Studies in entrepreneurship have identified that a positive entrepreneurial attitude and willingness to start a business influence future entrepreneurial intention. In the study of entrepreneurial intention, there is a growing interest in understanding the factors that determine desirability of entrepreneurship. Earlier studies have identified that there is a significant correlation between individuals’ perceived desirability of entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial intention. This study addressed the question of what factors determine the desirability of entrepreneurship and how these different factors affect the desire to become an entrepreneur. We discussed the key determinants of the desirability of entrepreneurship in Romania. Using the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) dataset for 2016, we examined the desirability of entrepreneurship among Romanian respondents by considering multiple factors indicated by the theory as being significant predictors of entrepreneurship: feasibility, social stability, and comfort with acquiring customers, as well as socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, education, income level and working status. The results of our regression analysis demonstrate that social stability and feasibility have the most impact on the desirability of entrepreneurship. In addition, we document that comfort with acquiring customers is perceived as an important factor in increasing the desirability of entrepreneurship. These results suggest that a good understanding of individuals’ social environment and their need for skills and capabilities may lead to greater entrepreneurial efficacy, which is fundamental to sustaining economic growth. Future research should be grounded on testing if level of education, working status and income influence desirability of entrepreneurship as our existing data did not prove that it did.

Organizations are increasingly subject to hazardous events and threats, which can be critical for their business operations and performance. Any natural, accidental, or deliberate incidents that happen to the organization can cause major disruptions to it. The present paper aims to examine the prerequisites for a sound business impact analysis necessary to build the organization’s business continuity management capability and ensure business resilience. It is meant to discover those critical functions and resources which are vital to business operations in a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises from a certain geographic area in Romania, in order to maintain their core operations and ensure business continuation. The research results rely on the data collected through face-to-face interviews from 119 Romanian companies. The research findings of the multiple linear regression employed indicate that, in undertaking business impact analysis for business continuity, it is vital for enterprises to identify the skills and level of expertise required from staff to carry out organization’s critical activities. Also it is critical for companies to identify alternative premises and systems and means of voice and data communication, as well as the priority suppliers/partners whom they depend on, necessary to undertake their critical activities. The study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the prerequisites of the organization’s business impact analysis that are critical to build a strong business continuity management capability. It also offers new insights to companies meant to generate a better understanding of current practices of undertaking a business impact analysis for business continuation in their organizations.

The paper reveals how lean instruments and metrics applied in transportation translates the importance of logistic visibility and shared information between shippers, brokers, carriers and customers along the supply chain management. Recreating a new transportation network emphasizes the idea of discovering practical strategies and actions of reducing muda in terms of efficiency and costs. Transportation cost has to be focused on frequency of trips, shipping size, distance travelled, guide routes and deficient rates. One of the objectives of the research was the analysis of the transport efficiency using the Value Stream Mapping as an important lean tool used by many practitioners to identify sources of waste and to propose alternatives of improvement. As a first conclusion of the study, transportation cannot be analyzed like a distinct part of the supply chain, therefore, VSM had to be considered, structured and visualized as linked processes of wasteful activities that need to be measured and improved. The transportation network design reflects the geographic distribution conditions, the frequency and size of the orders, the gaps between the in-transit activities and non-intransit activities. Waste identification research was focused on elaboration of Transportation Visual Map starting with main activities such as: shipment loading, transporting goods to destination, unloading processes, and transportation back to the base and handling the paperwork. MOVE Measure was the new metrics that determined the transportation efficiency in terms of availability, performance and quality, all the factors being expressed in percentage. The results of the research showed the importance of using the VSM tool in transforming the transportation segment of the supply chain from a non-value- adding activity into an optimized value- adding process.

The new lean paradigm defines the necessary management tools and techniques that create more value for the customers using lean resources. By reducing the non-value activities in one hand, and emphasizing on continuous improvement on the other hand, the lean practices implemented open the path for superior level of financial and operational performance. The purpose of this paper is to highlighting the strong correlation between the combination of the TQM, JIT, TMS, TPM and RFID as the most important lean practices employed by the transportation companies surveyed and its financial and operational performance. The correlation between the lean practices deployed within the transportation companies analyzed and their financial or operational performance has been established due to applying the SPSS quantitative methods, factor analysis and linear regression.

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