Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1, Year 2019

AVOI DI NGMANI PUL AT I NGCONS UME RS ’ CHOI CE WI T HI NT HECONT E XT  RE L AT E DI NF ORMAT I ON

WI S DOM’ SI NF L UE NCEONT HECOMPL E XRE L AT I ONS HI PBE T WE E NAI ANDHI WI T HI NT HEHUMANE XPE RT I S E / E DUCAT I ONANDRE S PONS I BI L I T Y

VOL UME10 I S S UE1 2019

Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine distribution -magazine.eu Working with famous Romanian authors and internationally recognized external collaborators has made it possible to achieve a high scientific level of the articles signed by those who, in fact, take part in the Editorial Board.

Editorial: Consumer Welfare, Neuromarketing, Shopping, Wellbeing and Experiential Advantage. Valuing Happiness and Balancing Doing and Possessing

Just a year ago we made reference to: (Purcarea, 2018) The Best Book of the Year 2009 according to The Economist and the Financial Times – “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness”, written by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein; (Thaler and Sunstein, 2009) the article entitled “Why nudging your customers can backfire” written by Utpal M. Dholakia, and published in 2016 in the Harvard Business Review; (Dholakia, 2016) to the Association for Psychological Science (former American Psychological Society) which reminded us in 2018 how often the so-called “psychographic profiling’’ is used in marketing and advertising (in order to classify people according to their attitudes, preferences, and other psychological factors); to an article written by Nir Eyal and published also in 2018 in the “Psychology Today”, starting from raising the question of what are the ethical responsibilities of companies which are able to manipulate human behavior on a massive scale, and humbly proposing the “regret test”. (Eyal, 2018) We find now useful to also recall other three sources of information for study: the article published in “Money” and entitled “The Science of How Marketers (and Politicians) Manipulate Us”, written by the consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow (author of the book “Decoding the New Consumer Mind: How and Why We Shop and Buy” Yarrow, 2014) the foreword being written by Paco Underhill), who recommended (within the context of consumers’ information overload and anxiety) to pay attention to three types of manipulative pitches: messages in black and white, playing to our emotions, and subconscious

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influences; (Yarrow, 2016) the article published in 2013 in “European Journal of Risk Regulation”, Cambridge University Press, and entitled “Nudge and the Manipulation of Choice: A Framework for the Responsible Use of the Nudge Approach to Behaviour Change in Public Policy” , written by Pelle Guldborg Hansen and Andreas Maaloe Jespersen, who demonstrated that << nudging is not necessarily about “manipulation”, nor necessarily about influencing “choice” >>; (Guldborg Hansen and Jespersen, 2013) to the article published also in 2016 in INSEAD Knowledge and entitled “Manipulating Consumers is Not Marketing”, written by Hubert Gatignon, who made the distinction between influence and manipulation (“Influence, don’t manipulate”). (Gatignon, 2016) The wise words have always had the power to impress our mind: “Time is perfecting human spirit and the spirit itself requires that”; “I am looking for the form in all that I create”; “I’ve been worrying about flight throughout my life. Flying, what happiness!” (Constantin Brancusi); “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” (Mahatma Gandhi); “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions” (Dalai Lama); “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it” (Dale Carnegie).

People care about happiness, there is no doubt. And as it was recently argued by the reputed expert in competition law Eleanor M. Fox (we had the honor to meet and discuss with the distinguished Professor at the level of the International Competition Network), the Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation at New York University School of Law, (Fox, 2019) people also care about fairness and being wealthy, about being provided more of what increases their welfare, including the antitrust law should recalibrate in order to satisfy the revealed consumer welfare (and find this way the fairly well aligning of the real welfare of people as consumers with the economic democracy of markets). It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we wrote again very recently (Purcarea, 2019) about the interactions between competition and consumer protection policy – including remembering an invitation to debate launched by us in 1994 (two years before the adoption of the first modern competition law in Romania) – making reference to the “European Consumer and Competition Day” Conference to be held on April 4, 2019 at the Romanian Parliament Palace within the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

It’s been ten years since Martin Lindstrom published “Buyology”, and Paco Underhill published “Why We Buy. The Science of Shopping” (updated and revised). In a book published in 2010 (Purcarea and Ratiu, 2010) – “The Ongoing Challenge: How to Remain Competitive in the Global Service Economy” (book in English, recommended also in French and Dutch, in Brussels, in September 2010, by the well-known magazines “Distribution d’Aujoud’hui” and “Distributie vandaag”) – we cited both the above mentioned reputed authors, highlighting, among other aspects, that: today’s customers are more visually overstimulated than ever before, studies indicating that the more stimulated they are, the harder is to capture their attention, and although sight is a crucial factor in why customers buy, in many cases it isn’t as powerful as we

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believe, smell and sound being more potent; (Lindstrom, 2009) as customers like touching, trying, tasting, smelling, and exploring the world of desirable objects (this artful juxtaposition of those objects making all the difference most of the times), this is probably the most powerful incitement to shopping and organizations need to give to their customers the opportunity to touch, try, taste, and smell the products offered. (Underhill, 2009) We ended our book by also remembering what we pointed out on the Romanian Distribution Committee Website (while commenting a book launch), expressing the hope that (despite the economic-financial and social crisis, of moral origin) education and culture can remove evil, education meaning first of all respect, respect for human beings, for the community ... for the past, the present and the future of the community.

Let us also cite other two comments with regard to “Buyology” (the world’s largest neuromarketing research project, consumers’ brains being examined with the most sophisticated brain scanning technology available at that time): “… we’re hardwired to buy brands… Want to know a secret? You’re a victim of subliminal advertising…”; (adage.com/buyology) “The big idea; brains scans don’t lie, people do … the study provided results consistent with the research truism that there’s a huge difference in what people want and what they say they want, and why they do what they do and why they say they do what they do. Lindstrom suggests that the unconscious decisions our brains make when we encounter advertising are responsible for approximately 90% of consumer behaviors”. (brandgenetics.com/buyology) In the mid of 2016 we find out thanks to the Fast Company about “Scientific proof that buying things can actually lead to happiness (Sometimes)”, (Sachan, 2016) a link between spending money on items which are in sync with buyers’ personalities and happiness (this being

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the case of the happiest people) being underlined, starting from the fact that researchers linked happiness with experiences, taking into account, among other aspects, for instance, the decreasing in vigor overtime of the excitement of buying something new, of course depending on what kind of happiness it is valued or balancing doing and possessing. Two years later, in 2018, we also find out, this time thanks to the Association for Psychological Science, how other researchers revealed that: ▪ within a sales context, customers are perceiving intense displays of both happy and sad emotions as inappropriate and inauthentic, decreasing both their trust of the salesperson and their satisfaction with not only with the customer service, but also with their expected satisfaction with the product, and their actual use of the product; (Association for Psychological Science, January 25, 2018) ▪ the well-known effect of greater happiness from purchasing experiences (the experiential advantage, compared to buying tangible objects) it is specific to only individuals who were relatively higher in social class, having an abundance of resources (lower-class consumers being more concerned to make wise purchases); the experiential advantage could also depend not only on the momentary changes in consumers’ mindset regarding their financial resources, but also on buyers’ education or subjective judgments. (Association for Psychological Science, October 3, 2018) It was also interesting to read in the same year, on February 15, 2018 about the best practices for happiness policy as revealed by the first volume of the Global Happiness Policy Report (a companion to the World Happiness Report – WHR, which is reporting the who and why countries are happy) elaborated by the Global Happiness Council chaired by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) Jeffrey Sachs (also Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University). This report showed, among other aspects, that the central parts of happy lives are the good jobs, increasing staff engagement increasing job satisfaction and reducing costly job turnover, while the crucial issue for communities being the structure of social connectedness.

This year, on February 10, 2019 the 2nd edition of the Global Happiness and Well-being Policy Report (the first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High level meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”) was launched – produced annually under the auspices of the Global Happiness and Well-being Council chaired by Professor Jeffrey Sachs and supported by the Prime Minister’s Office of the United Arab Emirates – on the occasion of the 7th annual gathering of the World Government Summit in Dubai. Among the very many interesting aspects revealed by this report allow us to underline only two: – “The rise of digital media and the fall of everything else”, taking into account that the report revealed: the link between the decline in general happiness, one hand and the increasing of the

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amount of time spent online by the American adolescents at the same time that sleep and inperson social interaction declined, on the other hand; the double effect digital media activities may have, one indirect on happiness (by displacing time that could be otherwise spent on more beneficial activities), and the other one direct on well-being; – “Rising stress levels associated with increased socioeconomic inequality”, taking into account the arguments brought by the distinguished Professors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their new book “The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-Being” (Publisher: Penguin Press, January 22, 2019), according to which the “high and rising income inequality in high-income societies leads to stress that leads to addiction”; it was also underline that there is research suggesting that social contagion (peer imitation and peer pressure) is often decisive for leading an individual to addiction. (Helliwell, Layard & Sachs, 2019) And it also shouldn’t come as a surprise that this 2nd edition of the Global Happiness and Well-being Policy Report concluded that the rising challenges approached within this framework presuppose a public policy response built around well-being rather than corporate profits.

Let’s come back again to the true words of our Constantin Brancusi: “To see far is one thing, going there is another”.

Theodor Valentin Purcărea Editor-in-Chief References Association for Psychological Science (2018). Cambridge Analytica Scandal Casts Spotlight on Psychographics.

March 22 Dholakia, M.D. (2016). Why nudging your customers can backfire. Harvard Business Review, April, 15 Eyal, N. (2018). Want to Design User Behavior? Pass the ‘Regret Test’ First. Psychology Today, March 22 Fox, E.M. (2019). Psychological Science as a Source of Wisdom for Antitrust, Psychological Science, February 27.

Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/psychological-science-as-a-source-of-wisdom-forantitrust Gatignon, H. (2016). Manipulating Consumers is Not Marketing, INSEAD Knowledge, May 3. Retrieved from https://knowledge.insead.edu/customers/manipulating-consumers-is-not-marketingGuldborg Hansen, P. and Jespersen, A.M. (2013). Nudge and the Manipulation of Choice: A Framework for the Responsible Use of the Nudge Approach to Behaviour Change in Public Policy, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Volume 4, Issue 1, Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1867299X00002762. Published online: 20

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January 2017. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-riskregulation/article/nudge-and-the-manipulation-of-choice/

Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2019). World Happiness Report 2019, New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Lindstrom, M. (2009). Buy Ology. How everything we believe about what we buy is wrong, Random House Business Books, 2009, p. 142-143 Purcarea, T. (2018). Retailers’ Technology Investments, Behavioral economics, Psychographic Profiling and the Paradox of the New Technology, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, March 2018, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp.

12-13 Purcarea, T. (2019). Competition – Consumer protection: Arc length over time, Holistic Marketing Management, March 2019. Retrieved from http://holisticmarketingmanagement.ro/concurenta-protectia-consumatorului-arcpeste-timp/ Purcarea, T.V. and Ratiu, M.P. (2010). The Ongoing Challenge: How to Remain Competitive in the Global Service Economy, Carol Davila Publishing House, Bucharest, pp. 62, 65, 68, 137 Sachan, D. (2016). Scientific Proof That Buying Things Can Actually Lead To Happiness (Sometimes), Fast Company, 07.06.16. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3061516/scientific-proof-that-buying-things-canactually-buy-happiness-sometimes Thaler, H.R., Sunstein, R.C. (2009). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Penguin Books; Revised & Expanded edition, February 24 Underhill, P. (2009). Why We Buy. The Science of Shopping, Updated and revised for the Internet, the global consumer and beyond, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, 2009, p. 170-171 Yarrow, K. (2014). Decoding the New Consumer Mind: How and Why We Shop and Buy, Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1 edition March 31, 2014 Yarrow, K. (2016). The Science of How Marketers (and Politicians) Manipulate Us, Money, September 29. Retrieved from http://money.com/money/4511709/marketing-politicians-manipulation-psychology/ *** buy●ology SYMPOSIUM by Martin Lindstrom, https://adage.com/buyology/pdf/Buyology_Symposium_Brochure.pdf *** Buyology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy is Wrong, November 2, 2010. Retrieved from https://brandgenetics.com/buyology-how-everything-we-believe-about-why-we-buy-is-wrong/ *** Too Sad? Too Happy? Salesperson Emotions Affect Buyer Behavior During and After Sale, Association for Psychological Science, January 25, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/mindsbusiness/too-sad-too-happy-salesperson-emotions-affect-buyer-behavior-during-and-after-sale.html

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*** Social Class Determines Whether Buying Experiences or Things Makes You Happier, Association for Psychological Science, October 3, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/social-class-determines-whether-buying-experiences-orthings-makes-you-happier.html *** Global Happiness Council Publishes 2018 Happiness Policy Report, Global Happiness Council, 15 Feb 2018.

Retrieved from http://www.happinesscouncil.org/2018/02/15/global-happiness-policy-report-released/ *** Global Council for Happiness and Well-being Publishes 2nd edition of the Global Happiness and Well-being Policy Report, 14 Feb 2019. Retrieved from http://www.happinesscouncil.org/2019/02/14/2nd-edition-ofhappiness-policy-report-launched/

The Magazine is the result of a true partnership, by bringing scientists and practitioners together proving the passionate pursuit of knowledge for wisdom, the real passion for acquiring and sharing this knowledge inviting the readers to maturing interdisciplinary dialogue and building a transparent culture network.

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The Information and Communications Technology is Driving Artificial Intelligence to Leverage Refined Knowledge for the World Sustainable Development - Part 2 Prof.Eng.Ph.D. Victor GREU

Abstract The paper approaches the analysis of artificial intelligence (AI) development, in the context of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) exponential evolution as main driving factor of the progress of the Information society (IS) toward Knowledge Based Society (KBS).

The actual context of the exponential pace of ICT development, which is still mainly generated by Moore’s Law, is analysed by considering scientific, technical, economic and social implications, which led to the reasonable conclusion that any result are inherently partial and time sensitive, due to complexity and fast pace of these evolutions.

The base of the advances of technology, which support this pace and Moore’s Law, is presented by some relevant actual examples. The 10nm technology is the highest peak this race reached, but the fight for the next 7nm target was dramatically uncertain until Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography became a practical reality last year, reason for which it is shortly detailed, along with main trends of implementations by GlobalFoundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Intel, i.e. the World leaders. The revolutionary technology of the carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors, which has the amazing target to “improve both the energy efficiency and speed of computers by a factor of 1,000” and the challenge of continuing Moore's Law), is also presented.

In the second section, the paper is focusing on some strategies and methods to approach the target, context, models or algorithms for developing AI, where the complex relationship between AI and HI is essential, as the huge diversity of ICT networks, equipments and software/applications could not be created and used without the AI-HI symbiosis, i.e. working in a mutual dependence.

One important conclusion is that the efficiency of AI-HI applications is strongly depending on the human expertise/education and responsibility, first by properly designing AI and then using AI to extract information/knowledge from data all over the World, aiming the humankind stable progress in every activity field and Earth ecosystem.

Because AI most prolific ways to leverage refined knowledge include machine and deep learning, in order to optimize the development and use of AI for providing sustainable progress everywhere, a more detailed picture of approaching its main techniques and processes is necessary. This way, the main features and differences of machine and deep learning are presented, including both supervised machine learning and unsupervised machine learning approaches. Along with these, the emergent cognitive AI is intended to extend human cognition, as the main process of refining knowledge, essential for IS toward KBS. As a main consequence, unlock more economic value and leveraging innovations are among the most important goals of ICT development for IS/KBS and became naturally priority fields for the potential of AI to analyse simple

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industrial or more complicated economical data flows in order to extract information and leverage refining knowledge.

The paper also analyzes one of the challenges for ICT/AI amazing targets/development, beyond the feasibility, as the sustainability, i.e. conluding that we have to carefully watch ICT/AI trends in order to foresee and evaluate the negative consequences before it is not too late, because the chances to foresee all the consequences of the exponential ICT/AI development complex and complicate processes are lowering as their speed is increasing, as it is the actual case of digital age of IS/KBS. An important conclusion of the paper is that, although we have deeply entered the AI development mechanisms, this is a never ending road with complex and interdependent obstacles, considering the “iceberg” of ICT and the elusive Morgan le Fay (Morgana mirage) evolution of the performance/applications targets, which are recalling sometimes the old issue of science fiction versus reality. This conclusion is also confirmed by a typical example: the fact that we see every day that, in spite of the crucial advances, in the last decades, of the ICT/AI power impact on weather forecast services applications, the recent aggressive evolutions of the weather, clearly induced by the climate changes, are more and more violent and more difficult to forecast. The final conclusion is that, in order to fully optimize the intelligent ICT development, including AI, we have to further analyse how wisdom could influence our power and why this development has to teach us to deeply think.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, cognitive artificial intelligence, extreme ultraviolet lithography, carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors, information society, knowledge based society JEL Classification: L63; L86; M15; O31; O33 “I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be’’ - Thomas Jefferson

1. Using, developing and learning with ICT intelligent advances for a sustainable progress everywhere Everywhere on Earth we can see the rapid and huge impact and consequences of the exponential development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which, by its overwhelming applications, services and products, became the main driving factor of the Information Society (IS) toward Knowledge Based Society (KBS).

Then it is essential to look for a smart approach of this ICT potential, in order to provide a sustainable progress everywhere its impact could produce benefice consequences, without neglecting the side effects of such complex processes at the Earth scale.

In this KBS context, the necessity of refined knowledge is obvious, as the ICT applications, services and products are generating unprecedented volumes of data (data deluge) … everywhere.

On the other side, processing, storing and especially highly exploiting/valuing such huge and complex amounts of data could not be done without the most performant ICT advances like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data or Cloud.

Actually AI is sometimes foreseen as the most dynamic, promising and challenging domain of ICT and this is the reason this paper will continue our previous analyses [3][6], aiming to detail the prominent issues of developing AI in order to leverage refined knowledge for the World sustainable development.

We have to recall from the beginning that approaching such complex analyses is a complicate and multidisciplinary problem, considering all scientific, technical, economic and

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social implications, which could lead to the reasonable conclusion that any result are inherently partial and time sensitive, especially if we recall the exponential pace of ICT development, which is still mainly generated by Moore’s Law (which is generating very fast changes of IS/KBS and Earth environment/ecosystem).

Perhaps another mode to express this vision is that the advances of technology and humankind evolution in the digital age have no limits as human intelligence/imagination has not and then it’s both positive and negative consequences have to be carefully and timely reconsidered as … refined knowledge.

Now it is clear why we have considered that the cautious accent of this approach could be well confirmed by our motto, inspired by Thomas Jefferson.

In a systemic approach, first we have to analyse the power of some actual intelligent ICT advances, which are mostly linked with AI and World sustainable development.

Although it appears not linked with AI, we think it is very important and it is worth to start with a realistic and clear picture of the material base of what we above mentioned as the advances of technology.

In fact, the exponential pace of ICT development is mainly generated by Moore’s Law (doubling every two years the number of transistors on a chip), but we have already presented (including in one of our books in 1989) that the progress of CMOS technology could end once the channel length will go down to the physical limits of the semiconductor integrated circuit processes [12] [24].

As actually the 10nm technology is the highest peak this race reached, the fight for the next 7nm target was dramatically uncertain until Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography became a practical reality last year [1]: “For more than a decade, the semiconductor-manufacturing industry has been alternately hoping EUV can save Moore’s Law and despairing that the technology will never arrive. But it’s finally here, and none too soon.

Samsung was the first to claim it will be ready to produce chips for customers using EUV tools, saying that will happen in the second half of 2018. But its competitors GlobalFoundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Intel are clearly on track to do the same within a quarter or two... Intel has purchased more EUV tools than any other company” For having the concrete dimension and importance of EUV for ICT development, it is necessary to present more details of this excellent introduction of the whole context, made in [1]: <<Gary Patton, GlobalFoundries’ chief technology officer, describes the 7-nm process even without EUV as “an extreme sport.”…Silicon wafers have to make many stops along the way in their transformation from smooth blanks to iridescent platters jam-packed with 13-billion-transistor microprocessors. And many of those stops take place inside a photolithography tool…Today’s state-of-the-art process is called 193-nm immersion lithography…The problem is that light can’t directly define features smaller than its own wavelength. And 193 nm is so much longer than the size of the features modern chips need.

These days it takes a host of optical tricks and work-arounds to make up the difference.

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The most costly of these is the use of as many as three or four different photomasks to produce a single pattern on a chip. With today’s most complex processors, that means a wafer could need some 80 trips though the lithography tool>> Here the EUV comes and bring the long expected solution for unlocking the progress of highly integrated chips: <<EUV lithography’s reason for being is that it uses 13.5-nm light, which is much closer to the size of the final features to be printed. With it, manufacturers can turn three or four lithography steps into one. For its 7-nm EUV process, GlobalFoundries will replace 15 steps with just 5...While that will make the work at 7nm faster and cheaper, it’s the nodes beyond where EUV will be absolutely crucial. “If you didn’t use EUV for 5 nm, it’d be more than 100 [lithographic steps],” says Patton. “That’d be insane”>> If all the above could appear too much too much said for a single, but crucial, technological step, we should perhaps recall Neil Armstrong historical expression “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

In a similar way, our already presented perception of ICT huge impact on IS/KBS [8] [10], as iceberg tip, here as EUV, finds one more confirmation: <<”A fab is like an iceberg” someone tells me. I can’t tell who because we’re all covered head to toe in clean-room garb. A tour of GlobalFoundries’ Fab in Malta, N.Y., certainly reinforces that analogy: We’ve just come up from the “sub-fab,” the 10 meters of vertical space under the floor, where pipes and wires snake down from each semiconductormanufacturing tool above to a set of automated chemical handlers, water analyzers, power conditioners, and—in the case of the unit I’ve come to see—kilowatt-class lasers.

The laser system takes up 15 to 20 square meters out of perhaps 80 square meters of the floor space required for a single machine. About halfway through a six-week assembly process of mind-bending complexity, the equipment making up the tip of the iceberg is a house-size agglomeration of shiny metal tubes, opaque chambers, and wiring. A half dozen bunny-suited technicians are moving around the behemoth, probing and connecting things in a carefully choreographed procedure.”>> Before adding other comments, it is interesting to observe here that this (laser) behemoth reminds us the recent event which has putted Romania among the World science and technology icebergs by making functional the most powerful laser on Earth, at Magurele, near Bucharest.

If the question “Where is AI?” is still rising, we have to mention that mainly only with EUV technology the base of ICT/AI (and beyond these) highest advance could be foreseen, because, for example, the existing AI applications would soon become some kind of gadgets (like Apple SIRI, Google Home etc.), compared with the future AI target performances.

The reason of introducing in our analysis this dynamic Morgan le Fay (Morgana mirage) threshold of ICT/AI progress target is also largely (although a little sharply) analysed in [4]: <<The concept of what constitutes AI has evolved as technology has evolved. A colleague of mine has said, “It’s artificial intelligence until you know how it works.” An interesting perspective indeed. I found support for this in material from an MIT AI course (see http://bit.ly/1WTCUXK):There’s another part of AI […] that’s fundamentally about

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applications. Some of these applications you might not want to call “intelligent” […] For instance, compilers used to be considered AI, because […] statements [were in a] high-level language; and how could a computer possibly understand? [The] work to make a computer understand […] was taken to be AI. Now […] we understand compilers, and there’s a theory of how to build compilers […] well, it’s not AI anymore. […] When they finally get something working, it gets co-opted by some other part of the field. So, by definition, no AI ever works; if it works, it’s not AI>> These examples are not isolated, as it will be further described, but in addition they open a larger perspective on ICT/AI development, recalling the old issue of science fiction versus reality, by the next continuation: ”Seemingly intractable problems have been solved by advances in processing power and capabilities. Not long ago, autonomous vehicles were considered technologically infeasible due to the volume of data that needed to be processed in real time. Speech recognition was unreliable and required extensive speaker-dependent training sessions…Most AI is quietly taken for granted today. The word processor I am using was once considered an advanced AI application!”

This issues show in fact another class of challenges for ICT/AI amazing progress, where we have to carefully watch not only the feasibility, but also if this progress is sustainable, i.e. we have to carefully watch ICT/AI trends in order to foresee and evaluate the negative consequences before it is not too late.

It is important to notice that the chances to foresee all the consequences of the exponential ICT/AI development complex and complicate processes are lowering as their speed is increasing, as it is the actual case of digital age of IS/KBS. This way we came back to the ICT advances, as they are pointing, along with Moore Law, the increase of processing speed as main performance and then transmit this “wave” to all applications at Earth scale.

Other examples of prominent ICT advances could include carbon-nanotube fieldeffect transistors, quantum computing, bio computers, brain interfaces, new perovskite solar cell for green energy etc.

It is interesting to observe that most of these advance technologies are pointing either power consumption reduction or processing processing power (speed) increasing, which inherently recall the same essential “power” we have to carefully use, as Thomas Jefferson said.

Among the above technological advances, we consider that some details of carbonnanotube field-effect transistors could bring here more direct relevance in the ICT/AI context [2]: “You'd think computers spend most of their time and energy doing…well, computation. But that's not the case: About 90 percent of a computer's execution time and electrical energy is spent transferring data between processing and memory, says Subhasish Mitra, a computer scientist at Stanford University. Even if Moore's Law continued indefinitely, computers would still be limited by this memory bottleneck…Mitra and his collaborators at Stanford and MIT have come up with a new computer architecture that they say addresses this problem-and that Mitra believes will ultimately improve both the energy efficiency and speed of computers by a factor of 1,000. The new 3D-chip architecture is based on novel devices that haven't

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been integrated before: 2 million carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors and over 1 million resistive random-access memory (RRAM) cells, all built on top of a layer of silicon logic and connected by densely packed metal wiring between the layers” Beyond the amazing target to “improve both the energy efficiency and speed of computers by a factor of 1,000” and the challenge of continuing Moore's Law, along with the main tremendous feature of space reduction, the new technology of carbon-nanotube fieldeffect transistors will bring impressing contributions to green ICT by using lower temperatures: “Because of the temperatures needed to make silicon transistors-in excess of 1,000 °C-it's not possible to build conventional metal interconnects on top of a silicon layer and then add another level of silicon circuitry. Typically, the layers are made separately, then bonded together and connected with relatively large, sparsely distributed connectors called throughsilicon vias, says Max Shulaker, a computer scientist at MIT…Carbon-nanotube transistors and resistive RAM can both be fabricated at about 200 °C. This means they can be built on top of each other and linked up with metal interconnects without researchers having to worry about accidentally vaporizing the metal. The resulting web of interconnects in their prototype was more than 1,000 times as dense as the through-silicon vias in conventional 3D chips”.

We have to observe, from all these examples and innovations, the hard struggle for seeming impossible targets and also the fact that ICT/AI bring for everyone, along with their products and services benefit of use, some remarkable learned lessons (exceeding education domains and leveraging refined knowledge generation everywhere) of how to efficiently progress by multiplying success models and innovations in the context of digital approaches and ubiquitous connectivity, as we have already presented [18][21].

After all these details about the technological power laying behind ICT/AI and practically contributing to the World sustainable development, we have to analyse some ingredients that perhaps are prominent challenges for the AI progress, generally but not exclusively toward human like intelligence, including strategies to approach the target, context, models or algorithms, which could value the most of the amazing potential of these technological advances.

2. Refining knowledge from complex processes of Earth ecosystem It is more than obvious that the ICT/AI development must be optimized in many concerns, by a complex multi-dimensional approach, beyond the power of processing (speed), miniaturization and energy (which truly are crucial), one of them being undoubtedly the leveraging of refined knowledge for all activity fields where it is needed.

Considering especially the AI development above mentioned challenges, it is important to observe from the beginning that reducing the target as the dream toward human like intelligence is not precise and nor efficacious.

As a matter of fact we have to notice that one of the essential challenges of ICT/IS/KBS, thus including AI, is just the dynamic evolution of paradigms for most of structure levels, this being the main reason we have repeatedly presented as paramount the need for new (refined) knowledge in all activity fields of humankind and Earth ecosystem.

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As it is well known that “long is the explanation road by theory, short by examples”, sometime we advise the communications students to remember that actually the purpose of communication devices and systems is no more reduced to the need of humans to communicate one with other, but generally to transmit information “any-to-any” (human, robot, device, machine, application etc.).

Coming back, in the same way we have to observe that AI goal is not necessary only to do all that human intelligence (HI) could do, but … more!

Here it is worth to recall that the complex relationship between AI and HI was already approached in our previous papers [10] [6], but here we have only to add some new issues, when involved in the AI processes of leveraging refined knowledge generation.

We have concluded and other sources confirmed that, in these processes, AI, HI and generally collective intelligence are generally complementary, acting to expand/compensate their limits [17][19][20][22].

For example, the huge diversity of ICT networks, equipments and software/applications could not be created and used without the AI-HI symbiosis, i.e. working in a mutual dependence. Therefore, we have to start from the essential point that „the efficiency of AI-HI applications is strongly depending on the human expertise/education and responsibility, first by properly designing AI and then using AI to extract information/knowledge from data all over the World, aiming the humankind stable progress in every activity field and ... beyond” [6].

So we have just arrived to the above mentioned “strategies to approach the target, context, models or algorithms” for developing AI, where HI is essential.

On the other hand, it is also largely agreed that HI is not just “everywhere”, i.e. it has to be found, identified and efficiently used and here is coming the AI part, i.e. the potential to leverage the creation of refined knowledge by extracting the needed information from the available data/information (including collective intelligence), or by enabling other mechanisms to create knowledge, as scientific research, education etc.

Still, in our days AI most prolific ways to leverage refined knowledge include machine and deep learning, as we have partially presented in [3][6], but in order to optimize the development and use of AI for providing sustainable progress everywhere, we have to start from a more detailed picture of approaching its main techniques and processes.

One of the simplest, but accurate (although mentioning a game for start example – we consider not priority) systemic image of the AI field and main techniques is given as [5]: “For example, when Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program defeated South Korean Master Lee Se-Dol in the board game Go earlier this year, the terms AI, machine learning, and deep learning were used in the media to describe how DeepMind won. And all three are part of the reason why AlphaGo trounced Lee Se-Dol. But they are not the same things. The easiest way to think of their relationship is to visualize them as concentric circles with AI — the idea that came first — the largest, then machine learning — which blossomed later, and finally deep learning — which is driving today’s AI explosion — fitting inside both” A further and more comprehensive approach (versus concentric circles) is pointing AI main components and features [7]: “One person says they’re using machine learning, while another calls it artificial intelligence. Still others may claim to be doing deep learning, while “cognitive” is the

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favoured phrase for some. What does it all mean? While many of these terms are related and can overlap in some ways, there are key differences that can be important, and that could be a barrier to fully understanding …”

The involved key differences and specific features are then presented with details for each main technique: <<Machine Learning At its most basic level, machine learning refers to any type of computer program that can “learn” by itself without having to be explicitly programmed by a human. The phrase (and its underlying idea) has its origins decades ago – all the way to Alan Turing’s seminal 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” which featured a section on his famous “Learning Machine” that could fool a human into believing that it’s real. Today, machine learning is a widely used term that encompasses many types of programs that you’ll run across in big data analytics and data mining…>> Recalling that HI has a crucial role in developing AI, we find here that this role is mainly determining the actual two main approaches of AI (supervised machine learning unsupervised machine learning) here presented as: “In supervised learning, the user trains the program to generate an answer based on a known and labeled data set. Classification and regression algorithms, including random forests, decision trees, and support vector machines, are commonly used for supervised learning tasks. In unsupervised machine learning, the algorithms generate answers on unknown and unlabeled data. Data scientists commonly use unsupervised techniques for discovering patterns in new data sets” As we have also presented above, deep learning has a “deeper” capacity or a higher level of understanding [7]: <<Deep Learning Deep learning is a form of machine learning that can utilize either supervised or unsupervised algorithms, or both...deep learning has recently seen a surge in popularity as a way to accelerate the solution of certain types of difficult computer problems, most notably in the computer vision and natural language processing (NLP) fields... By extracting high-level, complex abstractions as data representations through a hierarchical learning process, deep learning models yield results more quickly than standard machine learning approaches. In plain English, a deep learning model will learn the features that are important by itself, instead of requiring the data scientist to manually select the pertinent features, such as the pointiness of ears found in cat pictures (because it somehow always comes back to cat pictures in the end). The “deep” in deep learning comes from the many layers that are built into the deep learning models, which are typically neural networks>> The ubiquitous “iceberg” of ICT and Morgan le Fay (Morgana mirage) are also here, because although we have deeply entered the AI mechanisms, this is a never ending road with complex and interdependent obstacles.

Concretely, at the horizon is the next iceberg tip, as the “cognitive” AI, i.e. a natural trend to HI like performance [7]: <<“cognitive systems are“ a category of technologies that uses natural language processing and machine learning to enable people and machines to interact more naturally to extend and magnify human expertise and cognition>>

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We consider that “interact more naturally to extend and magnify human expertise and cognition” is confirming our highest expectations from future ICT/AI of leveraging the creation of refined knowledge for sustainable progress everywhere.

With simpler words, the cognitive AI is intended to extend human cognition, which is obviously the main process of refining knowledge, essential for IS toward KBS. This does not means that other challenges of AI development do not remain important, as refining knowledge is itself a dynamic concept in ICT/IS/KBS evolution.

After having some details about how ICT/AI could work for refining knowledge, a difficult question remain essential for humankind evolution and IS/KBS sustainable progress: which are the knowledge priorities?

We have repeatedly stressed that ICT development could contribute with huge benefits to all the human activity fields, starting naturally with the economy, but secondary effects include, on short or long term, climate changes (by ICT increasing carbon footprint), Earth resources fading and humankind behaviour and health [13][14][16].

With other words, we have to carefully watch and provide appropriate estimates of all these consequences, which is a very complex and difficult goal in the context of the amazing speed of ICT impact everywhere, as there is no necessary time and trusty data for such useful estimations [15][17].

This way we have just arrived where, by our opinion, AI could bring the most desired contributions to sustainable progress, by finding trusty data, information and finally easing the most valuable refined knowledge from the complicated processes where science do not have rules and computers still do not have the appropriate penetration power to give solutions for such sophisticated and dynamic problems.

One relevant example, where complexity and incertitude are among highest, but the expected benefit is also highly desired, is in the weather forecast and climate changes domains.

We have pointed these two domains aside just because in this case we have a relevant case of complex interdependence of dynamic complex processes which create the most complicated and unexpected evolutions.

In fact we see every day that in spite of the crucial advances, in the last decades, of the ICT power impact on weather forecast services applications, the recent aggressive evolutions of the weather, clearly induced by the climate changes, are more and more violent and … more difficult to forecast [11][16].

We have already presented that for estimating the climate changes consequences, the most powerful computers of the World, including AI features, are heavily used [14][12].

On the other side, for short time weather forecast, AI is promising to provide better results in the above mentioned context, as it is presented in [9]: “Technological trends driving advances in prediction and decision support several technological trends that are transforming all sectors of the economy are also fuelling advances in weather prediction and decision support. In particular, the Internet of Things, robotics, and miniaturization are driving advances in observations; decreased supercomputing costs and machine learning are enabling advances in modelling and forecasting; and, big data and analytics, cloud, mobile computing, and smart devices are

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fuelling innovations in service delivery. These advances offer the potential to unlock more economic value” The above opinions not only show the benefice expectations of AI applications, but reveal other essential challenges of ICT power to leverage refined knowledge in such priority fields.

We have to notice that, in fact, unlock more economic value and fuelling innovations are among the most important goals of ICT development for IS/KBS and became naturally priority fields for the potential of AI to analyse simple industrial or more complicated economic data flows in order to extract information and leverage refining knowledge [23].

A special attention has to be paid to innovations, which is a prominent key of progress for IS/KBS and beyond, for humankind life and personality.

Another relevant aspect is the mention of the ICT advances (power) involved in this potential: Internet of Things, robotics, miniaturization, big data, analytics, cloud, mobile computing and smart devices.

Last but not least, the decreased (power) supercomputing costs is mentioned as a potential to unlock more economic value, but we would add unlocking more resources for other priority fields, as the huge potential of AI for the health domain and generally for refining knowledge on humankind survival in Earth ecosystem[14].

Consequently we could notice, as a matter of fact, that, in order to fully optimize the intelligent ICT development, including AI, we have to further analyse how wisdom could influence our power and why this development has to teach us to understand, in this context, the Thomas Jefferson’s deep thinking.

3. Conclusions The actual context of exponential pace of ICT development, which is still mainly generated by Moore’s Law, is analysed in the paper, considering scientific, technical, economic and social implications, which led to the reasonable conclusion that any result are inherently partial and time sensitive, due to complexity and fast pace of these evolutions.

A realistic and clear picture of the material base of the advances of technology, which support this pace and Moore’s Law, is presented by some relevant actual examples.

The 10nm technology is the highest peak this race reached, but the fight for the next 7nm target was dramatically uncertain until Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography became a practical reality last year, reason for which it is shortly detailed, along with main trends of implementations by GlobalFoundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Intel, i.e. the World leaders.

Another revolutionary technology, the carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors, which has the amazing target to “improve both the energy efficiency and speed of computers by a factor of 1,000” and the challenge of continuing Moore's Law), is also presented.

After analysing some strategies and methods to approach the target, context, models or algorithms for developing AI, the complex relationship between AI and HI proved to be essential, as the huge diversity of ICT networks, equipments and software/applications could not be created and used without the AI-HI symbiosis, i.e. working in a mutual dependence.

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One important conclusion is that the efficiency of AI-HI applications is strongly depending on the human expertise/education and responsibility, first by properly designing AI and then using AI to extract information/knowledge from data all over the World, aiming the humankind stable progress in every activity field and Earth ecosystem.

As AI most prolific ways to leverage refined knowledge include machine and deep learning, in order to optimize the development and use of AI for providing sustainable progress everywhere, a more detailed picture of approaching its main techniques and processes is necessary. This way, the main features and differences of machine and deep learning are presented, including both supervised machine learning and unsupervised machine learning approaches. More than these, the emergent cognitive AI is intended to extend human cognition, as the main process of refining knowledge, essential for IS toward KBS. As a main consequence, unlock more economic value and leveraging innovations are among the most important goals of ICT development for IS/KBS and became naturally priority fields for the potential of AI to analyse simple industrial or more complicated economical data flows in order to extract information and leverage refining knowledge.

One of the challenges for ICT/AI amazing targets/development, beyond the feasibility, is the sustainability, i.e. we have to carefully watch ICT/AI trends in order to foresee and evaluate the negative consequences before it is not too late, because the chances to foresee all the consequences of the exponential ICT/AI development complex and complicate processes are lowering as their speed is increasing, as it is the actual case of digital age of IS/KBS. Another important conclusion is that, although we have deeply entered the AI development mechanisms, this is a never ending road with complex and interdependent obstacles, considering the “iceberg” of ICT and the elusive Morgan le Fay (Morgana mirage) evolution of the performance/applications targets, which are recalling sometimes the old issue of science fiction versus reality. This conclusion is also confirmed by a typical example: the fact that we see every day that, in spite of the crucial advances, in the last decades, of the ICT/AI power impact on weather forecast services applications, the recent aggressive evolutions of the weather, clearly induced by the climate changes, are more and more violent and … more difficult to forecast.

The final conclusion is that, in order to fully optimize the intelligent ICT development, including AI, we have to further analyse how wisdom could influence our power and why this development has to teach us to understand, in this context, the Thomas Jefferson’s deep thinking.

REFERENCES [1]Samuel K. Moore, EUV Lithography Finally Ready for Chip Manufacturing, IEEE Spectrum, jan 2019 [2]Katherine Bourzac, Booze-sniffing electronic nose showcases 3D nanosystems, IEEE Spectrum, sep 2017 [3]Victor Greu, The information and communications technology is driving artificial intelligence to leverage refined knowledge for the World sustainable development– (Part 1), Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4, Year 2018.

[4]Seth Earley, There Is No AI Without IA, 2016, IEEE IT Professional (Volume: 18,

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Issue:3, May-June 2016) [5]Michael Copeland, What’s the Difference Between Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning?, https://blogs.nvidia.com/ blog/2016/07/29/ whatsdifference-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-deep-learning-ai/ [6]Victor Greu, Extending information and communications technologies’s impact on knowledge based society through artificial and collective intelligence –(Part 3), Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 3, Year 2018.

[7] Hans-Dieter Wehle, Machine Learning, Deep Learning and AI: What’s the Difference ? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318900216, July, 2, 2017 [8]Victor Greu, Developing information and communications technologies with more artificial intelligence, using artificial intelligence, when internet of things is “intelligence everywhere”-(Part 1), Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 4, Year 2016.

[9]***, National Weather Service Enterprise Analysis Report Findings on changes in the private weather industry, June 8, 2017,10https://www.weather.gov/ media/about/Final_NWS%20Enterprise% 20Analysis%20Report_June%202017.pdf [10]Victor Greu et all, Human and artificial intelligence driven incentive-operation model and algorithms for a multi-purpose integrated crowdsensing-crowdsourcing scalable system - paper submitted to International Conference Communications 2018 (Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania Military Technical Academy, IEEE Romania), June 2018.

[11]Jiandong Zhang, Xiaoyu Qu, Arun Kumar Sangaiah, A Study of Green Development Mode and Total Factor Productivity of the Food Industry Based on the Industrial Internet of Things ,IEEE Communications Magazine, Volume: 56 Issue: 5, 2018 [12]Victor GREU, Information and Communications Technologies are Learning from Nature’s “Research” to Push the Performance Limits, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 1, Year 2014 [13]Bhupinder Kour, The Rise of Machine Learning and AI is Improving Lives in 2018, https://www.smartdatacollective.com/rise-of-machine-learning-ai-improving-lives/ [14]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.

[15]Eliza Strickland, Making Medical AI Trustworthy, IEEE Spectrum, aug2018 [16]Victor Greu, Information and communications technologies go greener beyond IoTbehind is all the earth-Part1, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 2, Year 2016 [17]Anas Baig, Artificial Intelligence Can Solve The Biggest Crowdsourcing Problem, Aug 11, 2017, https://crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-can-solvebiggest-crowdsourcing-problem/ [18]Victor Greu, Extending information and communications technologies’s impact on knowledge based society through artificial and collective intelligence –(Part 2), Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 2, Year 2018.

[19]Niko Mohr, Holger Hürtgen, Achieving business impact with data - A comprehensive perspective on the insights value chain, Digital McKinsey 04.2018 Copyright © McKinsey & Company www.mckinsey.com [20]Mike Sirius, How artificial intelligence and innovation will interact, June 5, 2017, Idea Drop Ltd,http://ideadrop.co/artificial-intelligence-innovation/ [21]Victor Greu, Tomorrow’s paradox: refining knowledge by smarter information and communications technologies while humans tend to become a limited factor of performance, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 7, Issue1, Year

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2016.

[22]Nelson Sizwe. Madonsela, Paulin. Mbecke, Charles Mbohwa, Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Data Warehousing and Data Mining, Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2015 Vol II WCECS 2015, October 21-23, 2015, San Francisco, USA [23]***World Economic Forum White Paper Digital Transformation of Industries: In collaboration with Accenture, Digital Enterprise January 2016, http://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/wp-content/blogs.dir/94/mp/files/ pages/files/digital-enterprise-narrative-final-january -2016.pdf [24]Victor GREU, Evaluating the development steps based on life-inspired strategies for the information and communications technologies, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Year 2011 [25]Mike Shaw, Digital disruption impacts every industry. Here's how to win in an era of constant change, enterprise.nxt, 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, https://www.hpe.com/h20195/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA6-7153ENW.pdf

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The Concept of “Green Marketing”: Opportunities and Challenges

by Cosmin Tănase

Abstract Green marketing is a phenomenon which has developed particularly important in the modern markets. Whether we refer to the developed or the emerging markets, the concept of pollution free activity is given more and more importance in all the sectors and in all stages. The environmentalists are targeting the industrial sectors as the major contributors for depleting natural resources and environmental destruction. Hence, both production and marketing divisions of industries are stressed more to take utmost care in these areas along with fulfilling the market demands. To overcome these difficulties a new concept has born in the present globalized world where production, consumption and also marketing of the products can be carried effectively ensuring environmental safety. This concept is named ‘Green Marketing’.

Keywords: Environmental Marketing, Green Products, Future Generation, Sustainability JEL Classification: L81, M31

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Green issues have become increasingly important to corporate decision makers as companies are facing some delicate issues. Although environment issues influence all human activities a few disciplines have integrated green issues into their literature. People are becoming more concerned about environment issues, even the corporate started modifying their business strategies.

According to the American Marketing Association, Green Marketing is the marketing of the products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Green Marketing incorporates a broad range of activities including product modification. The term Green Marketing or environment have received a great deal of discussion. Environment concerns have gained momentum in business as well as in public life.

From the beginning of the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s there have been ecological issues such as Global warming, Greenhouse effect, Pollution and climate changes which are directly related to industrial manufacturing. Green market is identified as a part of market segments based on the greenness of the consumer. So, Green Marketing is dealing with fair trade of socio-economic benefits as well as environmental responsibilities through green business. Due to increase of environmentalism which has dominated the world, there has been a raise in consumer concern with regard to environment protection and increase in the demand of Green Products.

Green Marketing refers to holistic marketing concepts. Green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities including, product modification, change, to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modification of advertising. There are some organizations implementing strategies which aim to solve ecological issues and build up the long term interest towards consumers. Some business has been quick to accept concepts like environmental management systems and waste minimization have integrated environmental issues into all organizational activities. Many governments around the globe have become so concerned about green marketing activities and they have attempted to regulate them.

Green marketing refers to the process of selling product and/or services based on their environment benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and /or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.

Green Marketing, also alternatively known as environmental marketing and sustainable marketing, refers to organizationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; efforts at designing, promoting pricing and distributing products that will not harm the environment. The holistic management process responsible for identifying anticipating and satisfying the requirements of customers and society, in a profitable and sustainable way. The marketing or promotion of a product based on its environmental performance or an improvement thereof Green Marketing also refers to an organization that puts its efforts in to promoting, pricing and distributing products with eco concern.

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Characteristics of Green Products Green Products are those which are manufactured by using green technology and that also do not have any negative impact on the environment. Green products have following characteristics: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII.

Products those are grown originally.

Products those are recyclable and reusable.

Products with natural ingredients.

Products which are having recycled contents and non-toxic chemical elements.

Product content under approved chemical.

Product that do not harm or pollute environment.

Products that will not be tested on animals.

Products that have ecofriendly packaging.

Green Marketing Mix Product: The ecological objectives in planning products are to reduce resource consumption and pollution and to increase conservation of scarce resources.

Price: Price is a critical and important factor of green marketing mix. Most consumers will only be prepared to pay additional value if there is a perception of extra product value. This value may be improved performance, function, design, visual appeal, or taste. Green marketing should take all these facts into consideration while charging a premium price.

Promotion: There are three types of green advertising: • Ads that address a relationship between a product/service and the biophysical environment.

• Those that promote a green lifestyle by highlighting a product or service.

• Ads that present a corporate image of environmental responsibility.

Place: The choice of where and when to make a product available will have significant impact on the customers. Very few customers will go out of their way to buy green products.

Key impact of Green Products: 1. Consumers have been asking for green products, i.e. there has been a clear raise in demand for such products. 2. Business have looked into the green process - Generating corporate environmental profiles, monitoring and evaluating green performance, and improving corporate image as a result.

3. Green products have also increased competition among business to generate more environmentally friendly products. Eco labelling networks that monitor and evaluate green

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products have been developed in many countries. These networks have done life analysis to understand the impact of products .

4. Government have also taken several measures that have supported and facilitated such moves by business.

Key issues for the future include: 1. Health: A sentry lifestyle combined with health impacts of environmental pollution and emissions, use and abuse of pesticides, anti â&#x20AC;&#x201C;biotic etc.

2. Pollution and consumption: Population increase, ageing populations, consumption patternliving beyond means etc.

3. Globalization : Transboundary effect and free trade have both advantages (efficiency, profits, opportunities, demand) and disadvantages (unemployment, weaker control, unfair trade) etc.

4. Energy: Every source of energy has an environmental impact. Energy efficiency is not just technology, but also cutting back.

5. Water: Water use is increasing at twice the rate of population increase. Much can be done at the individual level.

6. Chemicals: Use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals.

7. Natural World: Considerable pressure put on the natural world due to population increase and rises in consumption. 40% of all plant growth is consumed by human.

Why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for business to go green Today most if not all companies recognize that climate change is a problem, some are marking attempts to solve the problem, resulting in a wave of sustainability, climate change, and environment projects. Here are the drivers for addressing suitability, listed in order of importance.

1. Company or brand image 2. Cost savings 3. Competitive advantage 4. Employees satisfaction, moral or retention 5. Product, service or market innovation 6. Business or process innovation 7. New source of revenue or cash flow 8. Effective risk management Challenges in Green Marketing 1. Green products require renewable and recyclable material which is costly.

2. Requires a technology, which requires huge investment in Research and Developement.

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3. Water treatment technology is too costly.

4. Majority of the people are not aware of green products and their uses.

5. Majority of the people are not willing to pay a premium for green products OPPORTUNITIES It appears that all types of consumers, both individual and industrial are becoming more concerned and aware about environment. As demand changes, many companies see these changes as an opportunity to be exploited. Given this aspect, it can be assumed that marketing goods corporations with environmental characteristics will have a competitive advantage over companies marketing non environmentally responsible alternatives.

There are numerous examples of firms who have strived to become more environmentally responsible, in an attempt to better satisfy their consumer needs. This is not to imply that all firms who have undertaken environmental marketing activities actually improve their behaviour. In some cases firms have misled consumers in an attempt to gain market share.

In other cases companies have jumped on the green bandwagon without considering the accuracy of their behaviour, their claims, or the effectiveness of their products. This lack of consideration of the true "greenness" of activities may result in firms making false or misleading green marketing claims.

Conclusion Green Marketing Green marketing is a tool for protecting the environment for future generation. It is not going to be an easy concept. The company has to plan and then carry out research to find out how feasible it is going to be. Green marketing has to evolve since it is still at its infancy stage. Adoption of Green marketing may not be easy in the short run, but in the long run it will definitely have a positive impact on the company.

Ultimately green marketing requires that consumers want a cleaner environment and are willing to pay for it, possibly through higher priced goods, modified individual lifestyles, or even governmental intervention. Until this occurs it will be difficult for companies alone to lead the green marketing revolution. An environmental committed organization may not only produce goods that have reduced their detrimental impact on the environment, they may also be able to pressure their suppliers to behave in a more environmentally responsible fashion.

Final consumers and industrial buyers also have the ability to pressure organizations to integrate the environment into their corporate culture and thus ensure all organizations minimize the detrimental environmental impact of their activities.

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References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Prothero, A. (1998). Green Marketing: The 'Fad' That Won't Slip Slide Away. Journal of Marketing Management, 14(6), July, pp. 507-513.

Ottman, Jacquelyn. (1993). Green Marketing: Challenges and Opportunities for the New Marketing Age. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Business Books.

Green Marketing” (2010). Journal: Business Practices. 6. J.A Ottman,. Et al, "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia", Environment, Vol-48 Mathur, L.K., Mathur, I. (2000).An Analysis of the wealth effect of green marketing strategies, Journal of Business Research, 50(2) Martin, K.D. and Smith, N.C. (2008), ‘Commercializing Social Interaction: The Ethics of Stealth Marketing’, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 27(1).

Pickton, D. and Broderick, A. (2005), Integrated Marketing Communications. Harlow: Pearson Education.

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Retailers’ Current Topics in Discussion Theodor PURCĂREA

Abstract There is clear evidence that retailers are rethinking CX within the new imperative for customer obsession, bridging the gap between customer expectations and CX strategies. We are witnessing the changing consumer behavior and retail revolution accordingly. Digital transformation, new shopping behaviors and values, Omni experience, in-store personalization, and retail’s convergence are some of the current topics in discussion. There is no that there is a need to rethink strategy assumptions by better understanding CX, caring for customers and inspiring their loyalty.

Keywords: CX; Customer obsession; Digital transformation; Harmonization of physical and digital store; Omni channel JEL Classification: L81, L86, M31, Q55

Rethinking CX within the new imperative for customer obsession, bridging the gap between customer expectations and CX strategies Just a year ago we showed that consultants underline retailers’ need of driving personalized CX (customer experience) with the help of technology, offering a seamless experience across mobile, desktop, and in-store. (Purcarea, 2018) At the end of February 2019 we found out how during a CustomerThink Thought Leadership Webinar it was argued that because CX is still not showing continuous improvement there is a real need to rethink CX to focus on Kaizen (Kai = change, Zen = for the better), knowing that according to Masaaki Imai, Founder of Kaizen Institute: “Kaizen is every day improvement, everybody improvement, and everywhere improvement”. (Stineman and Kennedy, 2019) Within this framework, it was showed that as part of a CX strategy it is necessary to regularly know: what to measure to understand CX, to better understand customers by getting more input from them, and to drive continuous improvement for these customers (every day, with everybody, everywhere) by adequately using the data about them.

In the same month of February 2019, a Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper – entitled “Unlock customer obsession by tying features to business outcomes. Hold your MarTech solutions accountable in order to focus on business outcomes, not just features” (Forrester Consulting, well-known for its Customer Obsessed Assessment/COA, being commissioned by Listrak in October 2018) – revealed that in order to deliver on customer obsession retailers (their customer-obsessed marketing being rare and leading to gaps in business outcomes, and retailers’ ability to improve these outcomes being only the fifth most important criteria for their MarTech decisions) must tie all their wanted features and functionality directly to business outcomes. On the other hand, the current customers’ expectations for high quality communications adding

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value to their daily lives are driving the new imperative for customer obsession, CX revealing the gap between retailers’ marketing execution and potential for results, and in order to meet the ever-rising expectations of their customers retailers being challenged to approach a proper marketing strategy.

Retailers are more and more aware of the challenge of delivering personalized CX across journey stages and touchpoints (social channels, devices, mobile apps) through a single point of control over data, decisions and interactions (a customer data platform/CDP breaking the cycle of data silos and making possible for everyone in the organization to see the same record) and ensuring a seamlessly connection between strategy, management and customer value. (Nash, 2019) As the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at RedPoint Global, John Nash, underlined recently, retailers are enabled to coordinate their web and in-store interactions with customers in real time by using a single point of control over customer data, the foundation of the modern marketing technology infrastructure being ensured by the combination of these comprehensive data with machine learning and Omni channel orchestration. Nash made reference to the 2018 joint survey by RedPoint Global and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council– entitled “The State of Engagement: Bridging the Customer Journey Across Every Last Mile” – where there were revealed among other aspects that engagement (customer engagements lacking collaboration or connection) is also an intelligence issue (so more than just a data issue), marketers needing the ability to transform data into real-time action, continuously improving, bridging the gap between customer expectations and their CX strategies (going beyond closing gaps across journeys and technologies), taking into account the overall state of their organization’s CX (rated as shown in the figure below).

Figure 1: The rated overall state of the organization’s CX Source: The State of Engagement: Bridging the Customer Journey Across Every Last Mile, RedPoint Global and the CMO Council, Report May 2018, p. 17, cited by Nash, J. (2019). Compete Via Personalized Customer Experiences, Target Marketing, March, 07 (work cited)

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Digital transformation, new shopping behaviors and values, Omni experience, instore personalization, and retail’s convergence The 2019 Global Retail Trends and Innovations, No 14, presented by Inquiry Market Research, Ebeltoft Group (International Retail Experts) and SAS (a leader in the business of analytics software and services; SAS was the Global sponsor of this study) highlighted from the very beginning: the constantly disruption and driving upward of the consumer expectations by the innovative industry players, the way for brand new shopping behaviors and values being paved by those who grew up alongside the digital transformation (Millennials and Generation Z); four different retail trends revealed within the context of the Ebeltoft Group’s well-known monitoring of brand and store innovations (being evaluated over 40 innovative cases from more than 18 countries): OMNIEXPERIENCE (IKEA, Evertoys, Tom Ford Beauty, Omnistory, Brandless, PIER X, Ponto Frio, Worten, Envie de salle de bain, eobuwie.pl, Huawei, AMARO, Hao Mai Yi), SMART SHOPPING (More Mall/Alibaba, Soolife, Tmall Automated Supermarket, Saturn, SKIPPEN at Spar University, Zara, Spyce, Amazon Go, Nordstrom Local, Feedback Factory, Comptoir Boulanger, E.Leclerc drive piéton), ENGAGEMENT (mymuesli, L&T Sports, The Daily Edited Flagship Store, Suncorp Discovery Store, ImaginCafe, Leroy Merlin, The Lobby, Mundo Fantástico da Sardinha Portuguesa, Muji Hotel, Glossier, Innisfree, RealReal NYC Store, John Lewis – White City, X Bank, Connections – Travel Concept Store, Lee Valley), and ACTIVISM (ECOALF, DMG Salvation, Social Foodies, Balagan, Sois Blessed, Everlane). Also at the beginning it was presented the award-winning innovation case of the automated and technology (loop of online-offline) supermarket Hema (as well as a restaurant and fresh seafood market) – of the retailer Tmail (Alibaba), China – where the mobile apps are used to track everything in the integrated retail store and fulfillment center, shopping preferences being captured and analyzed, then being provided recommendations via the mobile apps and ensuring this way choices for customers who are also enjoying the redefinition here of the term “one-stop” shop.

Allow us to choose as an example from the first retail trend category (Omni experience) a case from Romania, the online shop Evertoys, which is considered as excelling in diversity, ease of ordering and good customer relations, having the intention of achieving this region’s leading toy-and-game rental provider. This online shop offers Basic, EduBox and Supertoy subscriptions, the client receiving a certain number of credits (for each subscription level) which can be used for selecting toys. There is in place a so-called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) box including a surprise for the customer, being also offered a buy-back system. Regardless of the type of subscription (customers getting loyalty credits for each subscription, having also the possibility of donating them to disadvantaged children) this shop is offering free delivery.

On the other hand, the elevation of the brick-and-mortar retail business with the help of technology is a constant and valuable concern of TheNextBrick.com by IBM, which is supporting these retailers’ offering of a continuous better CX, considering both the integral role

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played by their stores in consumers’ daily lives, and the tactics used by retailers so as to think carefully about the nuanced understanding of the new consumer behavior, proving a flair for behavioral economics, and making their customers feel empowered. Within this framework there were underlined some good solutions: (founded by retailers at different touchpoints) such as a customer service training app (used by Steve Madden and Tiffany & Co.) giving stores’ sales associates advanced skills in upselling, cross-selling, and problem-solving; in order to increase basket size with the help of the tech and smarter merchandising (loss aversion; decision paralysis; the “framing effect”; the all-powerful “nudge”).

According to the Business Insider Intelligence’s new “In-Store Personalization Report: How brick-and-mortar retailers can bring personalization in-store to compete with e-tailers”, the brick-and-mortar retailers need to improve their in-store personalization so as to meet consumers’ expectations, by identifying them when they enter, tracking these identified consumers throughout their journey, and then using the actionable information to inform retailers’ individualized offerings. Going on this way, the brick-and-mortar retailers can inspire their consumers’ loyalty and increases in spending.

Four years ago, in March 2015, before going as a speaker at SHOP 2015 Conference within Expo Milano 2015, we reminded, among other aspects, about retailers’ continuous need of increased focus on integrating their various channels (including delivering content fast and seamlessly across these channels), while considering the impact of the converged lifestyle which has empowered their consumers, connectivity pushing convergence which drives at its turn the innovations. (Purcarea, 2015) And all this on the basis of a deeper understanding of the decision journey that shoppers undertake.

There is no doubt that across all retail marketing channels there are major disruptions caused by the convergence between the physical and the digital world (the brick-and-mortar retailers going online, and the digital retailers going to the brick-and-mortar stores), which is a challenge and opportunity in the same time. (Margulis, 2019) Comments made recently within a traditional RetailWire Discussion by experts showed that in order to bring the brand promise to life a physical location represent an opportunity, but in order to thrive the retailer need today to stay true to its brand and its customers’ expectations in each channel, Omni channel being already retail (and no more a subset of it), Omni channel presence being an expectation of the shoppers who navigate between physical ( the “live” performance) and digital thinking in value and convenience (the harmonization of the customer journey favoring the memorable CX), and retailers must be where their contacts, prospects, and customers are.

Changing consumer behavior and retail revolution. The case of dairy, a microcosm of the food industry, and a store’s Achilles’ heel We are all consumers, and we know the importance of being equipped with food and nutrition education. We also know that the retail space is a crucial factor influencing our

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feelings, the foundation of retailing being the understanding what we as consumers want and need. (Purcarea, 2019) We have also seen recently, for example, how important it is for marketers to identify the segments for organic fruits and vegetables which are most likely to buy organic, and also to understand whether consumers are accurate in their self-assessment.

(Baglione, Tucci and Stanton, 2019) In March this year McKinsey’s representatives, while approaching the challenges faced by the dairy companies within the shifting landscape and long-term trends, highlighted, among other aspects: the millennial effect in the dairy industry, millennial consumers’ behavior influencing shoppers across generations; the underdeveloped opportunity for growth represented by consumers’ desire to know more about dairy products, they redefining the meaning of “healthy” and “better for me” mean, for many CPG categories this focus on health and wellness (consumers’ perceptions being often contradictory and varying across categories; recommendation algorithms are increasingly influencing consumers’ purchasing behavior) being a must-have; the intertwine between the traditional and online shopping (about 20% of consumers are already making online purchases); data-driven customer segmentation is becoming a top priority, every interaction generating more data. McKinsey’s representatives also underlined within this framework that in order to serve new demand niches there it is necessary to make the supply chain more agile and flexible. (Adams et all., 2019) Also at the beginning of March this year we found out from another RetailWire Discussion that the ultimate differentiator for physical stores should be to demonstrate food expertise, as one of the four areas (together with: assortments missing several trending categories; stores are still geared for the wrong time of day; shoppers leaving without pleasant human contact) where supermarkets are generally falling short of delivering compelling experiences in the store, according to the Retail Feedback Group’s (RFG) annual “Supermarket Experience Study”. (Madenberg, 2019) Experts’ comments within this discussion revealed that grocery store’s people are remaining its Achilles’ heel, shoppers wanting more interaction with staff, friendly staff making every shopping experience fun, including efficient checkout, this staff being one of the three key areas of good retailing (together with supply chain and space). The idea of creating a “goodwill ambassador position” (as a store assistant greeting shoppers and asking them if he can assist in any way) was even brought in discussion.

Instead of conclusions: Rethinking strategy assumptions by better understanding CX, caring for customers Seven years ago we remarked an approach underlining the blurring distinctions between technology and service (within the interaction of technology, hardware or software, and services), distinctions being seen ultimately as between humans and technology. (Harikrishnan, 2012) Two years ago, the same author looked to the so-called “Big 5 in technology” – Facebook-

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Microsoft-Apple-Google-Amazon (FMAGA) – through the lens of three C’s (Communications; Computing; Content: physical goods, virtual goods/digital content, gaming, and technologyenabled), and arguing that this 3C’s battlefield will intensify in the content corner. (Harikrishnan, 2017) In December 2018, the book “The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy” by Christopher K. Andrews, (Andrews, 2018) was published whose research revealed, among other aspects, some memorable phrases such as: “If the success of self-checkout lanes depended on customers, it meant that consumers – and not businesses – would determine the future of supermarkets in America…”; “… supermarkets have a language for all the things in the store that explain their meaning or purpose… << gondolas >> … shoppers are the tourists with the aisles helping to << move >> them throughout the store ”.

Future Stores 2019 Retail Technology Briefing, March 2019 showed from the very beginning how technology is the key to bridging the online and in-store experience gap (the retail community becoming increasing aware of this), major retailers rethinking their core strategy assumptions while facing high competition from online and nimble retail disruptors.

Within this framework it was highlighted, among other aspects, the interesting competition at the level of the autonomous checkout, putting face to face Amazon Go stores (with no checkouts, the first one being in Seattle, shoppers’ card being charged via the Amazon app, the products bought by them being automatically added to their digital basket; by 2021 there are predicted 3,000 Amazon Go locations additional to what already exists – another one in Seattle and new ones in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco) with the first cashier less store of the tech startup Standard Condition recently opened in San Francisco (here the items placed in the shoppers’ own bag are recorded by cameras installed in the ceiling above the shelves, payment being taken via the Standard Cognition’s app as shoppers leave the store). Unlike Amazon (which is focusing only on its Amazon stores), this tech startup Standard Cognition is looking at the stores of other retailers to be help to grow by installing Standard Cognition’s AI-powered technology in their present locations (Standard Cognition being contacted only in the last months by 300 different retailers about putting this checkout solution in their stores). This year’s Future Stores Conference will be held in June, in Seattle.

We have seen above that: the brick-and-mortar retailers are going online, and the digital retailers are going to the brick-and-mortar stores, the harmonization of the customer journey favoring the memorable CX; the physical stores’ friendly and competent staff is one of the three key areas of good retailing, together with supply chain and retail space, the efficient checkout being also a very important aspect of a memorable CX; how important is to know what to measure to better understand CX, getting more input and driving continuous improvement for customers by adequately using the data about them.

We remarked very recently the opinion expressed by a reputed expert in C-Level Consulting on In-Store Optimization, Location Analytics, and People Tracking Technologies,

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Ronny Max, who revealed the importance of actionable insights for in-store optimization and customer behaviors provided by People Tracking technologies (detection, recognition, and predictive analytics of objects in motion being the attributes of these technologies) which quantify store performance. (Max, 2019) Max highlighted the Anonymous Shopper Tracking solutions which this year include location analytics (people counting), facial recognition & demographics, and vision. She argued that the rise of behavior analytics in (physical) retail has begun.

On the other hand, as we are in full period of digital innovation, we are witnessing the spectacular evolution of the shoppers’ digital behavior reflected, for example, by how they are navigating their platforms, taking and communicating their decisions, and wanting to feel them simultaneously understood and served. (Cherki, 2019) And here is again the role of the behavioral analytics to provide retailers with an in-depth understanding of their contacts, prospects and customers so as to finally transform shoppers in promoters of the retailers’ brand.

It was argued also very recently that no matter which stage of retailers’ digital strategy they’re in, they can grasp existing platforms to outline their dynamic loyalty programs difficulty free, making these programs visible and interactive to shoppers by adequately using AI-powered loyalty apps, the modern shopping experience being characterized by smartphones, and learning capabilities being used to analyze customer spending and design promotions accordingly, retailers achieving this way a better understanding of their customers’ behavior. (Sezgin, 2019) And this within the context in which the dynamic loyalty-enabled retailer apps are seen as offering a huge opportunity for retailers to future-proof operations, more and more people using their smartphones not only to research products and engage with brands, but also to shop and pay. (Sezgin, 2019) And while approaching loyalty it is not without significance to take into account the three consumer shopping personalities as defined by “The 2018 Retail Customer Loyalty Study” from customer.com: (Gudat, 2019) loyalists (who find a go-to retailer for their needs and are likely to stick with them), roamers (who tend to always shop around before making a purchase; one-third of any retailer’s customers are likely to be in this category which also profess strong loyalty to certain retailers, and need to be acknowledged and respected for this loyalty, “lowest price” being the number one listed loyalty driver), and neutrals (who tend to have some go-to retailers for particular purchases but also shop around). Within this framework it was underlined the importance for retailers to understand the various types of lapsed customers (and the reasons behind their inactivity) in retailers’ client base, “inactive” customers who are seeing themselves as merely “hibernating” until coming back again thanks to retailers’ customer reactivation strategies which resonate with them.

And allow us to end by recalling two inspiring quotes:

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▪ The VP of Retail and e-Commerce Vertical at Emarsys, Alex Timlin: “More than 80% of commerce happens offline for a reason — and it won’t change dramatically in the coming years.

For brands to remain relevant, we’ll need to see a collective, industry-wide shift towards encompassing Omni channel strategies that bring rich data from physical stores together with the abundance of available digital data. Brands need to keep on seeking opportunities to optimize their business approach with solutions that improve customer experiences, that drive and reward customer loyalty, and that induce customer retention for years to come”. (Timlin, 2019) ▪ The well-known author Chip R. Bell: “Caring for customers is the demonstration (not just the promise) of unconditional positive regard and support – especially when customers encounter a challenge, obstacle or issue. Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. (Bell, 2019) References Adams, C., Torres Maluf, I., Ramirez, M. and De Paula, R.U. (2019). A winning growth formula for dairy, McKinsey & Company, March. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/a-winning-growthformula-for-dairy?

Andrews, C.K. (2018). The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy, Lexington Books, December 18, 2018, pp. 85 Baglione, S., Tucci, A.L., Stanton, L.J. (2019). Organic Food, Identifying Actionable Segments, Holistic Marketing Management, March 2019, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 10-27 Bell, C. (2019). How do your customers know you really, really care? Retail Customer Experience, March 21. Retrieved from https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/blogs/how-do-your-customers-know-you-really-really-care/ Cherki, J. (2019). 4 digital trends to keep in mind to get 2019 on good footing, Retail Customer Experience, Feb. 25. Retrieved from https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/blogs/4-digital-trends-to-keep-in-mind-to-get-2019-on-good-footing/ Gudat, S. (2019). How to win back lapsed customers, CG Retail Marketing Blog, September 27. Retrieved from https://www.customer.com/blog/retail-marketing/win-back-lapsed-customers/ Harikrishnan, H. (2012). Business Models: Service vs Technology, August 13. Retrieved from http://harikrish.net/business/service-vs-technology/ Harikrishnan, H. (2017). How the Big 5’s Mega Battle to Control the 3C’s is Unfolding, Originally published on LinkedIn. December 3. Retrieved from http://harikrish.net/technology/how-the-big-5s-mega-battle-to-control-the-3cs-is-unfolding/ Madenberg, D. (2019). Where are grocers failing on in-store experience? RetailWire Discussion, March 7. Retrieved from https://www.retailwire.com/discussion/where-are-grocers-failing-on-in-store-experience/ Margulis, R. (2019). Do retailers need to reevaluate their omnichannel strategies and tactics? RetailWire Discussion, Mar 07.

Retrieved from https://www.retailwire.com/discussion/do-retailers-need-to-reevaluate-their-omnichannel-strategies-andtactics/ Max, R. (2019). 15 Technologies of People Tracking (2019), Behavior Analytics Retail, March 23. Retrieved from https://behavioranalyticsretail.com/technologies-tracking-people/

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Nash, J. (2019). Compete Via Personalized Customer Experiences, Target Marketing, March, 07. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/breaking-the-silo-cycle-how-to-compete-via-personalized-customerexperiences/ Purcarea, T. (2018). Retailers’ Technology Investments, Behavioral economics, Psychographic Profiling and the Paradox of the New Technology, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, March 2018, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 12-13 Purcarea, T. (2015). Expo Milano 2015, TUTTOFOOD 2015, and SHOP 2015, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, March 2015, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp. 18-35 Purcarea, T. (2019). The Real Need of Being Equipped with Food and Nutrition Education, Holistic Marketing Management, March 2019, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 04-09 Sezgin, M. (2019). Win Customer Loyalty With a Dynamic Approach to Mobile Rewards, Part 2, Total Retail, March 22. Retrieved from https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/win-customer-loyalty-with-a-dynamic-approach-to-mobile-rewards-part-2/ Sezgin, M. (2019). Win Customer Loyalty With a Dynamic Approach to Mobile Rewards, Part 1, Total Retail , March 15.

Retrieved from https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/take-it-personally-win-customer-loyalty-with-a-dynamic-approach-tomobile-rewards-part-1/ Stineman, B., Kennedy, P. (2019). CX Evolution: How H&R Block Boosted Service Quality with a New Client Feedback Strategy, CustomerThink Thought Leadership Webinar, Feb. 28, 2019, Sponsored by Medallia Timlin, A. (2019). NRF 2019: Retail Is Changing – Are You Adapting? Emarsys. Retrieved from https://www.emarsys.com/en/resources/blog/nrf-2019-retail-is-changing/ *** Unlock Customer Obsession By Tying Features To Business Outcomes. Hold Your MarTech Solutions Accountable In Order To Focus On Business Outcomes, Not Just Features. A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned By Listrak, February 2019 (Project Director: Emma Van Pelt, Market Impact Consultant; Contributing Research: Forrester’s eBusiness and Channel Strategy research group) *** The State of Engagement: Bridging the Customer Journey Across Every Last Mile, RedPoint Global and the CMO Council, Report May 2018 *** 2019 Global Retail Trends and Innovations, No 14, pp. 6, 10-15, 20-21. Retrieved from 2019-Poland-RetailInnov14.pdf *** If Customer Behavior is True North, How Can Tech Light the Way? The Next Brick, Updated Jan 10, 2019 | Originally published July 2018. Retrieved from https://www.thenextbrick.com/retail-consumer-trends/cross-selling-down-sellingupselling? *** The In-Store Personalization Report: How brick-and-mortar retailers can bring personalization in-store to compete with etailers, E-Commerce Research Team - Business Insider Intelligence, March 22, 2019, newsletter@businessinsider.com *** Future Stores 2019 Retail Technology Briefing, March 2019, future-stores-tech-briefing-client-draft-50-final_, pp. 2, 5

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Foreign Experience, e-commerce Germany, AEF 2019, CIRCLE 2019, CORP 2019, EuroCIS, and Entrepreneurship Bernd HALLIER

Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, President of the European Retail Academy (ERA: http://www.european-retailacademy.org/), 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 the first quarter 2019, and allowed us to present them. It is also worth remembering that: immediately after visiting Romania for the first time on the occasion of the 24th International Congress of the International Association for the Distributive Trade (AIDA Brussels), Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier sent us, in May 2008, a memorable letter we have referred initially in the Journal of the Romanian Marketing Association (AROMAR), no. 5/1998, and also later, in 2010, in the first issue of the Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine; the Romanian-American University has awarded Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier a “Diploma of Special Academic Merit”; the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, has awarded Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier a “Diploma of Excellence”.

Foreign Experience Being himself AIESEC-trainee in Turkey, Israel, South Africa and Japan between 1969 and 1974 Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier is pointing for the young generation to today’s possibilities by

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the Bologna-process even to study abroad and to gain foreign experience: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cotrugli is for example at the moment awarding a total of 20 scholarships for MBAs and Executive MBAs in Serbia ...â&#x20AC;? and organized by Circle International and the University of Vitez/Bosnia-Herzegovina MBAs and PhDs are offered in a mainly virtual college with the additional flavor of international annual conferences to present the papers" (Download flyer) he explained in an interview.

e-commerce Germany The Cologne based EHI Retail Institute has analyzed the Top 1000 e-commerce shops of Germany. While in the Chart below bevh-data about the total market includes all e-commerce turnover (for example also tickets), HDE shows the trade-volume ordered; EHI deducted from the ordered sales the resent stuff and therefore according to Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier reflects the real trade volume best.

The top 10 in the market accumulate at the moment roughly 42 percent market share.

Concerning Omni-Channel, only about 25 percent of the online-shops have more than 100 brickand-stone outlets. More about the study: Hofacker@ehi.org

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AEF 2019 In 2007 the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, initiated the creation of an Eurasian Club of Scientists (EECSA). Together they started in 2008 the first Astana Economic Forum. The power gained in the last decade and the goals are very well demonstrated in the Review 2018.

Over the last 11 years the forum attracted 50.000 delegates from 150 countries of the world, including over 20 Nobel Laureates and 30 high-level foreign political figures. The next Congress will be 16/17th May, 2019 with the topic “Inspiring Growth: People, Cities, Economics”; it will be supported by the European Retail Academy as Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier explained in a statement.

CIRCLE 2019 CIRCLE International is a cross-faculty, pan-university research group initially created at Leeds Metropolitan University/UK. Beside its purpose to bring professors and students together annually for rotating Conferences within Europe - in 2019 it has also a special focus "Digital Intelligence".

In 2019 the host will be the University of Gloucestershire/UK - having an education tradition stretching back to 1847. The Conference will take place April 25th-26th; contact via circle2019@glos.ac.uk. “The city has a well-known Cathedral - and also Stratford-uponAvon is nearby” Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier remarked about the cultural challenges of the surrounding.

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CORP 2019 The international Competence Center of Urban and Regional Planning (CORP) is inviting for its 24th Conference on April 2nd - 4th, 2019 into the city of Karlsruhe/Germany (Download Program).

Co-organizer will be the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), which has more than 9.000 employees and an annual budget of 800 million Euros. According to Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier/ERA this conference brings together experts from all over the world as can be seen already at the January status quo of the World map.

EuroCIS Started in 1992 as an annual congress show to bridge the years between the triennial EuroShop exhibition meanwhile EuroCIS is an annual hot spot for the European retail technology. During the EuroShop years as a special segment and in the two years in-between as a well-respected stand-alone exhibition in the caliber of market-leader!

EuroCIS covered in 2018 a floor-space of 14.400 square meters net, occupied by 468 exhibitors. It attracted 12.000 visitors. “Also in 2019 we expect many international visitors combining the fair events in Düsseldorf with store visits of the European Retail Academy in the North Rhine Westfalia region” (see also LINK) Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier stated.

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Entrepreneurship In Zagreb/Croatia a World Congress of Entrepreneurs was organized jointly by business, universities and local, regional and national governments mainly from the area of former Yugoslavia plus Austria and Germany. It was a call to encourage the civil society to participate in a social market economy and the spirit of entrepreneurship. The backstage organization will monitor and support the activities gathered in the Horizon 2020 Initiative of the European Union.

To underline the importance a monument was established to remind of the ZagrebDeclaration (read here), which will be followed by a 2019 Congress in the city of Skopje/Macedonia.

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Léon F. WEGNEZ (by courtesy of) -“Shop windows, a real way to succeed in shopper marketing”, “Distribution d’aujourd’hui”, 56ème année, Novembre- Décembre 2015, Brussels 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“. The distinguished Léon F. Wegnez was honored by the European Retail Academy (ERA) as the 2015 “Man of the Year” (the distinguished personalities who have been honored by ERA in previous three years were: Romano Prodi, Klaus Toepfer, and Robert Aumann). Knowing our distinguished readers’ thirst for knowledge, we offer you, we offer you, by courtesy of this remarkable personality, the above mentioned article published in the prestigious “Distribution d’aujourd’hui”.

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It is well-known what it was underlined in 1996 by the “Position Paper, Chapter16: SME” (http://www.mie.ro / Negocieri/Romana /Documente_ pozitieRom/CAP16-DP) at Point 3 – “Capacity to implement the acquis communautaire… • In the field of commerce and distribution, in 1996, the Romanian Distribution Committee was established as a legal association, affiliated to the International Association for the Distributive Trade”.

A year later, in March 1997, we received Thanks (Letter) from Riccardo Garosci, the European Rapporteur for the “Green Book on Commerce” prepared by the European Commission, for the “contribution to the professional development of European Commerce”; a year later, in May 1998, Riccardo Garosci, Vice President of Economic and Monetary Commission of the European Parliament, European Rapporteur for „Green Book for European Commerce”, and President of the “Commerce and Distribution” Intergroup of the European Parliament, opened the works of the 24th International Congress of A.I.D.A. Brussels, organized in Bucharest, at Athénée Palace Hilton.

And the next year, in 1999, reference was made to the Romanian Distribution Committee in the study “Marketing issues in transitional economies”, Springer, 1st edition, August 31, 1999, Rajeev Batra, William Davidson Institute (at the University of Michigan, USA), Business & Economics, page 167, for acknowledging the specific Romanian undertakings of adapting to European and world economic structures.

It is our honor and pleasure to share with our Readers our respect for towering figures in the history of the Romanian Distribution Committee, recognized as leading voices about professional matters, with a true passion for trade and development, showing dedication and genuine commitment, making us working with them by better understanding different perspectives, always being tenacious and focused but also the nicest person in the room, and always proving having the art of understanding another person, making all of us think we could do something smarter and faster, relying on coopetitive alliance.

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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re very pleased to announce that our next issue, May-June 2019, will mark a significant anniversary of A Valuable Member of Our Team: A great time to honor the deserved recognition for dedication, qualities and value!

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