Abstract. In recent decades the supply perspective of tourism, focusing on large agglomerations of tourism companies that bring benefits in terms of positive externalities at destination, has been more and more emphasized. It has become a complement of the classical demand-based perspective, which points to the availability of resources (attractions) demanded by tourists as the exclusive explanation for the location decisions of tourist companies. In line with these new orientations, our paper proposes an inquiry into the spatial distribution of accommodation and foodservice companies in Romania, seeking to reveal whether a significant cross-correlation between these two segments of tourism infrastructure occurs and, in case of an affirmative answer, to discuss their significance for tourism development policies. With this aim in view, the investigation methodology utilises a series of analytical tools that combine GIS and spatial agglomeration analysis based techniques, applied to datasets capturing all companies represented in the tourism industry in Romania provided by the National Authority for Tourism, combined with spatial data from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). The results indicate an uneven territorial distribution of tourism infrastructure compared to the location of tourist attractions, significant differences between the geographical distribution of the accommodation and foodservice companies and suggest differentiated policies for supporting tourism infrastructure, in accordance with the specific needs of the tourist areas.JEL classification: C19, C88, L83, R12
In the transition and developing countries the use of surplus real property might be a good response to the acute need for local sources of revenues provided the requirements of the new public management regarding efficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services are carefully observed. The research has focused on the case of Romanian cities' real properties, aiming to reveal the problems of the existing municipal real property (MRP) management system in relation to both overall city conditions and the characteristics of the institutional and organizational framework. A questionnairebased survey followed by nonparametric statistical tests have been employed in this respect, confirming the working hypothesis which points to the importance of the existence of an MRP plan, an MRP strategy and an MRP unit at municipality level for the effective use of these assets. A series of viable solutions to the problems identified have been also formulated.
Points for practitionersThe article emphasizes the decisive role of the strategic approach and corresponding instruments for effective MRP management, putting forward valuable recommendations for making MRP an important source of revenue for municipal governments. They are derived from the findings obtained within the EU-funded project entitled 'Municipal Property Management in South-East European Cities' (PROMISE) by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies team, one of the 13 partners involved. Its contribution has been nominated by the International Project Management Association among the
In the last few decades clusters have become a very attractive concept for economic practice: they are approached as a key source of competitive advantage, mainly in connection with their capacity to be critical drivers of innovation which is heavily concentrated from a geographical viewpoint. As argued by the European Cluster Memorandum (European Cluster Alliance, 2007), clusters stimulate the emergence of new ideas in networks of cooperating business firms and institutions, lowering the barriers for transforming new ideas into businesses. In line with this overall orientation the strong cluster support offered by the EU has been conceived in tight relation to those cohesion policy programmes aiming at fostering regional innovation and knowledge-based networks. Indeed, in the last two decades there has been shown to be enormous concern with growth based on science and innovation, with a special emphasis on technology-intensive activities. Nevertheless, the``obsession with high-tech industries'' (Trippl, 2010, page 193) has begun to encounter sharp criticism by several authorsöthe idea that medium-tech and low-tech industries could also be innovative and could provide substantial impulse to regional growth is getting more attention (
Given the economic crisis related to the current COVID-19 pandemic, decision makers need to better understand how to effectively allocate their limited resources to support the most severely affected regions. In this context our research seeks to identify the regions that are economically vulnerable, as well as those that are more resilient, using information on the industries negatively impacted by travel restrictions and social distancing measures. With this aim in view, we propose a vulnerability index calculated using regions’ location coefficients by activity and the forecasted decline of these activities at national level and test it for the Romanian economy. We argue that regional specialisation itself is not the source of the current problems, but the high dependence of many regional economies on economic activities directly affected by measures designed to mitigate the epidemic impact is the root cause of future economic decline.
This paper aims to discuss the responses to global trends which affect East-European regions, offering a case study in Romania, namely that of the Bucharest-Ilfov region. This region is considered a relevant example of relative winner in the regional competition at global scale, as one of the most attractive cities for foreign investors in Central and Eastern Europe. With this aim in view the paper focuses on the economy of the region, the global trends which affect it, the specific responses to global trends, including policy aspects and emphasizes the factors supporting the benefits of globalization as well as those impeding these benefits. The analysis is based on both statistical data and qualitative issues brought into discussion by international and Romanian inquiries.JEL classification: F23, R12, R58
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