Romanian Distribution Committe Magazine Volume 4 Issue 3

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Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA Editorial: If the art of creating the brand can do better, could we all in the “global community” do better?

Victor GREU The Code Division Multiple Access – from “Complicated” to the Actual Mobile Communications Standards and Beyond

George Cosmin Tănase Global Product Policy Decisions: Developing New Products for Global Markets

Nicolaie MIHĂIESCU It Happens in Romania Too

Tudorița ALBU A Key Message about the Richness of Our Country Brand: The Fantastic in the Works of Our Great Romanian Classics

Irina PURCĂREA The Conference Corner: ECSM 2014, 10-11 July 2014, Brighton, UK. Mini Track on Social Media and Innovation at ECSM 2014

The responsibility for the content of the scientific and the authenticity of the published materials and opinions expressed rests with the author.

We communicate more and more, and in different ways.

We are talking increasingly more and more about our rights, and less about our responsibilities. And when we talk about the responsibilities, we are doing so looking more at other people, all of us knowing that the world is being shaped by ideas and by the way we are habituated to perceive. We watch, comment and act by imitating more, with more or less discernment in the context of information bombardment to which we are subject. Not coincidentally, our Romanian socalled “oral philosopher” Petre Tutea said that - beyond the fact that imitation is an inevitable social phenomenon - we’re lucky that there are people who are not like us, and why should it bother us that we still have examples that bother some “mile stones” without which we would not be able to understand either genius or normality, the social body being so loose …

In fact, as the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre argued: “we are us in the eyes of others and it is from the way others see us that we assume as who we are”. And, of course, considering the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words: “What lies behind us/And what lies before us/Are tiny matters compared/ To what lies within Us”. On the other hand we all know that, in the end, our life won’t change until we want it to change

Herbert Marshall McLuhan1 (who predicted in the sixties that the newly emerging electronic network would recreate the world in the image of a “global village” allowing the sharing of the knowledge about different solutions, while experiencing events through our “extended senses”, particularly those of sight and sound, as if we were in the same physical space, and becoming aware of responsibility on a global level; he also coined the phrase “The media is the message”, considering media as a primary shaper of civilization) attracted our attention long time ago to the challenge of keeping desired information accessible within the context of technologies altering the manner in which we process information (we are all interpreting this information relative to our individual experience), also suggesting that we can all have a role in shaping our global community, “a single global tribe”. Herbert Marshall McLuhan died in 1980, on New Year ’s Eve, having inscribed on his gravestone an interesting reference to the “truth”.

Within this context of technologies altering the manner in which we process information, and as we are just few days before the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives – Gartner Symposium/ITxpo (USA, Orlando, October 6-10, 2013), Gartner Inc. being recognized as the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company – let us remember a Gartner statement2 from July 31, 2013: “Much of the differentiation and value of the “Internet of Things”3 resides not in the device, nor even the connectivity, but in the data aggregation, data-processing and decision-making activities that take advantage of the data streams emanating from the device (or the ability to remotely influence that device).” Two weeks later, on August 13, 2013, Chris Taylor4 argued on HBR Blog Network that: “…as data continue to grow in volume, velocity, and variety, making management more complex and potentially slowing time to decision, something has to give… machine learning is a branch of computer science where algorithms learn from and react to data just as humans do. Machine-learning software identifies hidden patterns in data and uses those patterns both to group similar data and to make predictions… ” Within this HBR Blog Network framework – of an “extremely crucial” discussion (Monte Lim) about this “Excellent overview of big data and the current trend in non-directed data discovery” (Ravi Benedetti), and taking into account that “Machine learning is coming whether we recognize it or not and all one has to do is look at evolution” (Lmccain), and “while predictive analytics and real time learning are huge untapped areas for process and decisioning… there is always the human element that will be used to tune and 1 http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/biography/ 2 Gartner Says Potential Size and Diversity of the Internet of Things Mask Immediate Opportunities, Stamford, Conn., July 31, 2013, www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2564916 3 The network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment, www.gartner.com/it-glossary/internet-of-things/ 4 Chris Taylor - A Better Way to Tackle All That Data, August 13, 2013, http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/08/a_ better_way_to_tackle_all_tha.html

tweak these decisions” – Chris Taylor replied to the numerous comments left on HBR Blog: << It is not an easy task to live in today while thinking ahead to what is next; to know how/where/when to apply data, large or small we need to know what is important to the business; we are moving into the “post hunch” age where we have data to make decisions instead of our gut; as data gets bigger at a faster rate than data scientists becoming available machine learning has fascinating use cases, and when machines can learn from the data, and then relearn from the data, the outcome of machine learning becomes much more valuable, they absolutely carrying forward some bias of the original human analysis and decisions, the key to machine learning being figuring out what data matters, which can have a very positive effect on storage; there is so much to be gained from not just more data, but much smarter use of that data, considering both, the great deal of variation in how data is being generated, consumed and applied, and the fact that Big Data is approaching an intersection and the choices are to simply (through tech) or pay the price of complexity, being many ways Big Data can be applied to things (some are not good; privacy issues will need to be worked out for sure) etc. >> According to the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg (August 2013): “a connected world could address economic disparity and outlined a vision of even the poorest people connecting to low-cost, low-data versions of basic Internet services.” WIRED Interview5 with Zuckerberg offered interesting insight regarding Facebook’s plan to get entire planet online. In the opinion of the Facebook CEO, social networks and messaging and search engines are portals to more content and is very important to make the basic access to them free via building a sustainable model (getting a phone, and having the dial tone for the Internet) with the help of Internet.org, a consortium that allied Facebook with handset makers (Nokia, Samsung, Ericcson), a browser company (Opera), and network infrastructure manufacturers (Qualcomm, MediaTek).

Two days after this interview, WIRED6 also attracted our attention on the necessity of understanding how the sociology of sharing evolves, sharing becoming imperative, if not inevitable, thanks to the ever-increasing density and dysfunction of urban mobility, and the more efficient way to move mainstream consumer culture towards more sharing being perhaps from the top down… led by the Silicon Valley’ vision of communal consumption.

Two months before, on June 25, 2013, Infosys (“Engaging with Digital Consumers: Insights from Infosys Global Survey”7), invited us to take a look at the complex behaviors consumers display when sharing their personal data, and highlighted the followings: there is a gap between the personal information consumers are willing to provide online and the ability of companies to leverage that data, 5 Steven Levy - Zuckerberg Explains Facebook’s Plan to Get Entire Planet Online, 26.08.2013, http://www.wired.com/ business/2013/08/mark-zuckerberg-internet-org/ 6 Marcus Wohlsen - What the Sharing Economy Needs Is a Little Less Democracy, 28.08.2013, http://www.wired. com/business/2013/08/sharing-economy-localmotion/ 7

www.infosys.com/newsroom/features/Pages/digital-consumer-study-infographic.aspx

to navigate the complex behaviors consumers display when sharing their personal data being the key challenge facing business; the companies are not effectively using the mountains of information they have at their disposal; there is a considerable degree of influence of social media on consumer purchasing behavior. According to Stephen Pratt, Managing Partner, Worldwide Consulting and Systems Integration and Executive Council Member at Infosys8: “Companies need to crack the code in mining data effectively to gain consumer trust and clearly articulate the benefit to their customers”.

There is no doubt that to be successful as brands or personal brands, we need to truly understand people around us which appear as an extended research focus group. We all are customers, and we are all engaged, in this “human centric era” (an era of highly aware customers, valuesdriven marketing affecting employees, channel partners, and shareholders who are addressing issues within society that will help build a better future for our “global community”), in a conversation as values-driven people talking to each other around the globe about the choices we make.9 On November 20, 2009, in Vienna, Philip Kotler gave a lecture on “Peter Drucker, The Grandfather of Modern Marketing”,10 highlighting Drucker’s Teachings in Marketing (such as: “The purpose of a business is to create a customer”; “Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation. All the rest are costs”; “The best way to predict the future is to create it”; “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity”). Kotler referred to the fact that “Marketing moves” to digital inhabitants, digital natives, and mentoring, to value-based marketing: Mission (Why - Contributing to the community well –being as well as sustaining and protecting the environment); Vision (What - To be a world leader in delivering innovative solutions to meet human needs through sustainability principles); Values, Sustainability (How - We create economic value; We strive for environmental health; We advance social progress).

On October 20, 2010, Umair Haque argued that “Marketing can do better”11, by starting listening up as a deep dedication to real dialogue and asking questions that matter, investing both in market research and in people. He considers that the really important part is the “up”, which means: “having dialogues about what elevates and betters people, what raises them up to higher standards of living, doing, having, and being, what really makes them better off in meaningful ways that matter — and then igniting a movement to make it happen”.

Engaged in this “human centric era”, by listening, conversing, and building relationships, we are both participants and spectators to the full development of social media - defined as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”12 - as marketing phenomenon. Being a consistent shift in how we 8

www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/digital-consumer-study.aspx

9

Philip Kotler, Herman Kartajaya, Iwan Setiawan - Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit, Wiley, 1

edition, May 3, 2010 10 http://www.druckersociety.at/repository/201109/Grosser_Festsaal/1530-1615/10.0.1%20Kotler.pdf 11 Umair Haque - Marketing Can Do Better, http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/10/marketing_can_do_better.html 12 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

get our information, facilitating enhanced speed and breadth of this information dissemination, turning communication into interactive dialogue, social media represents a marketing revolution by the extension of currently existing marketing strategies, and providing value and leading to engagement with customers and influencers, while creating, sharing and building communities in the virtual space thanks to this continuous interactive dialogue enabled by a plethora of web technologies. Within this framework, the marketing department is responsible for acknowledging social media as an accepted marketing process and to adequately manage the social media channels so as to ensure the continuity of trusting relationship building with prospects and customers, and raising them up to higher standards of living, doing, having, and being.

That is why we are continuing to build a reading experience. Thank you for subscribing to our “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine”, and joining the conversation!

Theodor Valentin Purcărea

Editor - in - Chief

THE CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS – FROM “COMPLICATED” TO THE ACTUAL MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS AND BEYOND

by Prof. Eng. Ph.D. Victor GREU

Abstract

The paper approaches one of the most important technologies of the modern communications – the Code Division Multiple Acces (CDMA), which has a huge influence on the actual mobile communications networks (3G, 4G) and beyond.

The paper presents CDMA from a dual point of view, as a powerful technology for the most dynamic communications networks, cellphone broadband mobile communications, but on the other hand revealing that CDMA represents also one of the information and communications technologies (ICT) that could inluence people and their ways of thinking, as a model.

Some interesting aspects covered by the paper present important moments and contributions in the spectacular evolution of CDMA, in USA, Romania and generally manifest in the World, as CDMA is an inherent feature of the spread-spectrum systems (SSS) of communications (first and long time used only for secure military communications) and both CDMA and SSS were very skeptical perceived by the civilian specialists and the industry, because they were long time considered „too complicated” for commercial use.

One of the paper’s points stress the deep significance of the CDMA/SSS evolution, as a long fight against all the challenges, a process where the knowledge, the innovation and the passion were the main ingredients of the final succes – a huge achievement for ICT and the information society (IS).

One the same line, the paper’s conclusions refer to the power of CDMA to leverage the mankind activity, by technological concrete consequences and also as a model to manage the resources - from time and electromagnetic spectrum to anything people must share on Earth.

Keywords:

Code Division Multiple Acces (CDMA), communications and information technologies, information society, cellphone communications, spread-spectrum communications.

JEL Classification: L63, L86, M15, O13, O33 1. The Code Division Multiple Acces (CDMA) shorted but fascinating story

Today we asist at the apogee of CT and IT convergence, as the information and communications technologies (ICT), a phenomenon which dramatically influenced the world in the last decades and is generating the The communications technologies (CT), process of IS development.

Inside the ICT, starting with the ’90s, the as a prominent part of the information and mobile communications’s amazing development communications technologies (ICT), is a major factor of the mankind progress in the last 120 represent perhaps the most important process, years and for sure for the further evolution of as they became, by the broadband spectacular the human society as „information society” (IS) „explosion”, the main support of the revolutionary and then for the transformation of IS towards the ICT products and services.

The above premises clearly show why the future „knowledge based society” (KBS) [6], [8].

It is interesting to observe that the mobile communications (MC) is a subject of the „switching centre” from the infancy of the highest interest for the ICT and IS. On the other hand, the exponential telephony could be considered the first electric computer, leading the development of CT to the development of ICT in the last decades is naturaly supported by the complex achievements information technology (IT). in technology, including software, but they also

relies on more and more sophisticated theoretical basics, as digital modulations, codes and so on.

This way we have just arrived at the emerging questions: What CDMA is? / Why CDMA? As a matter of fact, when we have mentioned digital modulations and codes, we half answered at „Why CDMA?”.

Simply, CDMA could be considered a combination of codes and digital modulations theories, intended for optimazing the multiple acces capacity of the wireless communications networks, especially from the point of view of frequency spectrum use and the interference resistance.

The reality is that CDMA is far to be simple, as its „complicated” features were recognized from the beginnings and long after [1].

Of course, the objective of this paper does not include a detailed presentation of CDMA, but we intend to reveal its actual and future importance along with some remarcable aspects of its evolutions, in order to extract the premises that CDMA offers, to ICT and even to IS, to be an useful paradigm which could generate influence beyond its natural technological applications - a model to approach the generic „networks” either inside of ICT and generally in IS. Coming back to the „interference resistance” feature we may find the theoretical origins of CDMA, inside a more complex concept named „spread spectrum systems” (SSS), which was founded by Claude Shannon in 1945.

In 1945 Shannon wrote a paper, “A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography”, but never published because it was stamped SECRET. A „cleared” version was still published in 1949, as „Communication theory of secrecy systems”.

Again simply, we may say that Shannon theoretical model (equation) postulated SSS as a wireless communications system which could provide a given information transmission capacity, even in a very hostile environment (a signal/noise ratio much less than unit), if a corresponding frequency bandwidth (very large versus the information bandwidth) is used for transmission.

For security reasons, the large frequency bandwidth had to be obtained by „spreading” the narrow bandwidth of information, using codes and modulations which had to be known only by the transmitter and the intended receiver and this way, the last, in synchronism with the transmitter,

could extract the information by correlation.

Those codes became the „heart” and „signature” of CDMA, as they could differenciate the users and the networks, allowing them to work in the same frequency band without interfering (multiple access) and „spreading” (rejecting) in the same time, all other (non-synchronized) signals.

Now it is clear why the word „complicated” was associated with CDMA and SSS. Such a principle (SSS) and goal was surely first intended and used only for military purposes (for example in strategic/priority applications, as military GPS, JTIDS/AWACS communications, mobile SINCGARS frequency hopping radios), but later, when the technological progress allowed it (in the late ’80s), the civilian/commercial applications of SSS became possible, necessary and efficacy. Notice that SSS were initialy used only for communications and soon for radar, but later extended to satellite (like GPS), navigation etc.

The point is that the SSS’s complicated concept, which was further developed long after Shannon’s theory, included, as a native feature, the CDMA! Perhaps, for this paper goal, it will be more relevant and clear, to point some interesting, but not necessary technical, technological or scientific, moments and aspects of the CDMA/ SSS evolutions, as it follows.

This year, Irwin M. Jacobs received 2013 IEEE Medal of Honor for „leadership and fundamental contributions to digital communications and wireless technology”, as CDMA powers all 3G networks and is expanding its basics to 4G. It is consedered that Irwin M. Jacobs launched „a wireless revolution” [1].

Before leaving Massachssettes Institute of Technology (MIT), graduated by Jacobs after being a life-guard, a photo developer, a lumberjack and student at School of Hotel Administration [1], (Irwin) „Jacobs and fellow faculty member John M. Wozencraft had written a textbook on communications theory, Principles of Communication Engineering, first published in 1965 and still used”.

In 1966, after he earned a doctorate at MIT, he left for helping launch an engineering school in California, as professor at University of California,where he started a consulting company (Linkabit Corp), together with professors Andrew

Viterbi and Leonard Kleinrock.

In 1985, Jacobs joined with six others, including Viterbi, he started Qualcom, a company which later had developed commercial CDMA and today is a leader in the world of communications and generally ICT. One of the first contracts of Qualcom was with Hughes, to develop a mobile satellite system, where Hughes intended to use conventional spectrum-sharing techniques.

In one of those days, in a car [1], in a pause between conversations with Andrew Viterbi and Klein Gilhousen, Irwin Jacobs thought that, inspite of the fact that CDMA were considered by other specialists „too complicated” for being used outside military applications (for commercial use), this technique could „squeeze” other users in the pauses between conversations of some users, as a multiple access in the same band.

That idea was the origin of the later epocal extention and evolution of CDMA in civilian applications, i.e. for cellular mobile communications.

In a similar way, keeping the scale, in 1979, when I have received the theme of the graduation paper at the Military Technical Academy (Bucharest) on „SSS communications”, everybody considered as „science fiction” the possibility to have wireless communications in the presence of a jamming with power of hundred times the useful signal power.

Such opinions have persisted in 1981 when I have presented the first article on SSS at Politehnica University of Bucharest [11] and almost up to the publishing of the first books on SSS in Romania [5], [2].

It is worth to mention that SSS literature began to be public in a progressive manner, after 1982 when USA started their programme SINCGARS to develop tactical frequency hopping radios in the period 1982-1994 (aiming about 400 000 units in 1994).

In this context, the participation in 1992 at the first demonstrative exercise with tactical frequency hopping radios (Tadiran/SINCGARSBacau-Romania) and in 1995 at the Romanian Army’s auction for tactical frequency hopping radios (won by Racal-JAGUAR) and the SSS doctoral thesis in 1995 [7gv thesis], represent moments of the evolution of SSS in Romania and in the same time results of what people’s knowledge and passion can do.

Knowledge and passion were the

ingredients Irwin Jacobs (and Andrew Viterbi – the recipient of 2010 IEEE Medal of Honor) used to transform, after 1985, the CDMA extention idea into the actual mobile communications standards basics. That does not means it was an easy way!

Between 1985 and 1989, Jacobs and his Qualcom team, after showing the main advantages of CDMA for cellphones (higher number of users, better spectrum use, jam proofing communications) studied and solved „one of the biggest complexities” of CDMA: controlling the power of signals sent from the cellphone to the cell tower[1].

In 1989, when the first generation (G1) of mobile communications (MC) was in use as analog technology, the principal producers decided to choose TDMA (time division multiple access) for the next generation of MC (G2), a digital technology, because they considered CDMA „too complicated” for G2.

Despite of these opinions, Irwin Jacobs and Qualcom continued the research and in november 1989 invited 100 producers or operators of cellphone systems at a CDMA demonstration, in San Diego.

The demo was very dramatic: „if that demo had failed, we probably would have been died”, as Jacobs recals [1].

As a matter of fact and strange coincidence, the two CDMA base stations had well operated, but they had used for synchronization (one of the most complicated problems of SSS and CDMA) the signals from then-nascent GPS (Global Positioning System) – a constellation of 24 satellites which today is the „natural” support for a huge diversity of mankind activities.

For Jacobs’s desperation, the demo was blocked for 45 minutes, because in that period one of the GPS was itself out of synchronization.

Notice GPS was using SSS/CDMA! Finally the demo was an impressing success, but the CDMA way to industry was still long.

In 1991, Jacobs and Qualcom had demonstrated CDMA for cellphone communications in New York, but the skepticism of wireless carriers executives still persisted.

Very interesting is that, at 1991 demo, a Stanford professor „told people that CDMA violeted the laws of physics” and The Wall Street Journal claimed in September 1996 that „Jacobs hype was causing carriers and

cellphones manufacturers to throw away billions of dollars”[1].

As a strange coincidence (but great for Romania) is the fact that 10 years before, when I have presented in 1981 my first paper on SSS, at Politehnica University of Bucharest [11], a very well known communications professor, who wrote [12], said: „what this young guy has presented it’s impossible to work”.

On the other hand, Jacobs and Qualcom continued and in July 1993, the Telecommunications Industry Association approved CDMA as standard.The first commercial CDMA network become operational in 1995 (Hong Kong) and Qualcom is today a 115 billion USD company [1].

The rest, achieving G3 and up to today in G4, is the long (not shorted) story of CDMA in World’s mobile broadband communications.

2. How CDMA reveals one more time the ICT potential to leverage IS development and people’s knowledge and innovation capacity One of the fascinating mechanisms of ICT exponential development is the power of its innovations to multiply their effects not only in the technological world, but also in the human society they build as IS, by a diversity of consequences, mainly linked with the peoples minds.

In the reality, the IS development, even it is the based on ICT growing, would not be possible if ICT would not have such a complex and dramatic mutual dependence with the mankind creation capacity.

If we try to find the beginning of this „circle”, we surely must admit that always the man is first, i.e. understand how important the knowledge, the innovation and the human passion are, for the achievement of such huge and complicated things, as CDMA/SSS is.

Recalling the above story, it is clear not only What is CDMA? but also Why CDMA?, as CDMA proved to be, like IP (Internet Protocol), a “must” of ICT progress.

An amazing observation at this moment is that despite the CDMA/SSS future power, at the beginning, a large community of specialists considered it from “impossible” to “too complicated”.

Now it is easy to get the paper point: such great mankind achievements could be obtained only by highly refined knowledge, innovation capacity, a lot of passion and … hard working.

Of course, CDMA is not the single example, but is one of the most recent and relevant, in science and technology history. Another example (name) could be enough: Einstein.

On the other hand we have to also stress how important is that ICT is leveraging these people’s skills, especially the innovation capacity and the processes of refining knowledge [3], [10].

Here we would like to reveal the particular ways CDMA, as a prominent concept of actual ICT, could help people’s creation processes.

As we already presented in the Network Centric and Cloud cases [9], CDMA is also a model that could influence IS beyond the obvious ways of the ICT technological implications, even if the CDMA influence were not in the same ways and dimensions.

The essential observation could be extracted just from the Irwin Jacobs’s initial idea: we can optimize a process by reusing the pauses, i.e. the time.

One could say: Nothing new under the sun! And yes, he would be write.

We also have mentioned [9] that one of the ICT essential contributions to the people’s education and to IS given by the products and services which enable the people to reuse the time and generally to optimize the use of time with an amazing efficiency.

If we would try again to simply express the „too complicated” CDMA, we have to observe that the novelty CDMA brings, versus the conventional multiple access techniques (TDMA- time division multiple access; FDMA=frequency division multiple access) consists of optimizing both time and frequency, in a sophisticated manner: by assigning to users and networks special codes, which may be simpler (shorter and easy generated) or very complicated (longer, if necessary highly and multicriteria elaborated), depending of application’s desired performances.

As an other strange coincidence, we achieved [7] by extending Gold codes generating techniques and proposing a new similar class of codes for CDMA/SSS [4]. And how? By refining mathematical knowledge (Galois Extended Fields), work, passion and ... Personal Computers.

Coming back to people, CDMA could teach us to optimize time and other resources (not only frequency spectrum), by refining (coding=linking in new ways) the knowledge, i.e. innovating the ways we used to think, we used to do anything, we used to work, we used to consume, we used to learn, we used to imagine and so on.

In all the above examples, using the CDMA’s model, the people could learn, without restricting their rights, that in the more and more „complicated” life on Earth, we have to refine our knowledge using the latest information, we have to innovate new ways to improve or at least to preserve all the Earth and mankind resources.

We have also to adapt and face the new challenges of life, including the „side effects” of the technological progress, using the CDMA/SSS models, which „compute” and provide any „slice” of all the resources for every user and network, in a precise and negociated order, avoiding interference and conflicts.

Perhaps the simplest form to concentrate the paper’s essence is to emphasize the power of CDMA to leverage the mankind activity, by technological concrete consequences and also as a model to manage the resources - from time and electromagnetic spectrum to anything people must share on Earth.

A subsequent lesson people could learn from CDMA is to better and wiser live with the neighbours and environment, reducing the „mutual interference” and being more tolerant on a

rational (coded=calculated/rational) basis.

The „secure” feature of CDMA/SSS could help us to respect privacy and personal information, such idea being very actual as social networks already reveal their risks on privacy and overdoing.

In the same field of Internet and beyond (in IS) we may see the danger of governments tendencies to enterfere with the private life and information, without speaking of similar inter-national political actions, state cyber-attacks etc.

Finally we may come back with an optimistic observation: against all of these „attacks”, CDMA/ SSS could defend and support us in concrete ways, based on standards which include CDMA/ SSS, as IEEE 802.xx family (which includes WiFi, Bluetooth, WiMax) and the universal cellphone networks 3G and 4G and...beyond.

3.

Conclusions

CDMA and SSS are prominent achievements of ICT, which are leading the development of modern communications, including their most dynamic branch, the broadband mobile communications as universal 3G and 4G cellphone nettworks.

CDMA, as an inherent feature of SSS, first used for secure military wireless communications and soon for radar, but later extended to satellite (like GPS), navigation etc., has been proposed after 1985 for commercial cellphone nettworks by Irwin Jacobs (and his Qualcom team), but despite of the fact that most of the specialists considered CDMA „too complicated” at that moment, their knowledge and determination led to the actual huge applications of CDMA. This paper’s space only partial could express the power of CDMA to leverage the mankind activity, by technological concrete consequences and also as a model to manage all resources from time and electromagnetic spectrum to anything people must share on Earth.

More than these, among other ICT models (like Network Centric and Cloud), CDMA/SSS could leverage people’s creation capacity and improve their efficiency when using limited resources in the IS, being in the same time an example of what people’s knowledge, innovation and passion can do, when facing the life challenges either in Romania, USA or anywhere on Earth and ... beyond.

REFERENCES [1] Tekla S. Perry, Captain Cellular, IEEE Spectrum, May 2013.

[2] Victor P. Greu, Jamming and Interference resistant radio communications, The Military Printing House, Bucharest, 1992 (in Romanian language).

[3] Robert W. Lucky, Other people’s knowledge, IEEE Spectrum, January 2013.

[4] Victor P. Greu, Bogdan Vasilescu, Basic method for generating “quasi-orthogonal” spread-spectrum signal formats, Proceedings of the International Conference “ECCTD’97(European Conference on Circuits Theory and Design)”, Budapest-Hungary, 1997.

[5] Victor Greu, Alexandru Serbanescu, Methods, Techniques and new Technologies in Communications-Vol.IV (Wideband Radio Communications Systems), The Military Technical Academy Printing House, Bucharest, 1989 (in Romanian language).

[6] Abdulaziz S. Almazyad and Farooqui N.K., Towards Knowledge Based Society, Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science, 2009, Vol II, WCECS 2009, October 20-22, 2009, San Francisco, USA.

[7] Victor P. Greu, Methods to realize the spread-spectrum communications systems (Doctoral Thesis), The Military Technical Academy, Bucharest, 1995 (in Romanian language).

[8] *** Towards a knowledge based Europe The European Union and the information society, European Commission Directorate General Press and Communication, October 2002.

[9] Victor Greu, The Network Centric And Cloud - A New Paradigm For The Optimization Of The Technical And Human Information Systems, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 2, Year 2011.

[10] Carlos Baladron, Javier M.Aguiar, Belen Carro, Lorena Calavia, Alejandro Cadenas, Antonio Sanchez-Esguevillas, Framework for intelligent service adaptation to user’s context in next generation networks, IEEE Communications Magazine, mar.2012.

[11] Victor Greu, Interference Stable Spread-Spectrum Information Transmission Techniques, Presented at The Jubilee Conference „100 years of engineering higher education in Romania”, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 1981 (in Romanian language).

[12] Mugur Savescu, Radiorelays and spatial radio communications, Pedagogical and didactic

Printing

Hous,

Bucharest,

1976

(in

Romanian

language).

Prof. Eng. Ph.D. Victor GREU

GLOBAL PRODUCT POLICY DECISIONS: DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCTS FOR GLOBAL MARKETS

by George Cosmin Tﾄハase

Abstract

For most companies, new products are the bread-and-butter of their growth strategy. Unfortunately, developing new products is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, with tremendous challenges. The new product development process becomes especially a major headache for multinational organizations that try to coordinate the process on a regional or sometimes even worldwide basis. The steps to be followed in the global new product development (NPD) process are by-and-large very similar to domestic marketing situations. A cornerstone of a global marketing mix program is the set of product policy decisions that multinational companies (MNCs) constantly need to formulate. The product policy questions that need to be tackled are various: What new products should be developed for what markets? What products should be added to, removed from, or modified for the product line in each of the countries in which the company operates?

What brand names should be used? How should the product be packaged? serviced? and so forth.

Key words

JEL Classification: L20, M31, O20

: Adaptation; Core-product approach; Customization; Extension; Invention; Standardization; Product Characteristics; Communication Strategy

3. Complexity. Is the product easy to understand? Easy to use?

4. Triability. Are prospects able to try out the product on a limited basis?

5. Observability. How easy is it for possible adopters to observe the results or benefits of the innovation? Can these benefits easily be communicated?

The challenge of entering foreign markets with new products In general, three types of factors drive the adoption of new products: individual differences, personal influences, and product characteristics. Individuals differ in terms of their willingness to try out new products. Early adopters are eager to experiment with new ideas or products. Late adopters take a wait-and-see attitude. Early adopters differ from laggards in terms of socioeconomic traits (income, education, social status), personality, and communication behavior. A prominent role is also played by the influence of prior adopters. Word-of-mouth spread by previous adopters often has a much more significant impact on the adoption decision than non-personal factors such as media advertising. For many product categories, peer pressure will often determine whether (and when) a person will adopt the innovation. The third set of factors relates to the nature of the product itself. Five product characteristics are key: 1. Relative Advantage. To what extent does the new product offer more perceived value to potential adopters than existing alternatives?

2. Compatibility. Is the product consistent with existing values and attitudes of the individuals in the social system? Are there any switching costs that people might incur if they decide to adopt the innovation?

Companies can pursue three global strategies to penetrate foreign markets. Some firms simply adopt the same product or communication policy used in their home market as an extension of their homegrown product/communication strategies to their foreign markets. Other companies prefer to adapt their strategy to the local marketplace. This strategy of adaptation enables the firm to cater to the needs and wants of its foreign customers. A third alternative is to adopt an invention strategy by which products are designed from scratch for the global market place. At one extreme, a company might choose to market a standardized product using a uniform communications strategy. Early entrants in the global arena often opt for this approach. Also, small companies with few resources typically prefer this option. For them, the potential payoffs of customized products and/or advertising campaigns usually do not justify the incremental costs of adaptation. Dual extension might also work when the company targets a ‘‘global’’ segment with similar needs. Blistex’s marketing efforts for its namesake product in Europe is a typical example. The product, a lip balm, offers identical needs in each of the various European markets.

Except for some minor modifications (e.g., labeling), the same product is sold in each country.

In 1995, Blistex ran a uniform European advertising campaign, using identical positioning (‘‘Care-to-Cure’’) and advertising themes across countries. Due to differences in the cultural or competitive environment, the same product often is used to offer benefits or functions that dramatically differ from those in the home market. Such gaps between the foreign and home market drive companies to market the same product using customized advertising campaigns. Although it retains the scale economies on the manufacturing side, the firm sacrifices potential savings on the advertising front. Wrigley, the Chicago-based chewing gum company, is a typical practitioner

of this approach. Most of the brands marketed in the

United States are also sold in Wrigley’s overseas markets. Wrigley strives for a uniformly superior quality product. To build up the chewing gum category, Wrigley sells its products at a stable and low price.

Given that chewing gum is an impulse item, Wrigley aims for mass distribution. The company sees an opportunity to sell its product at any place where money changes hands. Despite these similarities in Wrigley’s product and distribution strategies, there are wide differences in its communication strategy. The benefits that are promoted in Wrigley’s advertising campaigns vary from country to country. In the United States, Wrigley has capitalized on smoking regulations by promoting chewing gum as a substitute for smoking.

In several European countries, Wrigley’s advertising pitches the dental benefits of chewing gum. In the Far East, Wrigley promotes the benefit of facial fitness in its advertising campaigns. Alternatively, firms might adapt their product but market it using a standardized communications strategy. Local market circumstances often favor the case of product adaptation.

Another reason for product adaptation could be the company’s expansion strategy. Many companies add brands to their product portfolio via acquisitions of local companies. To leverage the existing brand equity enjoyed by the acquired brand, the local brand is often retained. Although these factors lead to product adaptation, similar core values and buying behaviors among consumers using the product might present an opening for a harmonized communications strategy. Within such a context, clever marketing ideas can be transferred from one country to another country, despite the product-related differences.

Differences in both the cultural and physical environment across countries call for a dual adaptation strategy. Under such circumstances, adaptation of the company’s product and communication strategy is the most viable option for international expansion.

Standardization versus Product Customization A recurrent theme in global marketing is whether companies should aim for a standardized or country-tailored product strategy. Standardization means offering a uniform product on a regional or worldwide basis. Minor alternations are usually made to meet local regulations or market conditions (for instance, voltage adjustments for electrical appliances). However, by and large, these changes only lead to minor cost increases. A uniform product policy capitalizes on the commonalities in customers’ needs across countries. The goal is to minimize costs. These cost savings can then be passed through to the company’s customers via low prices.

With customization, on the other hand, management focuses on cross-border differences in the needs and wants of the firm’s target customers. Under this regime, appropriate changes are made to match local market conditions. While standardization has a product-driven orientation - lower your costs via mass-production - customization is inspired by a market-driven mindset - increase customer satisfaction by adapting your products to local needs. Forces that favor a globalized product strategy include: 1. Common customer needs. For many product categories, consumer needs are very similar in different countries. The functions for which the product is used might be identical. Likewise, the usage conditions or the benefits sought might be similar. One example of a product that targets a global segment is Apple’s iPhone. Since Apple launched iPhone in early 2007, Apple has sold about 13 million by October 2008.17 Apart from offering the features and benefits that competing smart phones offer, the iPhone’s emotional benefit of ‘‘coolness’’ is also a major reason for its popularity worldwide, especially among young audiences. Many product categories also show a gradual but steady convergence in consumer preferences. Growing similarities in consumer preferences have also been observed in the car industry. The 2008 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report, for example, revealed that color preferences are converging around the world, but with subtle differentiation between markets. White is a popular choice globally gaining top spot in North America, India and Japan. Other popular choices in-

clude black (China, Mexico and Europe) and silver (Brazil, China, Europe, India, Russia and South Korea). One trend that the report observes is the growing popularity of blue worldwide, especially among consumers looking for more environmental themes.

2. Global Customers. In business-to-business marketing, the shift toward globalization means that a significant part of the business of many companies comes from MNCs that are essentially global customers. Buying and sourcing decisions are commonly centralized or at the least regionalized.

As a result, such customers typically demand services or products that are harmonized worldwide.

3. Scale Economies. Cost savings from scale economies in the manufacturing and distribution of globalized products is in many cases the key driver behind standardization moves. Savings are also often realized because of sourcing efficiencies or lowered R&D expenditures. These savings can be passed through to the company’s end customers via lower prices. Scale economies offer global competitors a tremendous competitive advantage over local or regional competitors. In many industries though, the ‘‘economies of scale’’ rationale has lost some of its allure. Production procedures such as flexible manufacturing and just-in-time (JIT) production have shifted the focus from size to timeliness. CAD/ CAM techniques allow companies to manufacture customized products in small batch sizes at reduced cost. Although size often leads to lower unit costs, the diseconomies of scale should not be overlooked.

Bureaucratic bloat and employee dissatisfaction in large-scale operations often create hidden costs.

4. Time-to-Market. In scores of industries, being innovative is not enough to be competitive. Companies must also seek ways to shorten the time to bring new product projects to the market. This is especially true for categories with shortening product life cycles.

By centralizing research and consolidating new product development efforts on fewer projects, companies are often able to reduce the time-to market cycle. For example, Procter & Gamble notes that a pan-European launch of liquid laundry detergents could be done in 10 percent of the time it took in the early 1980s, when marketing efforts were still very decentralized.

Likewise, the Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval has been able to speed its time-to-market by streamlining its global new product development process.

5. Regional market agreements. The formation of regional market agreements such as the Single European Market encourages companies to

launch regional (e.g., pan-European) products or redesign existing products as pan-regional brands. The legislation leading to the creation of the Single European Market in January 1993 sought to remove most barriers to trade within the European Union. It also provided for the harmonization of technical standards in many industries. These moves favor pan-European product strategies. Mars, for instance, now regards Europe as one giant market. It modified the brand names for several of its products, turning them into pan-European brands. Marathon in the United Kingdom became Snickers, the name used in Continental Europe. The Raider bar in Continental Europe was renamed Twix, the name used in the United Kingdom.

Conclusion

Global product policy decisions are tremendously important for the success of an MNC’s global marketing strategies. A multinational company has three options: extension of the domestic strategy, adaptation of home-grown strategies, and invention by designing products that cater to the common needs of global customers. One of the major issues firms wrestle with is the standardization-versus-customization issue. At the same time, there will always be forces that push the product strategy in the direction of customization. Ideally, companies strike a neat balance between product standardization and adaptation. There are two product design approaches that enable a firm to capture the benefits of either option: the modular and the core-product approach. By adopting these approaches or their variants, firms minimize the risk of over-standardizing their product offerings while still grabbing the scale economies benefits that flow from a uniform product policy.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Duarte, Deborah and Nancy Snyder.‘‘Facilitating Global Organizational Learning in New Product Development at Whirlpool Corporation,’’ Journal of Product Innovation Management, 14(1997).

Eppinger, Steven D., and Anil R. Chitkara.‘‘The New Practice of Global Product Development.’’ MIT Sloan Management Review, 47(Summer 2006), pp. 22–30.

Garber, Don, ‘‘How to Manage a Global Product Development Process,’’ Industrial Marketing Management, 25, 1996, pp. 483–89.

Gielens, Katrijn, and Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp.‘‘Drivers of Consumer Acceptance of New Packaged Goods: An Investigation Across Products and Countries.’’ International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24(2007), pp. 97–111.

Kalish, Shlomo, Vijay Mahajan, and Eitan Muller, ‘‘Waterfall and sprinkler new-product strategies in competitive global markets,’’ International Journal of Research in Marketing, 12, July 1995.

Kleinschmidt, E. J., ‘‘A Comparative Analysis of New Product Programmes,’’ European Journal of Marketing, 28(7), 1994, pp. 5–29.

Lynn, Michael and Betsy D. Gelb, ‘‘Identifying innovative national markets for technical consumer goods,’’ International Marketing Review, 13(6), 1996, pp. 43–57.

It happens in Romania too

Abstract

The elegance contests of the ancient car holders are usually attracting a large number of car lovers and a great audience eager to admire the masterpieces of car builders of all time. The “Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens”. had always expressed its willing to cultivate public interest for historical vehicles all around the world. All elegance contest proved to be true social events and are sometimes a place where you can meet local personalities and even may notice fashion trends. Let us find out why “our jewels have wheels.”

Keywords:

Auto Universe; Ancient Car Clubs; Romanian Concours d’Elegance ; Retromobil

JELClassification: L62, L82, M

A true passion that rebuilds, that is enduring, that “drives” you…

Concours d’elegance or Concorsso d’eleganza are opportunities for world historic automobile lovers to expose in bright highlights some exceptional technical items in the field of auto universe that come to the public attention after laborious restoration work. To understand how much passion have all the owners of an ancient car I must say that such elegance contests as well as other kind of meetings of the car holders are usually attracting a large number of car lovers and a great audience eager to admire the masterpieces of car builders of all time. Ancient car clubs are engaged in rallies and raids, inside their own countries and on the whole continent. The meetings of the car owners and remanufacturers of ancient vehicles became main events on their agenda as well as of the large audience they can gather. I witness some 1o years ago the arrival for a 2 days rest, of a group of almost 20 British ancient cars all prewar models, on their route to China!!! I think that the desire of this group to reach such a far destination speaks for itself and one may say that we are talking about a crazy love for all these masterpieces on four wheels.

It is to underline that the specific International federation, a real world club of all ancient cars owners use to make a remarkable lobby to the state authorities and enjoys a great reputation making it able to impose legal regulations for historic cars community protection and preservation of ancient vehicles considered today as part of the universal technical patrimony. Such global efforts to protect this community are concentrated in the hands of FIVA - Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens –established in 1966 and located in Bruxelles. Due to the high position occupied by FIVA , today no new European directive connected to ancient vehicles is adopted before it was checked by this body. The Federation had always expressed its willing to cultivate public interest for historical vehicles all around the world.

The elegance contest represent the corollary of the efforts paid by the owners and remanufacturers to keep the ancient vehicles in their best shape. During last years all elegance contest proved to be true social events and are some-

times a place where you can meet local personalities and even may notice fashion trends.

The Sinaia Concour d’elegance 2013 Well, in Romania too, such Concours d’elegance are successfully held. This year during 28-29 th of June on Sinaia royal estate Peles, under the high patronage of HM King Mihai I of Romania took place the III rd edition of Sinaia Concours d’elegance. This events recall the 1934 Contest of elegance launched by A.C.R.R. (The Romanian Royal Car Club established 1904) and held again in 1935. The first time in history of Romania such events took place in 1929, the same year when in Italy near the lake of Como the famous Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este was born. At the 2013 Sinaia Concours d’elegance the grand prize was won by a Dual Ghia L 6.4 car built in 1963 which is the 13 th one of the total of 27 cars ever produced. Another 7 trophies were afforded to each group of vehicles attending the Contest-prewar and classic categories, both with three groups coupe/sedan/cabriolet and Romanian built cars and criteria were focused on outer look , originality and of course on the elegance .

Romanian Concours d’elegance are planned and organized according to the European model by the most important ancient cars club of the country, Retromobil Club of Romania (R.C.R. established 1998) presided by Mr. Bogdan Coconoiu. Retromobil Club Romania is a member of FIVA and its agenda is yearly populated by almost 25 different manifestations-exhibitions, elegance contest, regularity rallies, circuit races, raids, symposiums. Today the Club membership counts for more than 540 and more than 1500 ancient vehicles were certified as historic ones. From strictly historic point of view Retromobil Club Romania is proud to register some very rare cars starting with 1903. Some of this vehicles show outstanding technical features that can make them able to compete with nowadays cars in what the driving comfort and performance are concerned. There are a large variety of auto brands starting with those that already disappeared- Adler, Aero, Borgward , Hanomag, Berliet – and other that continued their existence in Europe, USA, Japan - Ford, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Toyota, Volkswagen, Dacia, Fiat, Jaguar, a.s.o. A special attention is focused

to vehicles built in Romania, some of them being almost out of sight due to the state measures to stimulate the renewal of national car stock. Retromobil Club Romania is offering technical assistance to all people having an ancient car or to those thinking to posses one. Retromobil is the official body accredited by Romanian State to issue the historic vehicle Certificate of Authenticity.

The Retromobil Club activity under the motto â&#x20AC;&#x153;our jewels have wheelsâ&#x20AC;? develops from April to October, most of the gathering being annual events. They are organized in localities of historic or touristic interest and where 23 regional branches of Retromobil are located .

I invite you now to admire some of the automobiles awarded at the Sinaia Concour dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;elegance 2013, and also suggest all of you to visit the Retromobil official site retromobil.ro and web page facebook.com/clubretromobil for other interesting details of its activity.

I would be really happy, as a member of this Club, to find even one of you becoming an ancient car fan and just thinking to own such an automobile in the future.

A Key Message about the Richness of Our Country Brand: The Fantastic in the Works of Our Great Romanian Classics Prof. Dr. TudoriČ&#x203A;a Albu

As we all know (http://www.distributionmagazine.eu/a-distinguished-representativeof-saint-josephs-university-philadelphia-visitedthe-%e2%80%9efirst-romanian-school-andthe-primary-school-no-11-st-o-iosif-in-brasov/), School remains the place where each generation will pass on its values. Prof. Dr. Tudorita ALBU, Director of the Primary School No. 11 “St. O. Iosif” from Brasov, recognized as a “European School”, is continuing her struggle for performance thanks to a virtues-led management (http://www.crd-aida.ro/2012/11/dr-tudorita-albudirector-primary-school-no-11-st-o-iosif-brasovrecognized-european-school-continuing-struggle-performance-virtues-led-management/).

Within this well-known framework, Prof. Dr. Tudorita ALBU advocates for virtues-led management, virtues as applied in the school, hence the positive culture that allowed the submission of a substantial effort in terms of training and development programs, both by promoting the universal values ​​(love, integrity, justice, support and respect relationships from top management to bottom and from bottom to top), and national ones (the passion for the recovery of these values ​​and promoting the authentic being obvious).

Ever since six years ago the mass media recorded that at the level of the Primary School No. 11 “St. O. Iosif” in Brasov there are responsible concerns – that sign up, in fact, for the directions promoted by SANABUNA International Congress (http://www.sanabuna.ro/ ) – started in the 2007-2008 school year through a plea “for health and life”, following 2007 where there was a participation in the “chain of tolerance and peace” (planting trees together with Schools all around the world - Gazeta de Transilvania, September 19, 2007) and healthy eating was promoted among students (“European Food of Healthy Food and Cooking”, 2007), organizing, for example, a meeting with the topic “Healthy food between traditional and modern” (Gazeta de Transilvania, November 9, 2007). Besides, a few months later, in the following year, 2008, a significant signal was given concerning responsible action related to the promotion of healthy food in the units of pre-universitary education (http://ecaterinaandronescu.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/ proiectul-de-lege-pentru-o-alimentatie-sanatoasa-in-unitatile-de-invatamant-preuniversitar/).

Subsequently, the importance for consistent action for healthy eating was highlighted in 2011 (http://www.crd-aida.ro/activitiespartnership/

sanabuna-2011/) and in 2012 by the Honorary President of SANABUNA International Congress, Professor Eliot SOREL (http://www. sanabuna.ro/speakers/eliotsorel/ ; http://www. sanabuna.ro/reflections-on-enhancing-healthsystems-performance-access-quality-and-affordability/ ). Even in the year 2011, in which the First SANABUNA International Congress was organized (http://www.crd-aida.ro/activitiespartnership/sanabuna-2011/), the Primary School No. 11 “St. O. Iosif” in Brasov was visited by the well-known Professor John L. STANTON from Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia (http://www.distribution-magazine.eu/a-distinguished-representative-of-saint-josephs-university-philadelphia-visited-the-%e2%80%9efirstromanian-school-and-the-primary-school-no-11-st-o-iosif-in-brasov/). In the opinion of Prof.

Dr. Tudorita ALBU, Director of the Primary School No. 11 “St. O. Iosif” in Brasov, education means life and civilization transmission, it is how to be prepared for tomorrow, is learning from heart to heart to know how to grow your own flower, the School being the one that provides you with the necessary cultivation, and ensure the nation’s upbringing.

During the book launch (“The fantastic in the works of our great Romanian classics”, authored

by Prof. Dr. Tudorita ALBU and published by Infomarket Publishing Press, Brasov) held on the occasion of the International Fair for Books and Music, Brasov, March 2009, took the floor four distinguished speakers: George Sorescu, Stancu Ilin, Theodor Purcarea and Adrian Paunescu. The event was professionally organized and the venue was outstanding. Within this context, it is argued that this kind of books should be in every Romanian hotel room free of charge and could be taken as souvenir by the tourists back home, supporting the branded experience, tourism branding and promotion of country brand.

Abstract

fabulous is treated in a realistic manner, his stoThe Romanian literature has a really rich and ries being characterized by “an original juxtapooriginal folklore, and the fantastic is part of our sition of the miraculous and the most specific reliterature. The cultured tale is a species that has ality” (George Calinescu).

The fantastic has been important in Ion spectacularly blossomed on the land of the Ro- manian folklore and mythology. The Romanian Luca Caragiale’s literary work, as well. Correfantastic prose can contribute to our Country lations have been made between his fantastic branding, because country branding comes with short-stories and Edgar Alan Poe’s ones. Carathe images that come to mind, and a brand based giale’s fantastic is the fantastic of the queer and on authentic identity connects itself through ap- of the frightful, spliced on the inland mythology propriate layers, allowing the creation and own- trunk. In some of his short-stories, Caragiale ing an image and consistently building that im- exploits the mythical and magical mentality, the age, offering likeability and credibility in today popular superstitions and beliefs and makes us world of perceptions in which it is arguing that familiar with a new category, the satanic and demonic one. brands have the power to change this world.

The Romanian fantastic. Historical and folklore roots : Country Branding; Fantastic; Literature; Original Folklore; Competitive Values Beyond the defining of the aesthetical M31, Y30, Z11 category of the fantastic, the significances of the concept, the main theories of the fantastic, their critic, new interpretations of the fantastic in world An artistic expression of a people who literature, allow us to underline that the mythoreveals a unanimously admitted proverbial logical Romanian fantastic has its roots in folkpoetic nature lore. The mythical and magical miraculous world

constitutes one of the most important directions of the Romanian fantastic prose that makes it The fantastic is part of our literature, a lit- stand out among other literatures. The mythic erature with a really rich and original folklore, an and the magic are permanent ingredients of the artistic expression of a people who (beside a re- human spirit. Tales are myths no longer sacred. alistic sense) also reveals a unanimously admit- By their orientation to folklore and mythology, the ted proverbial poetic nature. It was not possible Romantics created the cultured tale as a supefor a literature with such an innate mood for lyri- rior synthesis of poetry and philosophy. cism not to register in this direction – of the fan- Besides the tales, the folklore brought the tastic – clear, indubitable successes, competitive myths, fabulous stories with a semantic loading, values in the universal context. especially complex because of the problems ap The massive existence of the mythologi- proached: people’s beliefs about gods and legcal fantastic constitutes one of the characteristics endary heroes, etc. as a first step to knowledge; of our literature. The cultured tale is a species the first efforts of man to establish, by intuition, that has spectacularly blossomed on the land of the great truths of the world – mythical truths. the Romanian folklore and mythology. The first attempt belongs to Mihai Eminescu, under the The fantastic before and during the revoluinfluence of the German Romanticism. “Fat-Fru- tionary ideological movement of the 1848 pemos din lacrima” is an anthological prose where riod many of the elements of Eminescu’s lyrical universe are to be found. The titanic force is a major The most important writer before that theme. It combines with an atmosphere similar movement occurred in Romanian literature to Hoffmann’s fantastic prose. was Ion Budai Deleanu, the author of the only

The Romanian cultured tale has reached finished Romanian epic work, in spite of other its climax in Ion Creanga’s work. The writer form attempts that followed it. In “Tiganiada” we witHumulesti was a great narrator, whose stories ness an admirable illustration of the popular fancame out of the folklore’s circuit and became tastic, both in the elements of demonology and personal literary works. In Creanga’s works the

Keywords

JEL Classification:

in presenting the Christian supernatural or in incantations, spells, traditions, beliefs. The scenes where heaven and hell are depicted offer striking descriptions fed by the raw and healthy sap of the popular fudges and not by the conventionality of the theological views.

As a whole, the 1848 period literature is not the literature of a generation; it includes the most representative writers, spanning from the older ones to the younger generation. Yet, 1848 period literature displays a unitary orientation with an extraordinary inner coherence. Among the important characteristics of this period literature is the appreciation of folklore.

Turning to good account the value of folklore was an important achievement. Among the important features of the literature of that period was the development of in Moldavia. Gheorghe Asachi, in Moldavia, develops the specific forms of the early Romanticism the frightful and the dark of the world of the resurrected medieval legends, of ghosts and ruins in works like “Eufrosina”, “Viziune pe rapele Ozanai” and especially “Turnul lui But” and “Dochia si Traian”; an endeavour to creat a Moldavian mythology.

Less productive in the fantastic area, Costache Stamati wrote two poems: “Povestea povestelor” and “Dragos”, in which we can find invincible heroes, fairies, personifications of the destiny, in a universe governed by miracles. In narrating strange happenings or in describing the macabre frame, the author insists on the suggestive details that remind of Edgar Allan Poe’s fantastic prose.

The folklore has always circulated the myths. Ion Heliade Radulescu wrote his masterpiece “Sburatorul”, the myth of love, also quoted

by Dimitrie Cantemir. Heliade has the merit of locating the myth in an area where reality “talks” to the mystery. This is the Romanian village from the past, subject to some old beliefs. We can also consider “Caderea dracilor”, where the titanic heroes are romantic, while the central motif sends us to the biblical texts.

The fantastic has an aesthetical function in Grigore Alexandrescu’s masterpiece “Umbra lui Mircea. La Cozia”, the theme being the resurrection of the brave soldiers’ shadows who fought and died. In this poem, Mircea is a fantastic character typical for Romanticism. The personified night, as well as the whole nature, contributes to the frame of mystery, a characteristic of the fantastic.

More substantial from the point of view of our topic is Dimitrie Bolintineanu’s poetry.

The cycles of his “Basme (tales)” gathers heterogeneous poems. Some of them, like “Fata din dafin”, “Sir’te margarite”, “Pestera mustelor” feature the fantastic ballads. “Mihnea si baba”, “O noapte la morminte”, “Umbra razbunatoare” show a gloomy atmosphere, similar to that in the German ballads of Burger Uhlan.

Vasile Alecsandri’s literary work is under the magic sign of folk literature. Form the perspective of the topic, “Dan, capitan de plai” is a brilliant legendary epic, in which the author artistically combines history and folklore, reality and fantastic. The coordinates of the myth and allegorical story with explanatory value are to be found in “Legenda crinului”, “Legenda lacramioarelor”, “Legenda randunicai”, “Razbunarea lui Statu-Palma”.

The fantastic in the works of our great classics: Mihai Eminescu, Ion Creanga, Ion Luca Caragiale Mihai Eminescu has given to the fantastic the most genuine Romantic dimension in Romanian literature. For him, the dream was also a poetic way to the fantastic, overlapping the poetic imagination. The Romantic themes presented

by George Calinescu as a background for Mihai Eminescu’s work are, in fact, forms of the romantic fantastic: the imagery of the initial chaos in the poetic cosmogony, the imaginary journey of man in the outer space, the contemplation of plurality of the worlds in representations of the sidereal spaces, the music of the spheres, the merging and changing of the worlds, the underground spirits that intervene in people’s lives under strange disguises, the macabre contrasts, the beautiful dead, the cadaverous dream, the insignificance of the ego in the confusion between dream and reality, the demolition of the human being, a.s.o.

The tale “Fat Frumos din lacrima”, exemplary contains the great irradiating cores, proper to the fantastic specificity in Eminescu’s entire work. The epic and fantastic development of the tale starts from a fundamental magic idea in the order of the genesis mystery. We can add the selfishness springing from the drama of frustrating the fatherly instinct, the complex of sacred maternity, the over-sizing of the tale structures, dissociating between the tale and the legend; only the latter ones get nearer the fantastic al

legory of writing.

The hero has striking features of Eminescu’s “Archaeus”: the vocation to embody the principle of the vital energy in eternity; the gifts to move in a timeless time and in a space without dimensions; to own the supreme code of the eternal passge from life to death and from death to life, to be away from any consciousness of the knowledge limits, including the draw line between life and reality. Such data belonging to the Romantic dogma of Kant and Schoppenhauer, absorbed by the spirituality of the fabulous Romanian epic, transform this short- story-like tale an allegory of the human existence in and through the outer space.

The dream, as an aesthetic mode of fantastic and imaginary, in a nocturnal frame, is present in Eminescu’s great poems. The dream, sometimes, has the meaning of the tale, increasing the dimensions of reality to charge the imaginary with a lyrical significance, to sustain the feeling in a world in which no disruption is expected.

The poem “Strigoii” has a symbolic title in the poetic reorganization of the Romanian myth.

A first layer is made up by the ancient folklore treasure, with primitive magic significances. The historic meaning of the symbol is the very explanation of the primitive Getic-Dacian inheritance, an inheritance of beliefs in wilderness – the spirits of the earth. The human thought takes the form of the macabre fantastic when the obsessive desires transform the “world beyond” which is a world of the “spirits”; they are conceived, in the primitive mentality, as some “alive corpses”; then as some ghosts coming from the shadow kingdom among the alive to accomplish a curse.

Setting the story in an ancient space, Eminescu illustrates in his poem two opposite motifs: the Romanian motif, the belief in ghosts and the northern motif, the deep faith in magic powers.

The old wizard in “Strigoii” is one and the same of “Povestea magului calator prin stele”.

He stands for the wisdom and the power of the earth, being as old as times and as strong as them. The wizard travels among stars because he himself is the genius, a traveller to the endlessness of his soul. The symbol develops a meaning specific to Eminescu. If in “Strigoii” the wizard is Zamolxe’s servant, in “Povestea magului calator prin stele” he becomes the genius, the consciousness of immortality which he gets to on the long way of descending from the imaginary

world to the real one.

In “Memento mori”, nature becomes fantastic mythological beings, in the myth of the Dochia Fairy. In Dochia’s wood fortress lives the army of Dacia’s gods, representing nature broken loose in a storm run by Zamolxe. The Dacian myth deepens and relates to other southern an northern mythologies, in mysterious pages, difficult to interpreted. Inheriting the image of Dacia – depicted as a paradise in the literature of 1848 period. The mythic Dacia in “Memento mori” has no beginning, doesn’t seem to have experienced development and seems to exist for ever. In the structure of Dacia’s landscape one can barely see a frozen rocking of a primordial cosmic pulsation.

Just like in the folk love, Eminescu’s love comes to life from material elements of the beloved one, bearer of a magical task in conveying feelings. In the same authentic folklore vision in “Calin (file din poveste)”, the traditional imperial wedding is celebrated as a symbol of the cosmic triumph of the good over the evil. The whole nature rejoices with the guests in a bunch of symbols. The insects’ weeding has the same symbolic value, the whole vision being a dream like atmosphere whose fantastic is woven from the threads of an ancient mythical representation, still kept in the folklore (traditional) thinking.

In the Romanian literature, Eminescu proves to be a representative of the modern titan themes. He processes the folklore motifs of the Romanian myth. Eminescu, like a poet of the modern titan themes, transforms the dragon in “Fata din gradina de aur”, who in the popular belief is a symbol of the evil, into a symbol of the goodness, or of the creative genius in “Luceafarul’ (“Evening Star”). Hyperion is subject to divinity, yet he is not a defeated Satan, but a demon resigned to his own conscience, an alter-ego who is the Demiurge.

For Lucian Blaga the myth is the attempt of revealing a mystery with imaginative means; for Mircea Eliade the myth is a story of the sacred, regarding the fabulous times of the beginnings; for Mihai Eminescu the myth is often just a starting point of a thematic approach, with visible openings to larger areas of existence, to the own conscience. The myths in the commented poems set new relations between the meaning and the poetic ego.

Eminescu’s fantastic prose is build upon a sound philosophical basis. It is shaped around

the time and space reflections in the theory of metempsychosis and around a series of concepts like avatar, archetype, anamnesis. These concepts, together with the theories of time and space become Eminescu’s fundamental philosophy and are part of his round conception about world and life. In “Sarmanul Dionis”, the poet starts from the Kantian premise but he builds his arguments in the manner of Shopenhaur. With this short-story, the author inaugurates a new direction in the Romanian prose, namely the metaphysical, philosophical, fantastic direction.

In “Archaeus”, Eminescu expresses his theory about this particular topic concerning it the great mystery of life The theme of metempsychosis appears in the short-story “Avatarii Faraonului Tla”.

The author praises the superior Indian spirituality as opposed to the limited pragmatic European spirituality. “Geniu pustiu” is a novel in which there is a balance between the realistic and the fantastic directions, both the accurate description of reality and the insertion of the dream into everyday life go together.

Eminescu’s fantastic is philosophical, doctrinarian, giving depth to his prose and poetry, and guaranteeing its originality at universal level. We undelined analogies and differences between Eminescu’s view on fantastic and the view of the great romantic European writers: Novalis, Jean Paul Richter, Hoffmann, Holderlin, Théophile Gautier, Gerard de Nerval, Young, Byron, Edgar Allan Poe.

The analysis of Ion Creanga’s work from the perspective of the fantastic is to be found in the chapter entitled “Ion Creanga and the Mythological fantastic” with the following subchapters: “Archetype Structures of Fairytales”, “Demonology”, “The Initiation Journey, “The Story of HarapAlb”.

Creanga is appreciated for the homerism of his view, namely his capacity to see and evoke in a grand manner. His interest for greatness, together with the touch of a magic and miracle lead us to the conclusion that his stories and fairytales must be seen from the fantastic perspective, too. The structural moralism which characterizes Creanga’s entire epic Essentially, the degree of matching the fantastic criteria follows the pattern that this type of moralism has to complete; that is, from the explicit didactic stage to the existential implicit stage.

Worthy of interest are two stories: “Punguta cu doi bani” and “Fata babei si fata mos-

neagului”. The presence of human characters together with the animal characters, the communication established between these two distinct types of characters build up the miraculous factor; these are, in fact, elements by means of which the fabulous context of the narration is being shaped, subsequently becoming a realistfabulous universe.

In the narrations where we find demonology: (“The Story of Stan Patitul” and “Danila Prepeleac”), the suggestive rebuilding of the epic from a novelistic point of view is the translation of the magical-folk element. The fabulous and the fantastic are being approached in a realistic manner. The plot is still there but we can notice the unpredictable. The surreal, belonging to the fantastic, originates in the impact between the confessional substitution and the memorable realistic short-story setting imagined by the author. In “Ivan Turbinca”, the writer mocks at the sacred (holy) in both divine and demonic states.

Creanga’s writing is made up of both the realistic way of writing a short-story and the specific ways of writing a hagiographic legend.

Quintessence of the Romanian tale, “Povestea lui Harap Alb” (the story of Harap-Alb) is a heteroclitical work. Regarding our theme we may say that this tale reveals its epic existence as a projection into fantastic. The homerism of the writer’s vision creates that unique space where the fusion between reality and imaginary reaches perfection. The text represents a real book of knowledge commented. First of all, it deals with the myth of the initiation voyage; the old king tries to advise his son. In the compositional plan, the three hypostasis of the protagonist character correspond to the stages of the initiation voyage: the stage of getting ready for the journey at the King’s court – “The King’s son, the youngest” (naïve), the stage of departure and going trough the journey, Harap-Alb, the novice, who has to be initiated, and the stage of the reward, the emperor (the initiated). The bildungsroman feature of the tale supposes the pursuing of a spiritual becoming, by means of overcoming obstacles and changing the social status of the protagonist character.

Tudor Vianu, by considering that the most important features of Creanga’s tales are “the humanizing of fantastic” and the “novelistic character”, also states that the Moldavian author “makes possible the transition of literature from the popular level to the cultured level in a very

spontaneous way, by the developing of a talent brought back from the ancient rural culture that got now to the point of overcoming itself”.

The masterpiece of fantastic in Creanga’s work is, in Ovidiu Ghidirmic’s opinion, “The tale of Harap-Alb, a Romanian odyssey where, besides the taste for unusual experiences, what impresses is the flavor of the original language. The graphic of the vocabulary that starts from lexical inventiveness, unique by its boldness and the exploring of euphoric effects trough onomatopoeia make us recognize Creanga’s supremacy of style. Creanga, as our first great storyteller of universal value, stays on the same level in Romanian literature as Boccacio in the Italian literature and Chaucer in the English literature.

The fantastic has an important place in Ion Luca Caragiale’s work. His notion of fantastic is terrifying and strange, built up on the Romanian mythology.

In this paper, we analyzed his fantastic approach in the chapter entitled ”Fantastic in the work of Ion Luca Caragiale” with the subchapters entitled: “The Miraculous Buff”, “The Short-story Tale” and “The Balcanic Spirit and Satanism”.

Firstly we speak about the sketches where the pattern of the allegorical-fabulous popular tale creates the impression that it has the obvious purpose of underlining the social satire from a falsely miraculous angle. Typical for such a formula are: “Norocul Culegatorului”, “Olga si Spiridus” and “O inventie mare”. The narrative substance is being touched by the colossal popular epic. As a prose structure, the author’s performance is due to the creative freedom, the fantastic obtained by combining contrasting paradoxes of the realistic and journalistic styles of the narration and the one revealed by the mythical feature. The writer’s art shows the naïve and serious tone, appropriate to the religious apocryphal tales.

The short-story tale, as an imitation meant for obtaining moralist effects is represented by the short narrations “Poveste”, “Lungul nasului” and “Fat-Frumos cu Mot-in-Frunte”. As far as these narrations are concerned we may say that the epic doesn’t flow from real everyday facts.

The three narrations go beyond the folk prototype. They actually inaugurate a new tale species that of the comic- satiric genre, typically to Caragiale.

In these narrations too, the function of the fantastic element, extracted from the back-

ground of the folk miracles, is extremely easy to spot. The author’s effort is due to the revival of the fantastic tale and to the transition of the latter into a short-story structure. To imitate the folk tale, Caragiale had to refresh and tame the original epic substance to the specific rules of shortstory creation, namely what the modern theory of the narrative prose calls “short-story tale”. And that is what, in the Romanian literature, Caragiale and Creanga brilliantly illustrate.

Regarding the short-story tale, the writer’s masterpiece is “Abu-Hassan”. Subtitled “oriental story” the prose brings to our attention one of the most unusual form of intrusion concerning the folk mythical fantastic. The extraordinary capacity of structuring, in the sense of individualizing this piece of prose originates in the subtle combination of the comedy-anecdote substance with the fantastic concept translated into particular shapes.

The following narrations: “Calul Dracului”, “Kir Ianulea”, “La Hanul lui Manjoala”, “La conac” si “In vreme de razboi”- quite different as a structure tend to the epic realism. The fantastic originating in the folk magic reveals the deep demonic dimension of “Satanism”. It enters the psychology of man, often marking his behavior and, implicitly, his destiny. Here comes the most important element of Caragiale fantastic, namely what the critics have called “Satanism” of the great writer’s epical fantastic vision. Caragiale`s Satanism doesn’t surpass the folk concept; the devil embodies itself in man to tempt our weaknesses; we can consider “La conac” as a good example; in “La hanul lui Manjoala” the devil takes the shape of an animal; it is the spirit that disturbs our subconscious allowing to some well kept desires to get to the surface. Referring to the technique of the fantastic, the author uses the fantastic with a master’s technique. Thus, the Caragiale’s realism, visible throughout his writing, is in complete balance with the magical fantastic, the sign of an artistic lucidity which escapes into the fantastic in order to epically unfold his moralist intuitions, which in their turn, come from the contemplation of the human mechanisms of experience and observation.

According to the different patterns they follow, these stories identify satanism with the fantastic. While the satanism in “Calul dracului” and “ Kir Ianulea” has a distinctive epic expression, in “La hanul lui Manjoala”, “La conac”, “In vreme de razboi” we witness the contamina-

tion phenomenon of the character’s psychology.

Such differential phenomena are meant to unravel the true typology of this particular area of Caragiale’s prose and also to capture the relation with the fantastic.

In the narrative literature, the fantastic is the privileged field of the extraordinary, of what is out of the ordinary, either by the exotics or by the unusual. Its specificity supposes the touching of extremes, the situation of foreignness, which is the unconventional. Tzvetan Todorov considers that the fantastic has a very short existence, occupying the interval of an uncertainty, of a reader’s hesitation, of a hero’s dilemma: what is happening is real or it is just an illusion?

To sum we keep in mind that the fantastic concept can’t exist outside the creative fiction, and that it represents a fracture, a distortion of our perception of reality. There is a fine border between the fantastic and other forms of the bizarre of existence. Caragiale’s concept of fantastic, nuances the miraculous notion we find in Mircea Eliade’s short stories.

Conclusions The massive existence of the mythological fantastic is one of the main characteristics of our literature. The cultured tale is a literary species that will spectacularly flourish in the field of Romanian folk and mythology. The fantastic reflected in the works of Eminescu, Creanga and Caragiale becomes reference of spirituality. It can’t be ignored even if the works of the three great authors know other dimensions too. Even Slavici partially joins their circle. Gala Galaction inaugurates it in the mythical dimension of the specific Danube space. Sadoveanu’s fantastic is particularly complex, in works like “Creanga de aur” and “Nunta domnitei Ruxandra”. In “Mergand spre Harlau” we can anticipate the enigmatic fantastic of modern prose and in “Ochi de urs”, both the mythological and the psychological fantastic bond together.

Between the folk fabulous experiences and the miraculous mythical-magical ones, we have Vasile Voiculescu’s prose. Stefan Banulescu describes in his short-stories a veritable mythography of Baragan, which stands in-between the fabulous and the surreal.

The traditional fantastic literature knows notable accomplishments also in the works of other writers such as Liviu Rebreanu, Mircea Eli-

ade, Mateiu Caragiale, Ion Voinea, Al. Philippide and Laurentiu Fulga. An ideological complex finds its expression in multiple epical structures.

Esthetical domains where our exegesis stood long enough.

As we all know, a reputation needs to be earned, and a country depends on the good national image that attracts investors, tourists and so on. We are firmly convinced that the Romanian fantastic prose (the mythical and magical miraculous world constituting one of the most important directions of this fantastic prose; the massive existence of the mythological fantastic is one of the main characteristics of our literature, the cultured tale being a literary species that will spectacularly flourish in the field of Romanian folk and mythology, and the fantastic reflected in the works of our great Romanian classics becoming reference of spirituality) can contribute to our Country branding, because country branding comes with the images that come to mind, and a brand based on authentic identity connects itself through appropriate layers, allowing the creation and owning an image and consistently building that image, offering likeability and credibility in today world of perceptions in which it is arguing that brands have the power to change this world

The Fantastic in the Works of our Great Romanian Classics (Book Cover, 4)

The Fantastic in the Works of our Great Romanian Classics (Book Cover)

Certificate of “European School” for the School No. 11, “Stefan Octavian Iosif” Brasov, signed by Remus Procopie

Adrian Paunescu and Tudorita Albu during the book launch

“Diploma of Merit” for the School No. 11, “Stefan Octavian Iosif” Brasov, signed by Ecaterina Andronescu, President

Theodor Valentin Purcarea, Tudorita Albu, and Adrian Paunescu during the book launch.JPG

The Conferences Corner: European Conference on Social Media 2014, Brighton, UK Mini Track on Social Media and Innovation at ECSM 2014 Irina PURCÄ&#x201A;REA

Abstract

had 845 million monthly active users and 483 million daily active users as of Since the emergence of the first social media December 2011; iCrossing estimated Facebook networks, social media has continued to will reach one billion active users by August evolve and has now become a field of growing 2012. importance given the actual context that we are • Google Sites, whose traffic was mostly faced with nowadays, when people are using generated by YouTube, had 147.2 million an array of social media technologies as part of unique US viewers in May 2011 (2.2 billion viewing sessions) who each averaged their everyday lives and practices.

Due to this, scientists are now focusing even 311 minutes of viewing. more on examining social media practices in • LinkedIn had 35.0 million US visitors in order to provide new insight into how social November 2011.

• Twitter had 35.4 million US visitors in November media is reconfiguring daily life.

Social media has become important both in 2011i, an increase of 8.4 million the private lives of people and in business. from May 2011. As of mid-March 2012, Twitter Nowadays social is being integrated into the had 526.2 million registered accounts. communication strategy of organizations and • Tumblr had 15.9 million US visitors in November it has a fundamental role in building brand 2011, up 10.7 million from awareness through communications with the May 2011. customers, the diffusion of innovation as well as • Pinterest had nearly five million unique US the management of open innovation. Additionally, visitors in November 2011 and roughly 20 million social media networks can support the definition users in March 2012. and demographics of the target audience, and Another research, on social media and brand thus lead to a better understanding of what the perception this time, revealed that when it public expect from an organisation. The first comes to shifting brand favorability rapidly, European Conference on Social Media - ECSM social media appears strongest, confirming 2014 invites researchers to present their findings that social media can have a rapid impact on and new ideas, and practitioners to demonstrate attitudes. examples displaying a range of approaches related to the impact, use and potential of social media across disciplines.

Keywords: social media, innovation, conference JEL: L86, M31,M37

Current Social Media research insights Osterman Research’s own statistics indicate that social media is used heavily in the workplace. A survey conducted during the first quarter of 2012 found that the average employee spends 28 minutes per day using social media during work hours.

Leading “public” – or non-enterprise – social media platforms are widely used and are growing in popularity as evidenced by published statistics (Osterman Research White Paper, 2012): • Facebook, the most widely used social media tool, had 166.0 million US visitors in November 2011. The company reports that it

Source: Does investing in social media create business value?, [Online], available at : http://preview2.ogilvyone. gr/ogilvyone/Ogilvy-Social%20Media.pdf

The following are the major social media impacts on brand perception and favorability that were identified during this study: · People encountering KFC social media touchpoints demonstrated a 250% increase in their perception of KFC as a “great dining experience” · Brand favorability for people exposed to McDonald’s social touchpoints increased five times over the change in people not exposed

· Also, among those exposed to McDonald’s social touchpoints, there was a 45% increase in their perception that McDonald’s provided the “best value” for the money · Conversely, consumers who were exposed to social media and public relations touchpoints for Taco Bell had a 220% LOWER shift in their perceptions of Taco Bell as providing a “great dining experience”

Top Priorities for 2012 Social Media Efforts A 2012 MarketingProfs research on marketers’ social media priorities revealed that the top priorities for marketers 2012 were centered on increasing presence across social media platforms, followed closely by integrating social media with other online marketing channels.

Source: MarketingProfs, 2012, http://www.lithium.com/pdfs/whitepapers/MarketingProfs-2012-State-of-Social-MediaMarketing-v5OS6ShA.pdf

Addressing how social media can work to amplify and strengthen other channels will allow it to bring more to the table with regard overall marketing success.

with offline advertising.

European Conference on Social Media 2014

The European Conference on Social Media Marketers are acutely aware of the need to justify (ECSM 2014) seeks to establish a home social media expenditures with a clear ROI. This for researchers and practitioners with a wide shows that the focus is now on tracking social range of approaches to engaging with the media’s role in the funnel process by using better impact, use and potential of social media across measurement tools, and, as a result, increases disciplines.

The first European Conference on Social Media conversions.

- ECSM 2014 will take place in Brighton, UK, a A 2013 research outlined the fact that Paid Social city with a highly developed commercial, artistic Media Advertising Budgets are growing, at the and academic engagement with the use and expense of other channels, as 64% of advertisers evaluation of social media. This puts Brighton surveyed indicated they expect to increase their in an excellent position to share experience paid social media advertising budget for 2013 from European research and practice with (Vizu, 2013). Paid social media advertising is Asia, America, Africa and the world. increasingly being viewed as an integrated tactic – 66 percent of advertisers indicated that they Three mini tracks will run at ECSM 2014. The use paid social media advertising in combination mini track on Social Media and Innovation with other online advertising, and 51 percent of intends will be co-chaired by Dr. Luisa Carvalho advertisers indicated that they run it in conjunction (Open University, Lisbon, Portugal) and Dr. Irina

Purcarea (Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania). It intends to examine the nature of social media innovation and the set of strategies that contribute to achieving company innovation goals, by looking at Social Media applications in different industries and ways of measuring the effectiveness of social media application on innovation processes.

Topics can include but are not limited to:

Early adopters and diffusion of E-marketing innovation Social media and the product life cycle Web 2.0: a new wave for innovation Social media innovation strategies Social media and product The power of social media in open innovation innovation Case studies of social media innovation projects in Business value and adoption of specific industries innovation Trends in early stage of adoption Full details are available on the Call for Papers webpage: http://academic-conferences.org/ecsm/ ecsm2014/ecsm14-call-papers.htm#Carvalho_Purcarea Submissions can be made directly on line at: http://academic-conferences.org/ecsm/ecsm2014/ ecsm14-abstract-submission.htm LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Mini-track-on-Social-media4974139.S.267211553?qid=d28c9064-d430-4bae-8c0a-76455f92a764&trk=groups_most_popular0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_4974139 Biographies of the co-chairs of the mini track: Dr Luísa Carvalho Luísa gained her PhD in Management from the University of Évora – Portugal. She is Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Social Sciences at the Open University in Lisbon – Portugal. She is also Visiting professor at a number of international universities where she teaches courses on masters and PhDs programs. She is a Researcher at CEFAGE (Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics) at the University of Evora. She has authored several publications in national and international journals, books and book chapters.

Luísa Carvalho

Dr Irina Purcarea Irina holds a PhD in Business Administration from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania and a Masters degree in English Language Education and Research Communication for Business and Economics. She is Assistant Professor at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and Visiting Professor at ESC Rennes Business School, France. She is member of the Research Centre for Business Administration at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and is author of several publications in national and international journals as well as book chapters.

Irina Purcarea

· · · · ·

References:

Does investing in social media create business value?, [Online], available at : http://preview2.ogilvyone.gr/ogilvyone/Ogilvy-Social%20Media.pdf Why All Organizations Need to Manage and Archive Social Media, An Osterman Research White Paper (2012), [Online], available at: http://www.ostermanresearch.com/whitepapers/orwp_or_201204a.pdf MarketingProfs, 2012 State of Social Media Marketing: Social Media Measurement, Objectives, and Budget Implications, [Online], available at: http://www.lithium.com/pdfs/whitepapers/MarketingProfs-2012-State-ofSocial-Media-Marketing-v5OS6ShA.pdf Vizu (2013), Paid Social Media Advertising – Industry update and best practices 2013- , [Online], available at: http://nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2013%20Reports/Nielsen-Paid-SocialMedia-Adv-Report-2013.pdf ECSM 2014 webpage, [Online], available at: http://academic-conferences.org/ecsm/ecsm2014/ecsm14-call-papers.htm

ISSN:2069-0134