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Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA
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Victor GREU
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George Cosmin Tănase
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Nicolaie MIHAIESCU
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Léon F. WEGNEZ (by courtesy of)
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Editorial: The Month of May 2014 in Romania, and the Significance of the Teamwork Governed by Values and Principles
Communicate on … Communications - from a Conference Every 2 Years to the Need to Communicate Everyday and Everywhere
Advertising Policy and Geographic Information
Consumer Protection. A Point of View
- Ethique, Distribution d’aujourd’hui, 55ème année, Janvier – Fevrier – Mars 2014, Brussels
Bernd HALLIER (by courtesy of) OFEL 2014, Handbook Consumerism, AgriBusiness Forum, Astana Economic Forum, and Retail Asia
Irina PURCĂREA A Short Presentation of Our Partner Journal „Contemporary Economics”, Vol. 7, Issue 4, 2013, Quarterly of University of Finance and Management in Warsaw
The responsibility for the content of the scientific and the authenticity of the published materials and opinions expressed rests with the author.
Editorial:
The Month of May 2014 in Romania, and the Significance of the Teamwork Governed by Values and Principles
As there is always room for partnerships in finding solutions in the new complexity of the uncertainties, while responsibly assuming the obligations of the professional community in addressing the risks and challenges that the Romanian economy and the Romanian consumers (we are all consumers) are facing and will have to deal with, knowing that what happened in the past will affect the future, allow us to highlight two significant events held in May 2014. Thursday, May 15, 2014, the prestigious Association of Faculties of Economics in Romania (AFER) launched the Volume with the well-known great theme: “Pages from the Romanian Economic Higher Education History, 1843-2013”, on the occasion of the National Students Studying Economics and Business Competition, Section: Public Administration and Rural Development – ONEF 2014, which took place in Aula Magna of the PetroleumGas University of Ploiesti (UPG).
ONEF 2014, Section: Public Administration and Rural Development was officially opened by Professors Mihai Pascu Coloja, Rector of UPG Ploiesti, and Cornel Lazar, Vice-Rector in charge of Affairs Administration, who gave the floor to the Honorary President of this Section, Professor Gheorghe ZAMAN, Vice President of the Economic, Law, and Sociological Sciences Section of the Romanian Academy, Director of the Institute for National Economy (IEN, the oldest public settlement of economic research in Romania), President of the General Association of Economists from Romania (AGER), President of the Scientific Council of Romanian Scientific Society of Management (SSMAR), and Chairman of the Group of Experts of the Romanian Distribution Committee (CRD: www.crd-aida. ro/our-team/gheorghe-zaman/ ). Professor Gheorghe Zaman brought again to our attention the contribution of the Romanian economists in solving the crucial problems of the modernization of the Romanian society, also underlining the obligations of the professional community in addressing the risks and challenges that the Romanian economy is facing and will have to deal with, knowing that what happened in the past will affect the future. “Quality”, “Excellence”, and “Unique”, were the key words used by distinguished Professor Gheorghe Zaman when described the launched Mongraph, also underlining the “involvement” and “reflection on the past while striving for the future”.
Other distinguished speakers shared their thoughts and ideas on this special occasion: the Mayor of the City of Ploiesti, Iulian Badescu, former student of UPG Ploiesti (economic profile); the President of AFER, Professor Ioan Talpos, who presented the structure of the work (also thanking to all those who have joined this attempt at providing an homage to the past, at respectfully honoring the present and at confidently looking forward to the future, with all the esteem and consideration for all those who, for almost a year, have thriven to provide the Monograph with bibliographical and archive documentation, elaboration, synthesis, formatting and processing of statistical data and so on); Professor Constantin Rosca, Executive Director of AFER, and Editor of the launched Volume (whose “executive” contribution was highlighted by both Professors, Gheorghe Zaman and Ioan Talpos); the President of the Jury of ONEF 2014 (the mentioned Section), Professor Adriana Schiopoiu Burlea (Member of IAS France, EUROSCIENCE, Leadership Learning Community’s – LLC etc.), Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Craiova; Dean Mariana Eftimie, Faculty of Economic Sciences, UPG Ploiesti (who presented the personality of Mihail Manoilescu), Vice-Dean Daniela Buzoianu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, UPG Ploiesti; Theodor Valentin Purcarea, Professor at the Romanian-American University, and Editorial Advisor of the launched Volume; Professor Constantin Popescu, the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (with a consistent and emotional approach); Professor Alexandru Tasnadi, the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (who presented the book “About Life and Economy” written by Professor Constantin Popescu; Professor Alexandru Tasnadi proved again a real spirit in keeping showing the right direction while approaching the link between the life and the economy). Wednesday, May 28, 2014, took place the works of the Roundtable “Consumer protection and the pressure of economic and societal changes: the digital revolution; the sustainable consumption; the social exclusion, the vulnerable consumers and the accessibility,” organized by the Romanian-American University (RAU) in collaboration with the Romanian Distribution Committee (CRD). RAU Rector, Professor Ovidiu Folcut, opened the debate (“Welcome and Opening Remarks: Improving consumer education, information, and culture, while addressing deficits in consumer awareness and skills”).
Source: http://www.crd-aida.ro/2014/05/an-inspiredand-inspiring-roundtable-consumer-protection-and-the-pressure-of-economic-and-societal-changes-organized-by-the-romanian-american-university/
Theodor Valentin Purcarea, Professor at the RAU School of Management-Marketing, and President of the Romanian-Distribution Committee (“Key objectives of the European Consumer Agenda 2020 and the first steps to achieve them”), who moderated the debate, gave the floor to the distinguished participants, such as: Professor Petru Filip, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Romanian Senate („The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue – TACD”), Professor Florian Popa, Vice-President of the Commission of Public Health of the Romanian Senate, and President of SANABUNA International Congress (“The dialogue with patients’ and consumers’ organizations at EU level”), Iulian Cristache, Member of the Commission of Public Health of the Romanian Senate (“Avoiding consumer health inequalities”), Otilian B. Neagoe, Vice-president of the Romanian Competition Council (“Interactions between competition and consumer protection policy”), Paul Anghel, Director, National Authority for Consumer Protection, Romania (“The effective application of consumer protection legislation, with a focus on key sectors”), Associate Professor Costel Stanciu, President of the Romanian Association for Consumers’ Protection – APC Romania („Developing knowledge and skills for more effective participation of consumers in the market”), Dr. Nicolae Albu, Expert, S.I.F. Transilvania, and Honorary Member of CRD (“A tourism services perspective on consumer protection”), Professor Dumitru Patriche, Romanian-American University, and Honorary Member of CRD (“Introducing the first course of consumer protection”), Radu Titus Marinescu, Professor at Artifex University, Dumitru Bortun, Associate Professor at NUPSPA (S.N.S.P.A.), and Chairman of the Honorary Jury at Romanian Association of Public Relations Professionals – ARRP, Professor Ion Bulborea, Romanian-American University, Associate Professor Victor Lorin Purcarea, President of the National Organizing Committee of SANABUNA
International Congress, Nicolaie Mihaiescu, Vicepresident of CRD, Dean Emilia Gabroveanu and Vice Dean Monica Paula Ratiu of the RAU School of Domestic and International Economy of Tourism, Irina Chiritoiu, Director of the European Consumer Center in Romania, Alexandru Bejan, RAU Alumnus, and UMF Carol Davila and RAU Students.
Please also remember that a year ago we underlined that as we are both, participants and spectators at the significant evolution of the consumer behavior, social media influencing consumers’ interaction with one another and with brands and the supply chain networks, while impacting the economy and the society as a whole, we clearly understood that collaboration and adaptation are key factors in what concerns focusing on customer empowerment, supply chain networks facing the challenge of combining the advantages of leanness and agility, up streaming from the decoupling point to achieve economies of scale and down streaming to achieve consumer responsiveness.
The lively debate allowed the clarification of questions and concerns, the fresh conversation also conveying scientific and practical information, including new perspectives in consumer protection education in connection with SANABUNA International Congress’ approach. An educated consumer is a powerful consumer, able to protect himself and to modify unfair commercial conduct of the economic operator. In order to achieve this goal, the Romanian Association for Consumers’ Protection – APC Theodor Valentin Purcărea Romania – is currently running nationwide the fol- Editor - in - Chief lowing consumer information and education campaigns: “Say No to the unfair deceptive commercial practices”, “Be an active patient” and “Healthy food - an investment for your health.” It is worth to mention that within the context of this remarkable Roundtable, Associate Professor Costel Stanciu, President of the Romanian Association for Consumers’ Protection – APC Romania, was awarded the Diploma of „Honorary Member” of the Romanian Distribution Committee, as a prestigious recognition for his endeavor and achievement. Allow as to remember that APC Romania, a Founding Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee, is continuing to confirm the ability to reach its role of independent campaigning voice for Romanian consumers, by focusing on the shared concerns of consumers within Romanian society at large and by constantly covering the complex area of expectations from business in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (http://www.crd-aida.ro/2007/02/apcromania-consumers%e2%80%99-protection-association-romania-a-founding-member-of-the-romaniandistribution-committee-is-confirming/).
Communicate on … Communications - from a Conference Every 2 Years to the Need to Communicate Everyday and Everywhere
Prof. Eng. Ph.D. Victor GREU
Abstract The paper presents the significance and main context of the series of International Conferences on COMMUNICATIONS – Comm, now at the 10-th edition, held every 2 years since 1996, in Bucharest – Romania, under the aegis of IEEE Romania Section and Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences. There are also presented some remarkable moments among the 10 editions of ICC-Comm, which have a relevant significance for the scientific status of the of ICC-Comm brand, including the fact that, starting from 2010, ICC-Comm was covered in ISI Web of Science (in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index) and as a consequence this remarkable achievement determined an essential rise of the scientific level of the accepted papers – based on a rigorous peer review process. The paper also analyzes the complex relations between the need for ubiquitous communications and the challenges of today communications, including wireless, broadband, network centric, cognitive approach, context aware etc. As a result, the author concludes that each of these technical challenges could have a replica in the way people “think” to communicate, to share their ideas and generally information, irrespective when or where, but the implications of this process is very complex for the specialists on communications, because they carry the responsibility of developing communications and information technologies and keeping t heir amazing pace. Keywords: communications and information technologies, information society, knowledge based society, wireless body area network, e-health. JEL Classification: L63, L86, M15, O13, O33
The 10-th edition of International Conferences on COMMUNICATIONS – Comm, Bucharest, Romania, under the aegis of IEEE Romania Section and Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences
Victor Croitoru, Dumitru Stanomir, Victor Greu and Paul Cotae
Mihai Radu and Victor Greu
1. A very special Conference, every 2 prestige was given every edition by the invited years, in Bucharest - Romania papers/authors. Among the most prominent invited papers/ The 10-th International Conference on authors, by my opinion, could be cited: COMMUNICATIONS - Comm 2014 was held on - 2010- RAJ MITTRA, The Pennsylvania State May 29-31, at the National Military Palace, in the University, USA; heart of Bucharest, the capital of Romania [1]. - 2014 Anja SKRIVERVIK, École The significance of this event is very special Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, due to many reasons, which made from it much Switzerland; more than “a conference”. - 2014 Paul COTAE, University of the District Starting from 1996, the Politechnica of Columbia, USA. University of Bucharest and Military Technical The place where the conference is Academy organized every 2 years the International traditionally held could be also considered a special Conference on COMMUNICATIONS - Comm feature which contributes to the ICC-Comm brand. (ICC-Comm), under the aegis of IEEE Romania In order to be more precise, it is worth to Section and Romanian Academy of Technical mention that although the traditional venue and Sciences. Now we have just arrived, after 18 years the Conference third day trip do not bring direct of enthusiastic perseverance, at the 10-th edition of scientific content, they stimulate the participation ICC-Comm. and ease the exchange of knowledge between Notice that the prestige of IEEE and also the authors, without speaking about their benefits for the Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences provided touristic image of Romania. a continuous frame for a high scientific level of the The history of the National Military Palace conference. began in December 15-th 1876 [1], when it was In 1996, the founders of ICC-Comm who created to build a camaraderie spirit between officers provided the idea and the main efforts for the start of all ranks and branches, as well as for their family of ICC-Comm Conference were some prominent members. and enthusiastic professors including Adelaida The Palace actual residency started to be built Mateescu, Alexandru Serbanescu, Mihai Radu, in 1911 and was finished in 1923. The construction Victor Croitoru, with the support of the Department was funded mainly from the personal contributions of Telecommunications of Politechnica University of the officers (about 80%) and from various of Bucharest - led by professor Ion Banica and of donations and loans. the Communications Department of the Military The National Military Palace was raised in Technical Academy led by professor Victor Greu the historical center of Bucharest, at the crossroad (also Chairman of Comm 2000, along with professor between two important boulevards, Calea Victoriei Adelaida Mateescu as Honorary Chaiman, professor and Regina Elisabeta. Victor Croitoru as Chairman of Comm 2000 and Last but not the least, we have to mention professor Mihai Radu as Chairman of Comm 2000). the scientific and organizational efforts which are Among the 10 editions of ICC-Comm we necessary to continue and progress over 18 years to may find some remarkable moments, which have a cover all communications major topics, as in 2014 relevant significance for the scientific status of the of we had, including [1]: ICC-Comm brand. Signal Processing; Starting from 2010, ICC-Comm was Natural Language and Speech Processing; covered in ISI Web of Science (in the Conference Image Processing; Proceedings Citation Index). This remarkable Communications Theory; achievement determined an essential rise of the Computational Intelligence; scientific level of the accepted papers – based on a Microwaves; rigorous peer review process. Antennas and Propagation; Starting from 2012 ICC-Comm was included Communications Networks and Systems; in the IEEE Conference Publications Program and Radio Communications Technologies; extended versions of selected papers from COMM Optical Communications; 2012 were considered for publication in journals Wireless Communications; covered in ISI Web of Science. Satellite and Space Communications; An important contribution to the ICC-Comm Multimedia Communications;
Internet Technologies; Communications Security; New Information and Communications Technologies; Communications Strategies and Development; Cognitive Radio ; But it is also mandatory to emphasize that all these topics come from the communications and information technologies (CIT), the most important and dynamic field of humankind creation/activity, due, probably, also to the fact that the people continue to learn ... to communicate …on communications. 2. Ubiquitous communications - the need to communicate everyday and everywhere Ubiquitous communications is our days goal for everyone, as CIT became the driving force of developing the information society (IS) toward knowledge based society (KBS) [5]. This way, the need to generally communicate is obvious, but it is interesting to see how important this process is when we think at the specialists … on communications. As we already have mentioned [5], the benefits of CIT for the IS/KBS include the fact that they transfer to the people, in every field of activity, their “success models”, as “network centric” or “cloud”. Now the point is to learn from CIT the way they have to improve the “communications” in order to optimize the efficacy of the new and highly performant products and services which are generally available. In order to evaluate the above role of communications it is very relevant to imagine what Internet and all its associated services would be if the communications links will fail. The challenges of today communications include wireless, broadband, low latency, network centric, cognitive approach, context aware etc. Each of the above technical challenges could have a replica in the way people “think” to communicate, to share their ideas and generally information, irrespective when or where. Our approach, that we have earlier mentioned [5], is that, beyond the natural necessity to learn how to use all the CIT products and services, which are rapidly changing with the exponential pace of CIT in IS/KBS, people begin to “lend”, consciously or not, in their behavior, to think and act with rules and skills innovated or optimized by ICT. On the other hand one could say that CIT is generated from people’s minds, so we are in a (vicious) circle, which also is true, with our amendment that the evolution is a “spiral” process. On this line we have also analyzed [2] that CIT are learning more and more from the nature’s million years “research”, including mankind experience and dynamic wisdom. Coming back to the above challenges for today communications, let’s see how these are reflected in the individual’s behavior. Wireless means that mobility, the humankind’s ancient state, is now growing fast, beyond the physical limits of moving (walking, driving or flying), as people could do now a lot of things from remote places. The point is that these new realities are inspiring people to think and to develop new scenarios of activities, using mobile information and services, which finally lead to “mobile thinking”. After understanding the new meaning of “mobile” for people’s “thinking”, now is easier to observe what “broadband” and “low latency” could also imply beyond their strictly technical significance. In a world full of data, information and new knowledge, as IS/KBS is, people are inherently driven to have a larger horizon, not only from a cultural point of view, but also as a behavior, as a necessity to have a distributed attention and an “open mind” ready to make connections and use all environmental opportunities for their interests – that is a “broadband” approach and of course a lower latency in doing everything. Going further, it is just one step to a “network centric” behavior [2] and then to “cognitive approach” or “context aware”. All these challenges determine new trends of modern communications and we see now how they could become the new features of modern humankind thinking and behavior. Perhaps an example will better illustrate these trends and their connections with the ICC-Comm brand. At ICC-Comm 2014, Professor Anja SKRIVERVIK from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
presented the invited paper “An overview of W-BAN antennas”. The field of W-BAN (Wireless Body Area Network) antennas represents one of the most complex, actual and fascinating trends of CIT, inside the large and emerging area of e-health [4], [9]. Without other details, we just notice that W-BAN is perhaps one of the most relevant expression of the above challenges of CIT, as W-BAN is an interdisciplinary (“broadband”) approach and the “context aware” is generalized from individual outside to inside (into the human body). With other words, W-BAN is one of the amazing expressions of “communications” and shows what could mean “communicate”, in a world where, beyond “Internet of things”, everyone and “everything” need to communicate, for the humankind well [6]. In order to provide that “well”, the specialists on communications, like all participants at ICCComm, have the duty and … the passion, to search and … to communicate! In the same time, the “anniversary” 10-th edition could not let us be only enthusiastic, as CIT exponential pace have not only the bright side, but also includes all the challenges, all the efforts and all the creation struggle, especially in the actual phase of apogee/decline that CIT encounter [7], [3]. To be more concrete, we have to observe that in the back of “miracle” products and services CIT are offering everyday to the IS/KBS, we may find the army of passionate and hardworking people, searching for solutions in a world more and more complex, as CIT includes in fact much of the knowledge humankind acquired for centuries. One of the secrets of CIT achievements and pace [8] is just this practice of the World specialists “to communicate” and this is perhaps true in any activity field but with an enormous impact in … communications! 3. Conclusions Since 1996, Politechnica University of Bucharest and Military Technical Academy organized every 2 years the International Conference on COMMUNICATIONS - Comm (ICC-Comm), under the aegis of IEEE Romania Section and Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences. ICC-Comm 2014 is a special Conference held in Bucharest – Romania on 29-31 May but its significance is beyound the “anniversary” 10-th edition, due to the topics it covers and to the brand the
founders and the organizers (Politechnica University of Bucharest and Military Technical Academy) have built. Starting from 2010, ICC-Comm was covered in ISI Web of Science (in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index) and this remarkable feature determined an essential rise of the scientific level of the accepted papers – based on a rigorous peer review process. The need to communicate is growing for everyone in the frame of IS/KBS, but the importance of this process is very complex for the specialists on communications, because they carry the responsibility of developing CIT and keeping their amazing pace. Searching for CIT solutions, including in their work much of the knowledge humankind acquired for centuries along with the state-of-the-art scientific and technological results all over the world - all these are reasons laying behind of ICC-Comm and of the passionate and hardworking people who are making it. REFERENCES [1] http://www.comms.ro/index.html [2] Victor Greu, Evaluating the development steps based on life-inspired information and communications technologies, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 2, Issue4, Year 2011. [3] Monica Rosenfeld, Nanotechnology Standards, IEEE The Institute, Dec. 2013. [4] Monica Rosenfeld, Sniffing for cancer, IEEE The Institute, Dec. 2013. [5] Victor Greu, The network centric and cloud - a new paradigm for the optimization of the technical and human information systems, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine Volume 2, Issue 4, 2011. [6] Paul McFedries, The coming data deluge, IEEE Spectrum, feb.2011. [7] Victor Greu, Searching the right tracks of new technologies in the earth race for a balance between progress and survival, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 3, Issue1, Year 2012. [8] G. Pascal Zachary, When innovating, Go slow, IEEE Spectrum, April 2013. [9] Brandon Keim, Big science takes on brain, IEEE Spectrum, January 2014.
Advertising Policy and Geographic Information by George Cosmin Tﾄハase
Abstract The geographic information in advertising has known an increasing importance in the last years, being described as a mass communication made for the account of interests which are identified: that of an advertiser who pays a media to diffuse a message which is generally created by an advertising agency. The principal objectives of a commercial campaign are to increase the awareness of the brand, to create a preference for a product, to lead consumers to buy, etc. For the last few years, the sectors that have invested most in the communication domain are: distribution, food stuffs, mobile telephony, automobiles, services and beauty/hygiene products. The commercial strategies of firms, in the majority of cases, have been developed by advertising agencies specialized in creation, direct marketing, promotion, etc. These agencies assume several roles including strategic thought, conception, realization and production of commercial announcements, negotiation and transactions with the different suppliers, as well as the choice of means to diffuse the message. Keywords: advertising, geomarketing, commercial objectives, creative content, media, relational marketing, mass communication, territorial strategies JEL Classification: L81, M31, M37
plan. The first constituent, or the creation strategy, The sums invested in advertising cam- concerns the content and form that the message paigns are very large. Thus one campaign can will take, which are essential factors in the perforcost many thousands of Euros between the cre- mance of a commercial advertisement in terms of ation and the purchase of space in the mass me- memorization and adhesion. More closely linked dia. In the light of such expenses, firms go all out to the spatial dimension because of the geographand ensure that the message conceived will be ef- ic distribution of the media, the second constituent, fective in affecting the intended advertising target. or media strategy, concerns the choice of media. It is to respond to this expectation, legitimate on The objective of media planning is defined as the the part of the advertisers, that geomarketing was “selection and definition of the means of use of the introduced into the advertising world. This tool al- media and of the supports. A media is a colleclows the impact of a commercial to be improved as tion of supports of the same nature (television, raa result of a better understanding of the individuals dio, etc.), and a support is a physical vehicle that that it addresses in terms of socio-demographics transports the information to the audience (CBS (age, sex, socio-professional category, etc.). This News, The Financial Times, etc.). Depending on information is increasingly associated with the ter- the budget of its client, its objectives, the specificritories of occupation and with the zones of mobil- ity of the product, etc., the advertising agency first ity of the prospects, leading to a geo-coded infor- asks itself where the broadcasting location of the mation system called geomarketing of zones (or message will be (mass media or communications of stocks) or of flows. The geomarketing of stocks channel of outside that media?). links the socio-demographic and behavioral charThe mass media is the collection of the acteristics of the population to spatial data (region, vehicles of information carrying a large broadcast city, etc.). The geomarketing of flows follows the potential (radio, television, press, display ads, cintravel of individuals in a given geographic area as- ema, Internet). Below-the-line advertising encomsociated with the information that qualifies them. passes all forms of support that do not go through All of these data are stored in data warehouses the mass media (corporate patronage, sponsorand give rise to the concept of a digital cartogra- ship, on-site advertising, public relations, etc.). The phy system. next step is selecting the media and the support or Increasingly, numerous service providers supports to choose in order to develop the compromote software that links map backgrounds to munications campaign. These are chosen accorddatabases. The development and visualization of ing to their capacity to transmit the message to these computerized tools represent the most high- the intended target while minimizing cost, in other ly specialized uses of geomarketing. However, words by addressing the individuals who are “usethroughout subsequent discussion, this last term ful” for the advertiser (potential consumers, leadwill be employed when dealing with associating ers of opinion, etc.), and this at a cost that correwith a geographic territory the quality of its inhabit- sponds to the budget of the client. In summary, the ants and of its passers-by. advertising agency’s mission is to conceive a message that will meet the objectives assigned to the The use of geographic information in campaign. To verify a campaign’s success, effecadvertising strategy tiveness tests are sometimes carried out before or after the launch of a commercial message. These Advertising strategy can be broken down tests measure indicators such as the degree of the into two elements: copy strategy and the media message’s visibility, its memorization potential, its
attention value, its comprehension, the membership that it sparks, its credibility, the modifications of intention and of behavior that it generates, etc. The specific effectiveness criteria of the media plans are also evaluated in order to ensure that the advertising message has been diffused to a large number of individuals belonging to the target audience intended by the advertiser, as many times as possible, all while promoting the brand. All of these indicators together offer the advertiser more guarantees concerning the impact of the conceived message and the pertinence of the media plan chosen. They reassure, and this is why advertising agencies, firms that sell media space, are on the lookout for such criteria, which become sales arguments in attracting advertisers. Geomarketing is used in this context of research into the effectiveness of mass communications campaigns.
Second, geomarketing allows the content of an advertising message (copy strategy: promise, tone, benefit) to be targeted on the basis of local, regional or national specificities of the intended target so as to create a stronger impact. In practice, the more that individuals are implicated in and concerned by the objective of the advertisement, the higher the chance that it will be effective. For example, an advertisement for banking products will have more impact if it presents student credit in a majority student neighborhood, and real estate credit in an area where the majority of families rent their homes. In summary, having a geographic representation associated with the characteristics of the intended target is important in guiding advertisers in the objectives of their campaign and in the creation of their message. This is even more true today, now that local actions are carried out by a growing number of firms which feel that national campaigns addressing everyone but no-one Geomarketing, commercial objectives in particular are not effective enough. Such terriand copy strategy torial strategies, known as micro-marketing, result in taking a geographic criterion into account for a Increasing the effectiveness of an adver- better adaptation of the objectives and the contisement can be achieved through knowing the tent of the commercial advertisement. Advertising target of communication better in terms of socio- agencies confronted with communication dilemdemographic characteristics, purchase behaviors, mas segmented in territorial terms therefore have location, travel zone, etc. Geomarketing, which a particular interest in having a geomarketing tool collects such data, aims at improving the effective- to meet their expectations. ness of campaigns, because first it allows more When the target of the advertiser is interprecise and more pertinent communication objec- national, taking the culture of a given geographic tives to be fixed with regard to the situation of an area into account is equally essential to the opadvertiser in a considered market. For example, timization of an advertisement’s creative content. the national French newspaper Le Monde visual- The adaptation of messages is actually strongly izes, thanks to a geomarketing system, its market advised in order to make gains in effectiveness. shares on a map of France. Rather than launch- Thus, it is preferable to adopt an honest and ining an identical campaign throughout the national formative tone in Germany, an entertaining and territory, territories that are under-penetrated com- clever tone in France, a serious tone of good taste pared to the potential sales are identified and pro- in Denmark, etc. The problem is that for obvious motions are carried out in these particular regions reasons of cost and homogeneity of the brand’s (more forward placing of the newspaper on display image, the implementation of a strategy of adapstands, more intense point-of-sale advertising, tation is sometimes tricky. An alternative solution etc.). between total adaptation (which optimizes the im-
pact of the campaign) and the standardization of the message (which allows substantial savings to be realized) consists of opting for a standardized positioning or glocalization (a neologism constructed from the expression “think global, act local”). The advertising theme and positioning are therefore identical in all countries, but marginal local modifications are carried out from the point of view of the creation of the advertisement (change in tone, colors, actors, etc.). International firms often adopt such a strategy, following the example of Coca Cola or McDonald’s, which do not diffuse exactly the same message throughout the world and integrate the language and the symbols of the country in which the brand is displayed. The modification of advertisements in relation to the geographic zone of diffusion is, however, less necessary when the advertisements show basic products or high-tech products that respond to the same objectives of use from one country to the next (razors, baby diapers, VCRs, CD burners, etc.). Furthermore, advertisements for products that are “symbols” of a country (Levi’s jeans, hamburgers for the USA) or products that represent the savoir-faire of a region (luxury products for France, pasta for Italy) do not require an adaptation because they are desired because of their geographic origin, which is a synonym for image and for quality, and a commercial advertisement should, in contrast, insist on the origins of the brand by using evocative visual or verbal elements. The modification of advertisements in relation to the geographic zone of diffusion is also not necessary when the advertiser’s target is transnational, or relatively homogeneous, even if the target occupies distinct geographic territories. It has been noted that young Parisians, New Yorkers and Muscovites have similar sensibilities in terms of values, hobbies, musical tastes, etc. Users of geomarketing for advertising means The technology advance that has occurred makes the establishment of databases possible and the French economic crisis of the 1990s have resulted in a reduction of communications budgets dedicated to the mass media in favor of ‘below-the-line’ activities outside the media: corporate patronage, sponsoring, public relations, direct marketing. This reduction of budgets is explained by the difficulty of measuring the effectiveness of mass communication actions, by the sometimes prohibitive costs of space in the media, on the radio, in the cinema, in the press, in display ads, and by the weak impact of messages diffused in an environment overloaded with information. Because of this, advertisers are neglecting mass communication and lean more toward more individualized and relational marketing. Such a situation has obviously not left the advertising world unaffected, and more particularly the sellers of commercial space in the mass media. Most of the time, the purchase of space goes through specific firms that manage a particular support. The clients of these firms (buyers of commercial space) are the media agencies, the advertising agencies and the advertisers. The media agencies are very important clients who negotiate with advertising space sellers the purchase of large quantities of advertising space in various types of media (television channels, radio stations, display/billboard networks, movie theaters, press inserts, websites, etc.), which are then resold to the advertising agencies or the advertisers. These products are often accompanied by related advice on the optimization of the media strategy. The growing concern of advertisers about better productivity from their investment and an increasingly competitive context have led sellers of space and media agencies to equip themselves with increasingly high-performance tools for research and optimization of media plans. In practice, it has been proved that this tool allows an advertiser to optimize his or her advertis-
ing strategy at three levels. This will first be at the level of objectives and of the copy strategy, since this tool allows the content of a commercial message to be refined and made more effective. It is also a valuable aid in the media strategy creation framework as it allows more targeted communications actions to be developed. It offers the double advantage of optimizing the communications expenses of the advertisers while addressing a large number of prospects. Thanks to geomarketing, among other things, communications costs in certain types of mass media have regained certain dynamism and it has been possible to increase the selling price of the supports. These advantages explain why an increased number of sellers of advertising space have turned to this method. In conclusion, when the use of geomarketing in optimizing the creation objectives and strategy of an advertising campaign is considered, it must be underlined that the precision of the information used by firms varies according to their means and their communication territory: the information is often cursory and intuitive in the case of an international communication strategy because of the cost and the difficulty of collecting reliable data that are not out of date. However, in the case of a national advertisement, the level of cartographic analysis is sometimes rather sophisticated: the decision-maker relies on administrative maps (regions, blocks) or urban maps (streets of a city) in order to adapt the objectives and the content of a commercial campaign.
References Aaker D.A. and Myers J.C., Advertising Management, Prentice Hall, 1975. [2] Agrawal M., Review of a 40 Years Debate in International Advertising, Practitioner and Academician Perspectives to the Standardization/Adaptation Issue, International Marketing Review, vol.12, 1, 1995. [3] Benouaich Y., Les consumer magazines, Les presses du management, 1999. [4] Boyer L. and Burgaud D., Le marketing avancé, du one to one au E-Business, Editions d’Organisation, 2000. [5] Caumont D., Budget et contrôle de l’efficacité publicitaire, in Vernette E., La publicité. Théories, acteurs et méthodes, La documentation française, pp. 169-195, 2000. [6] Chandon J.-L., Elaboration du plan média, in Vernette E., La publicité. Théories, acteurs et méthodes, La documentation française, pp. 133-167, 2000. [7] Decaudin J.-M., La communication marketing, Economica, 1999. [8] Gavard-Perret M.-L., Les acteurs du marché publicitaire, in Vernette E., La publicité. Théories, acteurs et méthodes, La documentation française, pp. 43-78, 2000. [9] Helfer J.-P. and Orsini J., Marketing, Vuibert, 2000. [10] Lendrevie J. and Brochand B., Le nouveau Publicitor, 5th edition, Dalloz, 2001. [11] Marcenac L., Milon A. and Saint-Michel S.-H., Stratégies publicitaires, de l’étude mercatique au choix des médias, 4th edition, Bréal Editions, 1998. [12] Mermet G., Francoscopie, Larousse, 2001. [1]
Consumer Protection. A Point of View by Nicolaie MIHAIESCU There are numerous ways to consider the consumer protection. Usually, specialists in commercial practices put this issue mainly on a good knowledge and awareness of a consumer when buying goods. Yes, this is true. Nobody can protect himself from toxic products unless is well informed about what he is going to purchase. There are many laws and regulations in this respect. Besides there are lots of initiatives from governmental and nongovernmental entities meant to inform and protect consumers. As a matter of fact all regulations refer to industries and commerce as well. Abstract Consumers are really empowered if they can have their rights properly enforced within a robust framework which allows them to participate actively in the market. But if consumers live at the edge of a poor existence they tend to buy the cheapest commodities and less expensive goods mean less quality and thus more danger. Consumers may be well informed but their money cannot cover the demands. Poverty is an important media for villain traders and speculators to place their fake commodities and dangerous foods. The future of consumer’s protection lays on making a better life for all citizens. Key words: Consumer protection, empowered consumers, improved legislation JEL Classification: D18, L81
Yes, some consumers are more vulnerable Can anyone say that being well informed there is nothing else to do to protect himself from being a victim of trade ill practices? Can anyone avoid buying foods that may affect his health by only reading goods label? Or a simple authority’s control of quality inside a shop can make someone free of danger? At least here in Romania we do the same things as in the whole Europe and yet Romanian consumers are more vulnerable. And do you know why? The answer is: in this country people are poorer than in many other places in Europe. It is very easy to find this out comparing about 500 Euros a monthly wage in Romania with let say Austrian wage of more than 1300 Euros and 3000 Euros in Switzerland. We and Bulgarians occupy the last 2 places in the rank.
If consumers live at the edge of a poor existence they tend to buy the cheapest commodities and less expensive goods mean less quality and thus more danger. Yes they may be well informed but their money cannot cover the demands. Statistically most part of Romanians spend almost half of their monthly earnings for food and another big part for house and medical expenses while savings are almost zero. It is for sure extremely important that consumers be all informed about the goods to buy but one have to admit that a wealthy illiterate boss in a poor country can protect himself more in comparison to a poor well informed people elsewhere in the civilized world. Poverty is an important media for villain traders and speculators to place their fake commodities and dangerous foods. The main ways of strengthening consumer protection To my point of view the following are the main ways of strengthening consumer protection in Romania and maybe in other similar country: - Rise the living standard of people and encourage the middle class as the promoter in this respect. This is the task for the Government and is part of any policy for global economy and society development. A low living standard leads to lower consumer protection; - A more efficient monitoring of trade competition and harder market rules; - A more efficient consumer’s education; - A set of goods production standards and regulations meant to avoid dangerous commodity to enter the market; - More control of the market and harder punishment for any ill practices that may affect the consumers. I hope one day the leaders of this country will understand the importance of finding the best way to make consumers be less vulnerable. The future of consumer’s protection lays, in my opinion,
on making a better life for all citizens.
Nicolaie Mihaiescu, Irina Chiritoiu, Nicolae Albu, Costel Stanciu, and Otilian Neagoe, May 28, 2014, on the occasion of the Roundtable “Consumer protection and the pressure of economic and societal changes”, organized by the Romanian-American University (RAU) in collaboration with the Romanian Distribution Committee (CRD)
Sharing with our distinguished Readers a well-known source of usable and useful knowledge… Prof. Dr. h. c. Léon F. WEGNEZ is an Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee, and distinguished Member of the Editorial Board of our “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine“. Knowing our distinguished readers’ thirst for knowledge, we offer you, by courtesy of this remarkable personality, a short selection from “Distribution d’aujourd’hui”, 55ème année, Janvier - Février - Mars 2014, Brussels. Léon F. WEGNEZ - Ethique, Distribution d’aujourd’hui, 55ème année, Janvier - Fevrier - Mars 2014, Brussels
OFEL 2014, Handbook Consumerism, AgriBusiness Forum, Astana Economic Forum, and Retail Asia
Theodor Purcarea and Bernd Hallier, Paris, November 1999, Intercontinental Hotel, AIDA Conference
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, an Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee, and distinguished Member of the Editorial Board of “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine�, attracted our attention on great events happening in April-June this year, and allowed us to present them. OFEL 2014 On April 14, 2014, European Retail Academy (http://www.european-retail-academy.org/) let us know that the 2nd International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship in Dubrovnik/Croatia attracted over 100 scientists and managers with the main focus from South East Europe but also from Asia, Australia, South America and the USA to come to the historic town at the Adria. Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier presented the EU-project FoRWaRd in the frame of his vision of a Global House of Harmony: combining economics, ecology and ethics.
Source: http://www.european-retail-academy.org/ Source: http://www.european-retail-academy.org/
Handbook Consumerism
AgriBusiness Forum
On May 6, 2014, European Retail Academy (http://www.european-retail-academy.org/) informed us that an international reader with the title “Handbook of Research on Consumerism in Business and Marketing: Concepts and Practices” (668 pages) has been edited by Prof. Dr. H.-R. Kaufmann and Prof.Dr.M.F.A.K.Panni - being published at IGI Global/USA. Chapter 22 is a contribution “From Food Waste Management to a Holistic Global House” written by Prof. Dr. B. Hallier - explaining among others the approach of the EU-project FoRWaRd.
On May 9, 2014, European Retail Academy (http://www.european-retail-academy.org/ AgriBusinessForum) let us know that the exhibition Interpack/Messe Duesseldorf was host together with FAO and UNEP for the World Conference of the initiative Save Food, which is also supported by the European Retail Academy. Beside the worldwide spectrum of speakers and visitors a newly created local school competition about food waste was a real highlight. As a third conference day the EU-Project FUSIONS (link) used the Interpack exhibition for its Regional Platform Meeting . Among other speakers covering topics of social innovation and packaging Cseh Balazs from the Hungarian Food Bank spoke about “Food Service Surplus Solutions” and Prof.Dr.B.Hallier introduced within the retail slot the e-learning platform “Food Waste Manager” from the EU-Project FoRWaRd going into test in the middle of May 2014.
Retail Asia
Prof. Dr. Bernd HALLIER speaking at AgriBusinessForum Source: Save Food/Fusions, 09.05.2014, http://www. european-retail-academy.org/AgriBusinessForum/
On June 15, 2014, European Retail Academy (http://www.european-retail-academy.org/ ERM/) let us know that since 10 years Retail Asia Publishing recognizes, honours and salutes the top five hundred retailers in the Asian Pacific region. In 2014 the topics Corporate Social Responsibility/Green Issues will be a major part in the evaluation of the applicants. The European Retail Academy will cooperate via www.europeanretail-academy.org/GGU and within the international Jury by Prof.Dr.B.Hallier.
Astana Economic Forum On May 26, 2014, European Retail Academy (http://www.european-retail-academy.org/) informed us that the Annual Astana Economic Forum is a global platform for about 14.000 politicians, economists (among them several Nobel Laureates) and businessmen - and last but not least the final participants of the World Economic Youth Forum. Prof. Dr.M.Fedorov and Prof. Dr. B. Hallier (both members of the Eurasian Club of Economic Scientists) introduced the Youth-Award winner of 2014 Alexander Maltsev to Prof. Dr. R. Prodi - who is the 2014 Hero of the Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy.
Source: http://www.european-retail-academy.org/ERM/
Source: http://www.european-retail-academy.org/
A short presentation of our partner journal „Contemporary Economics”, Vol. 7, Issue 4, 2013, Quarterly of University of Finance and Management in Warsaw
Irina PURCĂREA
– Structural and Process Characteristics of Organizational Design” (Tomislav Hernaus, Ana Aleksic and Maja Klindzic) aims to investigate the relationship between the structural and process characteristics of organizational design to determine how and to what extent these characteristics contribute to achieving competitive advantage. „The contribution of intellectual capital to value creation” (Elena Shakina and Angel Barajas) is a paper that studies the marginal contribution of intellectual capital components to company value using a hedonic pricing framework. The results show that human capital plays a critical positive role in value creation in the short term whereas structural and relational capital becomes more relevant in the long term. Another paper, „Theoretical and practical aspects of Logistic Quality Management System Documentation Development Process” (L. Saulinskas, N. Kazimieras Paliulis and L. Meidute-Kavaliauskiene), addresses aspects of logistic quality management system documentation development process and suggests models for quality management system documentation development, documentation hierarchical systems and authorization approval.
JEL Classification: Y30 “Contemporary Economics” is an academic quarterly addressed to academicians, economic policymakers as well as to students of finance, accounting, management and economics. In particular, the quarterly contains academic manuscripts on problems of contemporary economics, finance, banking, accounting and management examined from various research perspectives. The first paper of this issue, entitled „Reflections on the Eurozone’s Challenges” (Marta Götz), looks at the primary challenges faced by the Eurozone and caused by the 2008+ crisis and further suggests that one should distinguish among institutional, conceptual and real economic challenges. The paper entitled „Organizing for competitiveness
One of the papers included in this issue, „Searching for political fiscal cycles in Hungary” (E. Lami and D. Imami), highlights clear empirical evidence of fiscal expansion before elections and contractions afterwards. The paper also suggests that political fiscal cycles in Hungary may be an underlying factor contributing to the accumulation of public debt. The paper „Evidence of dividend catering theory in Malaysia: implications for investment sentiment” (M. Rashid, F. Mat Nor and I. Ibrahim) investigates the key determinants of corporate performance in Malaysia. Another paper, „Educational vouchers: freedom to choose?” (J. Reel and W.E. Block), argues that Friedman’s reputation for logical consistency and adherence to the philosophy of laissez faire capitalism are both overblown. The final paper of this issue of “Contemporary Economics”, entitled „Is it possible to apply multidimensional graphical methods in the teaching and learning of economics?” (Mario Arturo Ruiz Estrada), explores the effectiveness of applying a new multidimensional graphical method to the teaching and learning of economics.