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Composite indicators and sustainable development of regional agriculture applied to the Stavropol Territory in Russia
81-88Views:205The aim of this paper is to understand and evaluate agricultural sustainability in the Stavropol Territory by means of a composite indicator. In particular, the paper applies principal component analyses to calculate a composite sustainability index by integration of selected economic, social and environmental indicators. The results demonstrate the utility of analyzing several indicators in conjunction. The results also may indicate which variables influence development of regional agriculture. This information is important in order to design agricultural support policy and to implement an increase the sustainability of the agriculture sector.
JEL Code: O13, Q11
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Success factors of international sporting events in different regions of Europe
25-29Views:287Sport events always played an important role in human life from the ancient Olympics and marathon races to today’s modern Olympics, World and continental championships. In our days these remarkable sport events come to the fore because participants of the sporting world effectuate even more, greater and more varied ones. Furthermore, the competition for organisation between cities and countries is becoming more and more intense (Zeman 2005). The organisation of international sporting events is an extremely complicated and multiple task. The organising committee has to manage the duties and activities, to co-ordinate the participants’ work, to satisfy the needs of international sport association(s), sponsors and other stakeholders. Within the frame of the research we reveal the success factors of international sporting events in different segments of Europe, and in addition to this compare the event organization practices of analysed regions along the identified success factors. In this study we represent the results of a quantitative research, where organizers of World and European Championships – organised between 2000 and 2008 in different European countries – were asked and statistical analyses have been applied. According to our results beside the essential technical and task oriented areas the human aspects of organisation, the partnerships, coordination and communication are all-important factors. Especially in countries of East-Central Europe, where organisers have to pay more attention on selection, control of partners as well as on continuous communication with them in order to assure accurate performance in time.
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Factors influencing Albanian consumer preferences for standardized olive oil
131-136Views:135Albania is considered one of the most important countries where olives are cultivated due to its geographical position and climate conditions. The country is facing many problems with the quality of olive oil which is related to cultivation methods and agronomic techniques. The economic value of the sector is calculated almost €20 million per year. For years the cultivation of olives and associated products have been considered an important sector within agriculture and are an integral part of the Albanian diet. The current study aims to analyze the factors influencing consumer preferences for a standardized olive oil. The data collection was conducted through a socio-economic survey. The survey was an important element which provided general and specific information linked to the study area. The interviewees were selected randomly. Descriptive and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the survey data. As a result, we conclude that Albanian consumers prefer domestic olive oil because they are familiar with the taste and believe in its qualities. Usually, Albanian consumers choose the quality of olive oil at the purchase moment, due to their close relationship with the seller.
JEL CODE: D12
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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:128The 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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Sport as power of integration among minorities
57-62Views:181The opportunities and development of skills in the field of sports may open a door to social inclusion that also facilitates social integration. Based on the funding provided by the national sports strategy and integration, the research project can be developed further on and implemented. The efforts of the European Union (EU) and of the European Council towards the member states are carried out through its directives, and the analyses of these documents provide guidelines for the elaboration of the Hungarian Roma strategies. Funding is one of the key factors for the elaboration of Roma integration strategy and its efficiency. The research highlights upon the way of thinking and mentality of Roma young people about sports currently, and on the importance of sport affairs for them. Also, reflects on the factors which promote motivation to have successful career goals and achieve those based on the program. The sports integration survey suggests conclusions on the role of mentoring in Roma youngsters’ studies, in sports, in building social relations, the role model motivating for them, or on the supportive role of the parents or even the lack of it in their families. The expected result would be a survey on sporting habits of the Roma minority and disadvantaged youth and their positioning in education through which we could develop programs to promote the integration of the Roma minority and to improve their general circumstances. The National Social Inclusion Strategy (Ministry of Human Capacities, National Social Inclusion Strategy 2011–2020) provides the financial background of the integration project whose application also prevails in the field of sports integration. The aspirations of the EU provide guidance to the amount of funding and its allocation manners. The National Roma Self-Government’s (NRSG) sports integration project and best practice has provided the basis for the sports integration research project. The survey is examining the recreational habits, motivational factors, study levels among the Roma minority and the disadvantaged young people. Based on the questionnaire, we can draw some conclusions about the development of sports integration programs. The issues cover the field of sport activities of young people aged between 9-18 and on the significance of sport opportunities for break-out for the Roma youth, and on the effect of role models for them. The sports integration projects treat simultaneously the development of education and sport, furthermore they are significantly linked to each other. The target group of the questionnaire survey are mainly the Roma and disadvantaged people. The sample item number is 1216 completed questionnaires from the whole territory of the country, from 16 schools. As shown in the survey, the sport and the level of education are significantly related to each other. Those who do any sports, obtain higher level of achievement in their studies. It can be revealed by the fact that through mentoring the sportsmen can promote their school performance and sport development together. The research highlights on another observation, namely, it also confirms the legitimacy of sports integration program and points out the direction for development. For accomplishing the goal of social inclusion through sport we have at hand the appropriate concept. It is, furthermore necessary to strengthen and to develop the mentoring program, which ensures the lower drop-out rate among the participants. The effect of Sports integration is motivating for the Roma and for the disadvantaged youth. The use of sport as a tool for social inclusion proves to be of utmost importance.
JEL code: Z23
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Structural Breaks or Continuous Adjustments in Grain Production and Prices 1961-2014? An Explorative Study
11-22Views:117This 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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Arguments for the optimisation of using biomass for energy production
103-108Views:117Using biomass to produce energy is not a new idea. In the past, the by-products of energy(?) production processes or naturally grown materials were mainly used for energy production. At the same time, during the production of biomass the conventional sources of energy are used (fuels, the embodied energy of which is used in the production of the biomass and equipment, etc.) which must be taken into account when determining the net energy production. This research aims to examine how to optimise the production and use of biomass energy and its supply chain in the energetic and economic criteria system, as well as how to impact upon the managing models of the processes to the energetic and economic parameters of the supply chain; we ask what criteria characterise the natural (environmental), economic and social sustainability, and how they can be implemented e.g. within the framework of an innovation cluster. This article describes a test model, and analyses the results of the model examinations and the conditions for compliance with sustainability criteria. Arguing the environmental, economic and social sustainability among the criteria of the model for evaluation is not possible at all times by means of direct indicators. The results of the research proved that only multi-criteria optimisation models serve a proper decision-making instrument for the evaluation of biomass utilisation for energy production.
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The most relevant factors and trends in energy cooperation between Kazakhstan and China, focused on renewable energy sources (RES)
Views:482This 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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The empirical examination of changes related to value drivers in the effects of the 2007-2008 crisis
31-35Views:134The article brings into the focus the corporate value creation and the main value drivers. The first goal of the study is to classify the most relevant value drivers, and their function of the firms’ value. Further objective of this paper is to present the effects of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. This article demonstrates the following. The first part introduces the value chain and illustrates the primary and the support activities of the companies. The second section briefly presents the 2007-2008 global economic crisis, introducing its causes, events and financial aspects. The third empirical part of the paper analyses the database featuring data from 18 European countries, 10 sectors and 1553 firms in the period between 2004 and 2011. At the end, the fourth part contains conclusions. Based on the related literature reviewed and in the conducted empirical research it can be assessed that 2008 can be seen unambiguously as the year of the crisis. In this year, all independent variables had a negative effect on the dependent variable.
JEL code: P40
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The role of agribusiness in stimulating on-farm investments – case-study of the armenian dairy sector
85-91Views:121This paper analyses the impact on investments of contractual arrangements between farms and agribusiness in the Armenian dairy sector. Our empirical evidence is based on a unique survey of 300 Armenian dairy farms. The dairy sector is of particular importance as it provides vital employment and income, in an environment of weak social security and scarce job opportunities. Furthermore, milk production is predominantly organized in small-scale farms, which are most likely to be affected by adversarial financial conditions and limited in their opportunities to raise resources to invest. The results show that a large share of milk producers in Armenia is actively investing to upgrade their farm business. Furthermore, investment activity is not limited to large dairy farmers as over 30% of respondents with less than eight cows have made dairy-specific investments. We find that the linkages between farms and agribusiness – and more specifically the support programs that agribusiness firms offer to their suppliers – have been crucial in stimulating this restructuring process at the farm level. Interestingly, farmers with a more exclusive relationship to the buyer and farmers that deliver to more internationally oriented buyers are more likely to receive support. On the other hand, buyers that operate in a more competitive market are less likely to provide support to their suppliers. These findings have interesting policy implications. On the one hand, our results point to the gains that can be made from openness to international firms. On the other hand, the negative competition effect indicates that buyers are unable to enforce repayment of the provided farm services in an environment where a lot of buyers are competing for the same supply. Policy makers should look at ways of improving the enforcement capability of dairy companies under these circumstances.
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Multi-level analysis of visitors’ satisfaction flying to Debrecen – main aspects of the research
27-32Views:111This paper presents the non-exhaustive description of the main characteristics of visitors based on the filled out questionnaires during five months following the test month. These characteristics will serve the basis of a satisfaction analysis to be described in the future and they provide guidance for later analyses. I performed the testing of my questionnaire in January 2014. It turned out even from the data collected in the test phase that there were services which did not meet the expectations of visitors several times as it was worse than what they expected. This study focuses on the questionnaire research conducted among foreign visitors coming to Debrecen by flight. The main aspects were to determine foreign visitors purpose of travel to Debrecen, how many times they had already been to Debrecen, how many days they spent in the city, what kind of services did they use and whether the quality of used service met their expectations. As a result of the following five months research, I obtained input data which make it possible to examine real problems with background data. It calls for further examination to determine whether there was any difference in the extent of services living up to visitors’ expectation and visitors’ level of satisfaction.
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Analysis of Bathing Habits among Spa Visitors
81-90Views:171The valorisation of healthy lifestyle has indicated the dynamic increase of healthcare sector. The consumer behaviour has been forming deterministically in health tourism. Visitors of spa towns can select various combinations of services either to sustain their health, to rest, to relax or to recover. It has a great importance for spas offering complex health tourism services to know the demands of guests and to reach the target groups with special, personalized service packages. After considering the statistical indicators of tourists visiting the spas of Northern Great Plain Region and the competitors of a selected spa, this paper aims to investigate the coherence among bathing habits, influencing factors of service demands, age and non-motivating coherences. The survey was taken place in a selected spa in Hajdú-Bihar County in August 2018 with random sampling questionnaire involving 256 visitors. During data analysis the coherence among indicators was examined with variant analysis (Levene’s test), in case of significant result with Welch’s t-test. Variances in age groups were analysed with Tamhane’s and LSD tests (post hoc analyses). We concluded that the primary information source of spas is still the suggestion of friends, acquaintances independently of the age of the respondent. Knowing this is relevant for further marketing communication. The most important features among the respondents are the condition of the spa and cleanness which are the basics of quality services. Motivations with coherence to age are social life and gaining experience, recovery and disease prevention. Visitors have the largest interest for family and kid programs. Recognition of bathing habits helps in marketing communication, reaching target markets effectively, pricing and service developments as well.
JEL Classification: Z32
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The competitiveness of rural areas in the Republic of Tatarstan
89-96Views:117This paper analyses the main factors influencing the regional competitiveness of rural areas in the Tatarstan Republic. Firstly, 19 variables related to the socio-economic situation in the Tatarstan Republic were analysed, these having been taken from the Statistics Committee of the Tatarstan Republic. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to determine the weights of 10 indicators that have an effect on the level of regional competitiveness. Factor weights are used as weights in the summation of the standardised scores of variables that have an impact on competitiveness. The major factors influencing the level of regional competitiveness are the level of economically active population, investment in housing and the level of education. The following results were obtained: one of the 44 regions is very highly competitive and two are highly competitive; two of 44 regions have a medium level of competitiveness and 39 regions have a low level of competitiveness.
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Krishna consciousness in Europe: The way farming communities became the focal points of marketing
13-24Views:239Krishna Consciousness is regarded as one of the most successful new religious movements in terms of marketing in the Western World. The aim of this research was to identify and analyze the marketing strategy the members of the Krishna-conscious community apply in Europe via content analyses, field research observations and in-depth interviews. The marketing mix of services marketing (7P) are often suggested to be applied by religious communities as well, however, this concept has boundaries due to the principles of the religions, which may not be altered for the sake of marketing. The research has shown that in Europe Krishna-conscious communities have overcome this problem by shifting the product from religion to a complex touristic product, which is realized in the form of farming communities, which have become an important rural tourist attraction in some countries. As the comparison of the websites of the different institutions has shown that rural and farming communities are the ones, which focus mainly on attracting people, who are not familiar with Krishna Consciousness yet, while the websites of the other institutions communicate mostly with devotees or people already interested in the religion or its certain aspect (cuisine, education), rural and farming communities were the institutions chosen to be analyzed more closely. The marketers of these tourist attractions are therefore free to make certain modifications in the marketing mix, as its focus is a tourist attraction, not the religion itself; while the transmission of knowledge about the religion happens in the touristic attractions only. Seven European farming communities of six different countries have participated in the research so far, which may be extended to further communities and continents on the future for a more thorough analysis.
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Competetiveness of the Montenegrin fruit and vegetables sector and recommendtations for impovement
69-75Views:84A number of facts, primarily including high fragmentation at all levels, weak vertical integration, limited dimensions in comparison to competitors poor technological level and unbalanced quality/price ratio make the sector weak, low competitive and exposed to international competition, reducing its capacity to capture any existing market potential. Almost all opportunities are frozen by prevailing weaknesses and threat impacts are exacerbated by a largely prevailing number of weaknesses. High production unit cost appears to be a major constraint to local supply market competitiveness. This situation appears to be mainly caused by general low levels of productivity – provoked by not adequate and up-to-date cultivation practices, reduced levels of input use, utilisation of old and, therefore, less performing varieties, and also farm management shortcomings. High losses from reduced availability of post-harvest facilities and equipment add up to the problem. The improvement of the sector is not easy. In other words, there is a lot to do for the Montenegrin sector operators to increase sales: tackle imports and increase market shares in the domestic market and abroad. Based on our research, we suggest that the Montenegrin fruit and vegetable sector should primarily aim at substituting imports, increasing domestic consumption and developing exports to the region (CEFTA countries) primarily via promising market opportunities. Based on our analyses of the state of affairs of the sector, the competitiveness and the market potentials, the recommendations for improvement competitiveness are outlined.
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