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Regional differences in the economical sustainability of sports halls
85-91Views:157The precondition of a health conscious behaviour in a community is establishing a healthy development of the community, an important part of which is the community’s attitude to sports and health. A basic manifestation of this is whether the leadership of a specific settlement is committed to developing sports facilities and, on the other hand, to what extent residents make use of these facilities. The aim of our research was to point out the number of sports facilities currently available for catering everyday physical education introduced in 2012, leisure sports and competitive sport events in two different regions of Hungary. We also examined the resources available for maintaining the facilities and the degree to which existing facilities are exploited. Existing sports halls of the Northern Great Plain and Central Transdanubia were included in the research. We wish to emphasise, in regards to the infrastructural developments of the coming few years, that it is essential to consider the fact, even in the planning phase of facilities, that sport events in themselves do not make the facilities economically sustainable.
JEL code: Z20
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Structural Breaks or Continuous Adjustments in Grain Production and Prices 1961-2014? An Explorative Study
11-22Views:124This article analyses grain production and prices 1961-2014. We first describe the development in aggregated and relative allocation of land worldwide for wheat, corn and soybeans, and the growth in production volumes and yields. We then proceed by analyzing long-term price relationships. Finding that grain prices are strongly co-integrated, we estimate an Error Correction Model to see whether deviations from the long-run equilibrium are quickly adjusted. Furthermore, we investigate whether changes in land allocations for these principal field crops are best described as a continuous process or as a series of structural breaks, hypothesizing that events like the introduction of GM technologies and the “energizing” of corn after 2005 caused structural breaks in acreage shares and relative prices. Given the major and sometimes dramatic political events and technological changes during this period,one would expect to find significant structural breaks in grain production, yields and prices. However, our main conclusion is that grain markets generally adjust smoothly and continuously. Prices adjust quickly towards long-run equilibrium, and the results from a series of Chow tests indicate that the changes in relative land allocations have progressed as a relatively smooth process with few structural breaks.
JEL Classification: O13, Q10, N50
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Investigation of the effect of flooring on the living performance of sows using survival analysis
99-102Views:114Pig-farming has a long tradition in Hungary, most significantly within the Alföld region. In my analysis I studied the lifespan of sows in two nucleus pig herds on the Great Plain, also examining the probability of the occurrence of different reasons for culling. During my research I collected data (from 2001 to 2010) relating to more than 10,000 sows from the farms conducting a breeding programme and I searched for the answer to the question of whether can I find a significant difference in the lifespan of sows with the same feeding and the same genotype if the floor type of farms is different (Herd A has a solid floor with straw and Herd B has a slatted floor). Regarding the reasons for culling ANOVA was used to investigate mean differences in logarithms of the lifespan of sows in each herd. Between the herds the seven most common culling reasons were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method and the significant difference was demonstrated with the logrank test. The results of the log-rank test showed that there was a significant difference in leg problems as a cause of culling and deaths (p < 0.05) between the two farms, which is the consequence of different floor types.
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Differences of the primary energy consumption of the countries all over the world
155-161Views:158The global energy consumption is continuously growing, because the population of Earth and the standard of living expands day by day. As a result, the emission of greenhouse gases increases further more. The various countries use the different types of fuels in varying amount.In this study we have examined the primary energy consumption of the countries, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2016 (BP, 2016), based upon their usage of fuels.The assay resulted in a 7 cluster model. With one exception, each cluster contains a resource, which is used in a much larger amount than in the other clusters. As a result, we may differentiate between an average cluster, and the clusters of countries that use primarily hydropower, nuclear energy, renewable energy, coal, fossil oil, and natural gas.We have examined if there is any connection between the location of a country in a cluster and its HDI, as well as the countries’ competitiveness.
JEL Code: Q42, Q43, Q35, Q01, P28, P18
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A study on consumer habits in the dietary supplements market
5-12Views:617There has been a continuous increase in the proportion of consumers using dietary supplements worldwide. Evidence based on former surveys suggests that in Hungary more than half of the population buy at least one type of dietary supplement (hereinafter DS). By using secondary research, the authors of the present paper examine the demographic factors determining the consumption of DS on a global scale. Consumption of DS increases with age and is more frequent among women. Consumers with higher qualifications and income tend to buy products containing vitamins and minerals to a greater degree. In the vast majority of cases the purchase and consumption of DS is based on consumers’ personal preferences and decisions, rather than on their physicians’ advice. It has been found that a high percentage of DS consumers probably do not even need any extra nutrient intake. In our primary research (N=1000) the specific attitudes to and characteristics of DS consumption among Hungarian adults are analysed on the basis of on a nationally representative survey. First, we identify the most important reasons which encourage consumers to buy DS. Consumer awareness concerning DS with a particular vitamin and mineral content and of other sources is examined, and we also assess the consumption of the product which is the most popular. The current paper attempts to identify the outlets Hungarian consumers typically buy DS from, and also what resources they use to keep themselves informed about these products. Consumers who admittedly reported (regular) consumption of a certain kind of DS product 6 months prior to the survey are further examined in relation to certain additional issues. The results of our survey provide an accurate picture of the DS consumption habits of the Hungarian population.
JEL CODE: I12, M31
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The study of group and team management in agribusiness companies
75-77Views:131For almost three decades now that the operation of groups and teams became highlighted by scientific examinations and widespread acknowledged leverage for improving corporate efficiency and effectiveness. Much is known about general conditions of operation, still little is known about managerial attitudes, behaviour in operating them. Considering the agribusiness sector, we have hundreds of years of traditions; although operational rules, internal properties, managerial aspects are poorly acknowledged. The Department of Management of University of Debrecen has been conducting research in this field for many years now. Its research program enabled me to work out a questionnaire for surveying agribusiness organizations so that I could identify major and typical characteristics of performance groups. In this article I intend to more precisely describe internal rules, relations and characteristics of this phenomenon.
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The operation of the Hungarian broiler product chain
47-50Views:147The general objective of this paper is to present the inner connections of the broiler product chain and the process of value generation in the economic situation of 2007. I introduce the input-output model of the broiler product chain adapted from macro-economic analysis, in which I calculated the direct connections of the product chain phases and between the national economic branches outside the chain. Then I point to the disproportion of the product chain through the profit distribution. Moreover, to evaluate the process of the value generation I demonstrate the value added generated along the value chain (year 2007). On the basis of the results 825 EUR of value added is realized to one ton of ready product (chicken meat), from which the major portion is shared by processing. The paper also determines the added value and the major factors influencing its ratio within the product chain.
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The assessment of intellectual capital in Polish regions
101-105Views:164In a knowledge-based economy intangible assets are indispensable to achieve competitive advantages. Resources like intellectual capital are perceived as crucial factors especially for regional growth. Intellectual capital is comprehended as a multidimensional concept, defined and explained in many various ways, depending on the context and further application. The purposes of this article is to consider the role and importance of the intellectual capital for regional development and competitiveness and to try to use it for an estimation of regional advance progress. On the basis of literature review the article provides a framework to analyse the intellectual capital and its main components. The central attention of the paper focuses on the evaluation of the intellectual capital in Polish regions and its influence on regional performance. The paper surveys the empirical examination of 16 Polish regions in terms of intellectual capital and simultaneously assesses the level of intellectual capital in rural areas. The article provides the insight into the role and value of the intellectual capital in Polish regions.
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Relationship between the qualification and labour market situation of disabled workers in Hungary
23-25Views:125My PhD research focuses on special rehabilitation firms (they are specialised to employ disabled people) and their employees. Two questionnaires for the above mentioned firms and their employees were created in order to gather information on their activities as well as to explore the relationship between the firms and their employees. Altogether 1030 employees and 109 employers filled in the questionnaires. The current study shows the results of this survey. It can be stated that this paper shows the risk of finding a workplace after a certain time period. According to the latest trends I analyse the labour market situation of people living with disabilities with survival analysis. The survival analysis is able to manage partial information, as well. After summarizing all claims of participants we can make an impression in this area and demonstrate the problems for the labour market generally. I use the Log-rank, Breslow and Tahane-Ware probe.
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Growth and venture capital investment potential for university spin-offs in Hungary
31-38Views:158Venture backed spin-offs represent a low proportion of companies, even of innovative companies. The research question was, whether these companies have an important role in innovation and economic growth. I present the most important indicators of innovation in connection with entrepreneurship, the measures of start-ups, mainly the high-tech ones. I describe the position of venture capital industry nowadays, detailing the classical venture capital investments, targeting high-growth potential small firms, even university spin-offs. The study presents the results of a survey made as a counterpart of an academic research team, examining spin-offs, entrepreneurs and technology transfer in the most important Hungarian universities. I found that the most important obstacles of venture capital investments in high-tech spin-offs are the information gap between demand and supply side, the lack of entrepreneurs’ willingness to give up freedom in decision making, despite of low managerial skills. The low quality of financial environment is also an obstacle of the segment.
JEL Codes: G24, M13
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Subsidies are Potential Sources of Profitable Management – Their Payment Between 2010 and 2016
97-120Views:183Based on the allocations and distributions of subsidies in the sheep sector in the previous years (2004-2009), the authors examined the sum of aids claimed and paid from 2010 to 2016 and their farm-size related changes. The following data were collected from the Agricultural and Rural Development Institute on payments under specific subsidy titles, classified by sheep and goat farm sizes: 0-50; 51-100, 101-200, 201-300 and also 0-100, 101-300, 301-500, 501-1000, 1001-5000 and above 5000. Data procession was carried out by the SPSS for Windows 22 program. The size and population of the examined sheep sector underwent visible changes during the studied years leading to a reduction rather than growth. Their analysis highlights that size distribution of sheep farms has changed significantly in recent years, combined with simultaneous modifications of their sheep stock sizes in production. Their conclusions suggest that effects of years and farm sizes in the sheep and goat sector have considerably modified the aid sums paid under different titles.
JEL Classification: H5, Q14
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Use of coordination spheres in food economics
69-71Views:142The coordination plays central role in the economics. The conventional economic theory looks at the market and enterprise (or hierarchy) as two different, separated manner of coordination of economic goods and services. However the modern organization theory, price theory and institutional economics show that different types (not only market and enterprise, but also several types of hybrid forms) of coordination (or governance structure) necessarily live together in the current economic system. Based on my previous research on the field of regional clusters in the food industry I came to the conclusion that the cluster is one of the spheres where economic coordination can occur.At the same time I pointed out that the ways of coordination can be ordered on an ordinary scale according to its normative or positive nature. I’ve also found that the choice between the coordination spheres (market, enterprise or cluster) is not arbitrary, but instead depends on the interest’s dimension which is represented by the exchange of goods and services in question.
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Understanding the demand side and coordinating the supply side for connected goods and services
17-23Views:131This paper addresses the coordination and innovation issues needed for promoting value added at the rural and regional level. There are two sides to value added: the ability to meet consumer demand, and to identify least cost ways of supplying the demanded goods. Human and social capital plays an important role on both sides. At the municipality level the supply side issues are complex. First, because the production space has far more dimensions than for the single entrepreneur. Second, because the value of some goods and services produced depend on what other goods and services that is available. On the supply side networks are important to solve the coordination issues, while networks for identifying and understanding consumer preferences are important on the demand side. Participation in these two network types compete for the same scarce resource, the time of the inhabitants of a municipality. We address these issues in more detail. A major insight from our work is that in addition to the time conflict, innovation and new information may make it more difficult to maintain coordination networks.
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A comparative analysis of the profitability of pineapple-mango blend and pineapple fruit juice processing in Ghana
33-42Views:268This study analyzes the profitability of fruit juice processing using data from Kudors Fruit Juice Limited at Kasoa in Ghana. The cost involved in fruit juice processing (which includes the capital cost and the operating cost) was obtained from the Company. This study compares the profitability of blend (i.e. fruit juice made up of pineapple and mango blend) with that of pineapple juice alone. The viability of the project was determined using the discounted measures of project worth: Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The empirical results reveal that pineapple juice processing had a BCR of 1.03 which means that going into the pineapple juice processing is profitable. The value of the NPV (GHS11,728.00) and IRR (23%) further confirms that pineapple juice processing is profitable because the NPV is positive and the IRR is greater than the discounted factor (21%). The results also showed that it is more profitable to invest in the blend (pineapple and mango blend) than the pineapple juice alone as it yields a BCR of 1.36 which was greater than the BCR of 1.03 for the pineapple juice only. Furthermore, the value of the NPV (GHS176,831.00) which is greater than the pineapple juice only, suggests that the blend is more profitable even though the IRR for both are the same. Moreover, it is also more likely to recover capital investment earlier in the processing of the blend than when one goes into pineapple juice processing only, because the net cash flow in year 2 (GHS 58,146.00) for the blend is more than triple that of the pineapple juice only (GHS17,826.00).These results have policy implications for the development of Agribusinesses in Ghana.
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MBA education at the University of Debrecen and its further development towards Double Degree Programmes
167-170Views:216University of Debrecen is the oldest higher educational institution in continuous operation in Hungary based in the same city. MBA training at Debrecen Agricultural University was initiated by 0257-91/1 Tempus Joint European Project Grant. The project was coordinated by the Netherlands Institute for Management (RVB) Maastricht. Participating institutions include University College in Dublin, Agricultural University in Wageningen and Debrecen Agricultural University. Minimum requirements established were a BSc (or equivalent) degree, an English certificate of language proficiency and one letter of reference from work supervisors or former teachers. Application requirements included a completed application form, Curriculum vitae, a certified copy of degree(s), an official copy of language knowledge certificate, a letter of recommendation and the receipt of registration fee payment. The academic year began on 1 September 1991, and project studies were carried out in small groups. Practical experience that had been gained before enrolment was taken into account and after the successful completion of the requirements students were granted MBA degrees.
JEL CODE: I21, I25
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Feeding the planet and the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
7-13Views:106Keynote speech held at the Second AGRIMBA-AVA Congress 2011 on Dynamics of International Cooperation in Rural Development and Agribusiness, 23-24 June, 2011, atWageningen, the Netherlands.
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Analysis of demand for wellness and medical tourism in Hungary
57-62Views:232Health tourism in Hungary holds major opportunities. When analysing medical and wellness accommodation data, it can be stated that the Hungarian population is keenly interested in health-related tourism services. From the aspect of further development, health tourism based on medical services can be a take-off point for Hungarian tourism. In my opinion, the next few years will be crucial for Hungary’s ranking among health tourism destinations. The country’s initial circumstances are rather favourable, whereas the revaluation of the quality aspects of these services and the fact that the surrounding countries have also recognised the opportunities in health tourism led to an intensified competitive environment. Consequently, if Hungary does not take advantage of its current opportunities, there will be even less chance to develop the country into the primary thermal and medicinal waterbased health tourism destination of Europe in ten years. Yet, this is one of the foci of the objectives set out in the New Széchenyi Plan.
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Economic analysis of some agrotechnical factors in maize production - a Hungarian case study
5-16Views:400This paper focuses on the economic and statistical evaluation of the production technology findings of the polyfactorial maize production experiments carried out between 2015-2017 at the Látókép Experiment Site of the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management. The examined agrotechnical factors included irrigation, previous crop, tillage, crop density, hybrid and N nutrient supply, while the effect of different crop years was taken into consideration. In addition to descriptive statistical methods, we used multivariate regression analysis during the statistical evaluation. In the course of the evaluation, we examined three models that differed in terms of tillage methods and the consideration of crop year. In our best fit model, the factors were 71% responsible for the change in yield value. We carried out efficiency and comparative analyses in the course of the economic evaluation.
Averaged over the three examined years, it can be stated that nutrient supply and crop year had an outstanding effect on yield, while irrigation had a minimal effect. However, global warming may justify irrigation in the future, not only from a biological point of view, but also from an economic aspect.
Ideal tillage is also greatly affected by crop year, too. Altogether, of the examined tillage systems, subsoiling proved to be the best from an economic point of view.
Our investigations confirm that it is better to perform intensive farming under more favourable market conditions. The optimum of N fertilisation is probably outside of the range we examined, if the extreme changes in maize and fertiliser prices are ignored.JEL Classification: Q16, Q12, Q13, O32
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Knowledge and acceptance research of use of vine-branch in micro region of Gyöngyös
117-119Views:116Significant quantity of renewable plant biomass comes into existence in Hungary year by year. Nowadays there are different wellknow possibilities for utilization. However these methods are not widely accepted. The most important obstacle is frequently caused by lack of knowledge of farmers. Without the necessary information the farmers become distrustful, and in many cases significantly decrease the efficiency of reclamation. Targeted communication method should be used to improve the rates of utilization. It should include appropriate content to their knowledge. This study research the knowledge and the acceptance of vine-branch utilization circle of wine-grower in micro region of Gyöngyös by questionnaire survey. We will know why the use of by-products has not spreaded yet circle of wine-grower and where they get their information from. The typically fragmented farms do not utilize because they do not know the process for doing or other people cultivate their vine-yard so they have not necessary machine. The questionnaire ask the farmers they want to offer their vine-branch a user factory.The questionnaires was completed by personal request. The reason of methods was the bigger rate of query. The questionnaire include question about the farm, the use of vinebranch and data of farmers. The villages were asked the rates of wine-grower. The aim of the research the rational utilize of by-product by wine-growers year by year. With the results of questionnaire survey we can inform the farmers with the appropriate method about the necessary knowledge.
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The most relevant factors and trends in energy cooperation between Kazakhstan and China, focused on renewable energy sources (RES)
Views:504This paper analyses the good political and legal environments, mutually beneficial strategic policy, along with level of economic development and growth, superior geographical conditions and cultural integration degree of the important effecting factors of the energy cooperation between Kazakhstan and China. By using the main points listed above this article refers to related trade and investment theories, and it’s divided into two aspects: Kazakhstan's export of Chinese energy products with time series data 1998-2014 and China's investment in Kazakhstan's energy sector with time series data 1998-2016 to construct the vector autoregressive model (VAR).We selected relevant variables and data to construct an econometric model from the perspectives of trade and investment to make an empirical analysis on the influencing factors of energy cooperation between Kazakhstan and China. Our results show that China's demand for large-scale market and for opening to the outside world as well as Kazakhstan’s great energy potential are the most important factors their cooperation. It can be stated that in our days Kazakh legislation is suitable for promoting the Chinese energy investments, but in the long run it would be beneficial to mobilize national capital especially in RES investments and research. In the end, we found the most important reserves in competitiveness of electricity and heat (both from fossil and renewable energy sources) are power grid consolidation and waste heat utilization in the short run.
JEL CODE: F14; Q43
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Investment analysis of plum brandy production – methodology approach
103-105Views:139The major prerequisite of successful entrepreneurship venture is quality of decision-making process. Decision in investment is the most important financial decision. It is a part of both long-term business planning process and strategic business definition. Using available investment appraisal methods, entrepreneur should make positive or negative investment decision. Within the development of the economic theory and the practice many of methods made decision-making process rational and gave the scientific and practical base for successful project evaluation.
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Adjustment of poland’s agriculture and food sector to challenges of agricultural policy of the European Union
39-44Views:152Paper is aimed in assessment of first period of Poland’s membership in EU and covering agriculture and rural areas with the support under the Common Agricultural Policy in the context of future challenges faced by the agricultural policy.Analysis shows that accession to EU became a strong impulse for growth of the Polish food economy, however the main challenge for the Common Agricultural Policy in future, from Poland’s perspective, will be strengthening the multifunctional agriculture, i.e. territorial cohesion and positive effects of agricultural activity on natural environment.
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Analysis the advanced ICT usage of the Hungarian SME sector for preparing a domestic agri-food research
147-153Views:175In the Hungarian agro-food sector SMEs have a key role but regarding the tendency of the performance of SME sector, comparing to EU-28 average, the performance of Hungarian SME sector has gradually worsened between 2008 and 2015 while the EU average has an increasing trend. ICT can help enterprises and this article is an overview of the ICT situation of Hungarian SMEs. It is important to analyse in detail the ICT usage characteristics of agro SMEs in the food supply chain because these ICT devices, tools and services are crucial to smooth the information flow within the chain. For all these reasons our work aims to find out how Hungarian agro-food SMEs use ICT and how ICT adoption affect their business procedures, performance and development. A striking observation to emerge from the data comparison is the difference among SMEs and large enterprises regarding the usage of the different basic and advanced ICT solutions. A much bigger percent of large companies use advanced ICT then SMEs and mainly small enterprises are lagging behind as the attitudes of medium sized enterprises are rather similar to the large ones. In Hungary small enterprises in agro-food industry are in difficult financial state and for them free Cloud Computing services can offer good opportunities as they do not have initial costs. ICT adoption is very important to them as ICT sector is a dynamically growing sector and if customers and partners of an enterprise adapt faster to these technological innovations, it may have a negative effect on the different processes, performance and financial results of the organisation. In this article our aim was to determine the main question groups for our questionnaire which focus mainly on ICT solutions supporting the quality of communication and relationship between partners. As the basic IT tools are available in the major part even in the SMEs besides large companies, the two main issues will be the usage of advanced online services and the usage of high quality ICT solutions.
JEL Code: M15
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Networking on the utilization of local natural resources
57-60Views:82Together with its partners, Szolnok College is planning to evaluate a new project for networking on the utilization of local natural resources. This project is based on a research work (using the findings of the surveys completed by the representatives of hosts living in the eastern part of Hungary). The project itself is based on the adaptation of the theory of tourism into practice by presenting existing natural values in the supply portfolio of tourist service providers. A unique natural environment can be found alongside a 120 km-long stretch of River Tisza. These natural values interlink and complete each other with respect to Lake Tisza and River Tisza. Regions and settlements situated further from the specified settlements are also rich in natural values which guests will definitely be pleased to get acquainted with. The six landscape centres (including LHH regions) alongside river Tisza (in the two regions) symbolise the interdependent system of the sample area of the project while a single landscape centre in the Pásztó Minor Region embodies a unique character. A register will be prepared for each landscape centre containing unique natural values that can be involved in the tourist supply and handicraft/economic activities (e.g. basket weaving, floodplain economy) that are or can be built on these natural values. A pictorial English/German-Hungarian professional dictionary summarises the distinctive nature of landscape centres. The education material demonstrating the registers is going to be developed both in conventional and electronic form; its spatial IT appearance on the Internet is considered a special feature. The education material will be supplemented with other information currently missing such as those related to environmentally friendly economy, and the legal context. The methodology allows the adaptation of the method in other regions, even in the whole country. The new qualifying and benchmarking system and the trademark managed by a profession-specific cluster that strengthens network co-operation and controls the development guarantee the achievement of high quality tourism.
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The statistical analysis for the theoretical bio-methane market based on the opinion of car-owners of Hajdú-Bihar county in Hungary
27-30Views:130The more expensive fuels and the health-threatening air pollution make even necessary the spread of such a fuel, which serves as a solution to these problems. In our country at present there are three public CNG filling stations, two of them are located in Gyôr and Szeged and the third one was opened at the end of October in Budapest. The lack of infrastructure obstructs the spread of the methane gas powered cars in Hungary. During my research getting information by means of a test questionnaire I measured the fuel selection of the drivers and their opinion about alternative fuels. Then on the basis of the results I determined the potential target audience of the bio-CNG. As it is also typical in our country, the most of the respondents use gasoline-powered vehicle and drive less than 12 000 km/year on an average. 55% of the respondents would have their car converted in order to refuel cheaper and to protect the environment, consequently there would be demand for CNG. The potential target audience is the urban population below the age of 41 with higher education degree and average salary. One of my future objectives is to design a CNG filling station network in Hajdú-Bihar county considering the demand of car owners.
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