipment and low labor productivity, expensive manufacturing and insufficient share of world trade, high import dependence, uncompetitiveness, high unemployment, undeveloped entrepreneurship, and an undeveloped financial institutions. Polarized countries in an economic and development sense, are therefore those which are unevenly developed, and are constantly faced with highly pronounced problems of disparity in regional development and demographic problems. Solving these problems is a long-term process and necessitates. The design of a regional policy that is more efficient than the previous ones, as well, as building a different procedure for fulfilling the adopted regional policies.
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Renewable energy resources in Hungary – solid biomass utilization in terms of necessity and opportunity
75-78Views:158In the 21st century a country’s success significantly depends on how it can solve the problems (supply safety, growing prices, climate change, etc.) induced by the application structure of the fossil energy sources with the means of energy saving, energy efficiency and the utilization of renewable energy resources. The utilization of renewable energy sources has positive effects on five key areas: environment protection, energy policies, fulfilment of EU expectations, agriculture and rural development and on the whole of the national economy. The bioenergy – beside fulfilling the national economic aims – it is putting up the value of the role of agriculture and rural development. The role of agriculture is multi-functional in the process. The agricultural sector has an important task in the area of bioenergy to ensure the proper quality and quantity of raw materials for the increase of bioenergy utilization. This also means new sales perspectives and opportunities for the producers. Above all this, the agricultural policy aims for the agriculture and the rural development segment to be the unambiguous winner of the new bioenergy sector and for most of the available profit to stay with the agricultural sector, with the rural players. For this reason encouraging the raw material production it wishes to encourage the producer their primary process and their local utilization. One of the fundamental objectives of the measures is that agriculture should go beyond the raw material production and take steps towards processing and utilization. The multifunctional role in the product chain might mean extra income and more added value for the producers and the active players in the process. The other objective is to promote the local utilization, the scatter of the environmentally friendly energy sources in rural areas, to change the energy is “lying on the ground unutilized” principle while local processing and promoting the utilization, to achieve a lower energy dependency and to optimize and disseminate cost efficient solutions. To realize all this means a great task and a huge challenge for the agricultural government as well as the rural societies and micro regions but might lead to a successful rural development. The range of the tools and measures to fulfil the aims might be very broad, from the regulating instruments to the various subsidies, coordination and dissemination tools. Part of the subsidy schemes are direct production-type of subsidies (the so called direct payments, for example the area based subsidies) and the other main forms are the investment-type subsidies which are for technology development, promotion of competitive production and local processing and for establishing a green energy industry. In the period of 2007-2013 the key elements of the development schemes were drafted in the frame of the New Hungary Rural Development Programme (ÚMVP) and the Environmental Energy Operational Program (KEOP). The available raw materials and the conditions are taken into consideration while designing the development schemes because a successful realization of a product chain means the assurance of the inputs and outputs. The starting point of determining the development direction is the principle of an operation which is sustainable and economical on the long run. In addition such developments are considered reasonable which are viable on medium and long term and bring numerous rural development, environmental and societal returns.
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Effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in local rural development partnerships
31-37Views:192Due to the ever-increasing role the LEADER approach is playing in realizing rural development policy, Local Action Groups (LAGs) have become key actors in the institutional system of rural development. Through their activity in supporting and improving local development, they represent a spatial organizing force in rural regions. Their operation can effectively contribute to the competitive and sustainable development of their local area, within the framework of European rural development policy. Compliance with this role requires the active and conscientious work of the LAGs, both in the process of programming and implementation. In this paper, we aim to present the impact mechanism of the operation of LAGs and its determinant factors. Based on expert evaluations, we investigate the experiences of the implementation of the LEADER approach for rural development from the viewpoints of effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability.
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Moderating Influence of Training and Development on Entrepreneurial Performance
47-54Views:164This study assessed the moderating effect of training and development on entrepreneurial performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria considering the Bank of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Two hypotheses were tested in this study reflecting training and development in Nigeria and Ethical practices of Training and Development impacts on behavioral outcomes of entrepreneurs. The paper puts to test, the preceding assertions with the aid of Kruskal Wallis test. From the test, the study refutes the former assertions on the reasoning that P-values were less than 5% level of significance. This showed that the impact of ethical training and development would be more significant if the young entrepreneurs had earlier exposure from secondary to tertiary education level to make better entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The study observed that the Nigerian educational system has contributed positively to the area of training and development which has enhanced entrepreneurial performance in Nigeria. The study recommends that training and development programme should focus on developing creative or innovative individuals who can help to move the nation forward. A Self-reliant person is a creative individual.
JEL Classification: M53, M1
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Somatic development and some motor performances of young girls based on age and birth season
117-123Views:164There are numerous publications in the literature reporting physical development and motor performances of children of different ages based on sex and various environmental factors. However, there are not many publications on the birth season effect. The aim of the study was to evaluate the differences among children in physical development and motor performances based on age and birth season. Physical development described by body height and body weight, in addition to motor performance indicators including the twenty-metre dash, standing broad jump, six minutes of continuous running, throwing with a stuffed ball, and obstacle race-tests were studied. The survey included the participation of 426 girls. From the group the seven-, eight-, and nine-year olds numbered 148, 191, and 87 respectively. The group of girls who were born in winter, spring, summer and autumn numbered 114, 110, 89 and119 respectively. The tested data were evaluated with unitrate analyses of variance using SPSS statistical package. Mean value, standard error, standard deviation and coefficient of variation were calculated. The significance of differences between mean values was evaluated using “t” test. Differences with an error below 5% were considered to be significant. Furthermore, a correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between season of birth, body development and motor-related performance data. Age, body height, body weight, throwing a stuffed ball in one hand, twenty-metre dash, six minutes of continuous running, and obstacle race-test are interdependent variables of development and motor performances of young girls of this age. Data from the study results show that the children group included in the tests was quite homogenous in body height, but heterogeneous in body weight and motor performances. Physical development and four of the five evaluated sport skills were affected by the birth season. Development and motor performances of the summer- and autumn-born girls are generally better than those born in winter or spring. Differences are significant except for the obstacle race-test. Age, body height, body weight, throwing with a stuffed ball in one hand, twentymetre dash, six minutes of continuous running, and the obstacle race-test seem to be interdependent variables of development and motor performances of young girls of this age.
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New sources of employment to promote the wealth-generating capacity of rural communities
15-21Views:171New Sources of Employment to Promote the Wealth-Generating Capacity of Rural Communities (acronym: RuralJobs) is a collaborative research project partly funded under the European Commission Research and Development 7th Framework Program. The Rural Jobs consortium consists of partners drawn from eight European Union (EU) countries (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain and UK). The project began on February 2008 and finished in October 2010. RuralJobs quantified labour market, demographic and economic trends, and the impact of employment creation measures and policies in seven, representative “reference areas” across the EU, and used the information to demonstrate how rural development measures can be better targeted and how rural development policies should evolve.We identified labour market, demographic and economic trends in rural areas across EU-27 and the potential for new sources of employment outside traditional primary and secondary sector activities, and examined the interaction between different types of rural area (peri-urban, remote, high environmental/amenity value etc.). We identified employment growth areas where rural development programmes can be targeted to increase their contribution to employment creation. Our strategic objectives were the following: review of employment policies and programmes, scenarios for new sources of employment according to rural typologies, recommendations for better targeting of strategies, dissemination and mainstreaming. The main outcome expected is that the results will allow a better targeting of rural development measures and future evolution of rural development policies in line with the Lisbon Strategy.
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The new strategic directions of rural development in Hungary
143-150Views:120The notion of sustainability is the basis for our future possibilities. Local sustainability, in the centre of which can be found the livable settlement, is especially important in rural areas.Without developing rural areas, there is no developing society. The growth of the Earth’s population and the world economy has already surpassed the carrying capacity of this planet which may result in an “overshoot and collapse”. This can still be prevented today. The population of towns and cities is rapidly increasing. Urbanization is a very fast process, even in Hungary. In large cities with millions of inhabitants crime and lumpen lifestyle pose huge problems. However, the bases of a successful economy are morals and a puritan lifestyle, which so far have characterized rural villages. 70% of the poor and needy live in rural areas in the developing countries and agriculture provides livelihood for 40% of the world’s population. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was established in 2002 by FAO and theWorld Bank to learn more about the role of agricultural science and technology. After the positive decision some comprehensive summaries were made on all the related topics with the participation of 400 scientists. The assessment provided many lessons to learn and at the 2008 closing sessions in Johannesburg, the reports were accepted and it was proved that rural areas have a significant role in providing adequate means of earning a livelihood. The Ministry of Rural Development composed a domestic-level study with the title of the National Rural Strategy. The objectives stated in the study can be seen as the main directions of the Hungarian rural strategy. The land policy aims to support the 50–70 hectare family farms and have the agricultural lands under national authority. The population must be provided with ample and safe food. The priority of local economy, local sale, and local markets is important. The positive exploitation of our natural resources may result in the strengthening of rural areas. The deterioration of rural areas must be stopped. In order to halt these processes swiftly fundamental, patriotic economic and social policy changes, a strong people’s party, a short-run crisis treating and a medium-long-run strategic development and action plan are needed which is based on the respect of work and moral norms, national cooperation, solidarity, and the defense of our mutual interests rather than on speculation (ÁNGYÁN, 2010). The greatest problem of Hungary is low employment.Workplaces may be created in the least expensive and the fastest manner in irrigational agriculture. In order to achieve this, the role of the state must be reconsidered and EU rules on state intervention must be reviewed.
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An analysis of the national strategies for sustainable development with special emphasis on the issues of Agriculture and Rural development
53-60Views:128In this paper which is based on my dissertation I carried out a comprehensive analysis of the national strategies for sustainable development prepared by the EU and its member states. I paid special attention to agricultural and rural development issues discussed in the strategies. According to my hypothesis the sets of objectives defined in accordance with the principles of sustainable development provide a firm basis for the objectives of the ongoing reforms of the European Union’s CommonAgricultural Policy. Due to the complexity of the topic I applied an interdisciplinary approach in my research.
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The importance of equestrian tourism enterprises in tourism destination management in Hungary
25-27Views:209Hungary is the pioneer of the European Equestrian Tourism. Several thousands foreign tourists visited specific equestrian programmes already in the 1960’s and 1970’s.At the same times some hundred thousands of holiday tourists visited equestrian shows and programs organised in different areas of our country. From the beginning of the 1990’s equestrian enterprises (pensions, stables, specialized equestrian services) have been established. The equestrian tourism enterprises are well represented all over the country.They are well organised, the Hungarian EquestrianTourism Association integrates 80% of equestrian tourism enterprises. Uniquely in Europe, the voluntary professional qualification, called “the horseshoe qualification system” started in 1998. The most common quality categories are for entrepreneurs are 3 or 2 or 1 horseshoe. The system ofTourism Destination Management organizations could provide the background for the development of equestrian tourism enterprises as well.At local level these needs would be product development, the quality control and quality management, at regional level the most important aims could be the development of regional equestrian image and increasing the attractiveness of this image, finally hardening the positions of equestrian tourism destination.
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Current situation and development of the bee-keeping sector in Hungary
71-74Views:225Rural development has become more and more important issue in Hungary since rural areas also contribute to the efficiency of the national economy. Development of rural areas also very important issue in the European Union, which could contribute to the improvement of profitability of small family businesses, higher employment rate in rural areas as well as slow down the migration of people from rural into urban areas. Nowadays the bee-keeping– as one of the activities can provide alternative income for small businesses in rural areas– has become more and more important topic in Hungary. Bee-keeping sector provides income roughly 15 thousands families in Hungary. At the same time it takes important role in the preservation of rural landscape, traditions and their regional values. However, the sector has serious problems, as well (for instance quality issues, competitors on the market, etc.). It can be stated that the market position of Hungarian honey can be preserved through the improvement of quality assurance and product development. These developments can be carried out by the utilization of national and European Union funds.
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Factors associated with sustainability of agripreneurship interest among graduate youth in Southwestern Nigeria
Views:293The paper examined factors associated with sustainability of agripreneurship interest of graduate youth in Southwestern Nigeria. It specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; identified their agripreneurship activities of interest and identified factors associated with their interest. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 185 respondents from the selected the Local Government Areas in Southwestern States, quantitative and qualitative data were collected using semi structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tool such as frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation while factor analysis was used to isolate crucial factors associated with sustainability of agripreneurship interest of serving graduate youth in the study areas. Results showed that respondents had a mean age of 26.18 ± 2.74 years and majority (75.7%) were not graduates of agriculture. The agricultural enterprises of interest to the respondents were poultry farming (67.6%)’ fish farming (56.5%) and snail farming (50.9%). Crucial factors found to influence sustainability of graduate youth’s interest in agripreneurship were motivational, parental influence, community asset and institutional factors among other. The study concluded that these identified factors were germane to the sustainability of graduate youth’s interest in agripreneurship in Southwestern Nigeria.
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Potential for Hungarian Grasslands in integrated rural development
37-39Views:150Sustainability and multifunctionality, two key principles, which will determine future development in any activities. On the bases of these principles, society as a whole has already outlined future expectations towards rural areas. Rural functions (economic, ecological and socio-cultural ones) have been declared in European Charter for RuralAreas. To what extend can different rural development initiatives meet these functions? The question may be answered by using the method of multifunctional rural resource analysis (NAGY, 2007). The paper is investigating the potential for Hungarian grasslands by using this methodology. It is concluded that our grasslands, as land use systems in their present conditions can participate in integrated rural development in the most balanced way compared to other land use systems in the county. Economically their potential is good. Ecologically their potential is outstanding. The socio-cultural potential of grassland use in Hungary is also outstanding due to the historical roots.As a future prediction the relative importance of the three grassland functions has been outlined in integrated agriculture and rural development.
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Driving factors behind Uganda’s rural pastoral communities’ social-economic status; a comparison between Karamoja Region and Ankole Region
Views:402This study aimed to analyze the social-economic status of Karamoja, Uganda’s largest pastoral region that has consistently stood out as the least developed region in Uganda. The region is naturally endowed with a variety of minerals such as marble, limestone, gold, etc. This has attracted (both local and international) artisanal and small-scale miners into the region whose contribution to the region’s development seem negligible. The Majority of the residents derive their livelihoods from livestock as a primary source. Three major rural development aspects i.e., social, ecological, and economic dimensions were assessed and compared to the Ankole region, one of Uganda’s rural pastoral regions that have over time registered progress in livestock production and regional development. Based on this comparison, similarities and differences can be identified and used to build the foundation for the development of a SWOT analysis that will focus on the Strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist in this rural pastoral region of Karamoja. This study creates a cornerstone for developing sustainable rural development strategies based on a focused analysis of sociological factors that are fundamental in unmasking the ground reality in the region.
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Agri-environmental management and rural development: Hungary after EU accession
35-40Views:141In Hungary, similarly to developed countries, the share of agriculture in the GDP has declined. Even so, preparation of the sector’s long term strategy is crucial, as the role of agriculture exceeds the results represented in the GDP. Environmental and social functions of agriculture are revaluated in developed countries, and consumers at the end of the food chain actually govern the entire process. This is why information plays an increasingly important role, and gives signals (Verbeke, 2005) to the actors in the economy and society. This research area is diverse (including agricultural policy, environmental policy, rural development and sustainable development), and so I applied an interdisciplinary approach and conducted an integrated examination. The results show that in recent decades, the pressure of agriculture on the environment has been lower in Hungary than in the EU-15 and agri-environmental measures have taken hold in all types of land-use systems, even though they are more important in protected areas. Although this development provides a good basis for a long term strategy social capital has lost strength (Csath, 2002), so fostering the creation of internal and external rural networks – one instrument for this could be the Leader programme – is essential for sustainable rural development.
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Sheep production in Hungary – is it a sustainable sector?
95-100Views:191The question of sustainability of agricultural production especially animal production and events leading to its development can be dated back to the second part of the last century. Sustainability is a priority subject matter as it is a core element in our existence and in the survival of the forthcoming generations. The notion of sustainability comprises three aspects: ecological, social and political and economic target systems, which by now have been supplemented with cultural and regional elements including the protection of environment, local traditions, scale of values, cultural and historical heritage. The principles of sustainable development also include the improvement of human and animal health and the maintenance of vital rural communities. The priority notion of sustainability of agricultural production refers also to animal husbandry and especially sheep production. Sheep have contributed substantially to the grassland-based agricultural production in Hungary for centuries. Sheep sector is important in rural areas as the tool of sustainability of animal production. It should also be highlighted that contrary to numerous efforts, the globally difficult process of sustainable development poses almost unsolvable problems for implementers even on local and regional levels. This paper will review briefly the levels of sustainability in the Hungarian animal production with a special regard to sheep production and their content and then points out the most significant economic issues by the application of “SWOT” – analysis, “problem tree’and “structure of objectives” methods, on the grounds of the received findings.
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The planned development’s effect on the performance in ice hockey
31-35Views:180The sports are growing everywhere in the world, so there is no other way to maintain or to increase the level of quality just the strategic planned development (GÉCZI, 2012), because thousands of specialist are working hardly on the better results worldwide. The aim of this study was to monitor the ice hockey players’ physical development in Hungary since 2007, focusing the results after opening the federations’ Methodical Center (MC). One can see a remarkable development during the last years in the domestic ice hockey, which is perceptible following the sport performance and results. The first step of the planned development was the reform of the curriculum in the coaches courses (from 2004 continuously) at every level, the second step was the opening our MC in 2010, where the Hungarian players and experts (coaches and officials) can develop their skills and their knowledge about the ice hockey. We examined the effect of the above mentioned procedures, comparing the national try-out test running events (10 m, 60 m, 6×9 m, 400 m, 1500 m) by the best twenty U18 players (N=80). According to the opening of the Methodical Center, we used the data from 2012, 2009, 2008 and 2007.
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MBA education at Debrecen University Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
79-86Views:242Debrecen is the capital of the Great Hungarian Plain, the centre of many institutions, organizations and business companies just in the heart of Europe. It has provided an ideal setting for higher education since 1538. With this past of more than 450 years, the University of Debrecen is the oldest higher educational institution in continuous operation in Hungary based in the same city. Higher education in agriculture began in 1868, when the National Higher School of Agriculture was formed in Debrecen. The University of Debrecen has more than 26 000 students, and more than 1700 instructors teach at the University, which has 13 faculties, 2 independent institutions, 20 doctoral schools and offers the widest choice of higher education. This outstanding intellectual centre, with a vast research and development capacity, has a growing importance in the economic and social development, cultural progress of the region. It devotes special attention to serving the needs of a knowledge based society more efficiently, and it strives to become the knowledge centre of the region, which also preserves traditions and values.
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The role of education, knowledge and human resources for the agricultural development in the perspective of new cap: an hypothesis of change in Basilicata
123-129Views:177The role of education, knowledge and human resources in the agribusiness becomes of primary importance for the development of agricultural sector and, more generally, of the territory. The main objective of the present paper is to verify the role of investment in human resources and, consequently, in services for the agricultural development for the dynamics of rural development, trade and international cooperation of agribusiness.After a literature review, the paper firstly analyses the characteristics of the Italian Region of Basilicata, selected for our empirical application, and secondly develops an econometric model to explain the relationship between the rural GDP and a set of economic variables and of network-education-social (NES) dummy variable. These NES is representative of social, educational and, network factors, describing the degree of openness of the region firm. As expected, the results show that farmers may act as engines for economic development when they are trained on the basis of the needs and requirements related to innovation and research, and they are assisted through new models of organization of agricultural services.
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Improving audit functions of supreme audit institutions to promote sustainable development
63-69Views:258In this paper, we demonstrate and analyze the substance of the added value effect of a Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), focusing on sustainable development issues.We intend to answer such questions as: how could a SAI respond to global and local challenges and how it could help government to implement commitments towards sustainability. Finally, we trace a possible way to improve external audit functions both on the state level and at the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), by using some ideas from network theory.
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Innovative training methods in business higher education
75-78Views:186A unique business-oriented educational method was launched in 2010 at the University Of Debrecen, Hungary, in the Faculty Of Applied Economics and Rural Development; the method has existed in the JAMK University of Applied Science in Jyväskylä (Finland) since 1993, and is called Team Academy. The gist of this training is that the students learn entrepreneurship through their ‘living’ organisations with the application of the principle ‘learning-by-doing’. Besides developing the students’ entrepreneurial competencies and skills, this educational model also offers team coaching tools to develop teams of 12-13 students that can cooperate in an efficient way. The key point of Team Academy, which has been launched in several European higher education institutes over the past years (e.g. Spain, France, the Netherlands, etc.), is that the most efficient way of learning how to operate a successful company is to learn it in practice. During the professional and project trainings, the cooperation of the team and their company’s efficiency is continuously developing with the help of team coaches. A quite wide variety of team coaching tools is used in this system, e.g. 360◦ evaluation, which is a very important tool of human resource management. Feedback from students also plays an important role in developing team cooperation; the professional frame for this is also given by the above-mentioned methodology. This method is used successfully at the Debrecen Team Academy which / and (do you mean that the a) Team Academy or b) the above-mentioned methodology will be presented? If B), then write ‘and’ instead of ‘which’) will be presented in this study. A database of 150 questionnaires is analysed through qualitative research methods.
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Cross border co-operation in rural areas giving the example of Bihar region
39-45Views:131After the political changes in 1990-ies in Hungary and in East-Central Europe the process of forming cross-border regional cooperations reached a new period. The border regions of the different national states join to encourage co-operation. The most remarkably connected system in our region is the Carpathian Euroregion. This paper deals with one of the most successful initiatives started between Hungary and Romania. The most outstanding co-operation of the past few years exists between the settlements of the former Bihar County which territory today belongs to two countries. The aims of the paper are to research the development of the border region; to reveal the factors of the cooperation and to observe the possibilities for the development. To obtain the goals desktop research, cluster analysis and data analysis were used, as statistic methods. The results emphasize that the development and renewal of the cross-border co-operations were supported by historical factors and good practices adapted from Western Europe. Although economic backwardness or the administrative problems are against the cooperation, historical economic connections facilitate the common work in the Hungarian-Romanian border region.
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Efficiency indicators in different dimension
7-22Views:209There are several variations of efficiency definitions and of course ratios concerned with efficiency. A better understanding of the notion of efficiency is critical to dissolve ambiguity about it. Many confuse efficiency with other supposedly synonymous notions such as profitability, successfulness, competitiveness, liquidity or productivity. This ambiguity originates not only in subjective reasons, but the lack of hierarchical order among certain ideas. The primary driver in our research is, to systematize efficiency in general, and formulate a new categorical approach of the efficiency in corporate level.
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Small and medium enterprises as development factor of agribusiness in Republic of Serbia
45-49Views:173Development of strong and competitive sector of small and medium enterprises has very important role in process of total transition in Republic of Serbia. This sector should be one of the guidelines of economical development and future, like in developed countries. Within the Strategy of development of SME and entrepreneurship in Republic of Serbia from 2003 to 2008 government of the Republic of Serbia, not accidentally, placed among many sectors which are expected to contribute and boost economical development, increase the employment rate, and realize increased influx of means deriving from export, the priority is on sector of processing of agricultural products. It can be concluded that significant contribution from agriculture to improvement of total economical situation is expected. Accession to EU should be considered primarily not only as the opportunity but serious task in regard to restructuring of the agriculture. However, impeding circumstance,in regard to export ofagricultural-foodproducts,first ofallto EU countries, isthefact that thismarket is under strict protective measures within the policy of agriculture and measures of agrarian protectionism. In such conditions it is very difficult for producers and processors of food to enter such closed markets. Small and medium enterprises are facing the choice of the business strategy:
– to place the existing product on current market;
– to place the existing product on new markets, including export;
– to sell the new product on existing market;
– to place the new product on new markets, including export.
Therefore, based on analysis of domestic market, volume and structure of import and export of agricultural and food products, as well as analysis of food industry and agricultural production in Serbia, it is necessary to define potential programs for small and medium enterprises with production which could be economically efficient and profitable from the aspect of investment.
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Master training in Agribusiness and Rural Development at the University of Zagreb
87-91Views:192The title of the proposed JEP project is: “Agribusiness Higher EducAtion Development” with the acronym AHEAD. This curriculum development project – in case of acceptance – will last for three years, from July 2005 and June 2008. The primary project site is the University of Zagreb, Croatia; the contractor and the co-ordinator institution is the University of Debrecen, Hungary. In the consortium, 3 further European universities (University of Hohenheim, Wageningen University and Scottish Agricultural College) will participate, from the Croatian side the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and an additional 7 Croatian institutes will also be involved. The total number of members in the consortium is 13.
The main objective of the AHEAD project is to establish new BSc and MSc programmes in Croatia at two Faculties of the University of Zagreb. These are as follows: Agricultural and Rural Development, Food Safety and Quality Management and pilot MSc training in Agribusiness and Rural Development. These are preceded by faculty retraining programmes in food safety and quality management, as well as agribusiness and commerce within the framework of a MBA programme accredited by the International MBA Network. The professional content of the project is a modernised curriculum and training palette that would be available by the end of this project at the University of Zagreb, serving not only the higher education of the country, but the demand of the Croatian national economy as well, in line with the basic principles of the European Union.
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