Vol. 3, Issue 2, 2018

Summary

Critical Success Factors for Adopting Cloud Computing in the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Companies

  • Page: 123
  • Authors: Mohammad Saleem AL-SHURA, Abdelrahim M. ZABADI, Mohamad ABUGHAZALEH, Marwa A. ALHADI
  • Abstract: Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, easy, and on-demand network access to a shared aggregation of configurable computing sources. Adopting of cloud computing in the pharmaceutical manufacturing is influenced by a group of critical success factors. Therefore, this paper depends on the technological-organizational-environmental (TOE) framework to explore the factors that influence on cloud computing adoption by pharmaceutical industry firms in Jordan through proposing a model for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Companies. Complexity, compatibility, relative advantage, top management support, firm size, technical readiness, competitive pressure, and trading partner pressure, are the eight critical success factors that have been tested. A survey was utilized to collect data from 16 pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in the capital of Jordan – Amman. Relevant hypotheses were developed and examined by multiple regression analysis. The results of the data analysis generally support the suggested model. In summary, the results of this research have shown that all above-mentioned factors were found to have a significant influence on adoption of cloud computing for the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan. This finding of adoption in cloud computing in the pharmaceutical industry will help firms to take into consideration their information for technologies investments.
  • JEL Classification: L20, Q55
  • Key words: cloud computing, technology – organization – environment (TOE) framework, technology adoption, pharmaceutical industry, information technology (IT)
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-01
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The Impact of eWOM in Social Media on Consumer Purchase Decisions: A Comparative Study between Romanian and Bosnian Consumers

  • Page: 138
  • Authors: Mersid POTURAK, Merve TURKYILMAZ
  • Abstract: Marketers define their social media platform as an essential piece to reach their consumers. The flock of web users turning to social media to receive and convey their thoughts, opinions, and suggestions has made social media an integral part of digital marketing. Using traditional media to advertise had restrictions in placement and outcome while, nowadays, social media has liberated this obstacle. It has created a platform which allows information to spread freely and at a fast pace. Using electronic word-of-mouth in social media permits a constant connection to a vast audience. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of electronic word-of-mouth within the context of social media on consumer purchase decisions. More precisely, how the familiarity of the Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) source, the way of communication, writer’s expertise and the popularity of a product affects the consumer’s purchase decision. The data has been gathered using quantitative research method. The sample consists of students studying in Sarajevo and Timisoara. Having sample from two different countries would be good base for comparative analysis. The survey for data analysis was emailed to students’ email addresses. The results of the analysis will provide a comparison between the universities and the level of impact eWOM in social media has on their purchase decisions.
  • JEL Classification: M3, M31, M37
  • Key words: electronic word-of-mouth, social media, digital marketing, purchase decision
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-02
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The Impact of Brand Equity on the Achievement Customers’ Loyalty to the Brand: An Empirical Study of a Sample of Vodafone’s Customers

  • Page: 161
  • Authors: Zaki Muhammad ABBAS BHAYA, Basim Abbas KRAIDY JASSMY
  • Abstract: This study aims to discover the role of the brand equity in the process to achieving the brand loyalty from customer perspective, which is represented the dominant perspective and favored by the majority of academics and practitioners in Marketing Research, This research was focused on the study of customer-based brand equity of the opinions of customers’ sample of Vodafone. The research sample included (100) customer which refers to how responsive customer to Vodafone brand. The authors examined all the variables of the questionnaire by using (factor analysis). The study is showed the role of this perspective in satisfying the desires of customers, and revealed a number of conclusions that refers the importance of the brand equity to the customers in creating brand loyalty.
  • JEL Classification: M30
  • Key words: brand equity, brand loyalty
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-03
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International Development and Nonlinear Taxation in a Multi-Country Neoclassical Growth Model

  • Page: 175
  • Authors: Wei-Bin ZHANG
  • Abstract: This paper builds a multi-country growth model with nonlinear taxation and public goods. The dynamic machines of global development are national wealth accumulation and free trade. Different from most of theoretical growth models in neoclassical economics which deals with a two-country world and each economy has a homogeneous population, our model deals with any number of national economies and each economy has heterogeneous populations. A national economy consists of one industrial sector and one public sector and has any number of types of people. Our model integrates economic mechanisms of some well-known economic theories in a comprehensive framework. Each national economy is described according to Walrasian general economic theory. Capital accumulation follows the Solow model. Modelling public goods with nonlinear taxation is based on the literature of progressive taxation and economic growth. The trade pattern is modelled within the Oniki-Uzawa global growth model with two countries. We model household behavior on the basis of Zhang’s concept of disposable income and utility function. We simulate the model to show transitory processes and long-term equilibrium. We carry out comparative dynamic analysis in some parameters
  • JEL Classification: B17
  • Key words: competitive heterogeneous households, international trade, neoclassical growth theory, nonlinear taxation, propensity to save
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-04
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The Difference of the Actual Price Level from the Equilibrium One and its Impact on Inflation

  • Page: 193
  • Authors: Ion PARTACHI, Vitalie MOTELICA
  • Abstract: Within the modern monetary policy regimes, the inflationary pressures are, generally, approximated by the excessive demand that generate pressures on the fixed production capacity resulting in a change of prices. This excessive demand is estimated as the deviation of the level of the economic activity, reflected by a series of macroeconomic indicators, from its equilibrium one which is determined using different univariate or multivariate methods. However, an alternative approach which could provide information about the medium term inflationary pressures in an economy is the information about the monetary indicators. In this regard, it is necessary to estimate an equilibrium level of prices which is related to an equilibrium level of production and monetary indicators. Over the medium term, the deviation of the actual level of prices from the equilibrium one will tend to close which will result in inflation. The calculation of the equilibrium level of prices needs to be adjusted in case of a small open economy taking into consideration the macroeconomic indicators of its major trading partners.
  • JEL Classification: C01, C22, C51, E 31, E51, E52
  • Key words: core inflation, inflationary pressures, equilibrium prices, monetary policy, quantity theory of money
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-05
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National Health Systems and Healthcare Contracts in the EU: a Review on the Literature over the Last 17 Years (2000–2017)

  • Page: 202
  • Authors: Bogdan STOICA, Alexandru Mihai BUGHEANU
  • Abstract: This article presents an analysis and evaluation of the literature of the last 17 years on the studies on the National Health Systems (NHS) in the EU. On this occasion, we set as an objective to frame a systematic classification of the selected studies, which were briefly commented upon, given their large volume. It is confirmed that the NHS focuses on contracting medical services, a multi-annual phenomenon, based on national legislation, often harmonised with European legislation. From this perspective, we present a case study, namely Romania. Good contracting can be achieved by supporting guides that, although exist at an European level, are absent in many East European countries. In the last part of the article, a presentation is made – perhaps for the first time in the East-European geographical space – of these guides, wich form an integral part of the specific literature.
  • JEL Classification: G32, I13, I18, K12
  • Key words: EU, health policies, health finance, health insurance, contracting services, health guides
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-06
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What Do We Know about Biofuels Today that Diesel and Ford Did Not?

  • Page: 213
  • Authors: Corina MARINESCU, Claudiu CICEA
  • Abstract: Would have ever thought Rudolf Diesel and Henry Ford that a day will come when fuel will be extracted from algae? What would Diesel say when hearing about biodiesel or green diesel? Or would Ford say „I told you so” when discovering that ethanol became a reliable fuel? We would be proud to tell them how many efforts have been made and how many scientists and researchers dedicated their work to biofuels. The present paper makes an introduction into the biofuels’ field and tries to answer the question raised in the title by providing a genuine configuration of biofuels generations and supporting evidence of their trends which will help both Ford and Diesel catch up with progress. By their nature, biofuels remain a large debated subject, a useful tool for tackling energy questions and a growing alternative to be explored in more depth.
  • JEL Classification: Q16
  • Key words: bioenergy, biofuels, biodiesel, bioethanol
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-07
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Global Management Practices and Strategies in the IT Driven Society

  • Page: 225
  • Authors: Cristina MORĂRESCU, Simona Cătălina ȘTEFAN, Ștefan Cătălin POPA, Cătălina Florentina ALBU
  • Abstract: The main objectives of the paper are: to identify and analyze the main ways in which global management practices and strategies can be adapted to survive in the context of the IT driven society, to determine which are the best ways in which managers can deal with the challenges of running global teams, to determine new guidelines, in order to accommodate the common shared digital workspace such created, and to change the approach in which the managerial functions and the management process itself is being regarded in, considering the continuous changes of the digital environment, as the current global workspace evolves. In terms of significant results and conclusions, may be mentioned the ones regarding the necessity of shaping a set of new management practices and strategies capable of validating the real requirements of the new social and economic background in which organizations exist in, and the fact that the traditional way in which the management process unfolds is no longer enough. Also, the paper comprises a set of basic guidelines to be followed in terms of establishing current management trends and practices in the IT driven globalized society, which today’s practitioners can use when making their own rules of the game, according to the specific context. Given the dynamic of the environment, further research should be considered and conducted in order to better comprehend the way in which managers need to act so that their companies fully benefit from the information technology opportunities.
  • JEL Classification: F61, L86, M16, O32, Q55
  • Key words: global management, management process, management practice, information technology, innovation
  • DOI: 10.24818/mer/2018.12-08
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