<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Understanding consumer behavior and clearly predicting its subsequent direction is a complex process. We can often see significant differences between how a consumer behaves in a given market and what his attitudes, needs, or expectations are. It is very important to place much more emphasis on the area of consumer behavior than on the individual, to meet his needs and wishes as much as possible. In the following article, we conducted a survey in the form of a questionnaire on an online platform with a sample of 500 respondents from the Slovak Republic. The foundation of our study was to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still a topical issue and it is a significant impact on daily life, has changed the shopping behavior in the clothing industry with which they consciously purchase. We were also interested in the dependence between income and frequency of purchase. The methods used in the paper were based on a theoretical elaboration of the issue of consumer behavior and the clothing industry as the second-largest polluter of the environment after the oil industry, subsequent analysis and synthesis. Another statistical method that we used in the paper was the analysis of qualitative data from the questionnaire survey through the creation of contingency tables and determining the dependence, respectively, independence between individual variables. We consider this article to be a good basis for further research.
</abstract>

The Impact of COVID-19 on Sustainability and Changing Consumer Behavior in the Textile Industry. Is it Significant?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This study undertakes a review of the scientific literature on the role and impact of Intellectual Capital (IC) with all its components (human, structural and relational capital) on Virtual Team (VT) work. As already proven in the discipline research, IC as a summum of organizational knowledge resources plays a fundamental role in the knowledge economy in sustaining competitive advantage, innovation and performance. Despite an abundance of papers investigating VTs from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, a surprising discovery has been made during this research. The extent of work dedicated to analysing the relationships between IC and VTs is minimal, notwithstanding the unprecedented expansion of the use of VTs since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a first review of the extant literature regarding IC and VTs, a second literature review has been conducted for the benefit of revealing crucial aspects and the newest best practices in what concerns work in VTs. In doing so, the authors attempt to draw attention to the need for in-depth researches in the IC field, to catch up with the business, economic and societal most recent developments. Furthermore, this study aims to provide the practitioners with up-to-date, concise knowledge on the practical aspects relevant for the work in VTs.
</abstract>

georgiana.cristea@facultateademanagement.ro

National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA)

Leveraging Intellectual Capital Management in Virtual Teams: What the Covid-19 Pandemic Taught Us

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

The increasing rate of unsafe acts by construction workers during construction operations to earn more wages is raising new concerns due to its negative effects; including accidents on construction sites. This study, therefore, examined the relationship between the level of safety risk in different building construction operations/trades and methods of payment of wages for construction operatives to determine if the wage payment method was predicted by the level of risk in each operation. Prior to this, the study prioritised selected construction operations based on their safety risk level and rated the method of payment of wages for each operation based on their frequency of utilisation. A site-based survey was conducted using structured questionnaire and interview, administered to building tradesmen and labourers in South-East Nigeria. The study identified 12 high-risk level and 7 medium-risk level operations/trades. The study ranked roofing work as the riskiest building operation. It also found that negotiated lump sum, piece rate and time rate wage systems respectively, were the most prevalent wage payment systems in the payment of wages for operatives. Although the study also found that the level of risk has positive effect on the method of payment of wages (<italic>β</italic> = 0.214; <italic>t</italic>-stat = 0.640), it revealed that the level of risk involved in each operation/trade does not significantly predict the payment method used in payment of workers’ wages (F-Stat (0.409) &lt; F-Critical (4.451); <italic>p</italic> (0.531) > 0.05). It identified negotiated lump sum wage payment method as an emerging wage payment system in Nigeria construction industry and suggested for further investigation to unravel the circumstances behind its high acceptance. The study then craved for review of existing labour laws in Nigeria to capture the new trends in the labour management of risky operations on construction sites.
</abstract>

Payment of Labour Wage for Construction Site Operations with Safety Risk

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This study aimed to identify the extent of the effect of activating the management according to the objectives method in improving institutional performance and to test the relationship between management In terms of dimensions (participation in setting goals, developing an action plan, periodic review, performance evaluation). To demonstrate this, we conducted a field study for the Tax Directorate in Camp Campus of a sample of 64 questionnaires, where the SPSS program was used in statistical processing and data analysis. In order to test the hypotheses, the simple and multiple linear regression method was used. The study concluded that there is no statistically significant effect at the level (α = 0.05) for the two dimensions (participation in setting goals, developing an action plan) on institutional performance, in contrast there is a statistically significant effect at Level (α = 0.05) for two dimensions (periodic review, performance evaluation) on institutional performance.
</abstract>

Activating the Method of Management by Objectives and its Impact on Institutional Performance: A Field Study for the Tax Directorate in the State of Mascara

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Nowadays, many companies are aware of the fact that if they can meet the employees’ requests, provide them with sufficient information and quality working conditions, their work performance will be at a high level. As a result, employees can ultimately meet customer requests and the company can move forward. The issue of quality internal communication in companies is not just an issue of recent years. Many international companies are aware of this. However, the issue of internal communication still persists in smaller companies, which do not pay that much attention to it because they do not have enough funds or believe that they are not affected by this issue. This internal communication within the company must take place in both directions, which many companies forget. The observations and opinions of employees and their feedback on the actions of the company, individual managers etc. are also important. Companies should spend enough time just getting this connection from employees, which allows them to streamline individual processes and information gathering, but also the work skills of individual managers, who can increase their soft skills and help organizations work better. At present, which is marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for quality internal communication is even more pronounced. The aim of this study is to analyse the company's internal marketing communication tools. The paper also targets to analyse corporate strategies, management styles, shared values of the company etc., through the analysis of McKinsey 7S selected global company, which operates not only in the Slovak Republic. The methods used for this study are McKinsey 7S analysis, deduction, synthesis, and comparison. Thanks to the McKinsey 7S analysis, the results showed that the company has a friendly climate with open communication and a socially oriented culture based on several shared values and management principles.
</abstract>

Analysis of Internal Marketing Communication Tools of a Selected Company in Industry 4.0 Using McKinsey 7S Analysis

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This article explores the role of innovation strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs in global markets. Based on a literature review of innovation strategies, these strategies were separated into four groups: product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, and marketing innovation. The study focused only on the product innovation strategy and marketing innovation strategy. The empirical analysis found that Algerian enterprises adopt both a product innovation strategy and a marketing innovation strategy. There are differences regarding the relationship between the product innovation strategy and adding value to the firm compared to the relationship between the marketing innovation strategy and adding value to the firm in Algerian enterprises. Here, there are three positive relationships between product innovation strategy and adding value to the firm whereas in contrast, there are two positive relationships between marketing innovation strategy and adding value to the firm. Thus, the enterprises under study must shift from a product innovation strategy to a marketing innovation strategy, which means focusing their attention more on the latter to market their products more and faster, which allows them to add more value to the company.
</abstract>

Shift from Product Innovation Strategy to Marketing Innovation Strategy to Add Value to the Firm

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Today’s dynamic business environment forces companies to differentiate more than ever and focus on gaining long-term competitive advantages through innovation. The book market faces new challenges, mainly related to the shifting behaviour of readers. Innovation might be perceived as a path towards differentiation, attaining competitive advantage, and market success. Understanding the preferences of the readers and knowing the retail innovation trends could help all the decision-making actors of the book market adapt better to the dynamics of contemporary society and the business environment. The present paper aims at identifying the preferences of Romanian readers regarding the innovations employed in the book market retail. To gather the data, we applied an online questionnaire to a sample of 486 respondents from Romania. The main conclusion of the study underlines that the consumers are not necessarily sensitive to technological innovation or an innovative format of the stores but are highly sensitive to the atmosphere in the bookstores and to the special offers of the bookstores.
</abstract>

alexandra.zbuchea@facultateademanagement.ro

Doctoral School of Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Innovation in the Book Market Retail. Preferences Among Romanian Readers

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 12 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

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Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy

Aims and Scope  The aim of Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy (MDKE) is to address in an interdisciplinary framework the dynamics of the organization management and its strategic approaches by considering the imperatives and the contingencies of the new societal and economical environments at a local, national or global scale, with a special emphasis on emerging economies.  MDKE aims to foster meaningful academic discussions and to support the exchange of ideas on principles, strategies, models, techniques, methodologies, and applications of management science in all the important fields of interest.  The first issue of MDKE was published in April 2013, both online and in print. The journal was initiated by Prof. Dr. Constantin Brãtianu from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Prof. Dr. Florina Pînzaru and Prof. Dr. Alexandra Zbuchea, from the Faculty of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest, Romania. Starting with 2015, the journal is published exclusively online, 4 issues annually. Since 2019 the journal is published in cooperation with de Gruyter, on the Sciendo platform.  As intended from its very beginning, the journal is interested in research that crosses the boundaries of single academic subjects stimulating interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Topics can cover research, non-exclusively, in the following domains: management, strategic management, innovation management, change management, international management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, leadership and governance, knowledge management, brand management and consumer behavior, business, business process optimization, corporate social responsibility, financial and economic management, e-business and digitalization, and sustainability management.  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