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As part of the South African government’s strategy for accelerated growth, the DTI and the National Treasury introduced various support initiatives for the SMME sector. One of these initiatives was in the form of tax relief for qualifying SMMEs. The government of South Africa introduced the turnover tax system to assist SMMEs in reducing their tax compliance costs and administrative burden, anticipating that this will free up SMMEs to grow and further the economy. This study aimed to determine whether the turnover tax relief system is utilised by the SMMEs as anticipated by the South African government. An inductive, exploratory and qualitative research method was used in this study where questionnaires were provided to SMME business owners as an introduction into their perceptions and knowledge of the turnover tax system, followed by interviews to obtain additional qualitative information. The results provide valuable insight about the perceptions of SMME owners regarding the turnover tax system in South Africa.

The present paper continues the studies of Pop et al. (2014) and Pop et al. (2015) and completes the previous studies by presenting a brief survey of RASDAQ’s entire active life, the profile of RASDAQ indices, and focusing on the last 911 RASDAQ listed companies: their profile and their decision to be transferred on other market segments or to be delisted. The results of the present study confirms, from another viewpoint, the findings of Pop et al. (2014) and Pop et al. (2015): RASDAQ most important role was to assist the ownership concentration process, thus this role was fulfilled much later compared with the similar markets that existed within the former communist countries. The fulfillment of this role was confirmed by: a) no important trading activity for most of the listed companies between 2013 and 2015; b) weak January and weekend effects; c) low free float. Furthermore, by choosing to put an end to RASDAQ, the Romanian authorities acknowledged the fulfillment of this role and the fact that a radical transformation of this controversial market was almost impossible.

The presence of branded hotels in Romania remains relatively modest after two decades since the first Sofitel (Accor Hotels) entered the market. Thus, the number of branded hotels increased since 2005 when they were first investigated. The present study investigates the RevPAR of the Romanian hotels that have joined an international brand, either hard (franchising and management contracts) or soft (affiliation), and the hotel operators’ net financial results over a five year period 2012-2016. The results of this exploratory study reveal that the most notorious brands operating in Romania are also those generating the highest RevPAR. Further, the results show that operating a brand outside Bucharest (mainly a hard brand) proves to generate constantly net profit for most of the respective hotel operators, despite a RevPAR below the European average. This finding suggests that the brand notoriety generates an increased occupancy rate. The results indirectly point out that most of the branded hotels’ operators seem to struggle on the crowded Bucharest hotel market enhancing the idea of internal inefficiencies. Given the structure of the Romanian hotel industry, the partnership with an international brand seems to be worth the effort mainly if the brand is appropriately chosen taking into consideration the hotel location and size.

The sub-sovereign finance importance for emerging and frontier markets is constantly growing since the beginning of 21st century. The change in regulations governing Romanian municipalities source of financing in 1998, allowed local governments to access alternative financing sources, mainly for medium and long term investment projects, through bond issuance. A secondary market for municipal bond trading was launched at Bucharest Stock Exchange at the end of November 2001 and the exchange also offers a platform for announcement and subscriptions of municipal bond public offerings. Thus, more than a decade later, the Romanian municipal bond market segment remains in a premature stage of development. The paper presents a comprehensive data set of Romanian municipal bond sector since it was launched in November 2001 until December 2013. The paper also reveals the level of Bucharest Stock Exchange (hereafter abbreviated as BVB) municipal bond segment underdevelopment after 12 years of trading. The findings highlight the factors influencing the trading decisions and might represent some suggested ides to be considered by their municipal bond issuers and the financial intermediaries assisting them. The investigations show that coupon and risk premium play only marginal roles in trading decisions hinting toward an unsophisticated market, dominated by a small number of institutional investors which rather treasure the scarce municipal bond offer. The absence of rating and the inappropriate correlation mainly between the risk premium and the economic potential of the issuer impair on further developments. The lack of sophistication displayed by the Romanian financial system, which also does not provide credit enhancements dedicated to local government, along with a thin domestic investor base are factors fencing, at least for the moment, the possibilities to overcome the rating problem and the offer diversity problem.