Marian MOCAN | Politehnica University of Timisoara (original) (raw)

Papers by Marian MOCAN

Lecture notes in management and industrial engineering, 2024

Today, urbanization phenomenon is a reality. Cities are urged to find new solutions for managing ... more Today, urbanization phenomenon is a reality. Cities are urged to find new solutions for managing their assets in order to prosper, otherwise face decline. This state of facts and necessities require new technologies, new legislation, new managerial approaches and a good understanding of mass psychology. Simultaneously, in the actual era of globalization and scarce resources management, cities must collaborate through efficient information and communication platforms in order to specialize themselves, on the basis of a common strategy. All these challenges have to be studied and addressed for each city, separately and contextually, in order to create the smart cities of 21st century. The aim of the article is to make an overview of the smart city concept development and to underline important aspects, statistics and points of view for its implementation.

The aim of this paper is to review available literature in the field of value-added analysis and ... more The aim of this paper is to review available literature in the field of value-added analysis and value creation. Value added analysis techniques and approaches which are described in the literature are to be presented and systematized. Subsequently a case study is presented and suggestions for process improvement are presented. Aiming to obtain an overview from both the theoretical and practical sides, papers and books from 2006 to 2020 were collected and classified. First according to the genre of the text, secondly, according to the industry meant to be improved, and thirdly, according to the use of single or multiple approaches of value creation. The papers have been grouped into four categories: the first group relates to papers approaching Value Stream Mapping (VSM), the second group contains papers describing and/or using Seven Wastes as value identification technique, the third concerns Process Mapping (PM) approaches and the fourth group concerns a different approach of Nonvalue Added Analysis.

Human Resources training regarding the entrepreneurship must start in universities and continue w... more Human Resources training regarding the entrepreneurship must start in universities and continue with training over the entire professional life. The purpose of our research is to detect the knowledge gaps of the undergraduate IT students in technical Universities in the area of business creation, during their university education. The research methodologies were: phenomenological group analysis and questionnaires. The target group was formed of senior students in automation, Master's degree students, and graduates from 20 SME's This research allows the outlining of a profile in business creation area for students with background in automation field.

Springer proceedings in business and economics, 2020

Management Challenges in a Network Economy: Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM International Conference 2017, 2017

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether social needs, convenience and various influences... more The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether social needs, convenience and various influences of mobile phones affect students and develop addiction. This research highlights the key factors that determine students’ addiction and the perception of students on these technological opportunities. The results contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning methods. The study was conducted using questionnaire survey. This questionnaire was applied to students of the Polytechnic University of Timisoara. At the end of the paper the future research and the barriers identified are presented.

EDULEARN15 Proceedings, 2015

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2018

Eco-innovation has been widely accepted as a method for improving the performance of enterprises ... more Eco-innovation has been widely accepted as a method for improving the performance of enterprises and for supporting them to advance to more sustainable business models, as well as a driver of business success and competitive advantage at the firm level.Implementing ecoinnovation is a challenging process and will not be suitable for all organisations. Therefore understanding barriers and drivers at the national and business level and main gaps in policy and education could build a better picture of the context and conditions for eco-innovation in Romania. The paper reflects existing opportunities in the country and demonstrates that ecoinnovation potential is important and needs to be addressed. Our research identified existing premises and drivers for eco-innovation that could boost application of eco-innovation in companies, entail policy changes, and boost cooperation between stakeholders from R&D, academia, businesses, clusters and policy makers. The succes of eco-innovation depends on the awareness that will be created among businesses through dissemination of strong business cases, the adjustment of the policy framework that should stimulate and reward the market for eco-innovative solutions and the capacity of experts to convince the companies' management of the financial and environmental benefits of eco-innovation, to explain the need for continuous application of eco-innovative strategies and how they can be mainstreamed in the overall enterprise strategy and overall management. Through its objectives, the ECOPartner project contributes to install a model of cooperation betwen main actors interested in eco-innovation and build cooperation between the main stakeholders by initiating the Romanian Eco-Innovation Network (RE-IN). The role of the REIN is to develop and strengthen partnerships and to become the main partner in Romania for policy makers, businesses, academia and experts with common interests in eco-innovation.

Procedia. Economics and finance, 2015

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributes... more The purpose of this paper is to explore how the corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributes to value creation in the banking industry, and during periods of financial instability. Understanding the key elements of CSR contributes to the fulfillment of the principles of this concept and to the increase of market share, profit and advancement in bank rankings. The present research will be based on the current situation in Romania, being developed a model of CSR applied in Romanian banks. Being in a time of economic instability, the banking industry must make efforts to maintain equilibrium in the financial market. This research can help bank managers to understand what activities to do in the benefit of customers and the community, in order to move towards a sustainable directive. At the end of the research, the findings are presented and the imperatives of the topic discussed.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2018

Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) is a globally proven approach to improve produc... more Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) is a globally proven approach to improve productivity and reduce environmental impact of the enterprises. Application of RECP is beneficial for enterprises, in particular SME's, contributing to enhancing their productivity and competitiveness; for the environment by lowering the impact of their operations, and for people, by decreasing the risks to workers and communities (UNIDO, 2015). Greening up the economies, the major global trend nowadays, could become reality by focusing on the existing industries and by supporting an significant number of enterprises, in particular SME's, to increase resource efficiency and productivity while lowering their impact on the environment. Implementing RECP requires a systematic and continuous approach for the identification and evaluation of the existing inefficiencies, addressing them by applying "standard practices" to all waste and emissions causes and process inefficiencies and monitoring the enterprises level results; the method usually implies elaboration of quit complex materials and energy balances, and laborious feasibility analyses, activities usually performed with technical support from RECP experts. The question raised in the last years was how to increase the number of companies implementing RECP and how to sustain and mainstream RECP. Solutions are proposed to intensify application of RECP methods, practices and techniques and innovative approaches are used to facilitate the expansion of RECP application and transfer of existing experiences and best practices to a larger number of enterprises.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2015

Sustainability, Nov 16, 2020

Previous research has pointed out that Industry 4.0 will lead to more sustainable production; how... more Previous research has pointed out that Industry 4.0 will lead to more sustainable production; however, it may have profound effects on European competitiveness. Today, firms in the CEE countries face a limited scope for continued economic expansion, and hence there is a growing pressure on them to move upward in the global value chain by investing heavily in advanced technology. Consequently, the authors argue that B2B firms from the CEE countries can have a massive impact on Europe's long-term competitiveness by reversing the effect of digital transformation due to their strong interdependencies on other European economies. Therefore, in a crosscountry survey, research data were collected (n = 302) about the driving forces, barriers, and role of stakeholders in the implementation of digital transformations. The authors found that some technologies are implemented much more frequently compared to others, with some indication for country specialization. The leading driving force is customer satisfaction followed by productivity and financial motives. Shortage of skilled human resources and high implementation costs are the main barriers. The firms tend to rely on universities and research centers, while the government is perceived only as a financial provider. The results are also informative for practitioners and policymakers-providing them with benchmarks.

Administrative Sciences

Companies operate in ever faster and more abruptly changing environments. Due to the global inter... more Companies operate in ever faster and more abruptly changing environments. Due to the global interconnectedness of markets and actors, changes in framework conditions often have impacts across industries and geographical borders and constantly present companies worldwide with new challenges; however, they also offer opportunities. Adaptability to abruptly changing conditions and the ability to shape market environments have gained enormous importance as strategic factors for company organizations. How exactly can adaptability be shaped? This paper assumes that today’s companies need concepts that help them to successfully adapt to these turbulent business environments and ideally to shape the changes to their own advantage. In addition, this work assumes that companies rely on already established models from science and business, but also (especially currently) develop new ideas themselves to adapt even faster and more effectively to changing conditions. To explore these phenomena, t...

The present paper aims to identify specific mathematical models of consumer behavior in the Europ... more The present paper aims to identify specific mathematical models of consumer behavior in the European automotive industry in order to increase the forecast accuracy. Thus, industry specific supply chains can obtain valid information of future demand, in order to better scale their structures of production, thereby reducing costs and thus increasing the value provided to the customer, a beneficial approach for improving the competitiveness level attained on the global market. Using historical data on new car registrations in the EU, appropriate autoregressive models were identified for consumers’ behavior that can be used as real solutions to increase the accuracy of forecasts made in the industry.

DAAAM Proceedings, 2011

The paper approach one of the key concept uses in economic and social analysis of the last decade... more The paper approach one of the key concept uses in economic and social analysis of the last decades: regional competitiveness. In this methodological approach are indentified series of social and economical indicators which are considered relevant in evaluation of regional competitiveness. The analysis was made for year 2009, gathering data for the

DAAAM International Scientific Book 2008, 2008

International Journal of Production Research

Journal of Administrative Sciences and Technology, 2019

Cities differ greatly from one to another, even if they serve the same essential purposes. Moreov... more Cities differ greatly from one to another, even if they serve the same essential purposes. Moreover, they should collaborate at all levels for producing synergistic effects, therefore, their major smart solutions should be standardized or at least compatible, whilst adapted to the local contexts. Cities are systems of systems and contain a large variety of components, each of them presenting different characteristics. Given the vast range of technological choices and the unforgiving overall pressure, governors struggle to implement best specific smart solutions for their cities, by usually adopting bottom-up methods, thus, endangering future possible compatibilities with other local or international systems. This research stresses the importance of top-down smart city deployments, by acknowledging also the local specificities. It investigates the status of relevant international contributions, questioning what kind of approaches should be applied by public administrations. The results point out to complex challenges that exist by revealing the status of standardization proceedings, the authors' perspective on the enabling technologies and their dimensions, as well as a related case study concerning a local community of Romania so as to bring the beforementioned issues to light. The main objective of this research is to highlight the associated problematics and draw attention to the urgent need of a new macro-systemic top-down attitude for developing smart cities.

Lecture notes in management and industrial engineering, 2024

Today, urbanization phenomenon is a reality. Cities are urged to find new solutions for managing ... more Today, urbanization phenomenon is a reality. Cities are urged to find new solutions for managing their assets in order to prosper, otherwise face decline. This state of facts and necessities require new technologies, new legislation, new managerial approaches and a good understanding of mass psychology. Simultaneously, in the actual era of globalization and scarce resources management, cities must collaborate through efficient information and communication platforms in order to specialize themselves, on the basis of a common strategy. All these challenges have to be studied and addressed for each city, separately and contextually, in order to create the smart cities of 21st century. The aim of the article is to make an overview of the smart city concept development and to underline important aspects, statistics and points of view for its implementation.

The aim of this paper is to review available literature in the field of value-added analysis and ... more The aim of this paper is to review available literature in the field of value-added analysis and value creation. Value added analysis techniques and approaches which are described in the literature are to be presented and systematized. Subsequently a case study is presented and suggestions for process improvement are presented. Aiming to obtain an overview from both the theoretical and practical sides, papers and books from 2006 to 2020 were collected and classified. First according to the genre of the text, secondly, according to the industry meant to be improved, and thirdly, according to the use of single or multiple approaches of value creation. The papers have been grouped into four categories: the first group relates to papers approaching Value Stream Mapping (VSM), the second group contains papers describing and/or using Seven Wastes as value identification technique, the third concerns Process Mapping (PM) approaches and the fourth group concerns a different approach of Nonvalue Added Analysis.

Human Resources training regarding the entrepreneurship must start in universities and continue w... more Human Resources training regarding the entrepreneurship must start in universities and continue with training over the entire professional life. The purpose of our research is to detect the knowledge gaps of the undergraduate IT students in technical Universities in the area of business creation, during their university education. The research methodologies were: phenomenological group analysis and questionnaires. The target group was formed of senior students in automation, Master's degree students, and graduates from 20 SME's This research allows the outlining of a profile in business creation area for students with background in automation field.

Springer proceedings in business and economics, 2020

Management Challenges in a Network Economy: Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM International Conference 2017, 2017

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether social needs, convenience and various influences... more The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether social needs, convenience and various influences of mobile phones affect students and develop addiction. This research highlights the key factors that determine students’ addiction and the perception of students on these technological opportunities. The results contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning methods. The study was conducted using questionnaire survey. This questionnaire was applied to students of the Polytechnic University of Timisoara. At the end of the paper the future research and the barriers identified are presented.

EDULEARN15 Proceedings, 2015

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2018

Eco-innovation has been widely accepted as a method for improving the performance of enterprises ... more Eco-innovation has been widely accepted as a method for improving the performance of enterprises and for supporting them to advance to more sustainable business models, as well as a driver of business success and competitive advantage at the firm level.Implementing ecoinnovation is a challenging process and will not be suitable for all organisations. Therefore understanding barriers and drivers at the national and business level and main gaps in policy and education could build a better picture of the context and conditions for eco-innovation in Romania. The paper reflects existing opportunities in the country and demonstrates that ecoinnovation potential is important and needs to be addressed. Our research identified existing premises and drivers for eco-innovation that could boost application of eco-innovation in companies, entail policy changes, and boost cooperation between stakeholders from R&D, academia, businesses, clusters and policy makers. The succes of eco-innovation depends on the awareness that will be created among businesses through dissemination of strong business cases, the adjustment of the policy framework that should stimulate and reward the market for eco-innovative solutions and the capacity of experts to convince the companies' management of the financial and environmental benefits of eco-innovation, to explain the need for continuous application of eco-innovative strategies and how they can be mainstreamed in the overall enterprise strategy and overall management. Through its objectives, the ECOPartner project contributes to install a model of cooperation betwen main actors interested in eco-innovation and build cooperation between the main stakeholders by initiating the Romanian Eco-Innovation Network (RE-IN). The role of the REIN is to develop and strengthen partnerships and to become the main partner in Romania for policy makers, businesses, academia and experts with common interests in eco-innovation.

Procedia. Economics and finance, 2015

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributes... more The purpose of this paper is to explore how the corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributes to value creation in the banking industry, and during periods of financial instability. Understanding the key elements of CSR contributes to the fulfillment of the principles of this concept and to the increase of market share, profit and advancement in bank rankings. The present research will be based on the current situation in Romania, being developed a model of CSR applied in Romanian banks. Being in a time of economic instability, the banking industry must make efforts to maintain equilibrium in the financial market. This research can help bank managers to understand what activities to do in the benefit of customers and the community, in order to move towards a sustainable directive. At the end of the research, the findings are presented and the imperatives of the topic discussed.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2018

Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) is a globally proven approach to improve produc... more Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) is a globally proven approach to improve productivity and reduce environmental impact of the enterprises. Application of RECP is beneficial for enterprises, in particular SME's, contributing to enhancing their productivity and competitiveness; for the environment by lowering the impact of their operations, and for people, by decreasing the risks to workers and communities (UNIDO, 2015). Greening up the economies, the major global trend nowadays, could become reality by focusing on the existing industries and by supporting an significant number of enterprises, in particular SME's, to increase resource efficiency and productivity while lowering their impact on the environment. Implementing RECP requires a systematic and continuous approach for the identification and evaluation of the existing inefficiencies, addressing them by applying "standard practices" to all waste and emissions causes and process inefficiencies and monitoring the enterprises level results; the method usually implies elaboration of quit complex materials and energy balances, and laborious feasibility analyses, activities usually performed with technical support from RECP experts. The question raised in the last years was how to increase the number of companies implementing RECP and how to sustain and mainstream RECP. Solutions are proposed to intensify application of RECP methods, practices and techniques and innovative approaches are used to facilitate the expansion of RECP application and transfer of existing experiences and best practices to a larger number of enterprises.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2015

Sustainability, Nov 16, 2020

Previous research has pointed out that Industry 4.0 will lead to more sustainable production; how... more Previous research has pointed out that Industry 4.0 will lead to more sustainable production; however, it may have profound effects on European competitiveness. Today, firms in the CEE countries face a limited scope for continued economic expansion, and hence there is a growing pressure on them to move upward in the global value chain by investing heavily in advanced technology. Consequently, the authors argue that B2B firms from the CEE countries can have a massive impact on Europe's long-term competitiveness by reversing the effect of digital transformation due to their strong interdependencies on other European economies. Therefore, in a crosscountry survey, research data were collected (n = 302) about the driving forces, barriers, and role of stakeholders in the implementation of digital transformations. The authors found that some technologies are implemented much more frequently compared to others, with some indication for country specialization. The leading driving force is customer satisfaction followed by productivity and financial motives. Shortage of skilled human resources and high implementation costs are the main barriers. The firms tend to rely on universities and research centers, while the government is perceived only as a financial provider. The results are also informative for practitioners and policymakers-providing them with benchmarks.

Administrative Sciences

Companies operate in ever faster and more abruptly changing environments. Due to the global inter... more Companies operate in ever faster and more abruptly changing environments. Due to the global interconnectedness of markets and actors, changes in framework conditions often have impacts across industries and geographical borders and constantly present companies worldwide with new challenges; however, they also offer opportunities. Adaptability to abruptly changing conditions and the ability to shape market environments have gained enormous importance as strategic factors for company organizations. How exactly can adaptability be shaped? This paper assumes that today’s companies need concepts that help them to successfully adapt to these turbulent business environments and ideally to shape the changes to their own advantage. In addition, this work assumes that companies rely on already established models from science and business, but also (especially currently) develop new ideas themselves to adapt even faster and more effectively to changing conditions. To explore these phenomena, t...

The present paper aims to identify specific mathematical models of consumer behavior in the Europ... more The present paper aims to identify specific mathematical models of consumer behavior in the European automotive industry in order to increase the forecast accuracy. Thus, industry specific supply chains can obtain valid information of future demand, in order to better scale their structures of production, thereby reducing costs and thus increasing the value provided to the customer, a beneficial approach for improving the competitiveness level attained on the global market. Using historical data on new car registrations in the EU, appropriate autoregressive models were identified for consumers’ behavior that can be used as real solutions to increase the accuracy of forecasts made in the industry.

DAAAM Proceedings, 2011

The paper approach one of the key concept uses in economic and social analysis of the last decade... more The paper approach one of the key concept uses in economic and social analysis of the last decades: regional competitiveness. In this methodological approach are indentified series of social and economical indicators which are considered relevant in evaluation of regional competitiveness. The analysis was made for year 2009, gathering data for the

DAAAM International Scientific Book 2008, 2008

International Journal of Production Research

Journal of Administrative Sciences and Technology, 2019

Cities differ greatly from one to another, even if they serve the same essential purposes. Moreov... more Cities differ greatly from one to another, even if they serve the same essential purposes. Moreover, they should collaborate at all levels for producing synergistic effects, therefore, their major smart solutions should be standardized or at least compatible, whilst adapted to the local contexts. Cities are systems of systems and contain a large variety of components, each of them presenting different characteristics. Given the vast range of technological choices and the unforgiving overall pressure, governors struggle to implement best specific smart solutions for their cities, by usually adopting bottom-up methods, thus, endangering future possible compatibilities with other local or international systems. This research stresses the importance of top-down smart city deployments, by acknowledging also the local specificities. It investigates the status of relevant international contributions, questioning what kind of approaches should be applied by public administrations. The results point out to complex challenges that exist by revealing the status of standardization proceedings, the authors' perspective on the enabling technologies and their dimensions, as well as a related case study concerning a local community of Romania so as to bring the beforementioned issues to light. The main objective of this research is to highlight the associated problematics and draw attention to the urgent need of a new macro-systemic top-down attitude for developing smart cities.