From command to market-driven economy: the changing role of manufacturing industries in Romania

In 1990, Romania and other CEE countries embarked on a political shift that prompted radical structural and spatial changes in economic activities. Industrial restructuring holds a central role in strengthening both EU convergence and internal socioeconomic divergence. The aim of this paper is to discuss the contribution of manufacturing to national wealth creation, the attractiveness of industries to foreign direct investments, and the evolutionary trajectories of manufacturing employment and firms in conjunction with the pathways taken at the level of the national economy. To attain this aim, we analyse in detail the period between 2002 and 2019, looking at the temporal dynamics of the industry in times of growth and crisis. The changes discussed are typical of economic restructuring, with regions and urban centres experiencing a dramatic change in their economic roles and functions and increasing inequalities between metropolitan and non-core regions.

Productivity—health and wealth

Although productivity is the ultimate engine of economic growth in the global economy, health leaders tend to avoid the subject. As a result, we are faced with a reality in which investment has been hampered. Instead of promoting productivity, national decision-makers have provided short-term decisions. These types of quick solutions and short-term thinking have prevented healthcare from making a substantial and sustainable contribution to national wealth creation through raised productivity. In this chapter, Mark Britnell outlines the goals of productivity within the healthcare sector. He discusses how education, innovation, technology, improved infrastructure, and enhanced business models increase productivity within healthcare.

Renegotiating the empire, forging the nation (-state): the Bohemian/Czechoslovakian case through the political–economic thought of Thomas G. Masaryk and Karel Kramář, c. 1890–1920s

This article explores the dilemma of the small Bohemian Lands/Czechoslovak nation (-state) in staying “in” or “out” of the larger Habsburg supranational entity in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. It does so mainly through the language of political economy (on national wealth creation and redistribution) articulated in the opinions and political actions of Czechoslovakia's two founding statesmen, the first president, Thomas G. Masaryk, and the first prime minister, Karel Kramař. The article argues that their choice of staying “in” the large imperial space was premised upon renegotiating a better political and political–economic deal for the Bohemian Lands, whereas the option of abandoning it and of forging the Czechoslovak nation-state was essentially based on political reasons. And while both advocated an interventionist role for the state in the economy during the imperial period, they considered such a prerogative even more essential for their new nation-state.

SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION IN MALAYSIA CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Supply Chain Technology (SCT) utilization becomes a phenomenon in the construction industry nowadays. The uses of these technologies have shown an improvement in construction business process particularly in planning and designing processes. These improvements significantly affect the performance of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in construction industry. The construction industry is critical for national wealth creation particularly in the developing countries such Malaysia. However, about five percent of construction projects were not able to be completed due to various reasons. Therefore, there is a great interest to find out the level of utilization of SCT within the construction industry, which is believed as a main driver to improve the SCM performance and directly reflect to the construction project performance. The objective of this paper is to identify and highlight the issues and problems associated with the current SCM practices, particularly in the technology utilization among the major players in the Malaysian construction industry. To be more specifically, the type of application system that is being utilized in the Malaysian construction supply chain process will be identified.

Industrialising English Law: Entrepreneurship and Business Organisation 1720–1844. By Ron Harris. [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. xvi, 293 and (Appendices) 6, (Bibliography) 21 and (Index) 9 pp. Hardback £37.50 net. ISBN 0–521–66275–3.]

During the past decade entrepreneurs have emerged as key figures in national wealth creation. This book serves as a reminder that they were not always so highly regarded and records the intense struggles by which the medieval public purpose corporation was adapted to the structural challenges wrought by the industrial revolution. These were not merely the technical challenges of developing appropriate legal mechanisms to balance the needs of management and investors but entailed the readjustment of a whole range of vested interests and conflicting ideologies.