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Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development
145-152Views:129AsinEurope,agricultureinPortugalissupposedtofulfill a multiplicity of roles. It should contribute to supply Portuguese population with quality and safe food, to be viable in a global, competitive, dynamic and aggressive market, to preserve precious cultural landscapes across country through sustainable land management, to assist rural areastobeattractiveandfeasibleandtosupportemployment and social cohesion. Nevertheless, adjustments are expected to adapt to new environmental conditions, mainly climate change, to minimize weaknesses, to hold new opportunities and face new challenges. Otherwise, increases on human desertification, rural areas abandonment and consequent negative effects on territory are predictable.
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The responsibility of marketing and legislation in childhood obesity
85-90Views:124The purchasing power of youth is considerable; they are the market of the future. , the young generation is the most influenced and vulnerable segment of the economy. The greatest problem of the influencing of our children is the rising cost of childhood obesity. The health care system cannot keep up with the pressure of obesity. Today, the risk of obesity is a bigger problem than smoking or alcoholism. The greatest problem is that youth underestimates the cost and risk of consumption of foods with high levels of fats, sugar and/or salt.
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New tools and opportunities in growth and climate friendly greening for small and medium enterprises in the European Union
25-31Views:161The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is unquestionable in the European economies, while financial opportunities are still inadequate for them. The more than 20 million SMEs play a significant role in European economic growth, innovation and job creation. According to the latest EC Annual Report , SMEs are accounting for 99% of all non-financial enterprises, employing 88.8 million people and generating almost EUR 3.7 tn in added value for our economy. Despite the fact that there is plenty of EU funding available for these SMEs, for certain reasons these funds hardly reach them. But we have to see that the EU supports SMEs by various way, e.g. by grants, regulatory changes, financial instrument, direct funds. On the other hand, SMEs and decision makers realised that the environmental sustainability has to be attached to the economic growth, therefore more and more tools are available for these enterprises. Over the last few years, public institutions, the market, the financial community and non-governmental associations have explicitly demanded that firms improve their environmental performance. One of the greatest opportunities might lay in the Climate- and Energy Strategy till 2030 as 20% of the EU budget is allocated to climate-related actions, however the easy access to finance is still a key question. Does the EU recognise the actual difficulties? Is there a systemic reason behind the absorption problems? Is the EU creating a more businessfriendly environment for SMEs, facilitating access to finance, stimulates the green and sustainable growth and improving access to new markets? The paper analyses the current European situation of the SMEs and the effectiveness of some new tools, which are specially targeting SMEs.
JEL classification: Q18
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Experiences on organisation of fruit and vegetable sector in Hungary
65-67Views:133The objectives are (1) to reveal some current issues on organisations founded by fruit and vegetable producers and (2) to stress upon those factors that should be highlighted in the very next future. In Hungary, POs have been accounting for bigger share of fruit and vegetable trading in Hungary, which refers to a better organisation in the sector. Bargaining force and level of experience on running such businesses, although, are still much behind the level expected. Flexibility and speed of a running business are highly determined by the legal form of Pos. The most favourite form is cooperative that is not flexible enough as a business form, especially for starting businesses. Low yearly turnover and weak market power feature the POs, preferring short time solutions to strategic thinking. It is macro environmental factors that generate short term thinking, but coupled with mismanagement on different levels of corporate management.
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Systematic risk factors and stock return volatility
61-70Views:443This study analyzes the transmission of systematic risk exhaling from macroeconomic fundamentals to volatility of stock market by using auto regressive generalized auto regressive conditional heteroskedastic (AR-GARCH) and vector auto regressive (VAR) models. Systematic risk factors used in this study are industrial production, real interest rate, inflation, money supply and exchange rate from 2000-2014. Results indicate that there exists relationship among the volatility of macroeconomic factors and that of stock returns in Pakistan. The relationship among the volatility of macroeconomic variables and that of stock returns is bidirectional; both affect each other in different dynamics.
JEL code: C32, C58, G11, G12
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Willingness to pay for locally produced organic foods by urban consumers in Sri Lanka
15-22Views:402Organic food consumption is gradually increasing among Sri Lankan consumers due to an increased awareness on healthy food. Some consumers ready to pay more for organic food, but it varies according to many factors. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the urban consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organically produced food in Sri Lanka. The specific objectives of the research were to investigate the socio-economic factors, the level of awareness on organic food, the present situation of buying, and the level of additional price ready to pay and analyze the impact of socio-economic factors on consumers’ willingness to pay. The research was conducted in urban Sri Lanka, covering capital cities of six urban districts of the country; Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Kandy, Kurunegala, and Rathnapura. Data were collected from November 2016 to May 2018, from 600 consumers, by selecting 100 consumers per city. Data analyses employed were a descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression. Results revealed that, the most of the consumers were females, married, and with a comparatively higher level of education and monthly income. Most consumers had a significant level of awareness about organic food. A lesser proportion of consumers (24%) buys organic food at present, while the majority (52.4%) was willing to pay an extra price. Out of these consumers, the highest percentage (29.3%) prefers to pay 26% to 50% premium prices. As per the results of logistic regression, age, gender, monthly income, and education were the deciding factors for consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for organic food. Results of this research are helpful for the development of production and marketing strategies and awareness programs for urban consumers on local organic food products.
JEL CODE: Q1, Q13
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Green networks: Innovative capacity of SMEs in the Dutch greenhouse horticulture industry
43-50Views:150The Dutch greenhouse horticulture industry is characterized by world leadership in high-tech innovation. The dynamics of this playing field are innovation in production systems and automation, reduction in energy consumption and sharing limited space. However, international competitive advantage of the industry is under pressure and sustainable growth of individual enterprises is no longer a certainty. The sector’s ambition is to innovate better and grow faster than the competition in the rest of the world. Realizing this ambition requires strengthening the knowledge base, stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation (not just technological, but especially business process innovation). It also requires educating and professionalizing people. However, knowledge transfer in this industry is often fragmented and innovation through horizontal and vertical collaboration throughout the value chain is limited. This paper focuses on the question: how can the grower and the supplier in the greenhouse horticulture chain gain competitive advantage through radical product and process innovation. The challenge lies in time- to-market, in customer relationship, in developing new product/market combinations and in innovative entrepreneurship. In this paper an innovation and entrepreneurial educational and research programme is introduced. The programme aims at strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between enterprise, education and research. Using best practice examples, the paper illustrates how companies can realize growth and improve the innovative capacity of the organization as well as the individual by linking economic and social sustainability. The paper continues to show how participants of the program develop competencies by means of going through a learning cycle of single-loop, double-loop and triple loop learning: reduction of mistakes, change towards new concepts and improvement of the ability to learn. Finally, the paper illustrates the importance of combining enterprise, education and research in regional networks, with examples from the greenhouse horticulture sector. These networks generate economic growth and international competitiveness by acting as business accelerators.
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New business strategies of football clubs
67-73Views:554The study investigates new strategies of football clubs in function of last few years’ trends in European football leagues. There were many changes in international professional football during the last 10-15 years that had significant effect on the success of certain clubs. We show empirical evidences about these effects based on data about revenues, transfer balance, financial and sport successes. We focus on Western European leagues and classify clubs based on their business and sport strategies.
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Marketing characteristics of Tokaj wine specialities based on factor and cluster analyses
93-101Views:205The marketing kind of analysis in the domestic and international markets of Tokaj’s wine speciality has not happend yet. The present research scientific method supportedly defines the consumers of Tokaj’s wine speciality and it determinates the overlay receipt. The basis of the questionnaire research at the wine consumers cirlce is a representative sample of 1179 people. It confirms the truthfulness with factos and cluster dissection. On the hungarian market 5 sections can be devided, which has been determined by the earning category, the wine savvy and the referene price interval. Tokaj Wine Specialities named “late vintage” are also available. This name can be confusing for the consumer, some do not understand in what they differ from other Tokaj Wine Specialities, as actually all Tokaj Wine Specialities are late vintage wines; particularly, wine is harvested later than usual, occasionally in October or November. The findings obtained during the research can beutilised in practice, too. In accordance with the results and conclusions, we have several practical suggestions. Our methodological suggestion is that the result of the cluster analysis based upon a large number of representative sample should be cross-checked with focus group tests; what is more, upon justification and verification, a detailed analysis of the given segments can also be performed better with this method. It would be worth studying the exact reasons for the popularity of wines with the name ”late vintage”. Such types of Tokaj Wine Specialities should be given higher priority in marketing terms. My suggestion is that the type of wine accepted and liked by consumers should be kept count of as TokajWine Specialities officially, too. The future marketing strategy has to be developed by knowing the sections and by it’s further research which has to integrate to the strategy of Tokaj’s wine region.
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Significance of wheat production in world economy and position of Hungary in it
115-119Views:258This article intends to introduce the significance of wheat production in world economy and role of Hungary in it on the basis of statistic database of FAO. Importance of wheat production in world economy is proven by its share of 15% from 1500 million hectares arable land in the world. This rate is equivalent to 225 million hectares of wheat area based on FAO figures for 2009. From its world economy significance view point, on the basis of some significant features it sets order of ranks among wheat producing countries, accompanied by Hungary too. Setting of rank orders is based on the quantity of wheat produced by countries, cultivated area and exported, imported wheat quantity. As regards wheat export in 2008, Hungary was placed as 11. in the world while on the basis of produced quantity and cultivated area it did not achieve any of top 20 countries. Wheat import of Hungary is negligible since its wheat production is greatly over the self-sufficiency level in one production year. Our logistics disadvantages indicate one of considerable difficulties of market access for primary materials in domestic plant production.
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Economics of fairness within the food supply chain in context of the EU
107-116Views:196The paper broaches the issue of unfair trading practices (UTPs) at the expense of, economically spoken, weaker actors among the food supply chain in context of the EU. For illustrating the concept of UTPs and delivering a theoretical basis for scrutinizing the term of fairness in respective trading practices the paper suggests the three variables 1) bargaining power, 2) market power/anti competitive practices and 3) unequal gain distribution. Subsequently the article presents selected national food-specific legislative based reactions towards UTPs evolved in context of the three variables. Ultimately the paper presents a qualitatively generated hypothesis which presumes that legislative food-specific measurements focussing on protecting suppliers lead to a beneficial monetary share for farmers, by means of influencing the producer price to a monetarily advantageous extent. The hypothesis was generated unprejudiced in the run-up to the paper. The research design which led to the hypothesis mentioned will be presented.
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Reducing consumption of food with high level of fat, sugar and/or salt among young generation
85-91Views:140The young generation is the most influenced and vulnerable segment of the market. Food with high level of fat, sugar and/or salt are popularised for this segment.At the same time nearly 7 people die of obesity or from complications of obesity in Hungary each hour – one every 9minutes. Less than 10% of youth are of the belief of eating healthy and more then one third of youth don’t take care about healthy eating. The young generation can be especially influenced by use of well-known persons, prize games and free gifts. The idea of fat tax’s introduction could be an obvious proposal.
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The characteristics of consumer attitudes in the food market in Hungary
43-49Views:167The objective of our research was to examine the health status and health behaviour of the Hungarian population in relation of food consumption by identifying relationships between the underlying factors. In our research we used the objective factors from secondary data concerning nutritional status and body image as a framework for the interpretation of the examined relationship of eating attitudes and body attitudes. We chose survey as our test method, it was carried out on a national representative sample of 1000 people. After the examination of the factor structure of the two attitude measuring questionnaire, five consumer groups have been identified by the cluster analysis. The five clusters are: Uncontrolled Impulse Eaters, Dissatisfied Tense, Uninterested, Overweight Impulse Eaters and Conscious Consumers. This segmentation based on eating attitudes and body attitudes could serve as a guidance for health marketing experts and the manufacturers of health protective food to determine and address their target group.
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Determining fair rental value of land in the Hungarian valuation practice – a methodological approach
13-18Views:147The directive of 1666/2015. (IX. 21.) called ’Land for Farmers!’ has changed not only the legal terms and conditions but also the economic basis of land use in the relation of land use and resulting derivative demand. Institutionalized rental fees can be modified to market level only if it is confirmed by qualified expert’s report hired by the new land owner. Setting a fair rental value has quite a few methodological approaches. Due to the lack of a legally recommended calculation process, authors hereby are presenting a method to calculate fair rental value that is beneficial for both renter and owner. Foreign rental conditions related to the topic are also concerned in the article.
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Factors affecting acceptance of smart retail solutions in Hungary: an empirical study using UTAUT2 model
Views:281In today's digitalisation process, retail is also undergoing a transformation, with the emergence of new smart solutions. Integrating intelligent solutions into a business model means new strategic challenges for retailing companies. The aim of the research is to examine the factors influencing the behavioural intention and use behaviour of smart retail solutions (SRS). The proposed model was based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). Data was collected by conducting a questionnaire of 302 Hungarian respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and partial least squares (PLS-SEM) estimation were implemented. The results showed that behavioural intention is significantly and positively influenced by effort expectancy and it is significantly and negatively influenced by facilitating conditions. Most of the respondents are not yet regular users of SRS, and the market penetration of front-end intelligent solutions in retail is considered as rather low.
JEL code: M10, M31, O14
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An ICT-based traceability system in compound feed industry
59-64Views:182The term traceability refers to recording of flow of products along the food chain from production to consumption with inclusion of all intermediate applications involved in processing/packaging stages. The aim for establishing traceability in the food chain is to provide the timely identification and recall of batches of product from the market when a risk threatens the health of consumers. Since compound feed products are basic inputs in livestock and poultry production, ICT-based feed traceability systems can be considered as a initial step in food traceability management. These systems are simply information recording systems that are designed to trace and track the flow and characteristics of animal feed along the feed supply chain. This paper describes the architecture and some functional properties of a feed traceability system called as the “feed TRace”, focusing particularly on compound feed and integrated poultry meat industries. The feedTRace aims to improve compound feed supply chain management, to increase feed safety and quality control, and to gain marketing competencies with traceable products in compound feed industry. The system is currently under beta stage, and is tested in two high capacity feed milling plants and an integrated broiler company located inAdana province of Turkey.
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The potential economic impact of the Western corn rootworm resistant GM variety on maize production in Hungary
87-93Views:143The paper examines that how the application of the MON88017 GM maize variety could influence the profitability of maize production in Hungary. The most important benefit of this biotech crop lies in its reduced need for chemical use and the additional yield comparing to conventional varieties. Among the economical disadvantages there is the uncertain market of GM products in the EU. After weighing all these factors the results conclude that the farmers could reach an income surplus by growing this GM variety. Although, this surplus is significant only if a similar positive yield impact is achieved under the Hungarian conditions as in the USA.
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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:121The 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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Measuring technical, economic and allocative efficiency of maize production in subsistence farming: evidence from the central rift valley of Ethiopia
63-73Views:436This study measured the technical, allocative and economic efficiencies of maize production in the central rift valley of Ethiopia using cross sectional data collected from randomly selected 138 sample households. The estimated result showed that the mean technical, allocative and economic efficiencies were 84.87%, 37.47% and 31.62% respectively. Among factors hypothesized to determine the level of efficiency scores, education was found to determine allocative and economic efficiencies of farmers positively while the frequency of extension contact had a positive relationship with technical efficiency and it was negatively related to both allocative and economic efficiencies. Credit was also found to influence technical and economic efficiencies positively and distance to market affected technical efficiency negatively. The model output also indicated that soil fertility was among significant variables in determining technical efficiency in the study area. The result indicated that there is a room to increase the efficiency of maize producers in the study area.
JEL Classifications: C67, D24, D61, L23, Q12, Q18
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Market trends and consumer demand for fresh berries
11-14Views:419We present an analysis of markets for fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the United States during 2008–2011. We use weekly panel data covering supermarket purchases in 52 cities. The primary goal is to estimate demand elasticities for fresh berries and thereby provide a better understanding of consumer behaviour in response to price changes and the nature of competition among these crops. We estimate fixed and random effects models for double log demand equations and a complete demand system, the Almost Ideal Demand System. The latter specification can be used to estimate demand relationships that conform to utility maximising behaviour. The elasticity estimates are very robust across the different specifications and estimation methods. This increases confidence in our findings and provides some assurance that choice of functional form or estimation method is not driving our results. We find that retail demands for all berry crops are in the elastic range and that the different berries are substitutes for one another. The demand for strawberries was the least elastic with an own price elasticity of –1.26 and blackberries were the most elastic with a demand elasticity of –1.88. Blackberry demand was also the most responsive to the prices of competing berry crops. The study provides clearer insight into markets for berries in the United States. In addition, it fills a gap in the present lack of up-to-date consumer demand elasticities for these crops and will be useful for growers, decision makers and consumers.
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Perspectives for development social entrepreneurship in republic of Moldova
21-29Views:140Social entrepreneurship, as a field for research and scientific disputes between scholars and practitioners, it still remains a novel investigation area, as far as new opportunities, challenges, business approaches and concepts appear into the modern world and competitive market. This paper puts emphasis on social framework behind the development of social businesses in Moldova. Moreover, it presents the grass-root state of readiness of existing small and medium – sized enterprises from Moldova to undertake the leap towards the new kind of economy and different organizational approaches. The paper provides a content analysis of specific literature on social entrepreneurship, with particular emphasis on general perception of the small holders and small and medium – sized enterprises on social business. A total number of 593 small and medium – sized enterprises and individuals participated to organized interviews. The survey results show that 66% of the respondents are not acknowledged with social entrepreneurship concept and functionality. From those (34%) who are informed about the topic, most of them are actual young entrepreneurs. Additionally, young entrepreneurs, respondents, wouldn’t reinvest their profit for social mission (73%). Unlike young entrepreneurs, individuals would reinvest their profit in social missions, in case they have a business. These findings suggest that, in the society there is a lack of general understanding on social entrepreneurship. The author also found out that, the general perception regarding social problems is mostly assigned to public authorities instead of enterprises. Moreover, the research results show that the absence of a clear mechanism which would raise public awareness regarding social problems and social capital, affects the active implication of community stakeholders into the societal problems.
JEL code: M140
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A study on consumer habits in the dietary supplements market
5-12Views:587There 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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Impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on the agro-food industry and rural livelihoods in Serbia
113-118Views:115Sixty-five per cent of the Serbian land area is agricultural and 55% of the population is rural.Agriculture share of GDP is more than 10% and about 47% of the rural labour force deals with agriculture. The aim of this work is to analyse the impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on the Serbian agro-food sector and rural communities. Measures introduced, mainly by public institutions, for relieving the consequences of the crisis are presented and discussed. Easily accessible yet high quality data from the central Office of Statistics in Serbia and specialized literature have been used. Impacts have been assessed by analyzing and discussing the trends of many socio-economic indicators. The crisis has had general impacts on the Serbian economy (low GDP growth, unemployment increase, price volatility, purchasing power decrease, etc.). Due to the crisis growth in agricultural production has been very low (0.1% in 2009). Agro-food exports decreased dramatically in 2008. About 9000 agricultural jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009. Reduced exports and lower domestic demand impacted negatively on agricultural commodity prices and agricultural household incomes.Access to credit became more difficult especially for small producers. However, agriculture is still a very important safety net. Agricultural employment share has increased both for men and women. The importance of agriculture is even higher if we consider the “grey agricultural economy”. To mitigate the crisis effects, the Government provided subsidies to rural people and will adopt the National Strategic Plan and Programme for Rural Development. Nevertheless, public institutions - in partnership with private, civil society and international organisations - should improve rural producers’ access to market information and credits and foster investments in rural areas including non-agricultural ones and those aiming at improving physical capital.
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Profitability and efficiency – an analysis of the financial impact of the Szechenyi Plan in the Hungarian hospitality industry
51-56Views:157Continuous changes in the market and macroeconomic factors have made a significant effect on the tourism sector in Hungary. A heavily growing number of hotels could be observed in the past decade. The main question about the hotels built with high investment costs was their expected time of return. Keeping Hungary’s natural conditions in mind, is it more expedient to build new hotels or refurbish old ones? I was seeking answers for these questions during my work. My research was aiming to explore the impacts of the non-refundable subsidies – financed by the government – provided for new health and wellness hotel projects carried out within the framework of the Széchenyi Plan. On the other hand, my study was expanded to the analysis of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts data of the hotels of Hungary according to their star (quality) rating. The major findings of the research: Considering high developmental costs subsidies play an important role in the hotel industry. It is impossible to carry out such investments using internal sources only. However, exclusive bank loans finance could drive insolvency so it is extremely risky. Non-refundable subsides provided for hotel investments created stable, countable payroll taxes and other forms of incomes for the country. In order to achieve more profitable operation, providing higher quality of services is indispensable. Taking Hungary’s conditions into account this can be reached more likely among four star rated hotels than any other star (quality) ranked establishments.
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Agricultural outsourcing: A comparison between the Netherlands and Japan
29-33Views:341Outsourcing may well be a tool for increasing the efficiency of Japanese agriculture. However, outsourcing is not frequently used by Japanese farmers in their day-to-day management. This has resulted in a weakly developed market for agricultural contracting services. In order to take a closer look at the reasons for making use of outsourcing, a comparative study was carried out between the agricultural contracting sector in Japan and that in the Netherlands, where agricultural outsourcing is a regular practice. In the Netherlands, especially small, diversified farms that lack sufficient labour tend to outsource agricultural work; in Japan, the situation is far less clear. Cultural factors possibly play an important role.
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