Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors, both in developed and developing countries. Although Romania is in sixth place at the level of the European Union in terms of agricultural area, the share of ecologically certified areas is low. The fruits and vegetables sector is the most important for the agri-food production in Romania, accounting for 58% of the total cultivated area. In recent years, there is a tendency for consumers to focus on healthy diets with safe, high quality foods and high nutritional compounds from unpolluted areas. However, the Romanian market of organic fruits and vegetables is still underdeveloped due to the small number of consumers of organic products. The future of organic farming is largely dependent on attitude and consumer demand. The purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes and intentions of Romanian consumers towards the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables through direct research among 268 individuals. The results show that the attitudes of individuals towards the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables is directly and positively influenced by the information that individuals have about the characteristics of organic products, their personal needs and motivations, but also by external influences, and the purchase barriers do not represent elements with a strong enough influence on the attitude and intention.
This paper analyses sustainability perceptions in Romanian non-profits by investigating 81 non-profits managers and board members. Using a multidimensional sustainability measurement framework, Success Factor Analysis, as a conceptual model, we measured perceptions on 5 critical sustainability factors: People, Business Model, Operations, Strategy and Culture and concluded that there are significant differences in the perceptions of sustainability depending on respondents’ previous failure experiences. While those which previously experienced failure adopt a long-term approach based on marketization, clear accountability standards and rely on strategy, while the others prefer a short-term approach, focused more on non-profits operations and focus on human resources.
This paper analyzes factors influencing recognition of sustainable opportunities by using an augmented sustainability process model. The conceptual model used two main factors, Knowledge and Motivation, and one moderating variable, Social embeddedness. We investigated entrepreneurs from PVC joinery industry and concluded that while market orientation and sustainable entrepreneurial orientation definitely and positively influence sustainable opportunity recognition, others variables like knowledge of the natural/communal environment, awareness of sustainable development or focus on success have less support. Among all variables analyzed, perception of the threat of the natural/communal environment and altruism toward others have the poorest impact on opportunity recognition. Finally, we concluded that social embeddedness has a moderating effect on sustainable opportunity recognition, even though the results were mixed.
This paper investigates the inter-organizational Critical Success Factors for coopetition in oil and gas distribution networks. Based on an extensive review of literature, 17 Critical Success Factors were identified and analyzed in the context of oil and gas distribution industry. We concluded that Trust, Outcomes, Outcomes distribution and Tension have the greatest impact on coopetition success within business networks, while Congruence, Governance, Inter-dependence and Equity, even though significant, have the lowest impact. The study contributes to the development of literature concerning Critical Success Factors in business networks by presenting an inter-organizational perspective, by providing a ranking of them, and by discussing the implications for oil and gas distribution companies.