The paper analyzes particular aspects of a competitive economy based on low carbon emissions, which requires a fundamental change in consumer behavior, by focusing mainly on green acquisitions. The article contributes to the literature by the novelty of the researched problem: identification and analysis of the attitude and behavior of Romanian students regarding the electric vehicles acquisition. Thus, a quantitative marketing research was conducted, using a sample of 1221 students from 11 Romanian university centers. Also, the paper includes an overview regarding the costs and financial benefits provided by the Romanian Government to the electric vehicles owners, such as acquisition price reductions or tax reductions. The research results show that only half of the students are familiar with the concept of green consumption, and 37.8% of them are interested in buying an electric vehicle, the main reason being the fuel consumption. The authors recommend to the state’s institutions to develop special programs, by offering attractive facilities to the young people with higher education, as potential buyers, for the purchase of electric vehicles, this way diminishing the barrier effect generated by the high price. The academic environment should initiate research, both at the micro and macroeconomic level, to quantify the economic-social implications of green acquisitions in general and electric vehicles in particular.

The healthcare systems of European countries currently face challenges regarding the sustainability of healthcare provision. The growing sophistication of new technologies is transforming the accessibility and management of health services and information, while also challenging society’s ability to offer fair access to health services for all people. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze some of the determinants of the self-perceived health status across the EU28 area and to determine how the digitalization of health is impacting the self-rated health of the European populations, given the fact that a healthier population is one of the 17 goals of sustainable development on the 2030 Agenda. The research method used is panel-data regression using secondary data from international databases. The results indicate that there is a direct relationship between the way people are assessing personal health, the ability to use the Internet for seeking health-related information, and the use of various apps to purchase health-related items online. Our findings are useful for academics, industry specialists, and public authorities in designing sustainable health products and policies by focusing on the development of suitable mHealth programs for generating more patient-centered services where the idea of self-care is encouraged.

The purpose of this paper was to identify collaboration opportunities between one of the most important universities in Romania and companies with production activity within the development region in which this university operates. In order to attain this goal, a survey was conducted to identify the needs of consultancy, expertise, and services for companies that operate in the Centru Development Region of Romania (RO12) and to evaluate the extent to which they are interested in cooperation with Transilvania University of Brasov. In this respect, 3506 companies were included in a panel and their managers were invited to take part in the survey. Finally, a sample of 457 companies was obtained. According to the survey results, the most used consulting services by these companies were the economic and financial ones, but the percentage of companies that have benefited from these services is low. The percentage of interviewed companies that have benefited so far from the consultancy offered by Transilvania University of Brasov is much lower (3.9%). Starting from the research results we proposed an entrepreneurial pilot model for online data analysis, based on the Tableau Public v. 2019.3 software, meant to help companies to do better promotion in order to develop their markets.

In the digital age, retailers face umpteen challenges, finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil the customer requirements. Studying the most trusted online stores in Romania, the authors aimed to identify the opportunities and the challenges for retailers in the connected consumer’ journey, analyzing the page load speed of the in-between touchpoints in the pre-check-out phase on smartphones. In this regard, comparative analysis and content analysis were performed, taking into consideration eight performance indicators, namely, first content paint, first input delay, largest contentful paint, cumulative layout shift, performance score, speed index, time to interactive, and total blocking time. Three platforms were used to run the tests, the generated data allowing the identification of the necessary enhancements to ensure a continuous consumer journey. The study revealed that the selected in-between touchpoints need major improvements to provide a satisfying consumer experience on a smartphone. The scientific contribution of this article consists of presenting 14 opportunities designed for retailers. By implementing them, for every 0.1 s saved, the conversion rate can increase by 8% due to emotional mitigation with technological performance improvements. The page speed shapes the customer journey, the retailers gaining the users’ trust by avoiding a long waiting time between the touchpoints.

The degree of digitalization and potential of growth in this sector are the new criteria that split the countries into various groups. The aim of this research is to find an easier and faster method of assessing the level of digitalization for countries, over different periods, having a sample 10 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. The research compares and groups these countries, determining the impact of four additional variables on their digitalization level. There were combined multiple analyses including comparative, cluster and panel analysis. As a result, we defined a new standardized indicator, named Digi-Index, which can be adapted for various time ranges, countries or study groups. Academic researchers or business practitioners can use the Digi-Index, the clusters and their characteristics to build development plans for the digital sector, based on each country's conditions, potential and influence factors.