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The study analyses the dynamics of the financial performance of the companies in the textile industry in Romania and aims to identify its main determinants, corresponding to the different stages of the economic cycles. The selected sample was mixed; therefore, the econometric analysis (based on panel data) was performed on accounting data collected from secondary sources (for 2000-2019). Because some of the companies in the sample showed negative financial results, the financial performance was assessed based on sales’ volume. The regression model used included seven determinants related to the company (internal determinants) and three external variables (GDP growth rate, inflation rate and unemployment rate). The results of the analyses indicated that (for the whole period) 51% of the sales dynamics can be explained due to the variation of the determinants included in the model. The analysis at the level of internal determinants indicated that all seven variables have a significant statistically influence on financial performance. From the perspective of macroeconomic determinants, the study showed that performance is negatively and significantly correlated with the inflation rate and unemployment rate. Applying the regression model to distinct periods (pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis) provided very useful information from a practical point of view.

The actual dymanic of the industrial wave created by the concept Industry 4.0 is streaming a serial consequences for the main market consumers which are the direct beneficiaries of comodities or daily consuming goods of food,automotive,gadgets and textile/garments industry.Upon the actual researches available from Aachen University and World bank statistics as Birnabaum report, if many of the products which belong to food and textile are defined by standard parameters, so far less dependable of human working factor as direct making of product,the ready made garments production which now is more to be confused with fashion industry,is crossing a period of high challenges to be solved, fighting with the risks to be shrinked until disappearance.The key players which are involved in the whole commodities industry could be defined as the final customers or consumers looking for a permanent variety of items(1),main suppliers of production means(2) and in between we find the producer(3).This one need to handle the pressure of low market prices, frequent economic downturns and motivation of their main resource which are the people either defined as “blue collars” or “white collars”.

The purpose of this study is to review literature on topics of performance and co-creation. The study has two premises: performance includes economic and behavioural aspects; co-creation produces direct and indirect effects on performance. In order to validate these two, we took into consideration all studies available on WoS platform. Applying different selection criteria, we obtained a sample of 14 studies published between 2016 and 2020. Through observation, comparison and logic deductions we were able to appreciate the authors` interest in identifying new research directions. Thus, we show that: a) co-creation has a direct impact on performance, competitiveness and value for stakeholders; in this context, performance is regarded as a multidimensional concept with wide implications in various fields such as management, financial, marketing, innovation etc.; b) co-creation has an indirect influence on performance through elements like: brand, product-service systems and cross-sector partnerships. These aspects are empirically validated in different context. The results of our research prove to be useful from two points of view: theoretical (because the study presents in an authentic manner the state of the knowledge on performance and co-creation) and methodological (because it offers support to all those interested in finding new research directions).

Nowadays, project-based work is no longer a challenge for a today company. Optimizing the workforce, better managing the results, delivering in time, quality and budget (the triple constrains [1]) are just a few of the advantages. Still, to re-organize an entire company into a project-based organization requires a lot of efforts and energy across its departments and teams. However, some companies step forward and change the project management methodologies multiple times. That brings another wave of changes, stress and reorganizations combined with a complex organizational phenomenon, which requires far more effort than just to replace the current tools and technologies with new ones [2]. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to reflect and present the results of the workshop called “Going Agile – the journey”, which was held on Project Management Forum 2019, a Conference organized inside of Continental Automotive Romania for all project managers working in the company. Based on the focus group technique there was identified the main struggles associated with the adoption of Agile methodology within Automotive Industry, the similarities with the plan-driven methodologies and willingness to advance the agility in company’s daily working life.

Starting with the modern binary number system in 1679, followed by the universal computation as a result of the Boolean algebra in 1847, then continued in 1948 with “Mathematical Theory of Communication”, capacitors and microchips between 1950s and 1970s, Apple I desktop computer in 1976 and until 2020 when we have devices as smartphones, computers, laptops, smart houses, cities and cars, all these inventions are small but realistic steps that built the current concept adopted by the humankind, called digitalization. Considering this impactful concept during our research, we propose to perform a literature review regarding its implementation in industries as medical, banking, automotive, along with generic examples from undefined ones, followed by the risks and disasters as a result of cyber-attacks, which can be seen as disadvantages of implementing this concept. In the end, we propose to discover the effects on the virtual business environment by exemplifying the cyber-attacks and analyzing them.

The purpose of this paper is to find a balanced way to analyse IT (Information Technology) industry, from its value perspective, but first we need to know how to define the IT industry, what are its component and the dynamic on global industry. This is an empiric study due to an enormous information quantity – only a simple search on EBSCO platform, looking only for Academic journals, retrieve 183.508 titles where “Information Technology” keywords were used. For same keywords Google Academic retrieve approximately 6.000.000 results in its search. As part of the economy modernization trends, the software industry plays a natural engine role - most of the company’s efforts being based on the IT, especially the software component. With the omnipresence of mobile phones and the customers demanding more and more personalized experiences, the software industry continues to stay at the forefront of the business agendas in most of the companies.

This study presents a comparative analysis model of the financial performance for two large companies operating in the field of production and trading of car parts. The model has as a starting point the assessment of the dynamics of liquidity, sales and profitability ratios (for a period of ten years). Based upon the preliminary results, the compound annual growth ratios were calculated and the trends (for the following seven years) were determined. All of these have made it possible to identify the performance profiles for the two companies. The study reveals that the financial performance was made more vulnerable by the insufficient cash availability (the cash reserves are not adequate for the current debt, assets and sales volume) and by the low levels of the recorded profit ratios (measured by the net profit margin, ROE and the return on shares). Although the cash and profit analysis reveals a cascade increase, the sales performance and return on equity ratios remain burdened by too high operating costs. To improve liquidity and profitability have been identified measures to meet the objective of ensuring the business sustainability.

Innovation is a fashionable word about which people have different attitudes. Businessmen think it is important for their businesses' development, even if there is no common view of what innovation is or what is meant by it. From an economic point of view, we are going through a period in which emerging economies / industries no longer place a strong emphasis on R & D investment. This is due to the fact that innovation processes have become more and more oriented towards diffusion and absorption of knowledge, therefore these economies / industries are increasingly trying to take advantage of the benefits of adoption and international transfer of technology. The open innovation requires both the use of internal and external intentional knowledge resources to develop a technology that will then open even more the horizons of a market or in other words to accelerate internal innovation and expand markets for external use of innovation. With the adoption of open innovation, the organization's borders become permeable and allow for the combination of company resources and external collaborators. The use of innovation, creativity and human capital represents the keystones for the emergence, development, and evolution of creative industries, which are ever increasing industries, playing a huge role in the economies of many countries, at different levels: local, regional or national level, and covering almost everything from crafts, music, visual arts to design, advertising, publishing and media (thirteen sectors in total, according to DCMS). Based on the literature review, the purpose of this work is to present an intro of the open innovation as a technique or process within the organizational context. The use of this type of technique illustrates the company's capacities to increase their own performance in term of innovation, open access, co-creation, and the use of the crowd as co-designers. The foreseen results are: to understand the emergence of the creative industries within the national and international economy, to highlight the transition process between traditional and creative industries in order to achieve a new innovative path for economic agents, and also to emphasize the power of crowd as an important driver for open innovation implementation.

The digital world is playing a significant role today, as evidenced by recent research on digital marketing and virtual consumers. They have revealed the increasing involvement of consumers / stakeholders in all aspects of marketing processes, from product innovation to print and broadcast advertising. Consequently, switching from a traditional business model to a business model based on open innovation is a major step taken by many companies that have understood its importance for the ever development of their businesses, focusing on the 3C: co-creation, crowdsourcing, and community. Nowadays companies agree that for product/service development the communities, the crowds, the stakeholders represent the driving force, the main engine. In order to achieve an interactive development of the product / service companies delegate the main tasks to the crowd (people empowerment). Based in Chicago since 2000 when first opened, Threadless is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website that started as a T-shirt company but has managed to expand into a full lineup of apparel. The company is constantly searching to find new ways to offer creative minds different and more possibilities / opportunities to get their art seen, to succeed, and to achieve their ultimate goal: to make great together, to help art unknowns to become art totally-knowns. The purpose of this paper is to present the importance of the creativity as a source for open-innovation, according to the critical analysis presented in the first part of this research about open innovation in creative industries. This paper emphasizes the relevance of open innovation methods for company's growth, establishing innovative organizational culture, idea generation from creative assignments, enhancement of creativity and free will. In order to emphasize the key features of open innovation in creative industries with the accent on design sector, there will be used a case study approach. Based on the analysis of Threadless platform the following will be illustrated: the use of open innovation in company's interaction with the clients, open innovation process within design stage of product development, different actors implication in co-design, the relevance of their creativity, and designers' future development from personal and business point of views.

The current business environment is characterized by increased competition and highly innovative approach, in order to create products and services to better respond to the costumers' needs and expectations. In this specific context, the research approaches need to be more flexible and business oriented and so, throughout the paper we have used a research method that combines design research and action research, named Action Design Research which is a research method used for generating prescriptive design knowledge through building and evaluating IT artifacts in an organizational setting [1]. Following the Action Design Research stages and principles: problem identification, building, intervention and evaluation, reflection and learning and formalization of learning, the research team has developed an online instrument used to actively involve the consumer in the product development process, in order to generate a better consumers insight regarding their needs and desires and to design and/or adjust the product accordingly. The customer engagement IT tool created and tested by using Action Design Research, E-PICUS, has been developed within the framework of the research project "E-solutions for innovation through customer pro-active involvement in value creation to increase organisational competitiveness (E-PICUS)", PN- II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1811, currently undergoing.