Scientific Annals of Economics and Business
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The Euro – A German Perspective
Get PDFThe Euro has been a hotly debated issue in Germany. Still 20 years after the introduction of the Euro there exist many opponents in Germany. Are their arguments correct? Has Germany benefitted from the Euro or is Germany suffering from the Euro? The article discusses these questions by looking back on the theoretical foundations for a single currency. Following this analysis, the macroeconomic performance of the Eurozone and especially of Germany is presented. Macroeconomic calculations show that Germany seems to be the biggest winner of the introduction of the Euro. The article presents some explanations for this result and makes a short-term and long-term appraisal about winners and losers and potential problems in the future. Different scenarios will be outlined for overcoming the problems with the Euro and lessons for the future will be drawn.JEL Codes - E52; F32; F3
Analysis of the Notes to the Financial Statement Related to Balance Sheet in Case of Hungarian Information-Technology Service Companies
Get PDFThe main aim of the study to examine the extent to which the companies of a specific Hungarian sector fulfil their obligation to provide information in their notes to the financial statements as stipulated by the Accounting Act. Accordingly, it should be examined whether the notes to financial statements contains the required data regarding the balance sheets of companies investigated. For the analyses, it was used the notes to the financial statement of 8,226 companies with Hungarian headquarters, which are regulated by the Hungarian Accounting Act and which have information-technology services as the main business activity. It was investigated 95.78% of the financial reports containing the notes. The analysis was performed using text mining method, utilizing every available notes to the financial statement of the sector. Findings of the study reveal that the amount of published information shows greater and lesser differences and in many cases, the quantity of published data does not fulfil even the minimal obligations stipulated legally.JEL Codes - M41; C1
Does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Contribute to Poverty Reduction? Empirical Evidence from Central European and Western Balkan Countries
Get PDFThis paper seeks to empirically examine the validity of nexus between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and poverty reduction in the context of twelve European transition and post-transition countries divided in two regions, between 2000 and 2015. The empirical analysis investigates whether some variations in poverty reduction are influenced by countries’ FDI performance and lead by progress in the EU integration process. The study finds that the nexus between FDI and poverty reduction varies between two regions (the Western Balkan region and the Central Europe region). While the relationship between FDI and poverty reduction has a positive effect in the Western Balkan region, it is insignificant and negative in the Central European region. In addition, the findings confirm some earlier assumptions that FDI impacts poverty reduction more strongly in poorer countries (the Western Balkan region) than in wealthier countries (the Central European region).JEL Codes - F10; F2
The Use of Demographic and Psychographic Segmentation to Creating Marketing Strategy of Brand Loyalty
Get PDFWith growing competition, loyal customers have become the key to the company's success. Brand loyalty has been a central structure for marketing for almost a century, yet this research topic is still modern and up to date. The aim of this contribution is to answer the research question of whether there are different segments of customers based on demographic and psychographic aspects that would differ in the level of brand loyalty in the company. In other words, do certain groups of company's customers (according to demographic or psychographic segmentation) have a higher degree of loyalty to the company's brand? To answer the research question, we have identified hypotheses expressing the existence of a statistical dependence between individual segmentation variable and the level of brand loyalty. Based on statistical testing of established hypotheses, we have confirmed the existence of certain company's segments that have a higher degree of loyalty.JEL Codes - M21; M3
Piracy Revisited: Exploring Music Users in the Age of Technology Dependency
Get PDFThis paper empirically investigates and characterizes users of recorded music, both downloaders and purchasers. To this end we analyse the role of the variables defining the different segments of music users. In doing so, we have considered two main traits influencing the use of music. First, objective variables such as demographics, music consumption habits, music genres and technology. Second, subjective variables such as motives and attitudes towards piracy. Using data from a personal survey, subsequent latent class and fuzzy analyses show that while the former characteristics are relevant in those getting music for free from the Internet, the latter don´t pay any special part, contrary to what literature had suggested. Specifically, we find evidence of age, gender, technology, and genre of music confirming previous studies carried out on this topic before the existing gap in the literature. However, there is no evidence of these variables defining patterns of purchase behaviour.JEL Codes - M300; M31
Employees´ Creativity Development within Innovative Processes of Enterprise
Get PDFBusiness practice requires creativity to be considered an important part of management because innovation is the result of it. The aim of the paper is to find out how is the creativity of employees supported in food enterprises in Slovakia. After evaluating the information obtained from structured interview and questionnaire based on the 5-degree Likert scale, there were used one way ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test as well as Cronbach alpha and Spearman's correlation tests. The survey also highlighted the significant innovation potential of food enterprises in Slovakia. Innovation and creativity development activities can be stimulated through the use of various techniques, with some having a specific effect on a subset of innovation types and others being applicable to a wide variety of innovations.JEL Codes - M12; O3
An Investigation into the Level of Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFFinancial inclusion is crucial for redistribution of economic resources between the deficit and surplus units in an economy. Despite the importance of financial inclusion, especially for economic growth of developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevailing level financial inclusion remain an open question. Against this background, this study investigates the level of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2015. This study employs secondary data obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The data obtained was subjected to Principal Component Analysis to determine the level of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings show that Sub-Saharan Africa has a medium level of financial inclusion during the observed period with Index of Financial Inclusion (IFI) value of 0.095023. The study concludes that Sub-Saharan Africa has high propensity to achieve a high level of financial inclusion in the region if more outlets of financial institutions are established.JEL Codes - G1; G
Audio-visual Production as a Path of Cooperation in Europe. Eurimages Funds
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to analyse co-production in Europe through the funds of the Eurimages program from its origin, in 1989 to 2016, and to determine a pattern of co-production among the main film producer nations in Europe: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. For that purpose, a statistical analysis is carried out using several data sources: the Lumiere database, the reports from the European Audiovisual Observatory, as well as those from several national film institutions (such as the ICAA in Spain, or the CNC in France), or even the webpages of the Eurimages program and the Ibermedia one. Among the main results, it should be underlined that Eurimages has contributed to the increase of European films through co-production, but not to the increase of film audience, being far from that of American films. Nevertheless, if compared to national films, Eurimages has favoured both the transnational circulation of films and their consumption. Moreover, the main reasons to choose partners to co-produce are both cultural and economic, based on language, geographical proximity, common history and having a more developed film industry with a generous film support. With this article we want to contribute to update the literature about co-production in Europe using Eurimages funds.JEL Codes - L82; L88; Z1
Data Size Requirement for Forecasting Daily Crude Oil Price with Neural Networks
Get PDFWhen the literature regarding applications of neural networks is investigated, it appears that a substantial issue is what size the training data should be when modelling a time series through neural networks. The aim of this paper is to determine the size of training data to be used to construct a forecasting model via a multiple-breakpoint test and compare its performance with two general methods, namely, using all available data and using just two years of data. Furthermore, the importance of the selection of the final neural network model is investigated in detail. The results obtained from daily crude oil prices indicate that the data from the last structural change lead to simpler architectures of neural networks and have an advantage in reaching more accurate forecasts in terms of MAE value. In addition, the statistical tests show that there is a statistically significant interaction between data size and stopping rule.JEL Codes - Q47; C45; C5
20 Years of European Monetary Policy. From Doctrinarism to Realpolitik
Get PDFThis paper describes the monetary policy of the European Central Bank since the birth of the Euro. The different economic situations and the monetary policies implemented during the mandate of each one of the three ECB presidents are analysed as a process of evolution. We study the situations of cyclical asynchrony together with the response given to it by the European monetary authority. We also assess the change experienced by the main economic indicators of the twelve founding countries during the 20 years of the single currency. The main conclusion obtained is that monetary policy has evolved from the strict approach defined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to an approach closer to that of the rest of central banks, which we have called “monetary realpolitik”.JEL Codes - E50; E52; E5