The Nexus Between Hedge Fund Size and Risk-Adjusted Performance

This paper explores the relationship between hedge fund size and risk-adjusted performance employing a data sample of 245 US hedge funds classified into eight different investment strategies. The studied period spans from January 2005 to February 2021, with calculations performed both on the whole coverage period as well as three sub-periods, to isolate the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis funds’ behavior. Similar to previous evidence found in the literature, the results reveal an inverse relationship between hedge fund size and risk-adjusted performance (as measured by the Sharpe, Treynor and Black-Treynor ratios) in most of the cases.

Green Brand Positioning for Organic Food: A Content Analysis of Corporate Websites

The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on the positioning bases of the green brands present on the organic food market. The research method is the content analysis of secondary data sources. The study was based on the analysis of the informational content available on the corporate websites of green brands in the portfolio of processing companies present on the Romanian market. This study identified 18 positioning bases for the investigated green brands. The positioning bases belong mainly to the category of attributes, these being in particular specific characteristics of organic food. The study notes the existence of specific positioning bases for organic food brands. The results can help practitioners to communicate brand positioning in the online environment by developing appropriate strategies.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Exploring the Determinants of Internet Access in Emerging Economies

With the rapid developments and changes in technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution being witnessed everywhere, this study aimed to investigate the factors that influence access to the internet by households in emerging economies with a direct focus on South Africa one of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to broadband facilities by individuals, households and consumers is one of the critical components of the economic growth and prosperity of a country. It is generally believed that the access to broadband technologies by a community or nation helps to increase productivity which assists a lot in fueling economic growth which will have an impact on the levels of poverty. Using the logistic regression, the study found out that race, access to telephone landline, access to a cellular cellphone, access to electricity, owning a house, gender, age of the household head, net household income per month, and household expenditure were the significant variables in influencing the demand for internet access by households in emerging economies. The factors that were more important in the influence on access to the internet were the availability of electricity and access to a cellphone. Therefore, the study concludes that to improve the quality of life of the people, it is imperative that the governments across the world, do invest more in improving access to quality internet, but one of the prerequisites is that households should have a stable electricity supply and they have access to cellphones.

National Industry 4.0 Platforms in the Visegrad 4 Countries – A Comparison with the Frontrunner Digital Economies in Europe

Based on the international digitization indexes, the development level of digitalization in the Visegrad Four (V4) countries is similar in many respects. The status of the recent digital developments is comparable in results and in deficits also. These economies have similar inescapable paths in the past and further development opportunities in the future. The economic success of these four countries greatly depends on the transformation of their economic structures, mainly by utilizing digitalization. This study compares the approaches, activities and initiatives of the national Industry 4.0 platforms of the V4 countries that promote and support the digital transformation on the national strategic level. The study also highlights the results that have already been achieved by the members of the European Quartet. These four countries have reached good results in digital infrastructure investments. Meanwhile, they are left behind in skillsets, education and adoption of companies, regarding their digital transformation. Beside the direct comparison of the four Industry 4.0 platforms, the study extends the research to three of the Frontrunner countries of the EU in digitalization, namely to Austria, Germany, Sweden, to understand the best practices they use and actions they take regarding the digitalization. The paper formulates guidelines for defining competitive policies and techniques for accelerating the digitalization of the V4 economies. The study lists the pain points of the V4 digitalization and makes suggestions on recoveries, mainly on the field of the potential involvement of companies and the financing of the national I40 platforms.

Quality of Information Disclosed in Integrated Reports, in the Extracting Sector: Insights from Europe

The study explores to what extent are extracting organizations from the European region, disclosing relevant information about social and environmental practices. To pursue the current exploratory study, a qualitative approach composed of two steps is performed. The first is a content analysis of 15 oil & gas and mining organizations integrated reports proposing a compliance exercise toward the International Integrated Reporting Framework. Then in the second one, the integrated reports of our sample are analyzed using MAXQDA, with the extent to which social and environmental references are positive, neutral, or negative. Thus, the present paper represents the first attempt in qualitative studies in Integrated Reporting with a specific focus on extracting sector. Our results demonstrate that the analyzed sample discloses more information related to the environment than social disclosure.

Female Stereotypes in Romanian Advertising: An Interpretative Content Analysis

Advertising, by its accessibility, is incredibly powerful in spreading stereotypical representations. The way women are portrayed in advertising in different countries and cultures has been a subject of research for more decades. The paper aims to examine the way women are portrayed in advertising campaigns in Romania. The study focuses on finding the stereotypes used and their characteristics by qualitatively analyzing ads from brands’ YouTube channels. We identified seven stereotypes and the analysis shows that women portrayals are idealized in Romanian advertising. Although there are some modern approaches to the representations, ads do not reflect contemporary female roles. The most frequent stereotype is the Next-Door Woman, a stereotype that emphasis on the cuteness of the woman, not on her intelligence. Romanian brands’ advertising lacks campaigns promoting women empowerment.

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and the Congruence of Desired and Perceived Job Attributes: An Exploratory Study of IT Professionals

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether employee job satisfaction is associated with the congruence between desired and perceived job attributes. The desired and perceived levels of 30 job attributes were measured on employees from a large Information Technology (IT) company based in Romania. Results indicate that employees who experience congruence between desired and perceived job attributes have higher levels of overall job satisfaction, confirming the assumptions of the value congruence theory. In addition, the results of this study show that employee job satisfaction is associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors i.e., job attributes. This indicates that extrinsic factors can also be a source of job satisfaction, the same as intrinsic factors, which is contrary to what Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory assumes.

The Main Determinants of Development –PLS Path Analysis Applied to the Factors of Endogenous Development

Many empirical analyses have been based on the theory of endogenous development, referring to the utilisation of given resources and providing the framework of quantitative analysis. The concept can be especially important in the case of less favoured and/or rural areas. However, the empirical analyses of this widely used theory often neglect the countryside or lay minimal focus on them. The research project presented here investigates the key factors of endogenous development and their presence in the rural districts of Hungary. The main aim of the paper is the examination and explanation of the effects of each capital on development. The study provides a review of the academic literature of development theories, as well as the understanding and development of the concept over the last few decades. The paper briefly addresses the delimitation of the Hungarian countryside, and it also proposes a regression model for the explanation of development, including latent variables symbolising the forms of capital. The model is examined by applying partial least squares (PLS) path analysis, which shows the connections between each form of capital through a dynamic approach. The analysis conducted for the years of 2009, 2013 and 2017 indicates that the relationship between the capitals is defined by temporal differences. Similar interactions can be seen between the capitals in 2009 and 2013, but 2017 shows a completely different system of relations. Hence, the findings show that, in a rural context, the relations between the forms of capital vary considerably over time.

Measuring Experience in International Business: A Systematic Literature Review

The paper explores the indicators that measure the experience in international business. Literature review was used to ascertain the state of the art of the existing indexes and theories. The internationalisation of businesses is a fundamental strategic step to increase companies' competitive advantage and profits. Nevertheless, even though internationalisation is widely accepted as an important source of value for companies and is a broad object of investigation, there is still much to study about how to measure experience at the level of international business. The absence of a coherent approach to measure experience in international businesses in past empirical studies made it difficult to create a solution with theoretical concepts that would support further studies in this matter. The results are not contradictory, but complementary, as, through individual internationalization indicators, it is possible to evolve and create indices, such as the Transnationality Index or the Transnational Activities Spread Index. The biggest constraint on the analysed indices is the fact that they focus mainly on the internationalisation of transnational companies and the type of data that was used to build the indexes (secondary data). However, by studying international experience through the number of years and the network spread, it is possible to overcome some of the existing challenges.

Co-Workers Support and Job Performance

In the context of a global pandemic affecting businesses worldwide, management focus is oriented to what would enhance the employees’ work performance even in crisis situations. This paper aims to identify, explore and explain the relationships between social support, task performance and organizational citizenship behaviour as well as different demographic data which might influence these variables. The final goal is to propose relevant solutions and recommendations for managers and practitioners in human resources which could be easily applied and have a major impact on individual performance as well as on the overall performance of the organization. The quantitative research is based on a sociological survey consisting of two standardized questionnaires based on tested Likert scales measuring co-workers perceived support, employees’ task performance and organizational citizenship behaviour. The sample consists of 300 pairs of employees and their direct supervisors working in services companies based in Romania. The survey’s results are analysed by performing correlation and regression analyses in JASP 0.14.1.0 free software. The results show positive relationships between the variables yet it proves that co-workers’ support is not relevant for task performance. Valuable information regarding OCB and task performance can be added to the previous job performance research. Statistically significant relationships with demographic data could not be obtained. Further studies might consider a larger sample consisting of Europeans in more than one country as well as comparative analyses between countries and companies’ fields of activity.