Nicoleta Dorina Racolta-Paina | Babes-Bolyai University (original) (raw)

Papers by Nicoleta Dorina Racolta-Paina

The Lean Startup approach revealed around 2011 came as a novelty in the field of entrepreneurial ... more The Lean Startup approach revealed around 2011 came as a novelty in the field of entrepreneurial management. The abbreviated version of the principles that mold the entire concept, states that instead of spending years developing a product towards perfection, a product that in the end might not even be desired by the market, the entrepreneurs should use their time more productively in understanding what clients really want. They should shape their product during the development cycle so that it would satisfy the final consumer. Based on the interviews taken for this research, the conclusion is that private company owners and managers face great challenges but also important opportunities to develop their business and change the economic life of a nation towards sustainable growth. Even though not entirely understood and still looked upon with distrust, Lean Startup is seen as an interesting methodology by Romanian entrepreneurs in the service sector who responded to this study. Whe...

Management & Marketing, 2010

In nowadays' informational society, both the rapid pace development of technology and Internet's ... more In nowadays' informational society, both the rapid pace development of technology and Internet's heavy influence on everyday's life brought along new characteristics to the 21 st century consumer. Accordingly, in this little e-s dominated world, it comes as no surprise that the booming business on the new virtual market, the Internet, triggered the appearance of a new consumer, the online consumer, by far more informed, open to progress and selective. Along with the shifts of the traditional consumer' traits, this aim of this article is to emphasize, on a theoretical basis, the rising importance of the online consumer in the 21 st century, and point out its main hallmarks and consumer behavior habits. With Generation Y, not only thriving in the digital era but also prevailing as the most active online shopper, the profile of the 21 st century consumer is defined by a clearly new and enhanced perspective.

Proceedings of the ... International Management Conference, Feb 18, 2022

The context given by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the implementation of the mandatory work fr... more The context given by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the implementation of the mandatory work from home (MWFH), a concept well known nowadays. The teams had to adapt and to become 100% virtual in a really short period of time in order to ensure the continuity of the activities for the businesses. Team leaders suddenly became team leaders of virtual teams; thus, this had implied the shift from team leadership to virtual team leadership. The effectiveness of virtual team leaders remains a desideratum for companies, taking into account that now team leaders work in a unique context given by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The purpose of this research is to analyse the way of working of a 100% virtual team, from a Shared Service Centre located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for the time frame March 2020-March 2021. The case study was performed based on quantitative and qualitative empirical research; the primary data being collected from the targeted virtual team. Firstly, the focus is on presenting the organizational context based on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and secondly, the decisions taken by the management during this period in order to maintain the 100% virtual team performance are analysed. Several aspects at the analysed team level are identified, based on the perception of its team members, such as the level of connection, the sense of belonging to the team, engagement, cohesion, team coordination level, individual productivity in the MWFH environment and last, but not least, the team productivity level in the pandemic period versus the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. The main conclusions of this case study are reflecting that the level of individual productivity and also the level of the team productivity have remained at a constant level, which is indicating that the effectiveness of team leadership has been maintained at a high level. However, some of the analysed aspects such as, level of connection, team cohesion and the sense of belonging to the team, were negatively influenced by the virtual way of working despite the management decisions taken in order to support the virtual team environment.

Management and Economics Review, Dec 15, 2020

This paper proposes a case study undertaken within a Romanian company which adopted Lean Six Sigm... more This paper proposes a case study undertaken within a Romanian company which adopted Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Methodology. The research objectives pursued are the identification of the way in which this process has proceeded, from the implementation team's perspective. The primary data collected while interviewing them target both the positive and the negative aspects, as well as the benefits and the elements that still need improvement as part of the process of LSS implementation. The conclusions of our research indicate some of the positive aspects of Company A's "journey" towards LSS namely: a totally committed management, well trained employees, openness to change from the implementation team and from part of the employees, and also the external consultant's involvement when this was needed. The less positive aspects of the researched process were given by the need to get some of the instruments adjusted (these being specific to the field of production, as the researched team provides products, solutions and electro-technical and mechanical services), the lack of experience regarding LSS from the large majority of the members of the implementation team, and also the long duration of the Analysis stage as part of the D.M.A.I.C. Methodology (Defining, Measurement, Analysis, Implementation, Control) given the large quantity of data. One essential aspect identified is that, in the case of Company A, LSS implementation led to the desired results that is to the change of the organizational culture, to the reducing of operational costs and to performance improvement, and also to improving customer service.

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Studia Europaea, 2016

Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Dec 19, 2020

&amp;quot;Teamwork as well as the interest in innovation in business are two of the few c... more &amp;quot;Teamwork as well as the interest in innovation in business are two of the few constant features of contemporary companies, which manifest themselves within a general context characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In a company, the benefits of teamwork are widely acknowledged, whereas innovation in business is a strategic direction. This work is based on empirical research, and its main purpose is to identify the characteristics of the innovative teams, the challenges that they have to face, and their achievements, respectively. The empirical research undertaken is a qualitative one and it proposes a case study, the primary data being collected through interviews conducted with a number of four team leaders of innovative teams. The respondents work for companies in the fields of production of electric/electronic products, information technology and computer services, GPS, navigation technology, respectively; all these are fields in which innovation is an important component of successful companies. According to the team leaders who were interviewed, the characteristics of the innovative teams can be assessed in terms of: (i) results (“deliverable”) which contribute to the general effort of the company to be competitive on the innovation market; (ii) performance (reaching efficiently all objectives), (iii) the way of working of the team (the presence of psychological safety, proper communication) and (iv) composition (the qualities of the team members, such as autonomy, diversity and orientation towards cooperation). The main challenge of the innovative teams is given by the high level of stress arising as a consequence of the conditions (such as deadlines and budget restrictions) under which the main objective has to be reached, namely, to obtain products and/or services, new or improved processes, respectively. To all of these, there can be added ones that are specific to teamwork, generally, such as existing conflicts, reduced motivation, and individualism at executive level. The main achievements of the innovative teams, according to the interviewed leaders, are the obtaining of new technologies, product optimisation, complying with deadlines, a high level of quality, and the employees’ development, which is an essential aspect which contributes to their motivation and implicitly to their training to become future leaders. Keywords: Business Innovation, Teamwork, Innovative teams, team composition. JEL Classification: O39, M19 &amp;quot;

Ecoforum, Aug 29, 2017

Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Dec 31, 2022

"The diversity of employees, in general, respectively age diversity is a reality at the leve... more "The diversity of employees, in general, respectively age diversity is a reality at the level of the current organizational environment, knowing that currently there are five generations in the labor market. The added value brought by this research is the proposed case study, which has in its center six different teams, at age level (age diverse teams) but not only, which are part of the administrative part of a company, present in Romania. The aim of the research is to identify the dimensions of diversity at the team level, according to the perception of the team leaders and team members, the emphasis being on age diversity. The desired research objectives to be achieved are: (1) identifying the types of workforce diversity perceived by managers and their team members. (2) identifying how the age diversity of team members is managed by managers. The proposed case study is based on a documentary and a primary research. A series of internal documents of the company are analyzed. The qualitative research carried out at the team level of the leaders of the six administrative teams is complemented by a quantitative research. The survey conducted has as target population the employees of the teams that are led by the interviewed managers. A conclusion of this research is that at the level of the interviewed managers and members of their teams there is a medium to low level of awareness of the aspects involved in the diversity of the workforce. Another conclusion is that the age diversity of the members of the analyzed teams is associated by the managers with the different characteristics of the employees belonging to different age generations. The aspects mentioned to differentiate the members of the teams that are part of different age generations are in terms of skills and behaviors in the workplace. Keywords: workforce diversity, workforce age diversity, team diversity, team age diversity, case study. JEL Classification: O39, M14 "

On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, Jun 30, 2017

Focusing on the importance and the role of family-friendly policies (FFPs), this article argues t... more Focusing on the importance and the role of family-friendly policies (FFPs), this article argues that a stakeholders' analysis of FFPs enriches the current understanding of this workplace practice. Therefore, what we tried to achieve is a comprehensive stakeholders' review of FFPs, both theoretical and practical, in order to highlight all the standpoints from opposite corners of the power-interests grid. The theoretical part is completed by a practical one, which was conducted in Norway. The collected data (by way of 6 face-toface interviews) was analyzed trough grounded theory and extensive comparison, with the purpose of highlighting the similarities and differences between the answers from each of the FFPs stakeholders. The findings of our field research revealed 4 major themes that represent the summary of the respondents' common opinions related to FFPs: Characteristics (benefits, weaknesses), the Nordic Model of Economy (high female employment rates, equality, strong labor movement), Mentality (good opinion of the society, take it for granted) Involvement of the authorities (trust in the Government, historical changes). The results of the research that led to common main opinions regarding these 4 central themes of FFPs identified among all stakeholders, as well as some differences in the main ideas, represented an unexpected outcome if it were to take into consideration the diversity of needs and characteristics of the different categories of stakeholders involved. These findings bring arguments for the need to reshape the current work-life balance practices for the future, and even consider creating new ones, to benefit a wider and more varied range of actors.

On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 2018

Social entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon with various meanings and approaches, its main fe... more Social entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon with various meanings and approaches, its main features being to create social value through social innovation, to satisfy diverse social needs at systemic level, from poverty to unemployment, from social exclusion to population aging, and so on. Social entrepreneurship activities are influenced by environmental factors that are part of the so-called entrepreneurial ecosystems, and consist of components whose interdependence and interaction have a major impact on this sector. The purpose of this exploratory research (the sources used are secondary, which leads to a desk research) is to analyze the challenges faced by social entrepreneurship in Romania from an evolutionary perspective. The analysis focuses on the legislative framework and some of the components of the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship.

The Romanian B2B services market tends to be more and more mature, as new players enter the count... more The Romanian B2B services market tends to be more and more mature, as new players enter the country as a consequence of Romania’s membership within the European Union. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult for new and small businesses to be set up and become functional players on this market. In this context, it is worthwhile performing marketing efforts from a special perspective that is a start-up marketing approach. The paper presents an analysis of start-up marketing as a discipline and also as practice in the B2B services market in Romania.

Springer proceedings in business and economics, 2023

Marketing performance management is a field that is gaining an increasing attention from both aca... more Marketing performance management is a field that is gaining an increasing attention from both academia and marketing practice. While the strategic dimension of a marketing performance management capability has been emphasized, a special attention should be given to the analysis of this capability itself, in term of what makes a good marketing performance management process, what are the elements that best define such a capability, how can they be improved themselves and so on. Hence, our paper explores marketing performance management from a maturity standardized perspective. The purpose of our research is to set the outlook for building a maturity model that can be used as a standardized approach to assessing the maturity (complexity or sophistication) of marketing performance management practices in Romanian organizations.

At present, the business social responsibility is considered by a costs-benefits perspective, one... more At present, the business social responsibility is considered by a costs-benefits perspective, one of its most important benefits being that it can constitute a competitive advantage source for large enterprises as well as for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For the SMEs that have a lower financial power, the most recommended is the internal social responsibility (ISR), oriented toward enterprise employees, because of its low costs and important benefits that can generate competitive advantage. A special case is represented by the SMEs operating on the basis of outward processing trade type of subcontracting, a business form characteristic for a large number of foreign investments operating on the Romanian market in the clothing industry, their competitive advantage being represented by the low cost production; it implies, also, a low cost of the workforce. In these conditions, one raises the question of the existence of ISR and of its forms of manifestations, the main...

In nowadays' informational society, both the rapid pace development of technology and Interne... more In nowadays' informational society, both the rapid pace development of technology and Internet's heavy influence on everyday's life brought along new characteristics to the 21st century consumer. Accordingly, in this little e-s dominated world, it comes as no surprise that the booming business on the new virtual market, the Internet, triggered the appearance of a new consumer, the online consumer, by far more informed, open to progress and selective. Along with the shifts of the traditional consumer' traits, this aim of this article is to emphasize, on a theoretical basis, the rising importance of the online consumer in the 21st century, and point out its main hallmarks and consumer behavior habits. With Generation Y, not only thriving in the digital era but also prevailing as the most active online shopper, the profile of the 21st century consumer is defined by a clearly new and enhanced perspective.

The paper is aimed at offering a synthesized, but comprehensive review of the relevant marketing ... more The paper is aimed at offering a synthesized, but comprehensive review of the relevant marketing performance management literature. While many contributions to measuring and improving marketing performance have been advanced, little previous research has focused on offering a complete overview of marketing performance management domains. Our paper attempts to do so, by first exploring the most popular concepts in marketing performance: marketing metrics, KPIs, dashboards, scorecards and marketing performance management systems. Then, based on the marketing productivity model proposed by Rust et al. (2004a), marketing performance domains are identified and analyzed, providing a complete approach to measuring and managing marketing performance, from marketing strategy to impact on financial results. To our best knowledge, this may be the first study in marketing literature from Romania, addressing marketing performance management from a holistic perspective.

The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully de... more The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully demonstrated by indicators such as the number of enterprises, the number of employees, and the value added generated by this sector. If the level of the value added and the rate of employment are taken into account
(both lower in 2013 than in 2008, when the financial crisis started), it may be stated that the recovery of this sector has not yet been accomplished. However, this article, focusing on the SMEs business environment in Romania, argues that this sector is slowly but steadily improving its performance. By investigating SMEs management practices as perceived by their managers, primary quantitative research was employed in order to collect data through four online annual surveys addressing Romanian SMEs throughout the period 2012-2015. Secondary research was also used in order to outline frames of reference describing the national context of business development. The findings of this paper highlight two dimensions of Romanian SMEs – one at the organizational level (aspects related to perceived organizational performance) and one at the individual level (particular attributes of people with leadership positions). From a practical standpoint, our empirical findings are relevant for both academics and practitioners who are interested in Romanian SMEs
practices. The study is particularly valuable as it identifies trends in the evolution of Romanian SMEs management practices, as reported by their managers in the post economic crisis context (2012-2015).

The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully de... more The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully demonstrated by indicators such as the number of enterprises, the number of employees, and the value added generated by this sector. If the level of the value added and the rate of employment are taken into account (both lower in 2013 than in 2008, when the financial crisis started), it may be stated that the recovery of this sector has not yet been accomplished. However, this article, focusing on the SMEs business environment in Romania, argues that this sector is slowly but steadily improving its performance. By investigating SMEs management practices as perceived by their managers, primary quantitative research was employed in order to collect data through four online annual surveys addressing Romanian SMEs throughout the period 2012-On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 16/2015 21 2015. Secondary research was also used in order to outline frames of reference describing the national context of business development. The findings of this paper highlight two dimensions of Romanian SMEsone at the organizational level (aspects related to perceived organizational performance) and one at the individual level (particular attributes of people with leadership positions). From a practical standpoint, our empirical findings are relevant for both academics and practitioners who are interested in Romanian SMEs practices. The study is particularly valuable as it identifies trends in the evolution of Romanian SMEs management practices, as reported by their managers in the post economic crisis context (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015).

Management & Marketing, 2010

Proceedings of the ... International Management Conference, Feb 18, 2022

Management and Economics Review, Dec 15, 2020

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Studia Europaea, 2016

Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Dec 19, 2020

Ecoforum, Aug 29, 2017

Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Dec 31, 2022

On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, Jun 30, 2017

On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 2018

Springer proceedings in business and economics, 2023

The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully de... more The importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economy of Romania is fully demonstrated by indicators such as the number of enterprises, the number of employees, and the value added generated by this sector. If the level of the value added and the rate of employment are taken into account (both lower in 2013 than in 2008, when the financial crisis started), it may be stated that the recovery of this sector has not yet been accomplished. However, this article, focusing on the SMEs business environment in Romania, argues that this sector is slowly but steadily improving its performance. By investigating SMEs management practices as perceived by their managers, primary quantitative research was employed in order to collect data through four online annual surveys addressing Romanian SMEs throughout the period 2012-On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 16/2015 21 2015. Secondary research was also used in order to outline frames of reference describing the national context of business development. The findings of this paper highlight two dimensions of Romanian SMEsone at the organizational level (aspects related to perceived organizational performance) and one at the individual level (particular attributes of people with leadership positions). From a practical standpoint, our empirical findings are relevant for both academics and practitioners who are interested in Romanian SMEs practices. The study is particularly valuable as it identifies trends in the evolution of Romanian SMEs management practices, as reported by their managers in the post economic crisis context (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015).