The paper explores how business continuity management (BCM) is defined within the professional and academic communities that work in the field or research it. It sets out the framework for the composing elements of a BCM that emerge and considers how these various elements can interact with each other to build a sound business continuity management. Also, the paper aims to examine the organization’s critical functions that ensure an effective BCM. The research relies on a questionnaire-based survey, with data collected by personally interviewing top and middle-level managers from Romanian small and medium-sized companies. The results, which count on the responses of 119 participant companies, show that risk assessment takes a critical role in building the organization’s BCM strategy, while business continuity response planning has the strongest impact on the overall effectiveness of the organization’s BCM. The novelty of this research lies in a first time establishment of the critical functions that are vital for companies to maintain their essential business operations in case of disruptive incidents, to build organizational resilience. Future research should be grounded on testing if the BCM arrangements and business impact analysis influence the BCM strategy as the existing data did not prove that it did.

Studies in entrepreneurship have identified that a positive entrepreneurial attitude and willingness to start a business influence future entrepreneurial intention. In the study of entrepreneurial intention, there is a growing interest in understanding the factors that determine desirability of entrepreneurship. Earlier studies have identified that there is a significant correlation between individuals’ perceived desirability of entrepreneurship and their entrepreneurial intention. This study addressed the question of what factors determine the desirability of entrepreneurship and how these different factors affect the desire to become an entrepreneur. We discussed the key determinants of the desirability of entrepreneurship in Romania. Using the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) dataset for 2016, we examined the desirability of entrepreneurship among Romanian respondents by considering multiple factors indicated by the theory as being significant predictors of entrepreneurship: feasibility, social stability, and comfort with acquiring customers, as well as socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, education, income level and working status. The results of our regression analysis demonstrate that social stability and feasibility have the most impact on the desirability of entrepreneurship. In addition, we document that comfort with acquiring customers is perceived as an important factor in increasing the desirability of entrepreneurship. These results suggest that a good understanding of individuals’ social environment and their need for skills and capabilities may lead to greater entrepreneurial efficacy, which is fundamental to sustaining economic growth. Future research should be grounded on testing if level of education, working status and income influence desirability of entrepreneurship as our existing data did not prove that it did.

COVID-19 has created an un-precedent crisis for SMEs and challenged each single enterprise to reconsider its business operations and to adapt to the new unexpected circumstances. The present paper aims to explore the resilience measures that the micro and small enterprises in Romania can consider to dealing with the disruptions caused by the pandemic. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from a sample of micro and small enterprises operating in the central part of the country. An exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify underlying variables that explain the pattern of correlations between the resilience measures for enterprises, which help them cope with the pandemic effects. There are seventeen resilience measures to the pandemic included in the analysis and further tested in the paper. In addition, a multiple linear regression was conducted to determine which of the resilience measures has the most impact on the enterprises’ overcoming illness. The results show that in order for the micro and small enterprises to better cope with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic they should demonstrate, on the first place, openness to production innovation and adaptation and ensure a strong support for customers and communities. On the second place, efforts should be directed toward ensuring efficiency of their internal operational management and worker protection. While there exist external circumstances that lead enterprises to adopt several resilience measures to better respond to the pandemic, the motivations that are most relevant in this decision are generally internal in nature.

Organizations are increasingly subject to hazardous events and threats, which can be critical for their business operations and performance. Any natural, accidental, or deliberate incidents that happen to the organization can cause major disruptions to it. The present paper aims to examine the prerequisites for a sound business impact analysis necessary to build the organization’s business continuity management capability and ensure business resilience. It is meant to discover those critical functions and resources which are vital to business operations in a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises from a certain geographic area in Romania, in order to maintain their core operations and ensure business continuation. The research results rely on the data collected through face-to-face interviews from 119 Romanian companies. The research findings of the multiple linear regression employed indicate that, in undertaking business impact analysis for business continuity, it is vital for enterprises to identify the skills and level of expertise required from staff to carry out organization’s critical activities. Also it is critical for companies to identify alternative premises and systems and means of voice and data communication, as well as the priority suppliers/partners whom they depend on, necessary to undertake their critical activities. The study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the prerequisites of the organization’s business impact analysis that are critical to build a strong business continuity management capability. It also offers new insights to companies meant to generate a better understanding of current practices of undertaking a business impact analysis for business continuation in their organizations.

Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a key contributor to the economic development of countries and societal wellbeing. Building and sustaining an adequate entrepreneurial climate challenges—to a high extent—transitional economies world-wide, pushing these countries to develop policies and strategies aimed to sustain high-quality national entrepreneurship. The paper seeks to understand the key determinants of a country’s entrepreneurial environment that drive potential entrepreneurs to assume an entrepreneurial status. It attempts to examine the countries’ entrepreneurial environment factors that influence the development of entrepreneurial spirit and affect the potential entrepreneurs’ decision to start a new venture as a desirable career opportunity. Entrepreneurial spirit is measured by entrepreneurial desirability, feasibility and social stability, taken from the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) 2018 data on national entrepreneurship. The results of the linear regression employed in the paper suggest that, in transitional economies like Romania, clear and stable rules and regulations, manageable taxes, an overall beneficial economic situation, as well as availability and accessibility of technology, may lead to greater entrepreneurial drive and ambition, which is fundamental to sustaining economic growth. The article ends with a discussion about the results and implications of the research.

Developing the local, regional, even national communities is often central to a university’s mission. This is a two-way process and both society and university itself should benefit from this collaboration. Universities around the world have been in the past decades required to leave their ivory tower and to become more involved in addressing the needs of the society and thus more relevant for the communities which they serve. They are expected to take a leadership role in implementation of the required change by contributing to community development through knowledge, innovations, skills and jobs. By taking a leading role in society and continuously innovating, universities will support communities with achieving a sustainable growth and therefore will contribute to increasing the well-being of society at large. The current paper aims to assess the university obligations to society by analyzing 27 universities around the world best ranked in social responsibility according to QS Stars University Rating 2016. In the paper, we discuss the extent to which different attributes of the university social responsibility are reflected among the initiatives and projects run by the universities included in the study. Also, an exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify underlying variables that explain the pattern of correlations between university social responsibility initiatives. Following the QS Stars methodology, the dimensions used to evaluate social responsibility of sampled universities included: community investment and development, social work and disaster relief, regional human capital development, and environmental impact. The results show that the level of involvement in social responsibility actions is high for all the universities included in the study. Also, the types of initiatives vary in terms of nature, intensity and impact for each one of the dimensions analyzed. Our research findings offer useful insights for both universities’ leaders and community developers in their joint-efforts to develop and grow a prosperous community.