Abstract:This study uses fractal analysis to quantify the spatial changes of forest resources caused by an increase of deforested areas. The method introduced contributes to the evaluation of forest resources being under significant pressure from anthropogenic activities. The pressure on the forest resources has been analyzed for Maramures , County, one of the most deforested counties in Romania. In order to evaluate this, the deforested areas were calculated for the period of 2001-2014, by using the Global Forest Change 2000-2014 database. The Fractal Fragmentation Index (FFI) and Fixed Grid 2D Lacunarity (FG2DL) were used to quantify the degree of fragmentation and dispersion of the forested areas, and thereby the extent to which a forest area is affected by deforestation. The process of quantifying the pressure on forested areas included the creation of a database for the period of 2000-2014 containing economic activities (turnover) related to woody recourses, important indicators of forest exploitation. Taken together, the results obtained indicate a dramatic increase in deforested areas (over 19,122 ha in total for the period of analysis), in Maramures , County.

AbstractIn a turbulent economic environment, marked by multiple challenges and changes at every step, organizations must adapt their management system, in order to maintain or even increase their productivity, as well as their competitive advantage. All the activities carried out within an organization are based on a series of managerial decisions, dependent on each other, by which the objectives and the modalities of action are determined, ensuring the economic-financial balance. Frequently, the activities carried out within an organization are changing, as the circumstances and characteristics of the business environment increasingly suffers transformations, thus it is necessary that the decision-making processes be updated. Therefore, the employees of the companies must be prepared to organize their activity in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world - the VUCA world. Above the decision environment, are manifested a series of indirect and direct influences (interdependent variables, constraints and limit situations) that affect the result of the decisions adopted within the different levels of management in organizations. Thus, the present paper aims to determine and investigate the factors that influence the characteristics of the decision situations, regardless of the type of decisions adopted within an organization. The present study consists in analyzing the results obtained after applying an online questionnaire to researchers from Doctoral Schools and students of Project Management, from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, who work in different areas of activity. After the statistical processing of the results obtained regarding the decision systems in the VUCA world, this paper aims to highlight the most important changes that occur in decision-making processes representing a key element for organizations in which managers have to make decisions on a daily basis, in order to ensure the economic performance, despite all the disruptions that occur.

Insertion of higher education graduates in the labor market is a key concern of economic and social environment actors (universities, representatives of business, professional associations or NGOs). From this perspective, universities are obliged to develop active partnerships with business in regard with social and professional needs, but also to the needs of students. Partnerships must bring benefits to both universities and employers. The paper presents forms of partnership developed by universities and businesses and analyzes the views expressed by the representatives of employers engaged in active partnerships with the most prestigious economic university in Romania, Bucharest University of Economic Studies.

Abstract:The latest developments in natural soft drinks in the Romanian market signal significant changes in consumers' perceptions of the sustainability concept. While the necessity of preserving natural resources and ensuring a decent level of healthiness seem to be steadily embraced by the Romanian society, the lack of long enough time series to acknowledge this shift render impossible a traditional econometric validation of these recent trends in economic thinking. The large number of European-funded projects for upgrading technology in the Romanian sector of natural soft drinks raises the question whether the learning by doing effect dispersed into the Romanian managers' investment decision making from the perspective of both economic and food sustainability. This paper presents the construction and the evaluation of an Analytical Network Process (ANP) market share model, which emerged from extended in-depth interviews with 10 managers of the main Romanian natural soft drinks producers. This model differs from traditional market share ANP ones since concepts like either food of economic sustainability were considered as significant driving factors. The coincidence between the estimated market share and the actual one, expressed by Saaty's compatibility index, validate this model and offer comparative numerical weights' of importance for food or economic sustainability.

The lack of sustainable development strategies of the tourist resorts from Romania caused the structural dynamics of their economy to record large fluctuations under the impact of determinants with unpredictable developments. The spectacular dynamics have led to developments difficult to predict, in many situations that generate environmental conflicts, where the economic pressure has exceeded the support capacity of the natural environment. In this study, we aim to analyze the dynamic relationship between tourism and the other components of the economy, from each resort from Romania. The significant growth of tourism in recent years requires new approaches, relevant for understanding the role of tourism in increasing the complexity of the local economy. Measuring the role of tourism in the development of local economy was achieved by building an economic database for all tourist resorts from Romania (according to Government Decision No. 107 of 2018), at the four-digit NACE code level (Classification of National Economy Activities), for the economic indicators considered relevant: number of companies, number of employees, and turnover and profit, for the period 2000–2016, as well as at territorial administrative unit level. Detailed analyses revealed very different structural dynamics, the spectacular dynamics, lacking a coherent strategic framework, led in all situations to the emergence of environmental conflicts. Tourist resorts in which tourism has become an essential component of economic development have based their development on capitalization of local resources, which led to multiplication effects, materialized in a spectacular evolution of the local economy, and an increasing pressure on the natural environment.