Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the three types of ethical consumption (positive, negative and discursive) simultaneously in three different geographical areas, namely, Hebron (PL), Sofia (BG) and Thessaloniki (GR). Design/methodology/approach Personal interviews were conducted in the three cities during autumn 2016 with the use of a structured questionnaire. Large enough samples were selected with the one-stage area sampling. The sampling unit was one adult person of all households in each randomly selected city block. Findings The consumers of all cities were not found frequently engaged in any ethical consumption type. Demographic analysis revealed extensive differences across each one of the behaviours in each one of the cities. Attitudinal and psychographic analyses indicated that consumers, who are less ethically disinterested and more generous, were found to be more frequently engaged in ethical purchase in all the three cities. Evidence was found that less ethically disinterested and more generous consumers are more likely to get engaged in boycotting calls, in Hebron and in Thessaloniki. Less ethically disinterested consumers were also found more active in discursive activities in Sofia and Thessaloniki. Research limitations/implications Certain amendments of the behavioural and attitudinal scales could be essential to ensure the same level of measurement accuracy in different geographical areas. Larger and more representative of the overall population samples are needed to facilitate the generalisation of the results. Examination of cultural and political perspectives might add to the understanding of consumers’ ethical consumption in different contexts. Practical implications Firms interested in adopting ethical strategies or consumer groups that would like to call a boycotting or a consumer activism campaign should address their communication strategies towards targets that are described by the results in regard to each geographical area. Originality/value This study added to the limited so far relevant knowledge about the simultaneous examination of the three types of the overall ethical consumption in three different cities; interesting differences and similarities were revealed.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the usage of rhetorical figures in Bulgarian advertising slogans. The research method includes gathering randomly selected advertising slogans in three mediamagazines, internet and TV. The slogans in the sample came from the following categories: Foodstuffs; Drinks; Automobiles, Airlines, Gas stations, and Bus lines; Banks and Insurance companies; Chain Stores and Shopping Centers; Technology and Communications; Clothing and cosmetics; Tourism; Other product categories. Our results show that the most popular figures of thought in Bulgarian advertising slogans are as follows: metaphor, exclamation, antithesis, hyperbole, and aposiopesis. On the other hand, the most frequently used figures of speech are the following: appeal, epithet, and anaphora.

No abstract

The business environment and cluster development in given economy have a defining role for the development, maintenance and enhancement of national competitiveness and this has been proven repeatedly in theory and in practice. Cluster development in Bulgaria started with some delay compared to the other European countries. In Bulgaria, companies even though being a member of a cluster, they do not fully realize their advantages in terms of competition and joint efforts. The reason is that clusters in Bulgaria are still in a process of building efficient internal interactions between their members. The study focuses on the way and the extent the state of business environment and cluster development foster national competitiveness in the case of Bulgaria and selected Central and Eastern European EU member states countries. For the purposes of the study of business environment the Diamond Model of Michael Porter is employed and it is carried out through the World Economic Forum’s indicators of Global Competitiveness Reports. Both, business environment and the level of cluster development in Bulgaria are evaluated in a comparative context with selected Central and Eastern European EU member states countries. The results of the study show domination of limitations and obstacles to enhancing national competitiveness. We may conclude that the state of the business environment, the level of cluster development, and their interaction are not very favourable for more intensive competitive development of Bulgarian economy.

This paper presents the results from a survey-based market research of Bulgarian households. The author of the study is trying to understand what changes of consumer behavior occur in times of economic crises in Bulgaria, do consumers change their buying patterns, how consumers attempt to avoid or diminish the negative results from economic crisis, etc. The research project is planned, organized and realized within the Scientific Research Program of The University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria. This paper discusses only a part of the research results and analysis. The rest of the research results will be published in a separate paper.