This study examines the effects of capital adequacy on underwriting performance in Nigeria’s oil and gas insurance sector. Using a balanced panel of 12 insurers over 20 years (240 firm-year observations), Random Effects regression was applied, with the Hausman test confirming model validity. The results show that capital adequacy significantly improves key aspects of underwriting performance, particularly through claims management, risk retention, and reinsurance strategies. Well-capitalized insurers exhibit lower claim ratios, more efficient claim settlement, stronger retention levels, and more structured reinsurance arrangements. By contrast, premium income and inward reinsurance acceptance were not significantly influenced, suggesting that scale-related factors are shaped more by regulatory and structural conditions than by capital strength. These findings provide partial support for the study’s theoretical framework and are consistent with capital structure theory and prior evidence. They also highlight the policy relevance of Risk-Based Capital (RBC) theory regulation in Nigeria, underscoring that solvency depends less on firm size and more on disciplined claims control, prudent risk retention, and dynamic reinsurance practices.
The social and economic reality shows that the impact of organizational crises is becoming increasingly significant, which highlights the need to examine how organizations manage such situations through the development and effective selection of strategies. This paper identifies several widely used theories that support the development and selection of crisis strategies in organizations and analyzes them, outlining the benefits and shortcomings of each. The theories discussed include Contingency Theory, Communication Theory, and Stakeholder Theory. By reviewing those approaches, the paper aims to offer a clearer understanding of the theoretical foundations that can guide organizational responses to crisis.
The purpose of this paper is to outline the position of employee performance appraisal (PA) within human resource management (HRM) and its recent evolution. Based on a bibliometric analysis of keywords, citations and co-occurrence networks conducted between 2020 and 2025, the results indicate a stable EP-HRM core, supported by three related directions: (i) the operational-processual dimension (training, career development, HR practices), (ii) employee outcomes (engagement, satisfaction, retention), (iii) the technological component (artificial intelligence – AI, data analytics). In 2025, the network is more integrated and structured; AI is solidly connected to HRM, but the link with PA remains incipient. We conclude that the field is conceptually consolidating, with a close connection between practices and organisational objectives, while the integration of digital tools in professional performance evaluation is still developing. Future research directions are suggested regarding standardisation, transparency, and evaluation of effects on organisational outcomes.
This paper examines the impact of government spending and other economic factors on income inequality in the 27 Member States of the European Union for the period 2012-2023, using a linear regression model on panel data. The study focuses on analysing the influence of various components of government spending, including health, education, public order, social protection and other economic sectors, as well as the effects of public debt and at-risk-of-poverty on income distribution. This is done in the context of European strategies aimed at promoting social and economic cohesion, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Strategy for a Green and Digital Europe and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The results of the study show that public spending on health and education has a significant negative effect on income inequality, confirming the importance of these sectors in promoting social equity. The analysis also reveals a significant positive association between the risk of poverty and income inequality, indicating the need for more effective redistributive measures to reduce economic polarization. The study contributes to the literature by integrating a recent period characterized by multiple economic and social crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The novelty of the research also lies in the detailed assessment of the effects of different categories of government spending on income distribution, providing relevant recommendations for European public policies, including strengthening investments in health, education and social protection to reduce economic and social inequalities and achieve the economic and social cohesion objectives set at the European Union level.
The past 20 years have witnessed a rapid evolution of imaging techniques. Several factors, including technological advances, the growing importance of data, and the increasing demand for new and innovative imaging applications, have driven this evolution. One of the key drivers of the evolution of imaging techniques has been technological advances. For example, the development of new sensor technologies, such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors, has led to significant improvements in image quality. In addition, the development of new imaging modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT), has expanded the range of imaging applications. Despite the many benefits of the evolution of imaging techniques, several challenges need to be addressed. One challenge is the increasing complexity of imaging techniques. As imaging techniques become more complex, they become more challenging to develop and use. In addition, the growing complexity of imaging techniques can lead to increased costs. Another challenge is the growing importance of intellectual property (IP). IP rights can protect the developers of imaging techniques from unauthorised copying and use. However, IP rights can also create barriers to innovation, making it difficult for new companies to enter the market. The future of imaging techniques is bright. As technological advances continue, imaging techniques will become more powerful and versatile. In addition, as the demand for new and innovative imaging applications continues to grow, imaging techniques will evolve to meet these needs.
This study looks at how environmental taxes affect carbon emission levels in the top four nations that earn the most money from carbon taxes between 2015 and 2025. Using secondary data from the World Bank’s Global Data on Carbon Emissions and Carbon Taxes the study employs a simple linear regression model to assess whether higher carbon tax levels significantly reduce national carbon emission rates. High explanatory power is demonstrated by the regression results (R² = 0.64) as well as a significant negative correlation (R = 0.80). This result indicates that up to 64% of carbon reduction levels within the four countries in the sample of study can be linked to the carbon tax with a p-value of P<0.001 and a carbon tax regression coefficient of -0.0001. The tax implication therefore is that a rise in carbon tax could be an effective means of actualising a reduction in national carbon emission. This study demonstrates that the application of carbon tax and the increase thereof is effective carbon reduction policy instrument which countries may consider. It is by extension an veritable tool for accelerating aspired global environmentally sustainable economic development. It concludes that carbon tax offers a dual advantage of enhancing carbon reduction and creating revenue for national governments.
In today’s digital landscape, social media has become a very important platform for brand communication, not only between brands and their consumers but also between brands themselves. This article explores the dynamics of inter-brand communication on social media, with a particular approach on the Romanian market. As companies increasingly engage in public dialogue with one another through platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, they are using these interactions as strategic tools to increase visibility, enhance brand reputation, and build strong connections with other brands. The study aims to analyze the communication strategies employed by Romanian brands in their interactions with other brands on social media. It explores the motivations behind these engagements, such as fostering mutual growth, capitalizing on trending topics, and creating viral moments that can boost brand recognition. The article also considers potential challenges, such as the risks of negative publicity or miscommunication, and how brands navigate these threats while engaging in public dialogue with competitors or partners. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the broader understanding of digital marketing by highlighting the growing importance of brand-to-brand communication in shaping brand identity and consumer engagement in the evolving social media environment.
This article deals with presenting the legal consequences associated to surrender a patent and to the shifting of the procedure for obtaining the patent when the proprietor of the patent is the employer. It focuses on two main relevant aspects. First of all, the article presents the general framework for giving in the patent as a special case of voluntary assignment and copes with the implications of the legal offer to surrender the patent even when more than one person is the owner. I have thus learned that if the proprietor fails to prove that all the conditions for the surrender are fulfilled (herein included that the employee was properly notified) the patent will not leave the ownership of the employer. Secondly, the article analysis the relevant provisions of the law on service inventions in case the employee identifies the intention of the employer to surrender the patent while also focusing on presenting possible elements of the employers’ disinterest to protect the technical solution. The legal provisions are thoroughly examined in order to understand the reasoning behind the disinterest of the employer to surrender its right, including in the context of the right to protect the technical solution as a trade secret.
The challenge for today’s managers is to maintain the stability of the company, their self-regulation and self-management as elements of Emotional Intelligence, through which they will be able to withstand pressure and be calmer in situations where they must decide on financial goals and organizational effectiveness. Various aspects of EI such as self-awareness, social awareness, relationship management, and self-management show a moderation effect in relation to employees and organizational effectiveness they have an importance in promoting a productive and cohesive work environment and have shown an influence on overall financial success of business. Our research has collected primary data by conducting a survey and sharing it in all regions of North Macedonia. From the questionnaires released, there are shown one hundred respondents, from different leadership positions, like owners, general managers and department managers in different business sectors. The findings of the study depict that there is a gender-based difference in financial success in business regarding different components of Emotional Intelligence in male and female managers. Moreover, the influence of SA and SM components of EI on financial success of the business is stronger in female managers than their male counterparts. In the other hand males tend to have higher emotional intelligence through Social Awareness and Relationship management and determine the financial success of a business.
This paper explores the Strategic Human Resource Management as an initiator of sustainable economic development by looking into the role it plays in ensuring the sustainability of organizations, their productivity, innovation, and social responsibility. Using both primary and secondary data sets, where the sample includes 250 respondents representing different fields in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the proposed study assesses the effect of Human Resource strategies, recruitment, training, appraisal, compensation, and employee engagement on the outcomes of sustainability. Results indicate that Strategic Human Resource Management practices have been found to play a major role in organization resilience, inclusiveness and environmental custodianship, where alignment of Human Resource strategies, performance appraisal, and teamwork have come out as key drivers. These results also indicate the mediating role played by the employee performance and organizational culture between the Human Resource practices and sustainable results, hence, revealing the necessity to streamline the Human Resource systems according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study is part of the developing literature in that it presents a holistic framework that makes Strategic Human Resource Management a facilitator in ensuring the competitiveness of organizations as well as a facilitator of greater socio-economic sustainability.
The article presents the results of a study of the evolution of key patterns of scientific publications dedicated to the use of imitation strategies by companies. Achieving the set goal is ensured by solving two interdependent tasks: forming a relevant sample of scientific articles (759 publications on selected issues, indexed by the scientometric database Web of Science, for the period 1986–2025) and analyzing the coincidence of keywords to characterize the current state of the research field and modern trends. The chosen keywords are the combinations “imitation strategy, innovation” or “innovation, imitation, strategy”. Bibliometric analysis and visualization of its results were carried out using the software product VOSviewer v1.6.20. Based on the visualization maps, seven clusters were identified based on the coincidence of the content of keywords in the articles and five stages of evolutionary development of the issue of innovative behavior of companies. The results obtained can be used in the study of various aspects of the implementation of imitation strategies by companies.
This paper presents a hybrid methodology for detecting anomalies in financial transactions including card-initiated transactions and payments by combining rule-based logic with unsupervised machine learning techniques. Rule-based detection leverages expert-defined heuristics to flag transactions exhibiting high-risk behaviors such as card number, BIN, transaction amount, local time, date, expiry, MCC, country code, 3DSecurity Level, time interval, count, amount and location, plus excessive login attempts, abnormal transaction timing, and demographic inconsistencies. In parallel, three unsupervised models—Local Outlier Factor, One-Class SVM, and Autoencoder—are applied to extract structural and statistical anomalies without requiring labeled data. A weighted scoring mechanism aggregates model outputs to rank suspicious transactions, enhancing robustness through model complementarity. The methodology is evaluated on a synthetically enriched transactional dataset, demonstrating its ability to identify both interpretable and latent anomalies. Comparative results highlight the benefits of model diversity and reveal limited but meaningful overlap between rule-based and ML-based detections. The proposed framework offers transparency, flexibility, and practical scalability, making it well-suited for near real-time monitoring systems in the banking sector. Findings underscore the importance of multi-layered detection in modern anti-fraud card and payment management.
The occurrence of digital economy has fundamentally transformed the way businesses operate and interact with customers. Innovative technologies, e-commerce and the growth of online activities have generated new economic models that exceed traditional boundaries. On the other hand, this evolution has also brought significant challenges, particularly regarding taxation. As governments around the world struggle with how to effectively tax digital transactions and multinational online enterprises, they face a complex web of issues that need urgent attention and innovative solutions. The digital activity of companies around the world continues to grow, therefore, it is crucial to measure the impact of digital technologies and digital industries on the economy, in order to be able to govern, to be able to monitor investments, quantify success and develop appropriate policies and regulations. However, assessing the economic impact of digital technologies is more difficult than it seems.
Local Agenda 21 promoted the idea of citizen involvement "at the grassroots". It was the "era" of glory for public participation at all levels and in all representative areas of the three sustainability pillars. From increasing institutional capacity to implement the sustainable development programs, namely local and county public authorities, to the involvement of all stakeholders in various fields, such as education, health, social services, culture, representatives of the business environment, small and medium-sized enterprises, institutions and organizations responsible and active in environmental protection, representatives of civil society, the entire community was part of the process. Beginning with the first concerns regarding the approach of sustainable practices in human resource management to the present, theorists and practitioners in the field are looking for viable solutions to increase the level of employee involvement in organizational activity (research issue). The present research aims to identify the moment when the paradigm shift in sustainability took place, from the "bottom-up" to the "top-down" register (the goal of the project). To this extent, the literature was reviewed (research methodology), using some databases contained in the Enformation portal (research data), in order to identify the level of interest in the reference topic (keywords: Local Agenda 21, SDGs) and the trend in its evolution. Future research should focus on the progress of Local Agenda 21, by means of structured interviews applied to stakeholders involved in the process of developing Strategies for Sustainable Development in the pilot cities where the Local Agenda 21 project was implemented.
This study investigates the determinants of the number of graduating students in Romanian higher education using multiple linear regression on annual data from 2014 to 2022. The model demonstrates a high predictive capacity, identifying the previous year's number of graduates and the student graduation rate as significant predictors. A positive correlation exists between the previous and current number of graduates, suggesting temporal inertia. Conversely, the previous year's graduation rate shows a significant negative relationship with the current number of graduates, warranting further investigation into underlying mechanisms. Notably, the number of teaching staff was not a significant predictor in this model. The findings underscore the importance of prior graduation trends and graduation rates in forecasting graduate numbers, while the unexpected negative effect of the graduation rate and the non-significance of teaching staff highlight the complexity of factors influencing graduation outcomes and suggest avenues for future research, particularly concerning the role of human resources and the need for nuanced policy interventions in higher education.
The function of artificial intelligence (AI) in urban marketing tactics that promote medical tourism in smart cities is examined in this study. Cities are using artificial intelligence (AI) more and more to improve patient experience, service delivery, and their global standing as medical destinations as digital technologies change healthcare and urban surroundings. The study integrates a targeted case study on Dubai with a review of the literature on medical tourism, smart cities, and AI-driven marketing. It shows the strategic objective of Dubai, which includes the establishment of Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) and the HealthStay AI platform, which facilitates tailored communication, global patient outreach, and interaction with the hospitality industry. There is a strong association between AI-enabled marketing and destination success, as evidenced by secondary data showing a notable increase in medical tourism arrivals and healthcare revenues in Dubai between 2020 and 2024. For legislators and municipal planners looking to create patient-centered and financially stable medical tourism ecosystems, the findings provide insightful information.
Artificial intelligence is emerging as a key force in international business, exerting an increasingly influential impact on diplomacy, governance, and cross-border cooperation. As scholarly interest in this area grows, so does the volume of academic literature on the subject. Despite this growth, there is still a limited understanding of how research in this field is structured and how it has evolved. This study uses bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science database to examine the development of research at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and international business. It identifies the core themes, publication trends, and international collaboration networks that define the field. The findings reveal a significant surge in research output since 2021, accompanied by heightened focus on ethical governance, policy innovation, and interdisciplinary approaches. The data also indicate broader geographic participation, suggesting a shift towards a more globally inclusive research landscape. By mapping these patterns, the study offers a comprehensive overview of the field's trajectory and its increasing relevance in shaping international business thought and practice.
This paper explores employees' perceptions of the digitalization of hotel services, focusing on the reorganization of internal processes. The research, conducted using a qualitative approach, was based on five semi-structured interviews carried out in a large-capacity Black Sea coast Romanian resort. Participants, all working in managerial or operational leadership positions, contributed insights on the implementation of digital platforms (Oracle OPERA, CRM, CRO) and their effects on processes, communication, and guest interaction. Thematic analysis identified three main findings: firstly, the digital transformation is viewed not just as a technological advance but rather as a cultural and strategic transformation; secondly, processes were significantly streamlined by automation and integration; thirdly, the digital systems constitute key instruments enabling data-driven decision-making processes and customized guest services. Digitalization enhances the level of coordination and efficiency, yet the respondents stressed the necessity of ongoing staff training and the sustenance of human interaction as an underlying value of the hospitality industry. This research contributes to the body of research on digital hospitality by adopting an employee-centric viewpoint on technological change. It draws attention to the significant role played by internal perception in the achievement of the success of digitization initiatives and provides practical guidelines on hotels undergoing transformation.
This article investigates how intelligent automation (AI) and machine learning (ML) act as key enablers of digital transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the face of emerging economic risks. Based on a critical review of recent literature and a bibliometric mapping conducted on data from the Web of Science Core Collection, the study shows that the research agenda is strongly focused on the AI/ML–SME triad and on risk-related predictive applications, e.g., financial fragility, insolvency, credit risk, but the mechanism by which ML capabilities are transformed into end-to-end operational outcomes and economic resilience remains poorly explained. The article proposes a “risk-aware” conceptual framework that treats AI and ML as an integrated system: ML generates cognitive signals, such as predictions, recommendations, anomaly detection, including GenAI/NLP, and AI operationalizes these signals into orchestrated, monitored, and auditable processes. Implementation typologies are identified (from point automation in back-office and augmented analytics, to end-to-end hyperautomation and GenAI-based front-office automation) and the mechanisms through which AI–ML can reduce vulnerabilities (efficiency, response time, resource optimization, continuity) or introduce new risks (drift, bias, security, compliance, vendor dependency) are discussed. The results highlight the decisive role of organizational mediators, such as data quality, skills and AI literacy, governance, auditability and vendor management, in differentiating between value creation and risk amplification. The contribution of the study lies in the explicit integration of the “risk-aware” economic perspective in the assessment of AI–ML adoption in SMEs and in the formulation of application directions for responsible and scalable implementations.
This article explores the relationship between the essential indicators of the medical system in Romania, focusing on the impact of the number of doctors and infrastructure on life expectancy and mortality rate. The analysis is based on official data from the period 2014-2023, using simple and multiple linear regression to identify correlations between variables. The results highlight the influence of medical resources on the health of the population, highlighting the challenges related to staff shortages and funding. The study provides insight into the factors influencing the performance of the healthcare system and provides a solid basis for future research on access and quality of healthcare services in Romania.
