The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Romanian: Academia de Studii Economice din București, abbreviated ASE) is a public university in Bucharest, Romania. Founded in 1913 as the Academy of Higher-level Commercial and Industrial Studies (Academia de Înalte Studii Comerciale și Industriale (AISCI)), it has become one of the largest economic higher education institutes in both Romania and South-Eastern Europe. The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies is classified as an advanced research and education university by the Ministry of Education. It is one of the five members of the Universitaria Consortium (the group of elite Romanian universities).
This paper investigates the role of human capital in fostering financial sector development in developing economies, an area that has received limited attention despite the extensive literature on the relationship between human capital and economic growth. The study empirically analyzes data from 28 developing countries over the period 1990–2019, employing FGLS, DOLS, FMOLS, and Driscoll-Kraay estimation techniques for robust results. Causality is assessed using the Dumitrescu-Hurlin bootstrap approach. The findings demonstrate that human capital significantly contributes to long-term financial sector development. Additionally, economic growth, trade openness, and remittances are positively associated with financial sector expansion. The causality analysis reveals bidirectional causality between human capital and financial sector development, as well as between other explanatory variables and financial development. The results suggest that policymakers should prioritize human capital development, alongside strategies to stimulate economic growth, trade openness, and remittance flows, to support financial sector advancement.
This study investigates a stochastic production planning problem with a running cost composed of quadratic production costs and inventory-dependent costs. The objective is to minimize the expected cost until production stops when inventory reaches a specified level, subject to a boundary condition. Using probability space and Brownian motion, the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation is derived, and optimal feedback control is obtained. The solution demonstrates desirable monotonicity and convexity properties under specific assumptions. An illustrative example further confirms these results with explicit function properties and a practical application.
In this study, we examine how the concepts of the “15 Minute City” and “Smart City Technologies” intersect, highlighting their importance in promoting urban sustainability and digital transformation. A bibliometric analysis was carried out for this purpose, using the RStudio software solution (Bibliometrix package, biblioshiny function), the dataset covering scientific publications in the field from 1979 to 2024, but also taking into account the guidelines of the PRISMA-SEGRESS guidelines to ensure traceability and methodological transparency. The results obtained indicate a high degree of relevance of emerging technologies, such as 6G and digital twins used in streamlining urban mobility, accessibility and environmental sustainability. There was also a significant increase in scientific publications between 2017 and 2023, suggesting an increased degree of academic scientific interest, due to both accelerated urban challenges and the global momentum towards digitalization and digital transformation. This research also identifies limitations and gaps, particularly those related to the social equity impacts of Smart City technologies, as well as their integration into resilient urban planning frameworks. In addition, practical implications for e-commerce are highlighted, where improved infrastructure can facilitate business development through increased accessibility and sustainable service delivery. Future research directions should further examine the socio-economic impact of these models, in particular their potential to reduce digital divides and promote inclusive urban economies.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping electronic retailing, yet many firms struggle to translate AI adoption into a sustainable competitive advantage, and research still lacks an integrative explanation of how digital maturity, AI implementation, AI-enabled benefits, customer experience, and competitive outcomes are linked in this context. This study develops and tests a capability-to-advantage framework proposing that digital maturity is associated with AI implementation, that AI implementation is associated with qualitative and quantitative AI benefits, and that these benefit streams are linked to digitally mediated customer experience and to differentiation and cost-based competitive advantage. Using survey data from retail employees and managers, we estimated the model with PLS-SEM and applied cIPMA to identify actionable priorities by combining importance-performance evidence with necessity-oriented insights. We triangulated the proposed mechanisms through NVivo-based sentiment and thematic analysis of open-ended comments. Results support all hypothesized relationships. Digital maturity strongly predicts AI implementation, which increases both benefit streams and directly improves the customer experience. Customer experience was the strongest downstream driver of both competitive advantage dimensions and partially mediated the effects of AI-enabled benefits. cIPMA identified customer experience and AI implementation as the primary improvement priorities; qualitative evidence was predominantly positive and highlights efficiency/cost gains and decision support alongside the capability constraints. The study integrates capability-based and customer-experience perspectives to offer a theory-guided explanation of how digital maturity and AI implementation are associated with competitive outcomes in electronic retailing while also offering guidance for managers seeking AI-driven advantage.
The imperative for management education is clear: graduate professionals equipped for the global stage. Yet, in emerging European academic systems, the scaffolding for employability remains deeply fragmented. Drawing on a dataset of 1669 Romanian university students, this research investigates how pedagogical quality, institutional infrastructure, career guidance, and transversal skill modules jointly inform a student’s belief in their program’s international standing. When universities bridge classroom instruction with active career counseling, or couple solid campus facilities with embedded skill training, student confidence in their European parity is higher. Such paired high ratings correspond to a difference in high-confidence cohorts from a baseline of roughly one-third to nearly half. While students conceptually anchor their academic journey around career services and skill acquisition, their actual belief in the degree’s global value stems from tangible, everyday realities. Stronger local infrastructure and skill provision are associated with lower perceived need to study abroad.
