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This study investigates the perceptions of economics students from Romania’s Central Region regarding the global phenomena of globalization, localization, and slowbalization (GLS), analyzed through the lens of environmental, economic, and educational sustainability. The research highlights a high level of awareness and understanding of globalization and localization, while the concept of slowbalization remains relatively unfamiliar and often perceived with uncertainty or neutrality. Most respondents view globalization as the most sustainable model for long-term economic development, emphasizing its contributions to international trade, market expansion, investment flows, and access to global education and research. At the same time, localization is recognized for its role in preserving cultural identity, strengthening local economies, and addressing pressing environmental issues through low-carbon solutions. Regarding educational sustainability, students support a hybrid model that balances global exposure with the appreciation of local knowledge and traditions—a glocal approach particularly endorsed by master’s students. The study also reveals statistically significant differences between undergraduate and graduate respondents, indicating more mature perspectives among those in advanced studies. The paper could help in course design and lesson engagement and concludes by recommending curricular reforms in economic education and proposing future interdisciplinary, comparative, and qualitative research to deepen understanding of GLS dynamics, particularly in the context of emerging global trends and technological transformations.

The paper provides a detailed analysis of SMEs’ interest in collaborative action for sustainability as a way of responding to the challenges posed by recent crises. This study attempts to bridge the research gap on how managers of small and medium-sized enterprises manage business sustainability, providing complex insights into the application of collaborative practices for sustainability and the collaborative advantages that can support the competitiveness of these enterprises in the marketplace. The research design is quantitative and targeted 672 SMEs in Romania. A moderated moderation analysis is also carried out, and the model tests the relationship between the age of the analysed SMEs and the impact felt after recent crises, a relationship moderated by sustainable cooperation, and a moderator moderated by possible changes felt from the application of collaborative practices. Finally, this regression function is statistically significant and was shown to be a significant moderated moderation. The research results showed the major impact of recent crises on the activity of SMEs, indicating that the interest of these companies in collaborative actions and the level of results expected from collaboration for sustainability decreases the greater the impact of crises on their business.

This paper aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of how recent crises have been experienced by Romanian start-ups from the perspective of their managers, through quantitative research. The authors also aimed to investigate the interest of entrepreneurs in sustainably developing their businesses and the actions they aim to take in this direction. Data were collected from a sample of 216 respondents, managers of start-ups operating in the Center and South-West Oltenia Regions. The results indicate that the COVID-19 health crisis and the international financial crisis, followed by the energy crisis, have had the greatest impact on the activity of start-ups and identify response measures that can be solutions to increase their resilience in times of crisis. The research can help managers of start-ups maintain business stability in complicated times and incorporate sustainability practices into their business strategy. Governmental, regional and local authorities, as well as entrepreneurship education providers, can also use the research results to initiate measures to support start-ups in their efforts to cope with current challenges and develop sustainably.

The paper presents an innovative method for tourist route planning inside a destination. The necessity of reorganizing the tourist routes within a destination comes as an immediate response to the Covid-19 crisis. The implementation of the method inside tourist destinations can bring an important advantage in transforming a destination into a safer one in times of Covid-19 and post-Covid-19. The existing trend of shortening the tourist stay length has been accelerated while the epidemic became a pandemic. Moreover, the wariness for future pandemics has brought into spotlight the issue of overcrowded attractions inside a destination at certain moments. The method presented in this paper proposes a backtracking algorithm, more precisely an adaptation of the travelling salesman problem. The method presented is aimed to facilitate the navigation inside a destination and to revive certain less-visited sightseeing spots inside a destination while facilitating conformation with the social distancing measures imposed for Covid-19 control.

Visitors’ increasing interest in nature-based and cultural tourism, especially in the context of ecotourism destinations, has generated a heated debate in tourism literature. Some authors consider that ecotourism should be approached through a niche strategy rather than through mass marketing. Therefore, identifying the main characteristics of visitors to ecotourism destinations is very important in setting management and marketing strategies adapted to their specific needs. The present paper aims to identify the profile of visitors to Romanian ecotourism destinations, considering the ecotourism potential of this country and the scarcity of empirical studies on these types of destinations. To reach this aim, a survey was conducted in four Romanian ecotourism destinations. By computing the data collected from a sample of 1157 visitors, four visitor segments have been identified based on a single characteristic (visit purpose). Crosstabulation and Chi-square analysis were used in order to identify the profiles of these segments. The results reveal that most of respondents are nature travellers, followed by culture travellers. The findings may be used by ecotourism destination managers in order to target specific market segments and establish proper management and marketing strategies.

Among the most important factors that favor the development of a sustainable business environment are the sources of financing and the skills developed by the higher education system, according to recent studies. To align with these, several universities have started providing entrepreneurship knowledge. Are these sufficiently well-known by the students in Romania? The current paper aims to carry out an in-depth analysis of concepts. The primary objective of this study is to explore the most relevant sources of entrepreneurial financing in the context of a sustainable entrepreneurial higher education. For such an endeavor, quantitative research was conducted, being designed and distributed through a questionnaire. Data were collected from a sample of 285 students of Transilvania University in Brasov interested in entrepreneurship. Results indicate that the main sources of entrepreneurial financing are retained earnings/profit, personal sources, supplier credits, European funds, loans (bank credits), leasing, and business angels. Evidence shows that most respondents assert great confidence in European funds. Notably, the entrepreneurial qualities of the founder are one of the enablers of a successful and sustainable business. Additionally, this research opens new ways of collaboration between the academic and the business environment to better train future professionals in the economic field.

Tourism represents a source of prosperity for the local community, a key factor for infrastructure development and a source of new jobs, but it can also cause negative effects within the destinations: pollution, heavy traffic and higher crime. This paper presents a qualitative research mainly aimed at identifying the way in which the people of Brasov view the effects of tourism development on the community they live in and on their personal lives. Most of the subjects being interviewed consider that tourism development in Brasov has a positive effect on their lives.

This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the knowledge of and access to funding sources in the context of sustainability. Additionally, it seeks to analyse the perspectives and intentions of entrepreneurs regarding the use of such sources in the future. For this purpose, quantitative research was conducted, and data were collected from a sample of 267 respondents, companies operating in the Central Region of Romania. The evidence indicates that reinvestment of profits is the most commonly used funding source, followed by bank loans and leasing. The least-used and least-known funding source are Business Angels. Among the conclusions of the study, the demonstration of the link between the level of use of the funding sources, which moderates the close relationship between sustainability and the financial performance of a company, is noteworthy. Ultimately, this research opens new ways for collaboration between the academic environment, government, and local authorities. The results can be beneficial for stakeholders at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels interested in the sustainable development of the SME sector.

The use of sentiment analysis methodology has become crucial for e-commerce enterprises in order to optimise their marketing tactics. In the present setting, the authors strive to demonstrate the ethical and efficient use of artificial intelligence in the realm of business. The researchers used qualitative research methodologies to analyse a total of 1687 evaluations obtained from 85 online retailers associated with electronic commerce Europe Trustmark. These stores were linked with 18 different nations and operated over 14 distinct domains. The investigation used the combined power of natural language processing and machine learning, implemented via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. The results of the study indicate that consumers often exhibit a neutral emotional tone while leaving one-star ratings. Although the influence of unfavourable evaluations is generally limited, it highlights the need for more attentiveness in their management. The extent to which users interact with goods and services has a substantial impact on the probability of publishing reviews, regardless of whether the encountered experience is unpleasant or favourable. The authors urge for the acquisition of tools and skills in order to boost the efficiency of managers and experts in parallel with expanding technological landscapes, with a particular emphasis on the utilisation of artificial intelligence for sentiment analysis.

Tourism development models have concerned a large number of specialists. As Getz emphasized in 1986, the models are crucial in understanding the real situations and with their help the authors can easier predict, interpret and explain future developments of tourism phenomena. Development by its nature, is a process of change and may be explained in different ways. In the literature, tourism development is considered from varied perspectives. The approaches target, a wide range of attitudes, such as \"laissez-faire\", \"diffusionism\", dependence and sustainability are discussed. The research objectives target of the following aspects: to present the most important models of tourism development; to submit the tourist destinations included in the research (profile of the destinations); evolution of the destinations researched on the basis of the main tourismspecific indicators; to comparatively analyze the destinations and to draft sustainable tourism development strategies for the analyzed destinations, have been studied.