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Cross-sector analysis of the Hungarian sectors covered by the Effort Sharing Decision – Climate policy perspectives for the Hungarian agriculture within the 2021-2030 EU programming period
17-24Views:178Ever since 2012, the EU ETS (European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme), which is the EU’s climate policy was extended to include the ESD (Effort Sharing Decision) sectors’ (agriculture, transport, building) regulations. As its name implies, this mechanism is based off of shared interests and efforts, all in order to reach the climate goals. Therefore, analysing the agriculture sector from an environmental viewpoint requires the analysis of related sectors as well, since their performances will have an impact on determining the requirements to be met by the agriculture. Seeing that those primarily present in said sectors are not various firms, but people and public utility management institutions instead, the level of regulations draws from the economic state of the various countries in question (GDP per capita). Therefore, member states like ours did not receive difficult goals until 2020, due to our performance being lower than the average of the EU. However, during the program phase between 2021 and 2030, all nations are to lower their GHG (greenhouse gases) emission, and have to make developments to restrict GHG emission level growth within the ESD, which means we already have to estimate our future possibilities. During the analyses, we will see that analysing agriculture from an environmental viewpoint, without doing the same to their related sectors and their various related influences is impossible. The GHG emission goals determined by the EU have to be cleared by the agriculture sector, but the inputs from transport, waste management and building are required nonetheless.
JEL classification: Q58
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Changes in the Relationship Between ICT Use and Economic Development in EU Member States 2010-2016
91-100Views:212In this study, we examined some ICT indicators of the EU Member States between 2010 and 2016 based on data of the World Bank and Eurostat. We wanted to know, how can the EU Member States be grouped according to these indicators, and which group can Hungary belong to. With the help of international literature reviews, three indicators were chosen. According to these we created three groups (underdeveloped, developing, developed) with the K-Mean cluster method that is classified by their level of development. Interesting changes took place during the period under review. By the end of the analyzed period, six countries lost their “developed” rating among others some founding members. There were also interesting changes in the clusters. The value of some indicators increased more than 40% in some cases, surprisingly, only in one case measured reduction. The proportion of ICT specialists decreased in developing countries (by 1%). The highest growth rate was observed in the developed countries in e-commerce. Because of the high proportion of ICT professionals and the share of e-commerce in the developed cluster we assumed that service would be the dominant sector. The two-sample t-test did not confirm our hypothesis. We supposed the focus in developing countries will be on the industry, due we think the developed countries started to outsource their SSCs (shared service centers) to less developed countries. With the help of a statistical indicator, we confirmed our assumption, but the result not so convincing since the significant level is only 11%. Although we thought that the underdeveloped group of countries was based on agriculture, statistical studies did not support our hypothesis.
JEL Classification: O13, O14, O52
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The connenction between global innovation index and economic well-being indexes
87-92Views:471We study the connection of innovation in 126 countries by different well-being indicators and whether there are differences among geographical regions with respect to innovation index score. We approach and define innovation based on Global Innovation Index (GII). The following well-being indicators were emphasized in the research: GDP per capita measured at purchasing power parity, unemployment rate, life expectancy, crude mortality rate, human development index (HDI). Innovation index score was downloaded from the joint publication of 2018 of Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO, HDI from the website of the UN while we obtained other well-being indicators from the database of the World Bank. Non-parametric hypothesis testing, post-hoc tests and linear regression were used in the study.
We concluded that there are differences among regions/continents based on GII. It is scarcely surprising that North America is the best performer followed by Europe (with significant differences among countries). Central and South Asia scored the next places with high standard deviation. The following regions with significant backwardness include North Africa, West Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean Area, Central and South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Regions lagging behind have lower standard deviation, that is, they are more homogeneous therefore there are no significant differences among countries in the particular region.
In the regression modelling of the Global Innovation Index, it was concluded that GDP per capita, life expectancy and human development index are significant explanatory indicators. In the multivariable regression analysis, HDI remained the only explanatory variable in the final model. It is due to the fact that there was significant multicollinearity among the explanatory variables and the HDI aggregates several non-economic indicators like GII.JEL Classification: B41, I31, O31, Q55
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Moderating Influence of Training and Development on Entrepreneurial Performance
47-54Views:147This 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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Greener cement sector and potential climate strategy development between 2015-2030 (Hungarian case study)
65-74Views:365Advancing the domestic industrial production towards a sustainable, resource-preserving direction can become an important pillar to support competitiveness in the European Union, as well as in Hungary. Reaching the de-carbonization goals for industrial production via lowering the production volume may result in less desirable macro-economic effects, so decisions which concern the industry require a lot of attention from the climate policy as well. In the case of the cement sector, economic actors have to be motivated to make energy-efficiency investments and technology developments, which also show promise in terms of business efficiency. In the more natural-resource-intensive branches of the industry, both innovations and technological developments will be required to reduce the amount of used non-renewable energy resources, keep it in the industrial cycle, and reduce environmental load. The importance of greener cement will be essential in the near future to reduce the sector’s CO2 emission levels. We need to identify more sector branches which relate to sustainability, which can aid the country in establishing long-term competitiveness that points towards the de-carbonization goals. The cost-efficiency aspects of this development process are the most tedious questions in today’s business planning.
JEL classification: Q55
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Learning Motivations, Styles and Expectations of Students – a Survey at the University of Debrecen
41-46Views:223Based on the experience of the authors, today's university students have different learning habits, expectations of learning and knowledge compared to previous generations. This raises the question of how traditional teaching, teaching methods effectively suited to their development. In this study, the authors examined with quantitative method the expectations of bachelor and master students concerning the business education at university. The survey was conducted among university students assessing whether students with different BSc/BA or MSc/MA majors show the willingness to continue their studies, and the authors were interested in their expectations concerning the business higher education. The authors also tried to find answers in the survey how well-prepared the students feel for the offered opportunities by today's market environment, or may prefer proceeding with their studies. Among the issues authors searched what are the most effective ways of learning for them, based on learning style, what motivates them to continue learning. What kind of education form is preferred by them to continue studying? They also respond the need of having theoretical and practical knowledge and the importance of developing practical life skills. In addition, it has also been surveyed what other expectations the students have in continuing their studies with regard to the institutions. The authors of this paper are working as team coaches at the Team Academy Debrecen. In the last six years, they worked with numerous teams and have experiences in developing students' skills in teams.
JEL Classification: A22
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Effect of Quality Assurance Deficit on Market Competitiveness for Export Commodities and Household Income in Nigeria
103-108Views:108The Nigerian’s agricultural sub-sector contributes about 37 percent of her Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs about 65 per cent of the adult labour force. It is thus the major source of food and fibre for the nation. However, there are increasing concerns about the quality and level of safety of many of the agricultural export commodities, particularly in the European markets due to the composition of high level of unauthorized pesticides. This is a major challenge to the level of market competitiveness for these commodities in the international markets. This study therefore examined the effect of quality assurance deficit on market competitiveness and household income levels. Trends in Nigeria’s agricultural export trade between 1980 and 2014 were examined and emphasis was placed on cowpea, dried maize, melon seeds and palm oil. Descriptive and qualitative statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Quantitative statistics included the use of econometric models. Results indicated that there was an increase in the general price level of the commodities at the international market over time. The aggregate market demand for each of them dropped sharply in the last one decade even when the market price per unit increased steadily. This negatively affected the households’ average income level as returns on sales of export commodities declined. Huge quantities of the commodities were then forced to be sold at the local markets at cheaper prices. This development negatively affects the consumptions patterns of the exporters as they now have reduced disposable income. Appropriate agencies of government need to be awake to their responsibilities of assessing and certifying the quality of the Nigerian agricultural commodities before exporting them abroad. This will help to further boost the level of consumer confidence in these export commodities especially at the international markets.
JEL Classification: Q13
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Goat Keeping and Goat Milk Products in Human Nutrition - Review
24-36Views:583The aim of this paper is to review the status quo and future perspective of goat keeping and goat milk products, particularly emphasising the role of goat milk products in human nutrition. Across the globe, goats can be kept almost anywhere, even in poor surroundings. Considering the deteriorating geographical conditions due e.g. to global warming, the importance of goat and goat products will probably further increase. Goats can play an important role in the nutrition of the continuously increasing human population. The wool, meat and milk of goats are all valuable products. Goats are able to provide high quality products under diverse climate conditions and in extreme environments. Globally, more people drink jmilk from goats than from any other animal. Due to the components and profile of goat milk, it can be processed and a wide range of high quality and healthy value added products can be produced from it. Goat milk plays a decisive role in feeding starving and malnourished people in developing countries. In developed countries, a significant segment of many populations suffers from gastro-intestinal disorders and cow milk allergy. Goat milk plays an important role in the treatment of certain health problems. Moreover, due to its favourable effects on human health, goat milk has found a niche for itself in the trend towards healthy nutrition in developed countries, where connoisseur consumers are ensuring goat milk products a growing market share. In these countries, goat milk products, e. g. cheeses are also recognised as gastronomic and festive products.
JEL Classification: Q13
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The relationship between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility
28-34Views:676Corporate governance (CG) is a corporate governance system for large companies which includes policies and procedures for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The present study examines the relationships between CG and CSR, and analyzes the studies that separate or combine the explanation of the two concepts.CG can be interpreted as the relationship between governors and stakeholders. Angyal (2009) and Auer (2017) agree that the two phenomena coexist and are connected at several points. The goals of the two phenomena are intertwined, compliance with other important requirements (environmental, labor law) besides the primary corporate goal. CG is a system based on the sharing of power and roles between owners, management and boards (board, supervisory board). The roles of ownership, supervision, and control are separated. The division of power means that the boards keep the management under strict control and the owners can account for the boards (Tasi, 2012). According to Tasi (2012), responsible CG involves careful management; financial planning and implementation; control mechanisms for the operation of the company; company transparency and business ethics
issues; publicizing corporate information and corporate social responsibility policies and practices. Angyal (2009) sees that CG and CSR are intertwined “neither intersection, nor intersection, nor parallelism, but coexistence”. (Angel,
2009: 14). It does not agree with the incompatibility of corporate governance or corporate governance and social responsibility, in practice the former two are more common. Corporate governance encompasses corporate social responsibility policies, procedures, and can be interpreted as the relationship between governors and stakeholders. The authors of the studies analyzed agree that the two phenomena coexist and are connected at several points. The goals of the two phenomena are intertwined with compliance with other important requirements (environmental, labor law) besides the primary corporate goal.JEL Classification: G30; G39, M14
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Integration Efforts in Agriculture
91-96Views:145The economic and political transition brought many challenges for the Hungarian agricultural sector. The break-up of large agricultural holdings had serious negative impacts on food production and on the export of agricultural products. Capital intensive profit-seeking intermediaries dominate the trading of agricultural goods that has injurious effects in terms of downward pressure on production prices and an increase in consumer prices. Cooperatives have a key role in effectively tackling the common challenges that small-scale producers have to face. More vertical integration along the food chain could contribute to providing rural employment and to an increase in living standards in rural areas. This study reviews the development, the specific features and the driving forces of modern cooperatives in Central Europe in general, and in Hungary in particular. The focus is on the integrator role of cooperatives and their future role in our globalised world.
JEL Classification: Q10, Q13
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Is it worth being socially responsible?
73-80Views:180Several definitions for corporate social responsibility (CSR) exist and these vary greatly as to the activities it should cover and their motivators. Among the benefits of CSR are positive marketing/brand building, brand insurance and employee loyalty. Numerous arguments against CSR prevail, e.g. social responsibility is not a problem that belongs in the sphere of activities a corporation should be addressing or even that CSR distracts businesses from addressing the primary need to concentrate on sales. Thus, the strong economic question: is CSR worth it? In 2014, we carried out a representative survey in Hungary, in which the effects of responsible business practices on consumer purchase behaviour were studied. With our research results, we could show that there is a considerable gap between the apparent interest of consumers in CSR and the limited role of CSR in purchase behaviour.
JEL classification:M104
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Analysis of Bathing Habits among Spa Visitors
81-90Views:187The 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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Determinants of credit access of cocoa farmers
73-78Views:309Access to credit is one of the critical areas that are of prime interest to development practitioners, agribusiness entrepreneurs and agricultural economists, mainly access to credit by farmers in order to increase their production and also reduce poverty. This study sought to analyze the determinants of credit access among cocoa farmers in the Asunafo North of the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 100 cocoa farmers with the aid of a questionnaire. Sources of credit, factors influencing access to credit, and constraints to credit were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance respectively. The results of multiple linear regression revealed that, age, marital status, education, experience, and family size were significant factors that influenced access to credit. The constraints analysis with the aid of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that, high interest rate was highly ranked with a mean score of 1.93 whilst the need for a guarantor was least ranked with a mean score of 7.40. Based on the results, the study recommended that a policy aimed at expanding formal and semi-formal financial institutions credit portfolio to embrace cocoa farmers by finding alternative to collaterals and also reducing the interest rate will improve credit access with a positive externality effect of poverty reduction among cocoa farmers in the study area.
JEL Classification: Q14
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A Quantitative Assessment of the Rurality and an Efficiency Analysis of Emigration in Romania
39-46Views:168In Romania, as in many other Eastern European countries, the early 1990s were marked by a significant emigration from the countryside as a consequence of the transition from a centralised economy to an open one and due to key changes in the political framework. The permanent emigration has predominantly been concentrated in rural areas where multiple socio-economic variables such as GDP per capita, unemployment, and public financial subsidies aimed at supporting people at risk of severe deprivation and poverty have all had a direct effect on rural depopulation. The rurality is a complex theoretical construct comprising many items and variables and is, therefore, difficult to define in a concise manner. The aim of this paper is to assess the evolution of emigration in Romania between 2001 and 2016 through a quantitative approach, estimating an index of rurality for the same period composed of a set of socio-economic variables having a direct or indirect nexus to it. In the first phase of research, a matrix of correlation and a multiple regression model has been used in order to estimate the direct links among all investigated variables. Following the quantitative methodology, in the second phase Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) has been used in order to assess the main cause-effect relationships among a few selected endogenous variables and a set of socio-economic items. Furthermore, using a non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) output-oriented model, this research has assessed the efficiency in terms of permanent emigration from Romania estimated as an output to minimise and not as an output to maximise, as investigated by traditional efficiency approaches. In terms of efficiency, financial subsidies allocated by national authorities and the level of per capita Gross Domestic Product have acted directly on the level of emigration. The index of rurality in 2016 has been influenced in particular by he pluriactivity in farms in terms of agritourism, the dimension of farms in terms of land capital endowment, and the level of GDP per capita.
JEL Classification: Q10; Q18
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Enhancing the effectiveness of thermal water consumption via heat pumping
53-58Views:142Renewable technologies and the extension of their scope of usage basically has to face the general obstacles like any other novelties newly introduced to the market. In the case of environmentally friendly and clean technologies we must consider another critical aspect: the knowledge and the trust of the potential future users. To influence these people first we must extend their knowledge regarding renewable energies so they will be able to change their own approach about them. Usually the most crucial factor is the economic efficiency which determines the attitude of the majority of the users. Even the ones whose decision making process is highly based on the environmental patterns. In the case of any technology, the economic aspect is significantly influenced by its operational effectiveness. So this analysis – besides the direct economic matters – aims to examine how the performance of thermal water heating in greenhouses can be improved by using heat pumping.
JEL classification: Q42
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Ownership Structures within Hungarian Family Businesses – Theories and Practice
35-40Views:226We can talk about family business if the notions of family, ownership and business are closely connected to each other, namely if the business is in the possession of the family, managed and controlled by the family members. A family owned company is a business where a family has the majority ownership and/or the majority management and at least one family member actively works in the firm, the family owns the business. The study contains the results of research on ownership structure of family owned businesses. The examined family businesses are interested in longterm preservation of values, thus succession of generations plays a key role in their case. They attaches great importance how the ownership structure develops. The methotology to know more about the ownership structure of family businesses 11 expert interviews were made between november 2016 and september 2017 with owners and next generations of family owned agri-food enterprises in Hungary. A case study has been prepared too in this topic with the participation of companies with different activities (production, service, trade). In order to classify the analysed companies six categories of ownership were developed. These are non-owner, emotional owner, partial owner, controlling owner, majority owner and exclusive/ sole owner. Each generation of the analysed FBs were classified to these categories. According to the results the analysed family owned companies even are sharing the property within family. There are only two interviewed companies whose case we can talk about exclusive/sole ownership.
JEL Classification: G32
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The Opinion of Visitors on the Touristic Attractions and Services of the Esterhazy Castle of Fertőd
97-102Views:138The lately renovated Esterhazy Palace is one of Europe’s biggest Baroque palaces. This paper examines the visitors’ opinion of this worldwide famous palace. This survey-based study was carried out in 2016/2017. The sample was of 800 people, using paper-based questionnaire. It emerged from the study that the visitors needed to be separated analyzed differently under and above 18 years of age, because the push and pull factors vary significantly. Other words, the adult visitors (persons, families) decided themselves to go and see or not, but the young people were influenced by their teachers. Other important lessons of the study was that the visiting process does not end with the viewing of rooms and tools, but the different souvenirs and providing further information, and services are also part of it. This is evidenced by the fact that the worst rating was given by the related service. Organizing and ensuring this is an important task of the management of the palace.
JEL Classification: M3. O18, Z32
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L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele as a Case Study of Traditional Speciality Guaranteed and International Franchising
17-23Views:434This work explores the case study of L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele as a best practice of traditional speciality guaranteed and international franchising. Besides being one of the most ancient and successful pizzerias in Naples, da Michele is renowned all over the world for the quality of its raw products, dough processing, and output. In the last years, da Michele also started pioneering the pizza production and commerce industry with an innovative franchising model and a new company appointed to managing this latter business. This work makes use of in-depth interviews and data collected on the field. For such scope, top managers and employees of both the local and the international companies were interviewed. The study finds that da Michele managed to become a benchmark for territorial food products and, more recently, for high-standard franchising, jumpstarting a successful brand-new company and food business project.
JEL Classification: O13, Q13, Q16, Q1
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The influence of employment modes on employee turnover and agri-business performance: a case for Hunyani farm in the Zvimba district, Zimbabwe
17-27Views:306The labour intensive nature of Zimbabwean agriculture demands that farmers meet excessive labour requirements, at the same time keeping labour costs as low as possible to guarantee profits and achieve maximum business performance. This study, carried through a questionnaire survey, at the Hunyani Matura Farm, in the Zvimba district of Zimbabwe between from October 2017 to March 2018, investigated the effect of employment mode on turnover and agri-business performance. Data collected from the participants, was compared with the information from secondary source documents. From the results temporary workers performed better than permanent workers and they cited problems of low wages, poor working conditions, high work targets, inequality in work allocation, job insecurity and constant shuffling. Temporary workers had higher turnover and turnover intentions than permanent workers. Temporary employment mode had a positive
effect on agri-business performance. This study recommends the use of permanent employment mode on key positions like forepersons, stores persons and supervisors, and temporary employment mode on general farm tasks, while seasonal contracts were seen good for skill demanding operations such as tobacco seedbed establishment, tobacco reaping and curing and grading. A ccareful selection of employment modes reduces inequalities and unhealthy attitudes at work and improves on farm business performance.JEL Classification: Q12
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Free Trade Agreement: Impacts on the Costa Rican Dairy Market
83-90Views:164According to the Free Trade Agreement with Central America, Dominican Republic and United States signed in 2008, milk import tariff reliefs will stagger down from 59,4% to 0% by 2025. This study determined milk demand and supply curves in the Costa Rican domestic market. Several variables and two different models were conducted to estimate milk demand and supply: Ordinary Least Squares and Two Stages Least Square simultaneous equations. In both cases, demand was estimated by income and milk prices as independent variables; while supply was estimated by input and milk prices. Nonetheless, the best fit was obtained by TSLS model because it accounts for endogeneity among price and quantity. Based on this model, if domestic prices are supposed to decrease due to increasing quantities of imported lower-priced milk, then national demand would increase (9% average) and national production is expected to decrease (26% average). The gap between national milk demand and supply is expected to be filled by milk imported from United States; assuming 0% tariff, no transaction costs and constant share of exports within national production.
JEL Classification: F1, Q17
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Cost analysis of pig slaughtering: A Hungarian case study
121-129Views:221The scale of Hungarian slaughterhouses is small in international comparison and the cost of slaughter and cutting a pig of average live weight is relatively high at 16.1-19.4 EUR on average. The aim of this study is to evaluate the cost of pig slaughter and cutting through the case study of a medium-scale plant in Hungary. Based on data from the enterprise, a calculation was performed in relation to the “output” quantity of pig slaughter and cutting, as well as its value and the cost and cost structure of processing. The capacity of the examined plant and its utilisation were analysed and cost reductions were estimated for various increases of output. In 2015, the direct cost of slaughter and cutting was 18.9 EUR per pig for the medium-scale plant which processed 100 thousand pigs. When the purchase cost of pigs is excluded, labour costs accounted for the highest share (30%) of costs, followed by services (29%) and energy costs (21%). For this reason, the level of wages and employer’s contributions has a rather high significance. Analysis showed that significant increases in Hungarian minimum wage and guaranteed living wage in 2017 resulted in an estimated 7% increase in the cost of slaughter and cutting compared to 2015, despite the decrease of contributions. The capacity utilisation of the plant was a low 28% when compared to a single 8-hour shift considered full capacity. The cost of slaughter and cutting was estimated to be reduced to 14.2-17.0 EUR per pig if the plant operated at full capacity. This may be considered a lower bound estimate of cost because there are numerous restricting factors on optimising capacity utilisation, such as: 1) number of live animals available for purchase and related logistics; 2) cooling capacity availability; 3) labour availability; 4) market position of the enterprise and potential for marketing additional pig meat products. Enterprises of this scale are recommended to consider producing more value-added products and, accordingly, investing in product development.
JEL Classification: Q13, Q19
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The Attitudes of Pete Program Applicants Towards Information and Communication Technologies
75-80Views:241As information and communication technology has permeated all aspects of life education cannot be considered an exception either. The schools of the 21st century require the use of the latest digital devices whose effectiveness is greatly determined by the motivation, ICT-related attitude, and the respective competences of teachers managing and directing the given teaching and learning process. Since P.E. also requires the use of information and communication devices it would be crucial that prospective teachers develop a positive attitude toward such equipment. The present research aims at exploring the attitudes of students applying to P.E. teacher programs at the Eszterházy Károly University toward such instruments and approaches. Additional research objectives include the exploration of potential correlation between the sex of the applicants and the respective attitudes. Our inquiry utilized the questionnaire method and the computer-based attitude scale was completed by a sample of 130 applicants in the 2016/2017 and the 2017/2018 academic years. Our research concluded that both men and women maintain a positive attitude toward the use of digital devices, or the tools of information and communication technology. Students representing both sexes consider the computer as a valuable learning device promoting the efficiency of the knowledge acquisition process. Furthermore, a significantly greater proportion of male respondents stated that they were capable of repairing computer problems emerging during use than that of their female counterparts. At the same time men are less apprehensive to use computers during instruction and this attitude appears to be an indispensable requirement for the application of ICT devices in class. The research can contribute to a deeper exploration of the given field along with performing a gap filling function as such examination has not yet been conducted among applicants to P.E. programs provided by higher education institutions in Hungary.
JEL Classification: Z2, I23
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Segmenting Hungarian people based on healthy eating
65-72Views:259Relying on customer trends healthy eating, which is one aspect of healthy lifestyle is becoming more and more popular. The aim of this study was to understand the healthy eating style of Hungarian adult consumers. An online empirical research with a sample of 1563 respondents (58.7% females and 41.3% males) was conducted in November 2018. Considering healthy eating two factors, namely the choice of healthy foods and the avoidance of unhealthy foods could be distinguished. A hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted to segment consumers. Four groups of consumers were identified: unhealthy food avoiders (20.3%), rejecters (11.8%), neutrals (26.2%) and healthy food choosers (14.7%). Unhealthy food avoiders are seniors. Rejecters are blue collar workers and have financial problems. Healthy food choosers live in families with children over 10 and do not have weight problems. This study is useful for the health sector and the government since targeted marketing programs can be planned to change eating behavior. To decrease overweight and obesity is the goal of all society, especially in developed countries. To increase the well-being of people and their quality of life educating social marketing campaigns are necessary with the aim of raising their awareness and explaining the basic principles of a healthy diet.
JEL Classification: 112, M30, M39
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Tourism Development Challenges of an Island Destination in a Aging Society, Case Study of Ojika Island of Japan
31-38Views:319Japan’s inbound tourism numbers have been steadily rising in the past decade due to active promotion, easing of visa regulations, rapidly developing Asian economies and the depreciation of the Japanese Yen. The government’s goal is welcoming 40 million foreigners yearly by 2020, and leading them to rural destinations. There is a concern whether rural destinations in Japan are prepared for this sudden surge of tourists. The plans to bring masses to rural destinations implies a steady supply of tourism service, but the ageing and shrinking population of Japan together with the migration towards cities, leave some destinations without a key resource: workforce. This paper tries to understand the current situation of such rural, isolated communities, and whether they have the capacity to develop and expand the tourism industry. The case study was carried out on Ojika, an island destination in Nagasaki Prefecture. Several visits to the destination, participant observation and structured as well as unstructured interviews with stakeholders provide the primary data for the research. Through interviews with town officials, businesses and residents, different approaches to the demographic problems are introduced. The results show that the tourism development strategies cannot concentrate only on the strictly tourism industry elements of the destination but have to look at the community and infrastructure too, in this case, the labor market. The demographic change in society can put a limitation on development, thus counter measurements have to be considered and included in the tourism strategy. Further research is needed on less remote destinations, where there is a land-connection with another settlement, and whether a “commute based workforce” can ease the problem or by raising the costs of labour, a different, feasibility problem arises in the accommodations.
JEL Classification: Z32
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Low-carbon innovation policy with the use of biorenewables in the transport sector until 2030
45-52Views:168The topic of the present study deals with the changes and future trends of the European Union’s climate policy. In addition, it studies the manner in which Hungary’s transport sector contributes to the success of the above. The general opinion of Hungarian climate policy is that the country has no need of any substantial climate policy measures, since it will be able to reach its emission reduction targets anyway. This is mostly true, because the basis year for the long term goals is around the middle/end of the 1980’s, when Hungary’s pollution indices were entirely different than today due to former large-scale industrial production. With the termination of these inefficient energy systems, Hungary has basically been “performing well” since the change in political system without taking any specific steps in the interest of doing so. The analysis of the commitments for the 2020-2030 climate policy planning period, which defined emissions commitments compared to 2005 GHG emissions levels, has also garnered similar political reactions in recent years. Thus, it is not the issue of decreasing GHG emissions but the degree to which possible emissions can be increased stemming from the conditions and characteristics of economic growth that is important from the aspect of economic policy. In 2005, the Hungarian transport sector’s emissions amounted to 11 million tons, which is equal to 1.2% of total EU emissions, meaning it does not significantly influence total transport emissions. However, the stakes are still high for developing a low GHG emission transport system, since that will decide whether Hungary can avoid those negative development tendencies that have plagued the majority of Western European transport systems. Can Budapest avoid the scourge of perpetual smog and traffic jams? Can it avert the immeasurable accumulation of externalities on the capital city’s public bypass roads caused by having road transport conduct goods shipping?
JEL classification: Q58
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