The Impact of Education on Innovative Economy Polish Experiences

Methods and concepts of innovation performance are widely analyzed, discussed, and evaluated. The influence of educational management on the creation of innovative economy is not widely described in literature, however, procedures of innovation performance include the measures of educational elements. The paper discusses the methodology of European Innovation Scoreboard （EIS） and Innovation Union Scoreboard （IUS） in the aspect of education for innovative economy. Educational indicators in EIS/IUS methodology are quantitative and do not include information about the quality of education. Researchers agreed that innovation processes and economical growth require well-educated and skilled workforce and they assume that skilled workers are on output of the educational system. The measurement system of innovations in Europe includes various economical aspects, allows to observe trends and gives opportunity to improvement for countries and is directed on future educational effects. Quantitative indicators allow to observe trends, educational needs, desires of pupils, and their parents. The efficiency of these indicators is presented on the example of Poland. Educational indicators to improve innovation performance should be very synthetic, but cannot lose important information. The article presents author＇s research on graduate career paths and suggests to include elements of this methodology in the measurement system of innovation economy.     

Threshold Effects in the Capital Account Liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment Relationship

This paper examines how capital account liberalization （CAL） affects foreign direct investment （FDI） inflows. Authors use a dynamic panel model encompassing 14 Middle East countries over the period from 1985 to 2009. The findings suggest that countries that are able to reap the benefits of the capital openness policy satisfy certain threshold conditions regarding the level of financial development and institutional quality. Thus to promote FDI, governments in this region should develop a set of policies that not only focus on financial openness, but also on the improvement of the financial system and legal institutions.     

Merit and Evaluation Models for Managers in the National Health System： An Empirical Study

The national health system （NHS） complexity increase requires a review of the managerial human resources evaluation and recruiting methods, considering that nowadays doctors need to improve not just their clinical capabilities, but also managerial competences. At this end it is important to develop performances control models and to identify appropriate results indicators, with the aim of introducing an effective doctors selection system for managerial roles. The paper considers the Italian situation and tests the current evaluation and selection methods, by analysing the literature and the existing legislation and by interviewing experts. Moreover, in order to reach an innovative model, complex organizations have been taken into account as benchmarks. Three different categories of experts have been interviewed and texted： national health care organizations managers, companies managers, and business consultants. The 137 interviewed experts have been asked about four main questions concerning the evaluation for hiring managers as chief medical director, department director, and head of complex units. The conducted research suggests four different options in order to evaluate and to select heads of complex unit for the most strategic roles. By consequence, the analysis shows that required characteristics must be managerial attitudes as well as clinical capabilities.     

Strategic Partnership Between Private Organizations and Universities： The Search for Regional Development Through Solutions for Hospital Management

The public power and the private enterprise, the main agents of national economic and social development, when cooperating strategically, promote increased functional efficiency of their activities. In order to highlight the relevance of such partnership, this article aims to analyze the potential of actions jointly developed by private organizations and Brazilian universities. The research problem is lined in the field of health, which hosted actions developed between the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte （UFRN） and the Hospital Maternity Guiomar Fernandes （HMGF）, located in the city of Alexandria, in Rio Grande do Norte. The study emphasizes the shortcomings of this organization, the resolving power of the university in this scenario, and performs the analysis of the effects of this cooperation. The methodology used in this research was the case study in HMGF. With emphasis on fundraising and improving the informational management system, funding sources for projects of restructuring and expansion of the hospital were sought, as well as initiatives for developing hospital management softwares for small- and medium-sized organizations. As a result, the articulation between the university and the hospital provided the elaboration of a project for software development and the production of a project for physical restructuring and technological investment, aiming to expand the supply and quality of the hospital＇s services. The implementation of information systems, associated with investments in hospital infrastructure, providing increased efficiency in public assistance to the population, bringing both local and regional benefits, besides, providing the authorities with relevant data on the development of public policies.     

Principal Features of Building Social Accounts Matrix and Improving Statistical Database for Eco-countries

With common borders of the population, total area, and GDP （PPP-based） of Economic Cooperation Organization （ECO） member states are estimated as 416 million persons, 7.9 million m2, and US$2.7 trillion respectively （2010 data）. Although heterogeneous in the extent, there is economic development, overall, with serious energy and transport-transit relations among countries that is reflected in growing trade turnover year-by-year. However, there are still rather unused resources and capacity in such areas of cooperation among countries as exchange of energy, transport services, agricultural and industrial goods, use of opportunities for tourism, promoting investment and innovation processes and other areas. Certainly, maximum and optimal use of these resources calls for availability of analytical means capable of accounting for relations both within member states and among them. The implementation of computable general equilibrium （CGE） modeling in each member state would thus be of great significance in resolution of these problems both in terms of accounting for input-output linkages within the countries as well as enabling impact of main trading partners and goods and services among countries. The analysis carried out indicates that there are a number of problems in application of CGE model in most of the member states. As such, input-output tables are not compiled in some countries, while in others despite the fact that these tables are compiled, there are no attempts to build the model, yet in other countries, even if the CGE model is implemented, there are difficulties in taking into account the real results in the face of serious problems related to improving national accounts system database. Summarizing these problems, it is possible to conclude that to ensure the application of a CGE model,there is a great need to work out procedures of compilation of a social accounts matrix （SAM） that lies on the basis of this model, for which the relevant statistics of a member state must be improved     

Regional Innovation Policies for High-Technology Firms： The Importance of the Cluster Life Cycle

The present work makes an in-depth analysis of an aspect not yet sufficiently examined by the studies into regional innovation systems, relating to why the policy makers must adopt regional innovation policies in accordance with the development cycle of the active clusters in the territory. The analysis carried out in the course of the work contributes towards understanding the validity of an evolutionary-type development model for which the regional innovation policies for the growth of high-tech firms should dynamically change in relation to the various cluster stages. The development model proposed provides a framework for the policy makers in order to state more efficiently through time the regional innovation strategies.     

Development of Small and Medium Enterprises （SMEs） Accounting Information System in Cluster of Kampung Laweyan Batik,Surakarta, Indonesia

The role of small and medium enterprises （SMEs） in the economy of a country was quite strategic, however the tightness of the competition, has allowed the SMEs into disadvantageous position. The SMEs need a precise accounting information system, thus the SMEs could improve the accuracy, validation data, productivity, and the competitiveness of enterprises. The problem of this research is how the SMEs accounting information systems in a cluster of Kampung Batik Laweyan Surakarta. To develop accounting information systems in a SMEs cluster of Kampung Batik Laweyan Surakarta, this research used research and development （R＆D） method. Data obtained through analysis of the company＇s business processes. Results of data analysis used to develop accounting information systems in a SMEs cluster of Kampung Batik Laweyan Surakarta. Accounting information system development consists of the structure of SMEs organizations, the general design of accounting information systems of the SMEs, flowchart and documentation of the SMEs accounting information systems, and accounting software of the SMEs     

Semantic Differential as an Assessment Tool of （Dis） Advantages of QMS in the Light of Accredited Certification in Poland

This article is a continuation of the issue in the field of assessment of （dis）advantages resulting from the implementation of the quality management systems （QMS） in a structure of the organization. The publication uses the results of studies conducted in the range of assessment＇s information completeness provided by the certification bodies （CBs） in the context of advantages and disadvantages of the QMS implementation in accordance with PN-EN ISO 9001. In addition, an attempt to define a tool for the QMS assessment of （dis）advantages in the organization has been made. The basis for empirical analysis of the issue was the information provided by an accredited management systems CBs recommended by the Polish Centre for Accreditation （PCA）. There are 33 units in Poland, which were granted by PCA with the accreditation within the range of ISO 9001：2008. In the first stage of the research work, a substantive analysis of websites content among mentioned CBs has been carried out. In addition, the paper proposes use of semantic differential method （SD） to evaluate （dis）advantages of the QMS. SD adaptation for the assessment of the QMS （dis）advantages is the authorial concept. The authors hope for polemic in this area. In the face of obtained results, an authorial SD construction has been proposed, which is useful and may help in the formulation and conveying of the relevant （reliable） information to potential clients in the range of （dis）advantages resulting from the QMS implementation to the organization. As a consequence, the recommendations have been set, which are kind of guidelines that could significantly influence the realignment of the information state conveyed on the internet by the CBs.     

Regional Developmental Problems of the Rural Settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper considers developmental problems of the rural settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are results of long-term disparity in the regional development in the period 1991-2012. In this paper it is considered the recent migration from rural to urban areas and the depopulation of the rural areas. The result of these trends reflects the development of the new infrastructure and tertiary activities. In these investigations, statistical data processed and geovisualised in GIS were used. The obtained data indicate extremely unequable regional arrangement of the population in the rural areas and socio-economic development.     

＂A Raft in the Stormy Sea＂： New Roles,New ＂Dresses＂ Operating in ＆ for Business Networks

This paper aims to discuss the development and functioning conditions of business networks. After recalling the main characteristics of post-fordistic environment and comparing it to a ＂stormy sea＂ （section one） of the paper focuses on the idea of networks described as ＂rafts＂ useful to firms to build their own competitive advantages. In fact, while theoretical knowledge is not so valuable because everybody can have it, practical and contextual knowledge is specific and therefore it can be defended. The development of a contextual knowledge is feasible if the firm chooses among all the possible alternatives. Subsequently in section two, it shows how fordistic principles eliminate space, reduce time, and increase the speed of communication among individuals and as entering a network has become a necessity as it allows a firm to obtain competitive advantages. The greatest benefit is the chance to share the task of creating new knowledge among different members. In section three it is discussed if navigation in the post-fordistic stormy sea could take advantage from the existence of a more certain regulation. It is necessary to underline that positive law is not a post-fordistic tool. There is no satisfactory detailed law regarding ideas, knowledge, and know-how, by now. Therefore, it is not possible to rely on a specific regulation framework to protect knowledge found on the network. In conclusion in section four, the work discusses how single organizations need to reach the ＂raft＂--which is the network--through the idea of sharing learning and distinguishing elements necessary to survive in the stormy sea post-Fordism environment. Lastly, section five would be analyzed a public institution--Milan Chamber of Commerce--which has ＂changed its dress＂ to more effectively perform its support role to firms.     

Bar in Questionnaires

Vougiouklis ＆ Vougiouklis have proposed the replacement of Likert scales, usually used in questionnaires, with a bar. With this proposal a discrete situation is replaced by a fuzzy one. There are identified certain advantages concerning the use of the bar as compared to that of a scale during both the stages of filling-in as well as processing a questionnaire. The main advantage associated with business research requirements is the fact that it is expected to be much quicker to fill in and much easier to explain to participants. The bar provides the potential for different types of processing Likert scales cannot. Therefore the researchers are allowed to ascertain that the given answers follow not only the already suggested and used Gauss distribution but also a parabola distribution as it will be suggested in present paper, and which is expected to give the researcher the opportunity to ＂correct＂ this tendency. Therefore, a possibility of choosing amongst a number of alternatives is offered, by utilizing fuzzy logic in the same way as it has already been done in industry and combining mathematical models with multivalued operations.     

Widespread Hotel： An Innovative Made in Italy Model for Cultural Tourism and Local Sustainable Development The Umbria＇s Case

Widespread hotels represent a new Italian phenomenon still not much investigated, both on theoretical and empirical side, which cannot be ignored anymore. Indeed they meet the need to implement techniques and management tools which are able to improve the culture-tourism binomial. This would permit to transform into valid instruments of national economical development, the shared declaration of intents for which culture and tourism, especially in Italy and in this particular fragile period, represent even more the main strategic levers for the sustainable development. This article intends to describe the potentiality of these widespread hotels as innovations particularly suitable with trends recently emerged in tourism sector and outline the phenomenon pattern in ltaly with particular attention on Umbria region, in order to identify his main strength and weakness and some innovation to improve performance. To this end, it starts from the analysis of the national and international economic-managerial literature concerning in particular cultural and experienced trends shown in tourism. Then it introduces the main acquisitions about widespread hotels in Italy, updating and extending them through a desk survey based on indirect sources of various natures. Lastly, it describes the case of Umbria, analyzing more in depth making use of interviews with entrepreneurs/managers of hotels and based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The aspects of indeterminateness which were found, starting from the normative one, testify how the potentiality of the widespread hotels as far as regards the value creation for the enterprise itself and the territorial stakeholder, are still not properly understood and therefore used. It is clear that, therefore, new behaviors are needed for entrepreneurs and, most importantly, for local policy makers in order to create the conditions for the full success of these hospitality models.     

The World Production and Trade of Rare Earth Elements： The Position of the Pacific Area

In this paper we analyze the characteristics of the so-called rare earth elements （REEs） and its industrial applications. We present the policy, or lack thereof, in the countries in the Pacific Rim for its mining and commerce, and the current and future weight that rare earth minerals will have in international trade. The technological revolution experienced over the last 25 years, has brought the REEs to the public＇s attention for being instrumental in obtaining catalysts, lasers and optical fiber, luminescent substances and LEDs, superconductors, permanent magnets, batteries and ultra-capacitors. China＇s leading position as the supplier of these minerals worldwide, and its recent export restriction policy for domestic industrial activities have driven up international prices. Price increase for REEs is leading to the need for both recycling and its replacement. It has also led other countries in the Asia Pacific Rim to prospect new potential sites on their own territories, or even to restart operations in deposits that had been previously abandoned. Those strategies will likely gain greater importance as environmental pollution problems associated with the exploitation, processing, and recovery of REEs increase.     

School-to-Work Transition in Saudi Arabia： A Case Study of Youth Cohorts

The paper addresses the youth＇s perception towards jobs and career opportunities in Saudi Arabia, based on the school-to-work transition model. The study is based on a sample survey covering 600 youth cohorts in Yanbu and Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study reveals that school-to-work transition is not a smooth one and is influenced by the perception of youth towards employment and its various dimensions along with the ambitions towards career improvement. The 14 indicators framed in the paper reveal that essentiality, confidence to get a job that satisfies the needs, job availability, and qualifications are found to be important determinants of youth＇s attitude towards work; whereas, willingness to do any job did not get much acclaim. Job selection of youth is determined by location （especially hometown job）, sectoral preferences, training options, and work environment.     

Ethics as an Active Self-construction of the Human

This paper will attempt to clarify the clear tendency, in our contemporary world, to look at ethics as something that ＂cures＂ all wrongs, all unbalance, and all evils from the political, environmental, to the business ones. For this reason, there is nothing better than to turn to ethics in order to ＂moralise＂ the system and the world, when the numerous news of fraud, injustice, and scandals are a part of everyday life in the business world and in our society. But, is this the role of ethics？ Can we reduce the aim of ethics to a mere technique？ In this paper, it is argued that ethics needs to be replaced in the epistemological scale of knowledge, where until now it has occupied a place at the top. Ethics needs to be repositioned in a different level of knowledge where we may find the roots of its foundation. It is also discussed that it is at the core of being that the experience of the action takes place and develops and in it, ethics takes root. Furthermore, it is suggested that understanding ethics from this point of view presupposes a new ethos around a relational poietics which privileges inter-subjectivity, self-creation, and an active and dynamic construction of the human and of the world.     

Board Independence and Internal Committees in the BRICs

To be successful in global markets, companies from the emerging countries need the approval of foreign investors and other stakeholders. In this regard, Brazil, Russia, India, and China （BRIC） have progressively strengthened their corporate governance rules to help their companies overcome the competitors from the old industrialized countries. Directors＇ non-executive qualification, independence, and professional expertise represent basic requirements for effective corporate governance, so they should be carefully considered to guarantee a proper board composition and an adequate establishment of internal committees in listed companies. The paper intends to compare the legislative and regulatory frameworks adopted by the four countries; then it aims at answering to the following research questions by means of an empirical investigation： Have BRIC companies appointed non-executive and independent board members？ What do BRIC companies do in order to assure an effective participation of non-executive and independent board members to corporate governance activities？ Have BRIC companies established internal committees？ The research examines the appointment of non-executive directors and independent directors to the boards of 100 BRIC leading firms, as well as their involvement in internal committees focused on matters requiring motivated and impartial opinions. Although the laws and recommendations seem to favor a general convergence of corporate governance principles among the four BRIC and towards the international best practices, some differences and peculiarities emerge from a firm-level perspective. Indeed, the Indian and the Chinese companies analyzed appear more inclined than the Brazilian and the Russian ones to reassure their international stakeholders about board independence and effective committees.     

Non-classical Algorithm for Time Series Prediction of the Range of Economic Phenomena With Regard to the Interaction of Financial Market Indicators

The aim of the article is to present non-clasical copyrighted algorithm for prediction of time series, presenting macroeconomic indicators and stock market indices. The algorithm is based on artificial neural networks and multi-resolution analysis （the algorithm is based on Daubechies wavelet）. However, the main feature of the algorithm, which gives a good quality of the forecasts, is all included in the series analysis division into, a few partial under-series and prediction dependence on a number of other economic series. The algorithm used for the prediction, is copyrighted algorithm, labeled M.H-D in this article. Application of the algorithm was performed on a series presenting WIG 20. The forecast of WIG 20 was conditional on trading the Dow Jones, DAX, Nikkei, Hang Seng, taking into account the sliding time window. As an example application of copyrighted model, the forecast of WIG 20 for a period of two years, one year, six month was appointed. An empirical example is described. It shows that the proposed model can predict index with the scale of two years, one year, a half year and other intervals. Precision of prediction is satisfactory. An average absolute percentage error of each forecast was： 0.0099%---for two-year forecasts WIG 20; 0.0552%--for the annual forecast WIG 20; and 0.1788%---for the six-month forecasts WIG 20.     

Overlapping Generations and Environmental Policy： An Introduction

A small but growing body of literature uses overlapping generations （OLG） models to study environmental policy for long-lived problems such as climate change. An OLG model, unlike the infinitely lived representative agent model, dis- tinguishes between impatience with respect to one＇s own future utility, and attitudes toward successors＇ utility. I discuss the problem of time inconsistency, the role of Markov perfection, and show that a class of OLG models can be studied using me- thods developed to analyze models of non-constant discounting. An example illu- strates the techniques and determines the conditions under which, in equilibrium, there is under-investment or over-investment in natural capital.     

The Impact of Automation in Service Industries＂ An Empirical Study

Academic research into service industries has explored the characteristics of interpersonal interactions between employees and customers, but there are few studies addressing the issues of consumer interaction with technology and its influence on the objectives and results of the operations subsystem. This study examines the elements of the service encounter, and the changes automation originates in them and their relationships. The paper also examines changes in the elements and results of the operations subsystem, as a result of automation. We propose that the customer＇s relationship with employees and/or technology and automated systems for the service impact the objectives and results of the operations subsystem, all of which could have an effect on the company＇s competitive position. The empirical study is focused on four industries, namely, toll motorways, car parks, carwash and video/DVD rental companies, in an attempt to identify objectives that lead companies to implement automated processes affecting the customer＇s relationship with the company. The hypotheses generated are contrasted with a structural equation modelling. The results confirm that the customer＇s relationship with employees and automated systems for the service impacts the objectives and results of the operations subsystem. Also, the results show how automation can enable firms simultaneously to achieve acceptable levels of flexibility and productivity, two dimensions that have traditionally been considered opposites.     

The 2007-2009 Financial Crisis on Emerging Markets： Quantitative Identification of Crisis in Continent-based Regions

This paper focuses on a direct quantitative identification of crisis periods in selected emerging stock markets from four continent-based regions of Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Middle East and North Africa （MENA）, in the context of an influence of the 2007 U.S. subprime financial crisis. The 17 emerging stock markets and, for comparison, the U.S. stock market are investigated. A statistical method of dividing market states into bullish and bearish markets, based on monthly logarithmic returns of major stock market indexes, is employed. The analyzed sample period begins in January 2003 and ends in December 2013. As there is no unanimity in the literature about the crisis periods in the continent-based regions, a formal statistical identification of crises is worthwhile to conduct. Furthermore, the effect of increasing cross-market correlations in the crisis compared to the pre-crisis period in the context of contagion is examining. To address this issue, both standard contemporaneous cross-correlations and volatility-adjusted cross-correlations are applied. The results are consistent with the literature and confn＇m that tests for contagion based on cross-market correlations are problematic due to the bias introduced by changing volatility in market returns. As contagion can be confused with globalization, the globalization tests in the group of international investigated markets are employed. The results generally do not confirm a global world market integration effect, i.e. there is no reason to reject the research hypothesis of no globalization during the 2007-2009 financial crisis.