The personal blog of Ion Sturzu

The personal blog of Ion Sturzu

Category Archives: Articles in English

Ion Sturzu, MSc International Management

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International Management, Prague College, Scholarships, School of Business, Student Life


Ion Sturzu, from Moldova, is the recipient of one of Prague College’s top scholarships. What does he make of the experience of studying in Prague so far?

ion-1It’s going really well – in fact it’s everything I expected, and more. I took my Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Banking from the Academy of Economic Studies in Chisinau, and studied for a further degree in Administration of Financial and Banking Systems at the Free International University of Moldova. At Prague College I am studying for my MSc International Management, and so far it is a very different experience for me.

In what way?

Well firstly, we have over 15 nationalities in the International Management programme. This is very important not only because it promotes a cosmopolitan atmosphere (which I like very much) but because you get to hear differing viewpoints from different cultures. This is also true of the case studies, which are drawn from sources like The Economist or Harvard Business Review, for example. I find this very stimulating. Another major difference is that the smaller class sizes lead to a positive exchange of ideas and question; and the lecturers here are very patient.

Tell us a bit about the Prague College scholarship

I heard about Prague College and its scholarship scheme on the web. I came here with a good deal of work experience including a nine-month internship with PwC and a wide range of volunteer work. I was also a member of the Moldovan Youth parliament for a year, and vice-president of a financial project run by AIESEC, teaching students how to develop business ideas. The Prague College scholarship was awarded partly as result of my experience in social engagement.

As a scholar, you are expected to take a leadership role.

Sure. The terms of the scholarship require a strong record of attendance, attainment and progress of course. But also an expectation that I will participate actively in college events, student clubs (I am already a member of the Czech Language and Culture club), and take on an organizational role where possible. The Leadership Association is a fairly new concept, but I am sure I will be developing the role as I go on.

What’s the best thing about living in Prague?

It’s an amazing city – the architecture is beautiful, but it’s much more than that, as the city has played a crucial role in the history of European culture. I’ve also been actively keeping up my sporting interests, especially in Tae Kwan Do (red belt) and Choi Kwan Do (black belt).

Ion, thanks, and good luck for the rest of your Master’s course
Source: https://www.praguecollege.cz

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The value of energy efficiency

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Today, I found on internet an interesting speech and thoughts about energy efficiency.
I considered it to be very helpful and I think it is worthy to spread the message.:))

Enjoy it !

btw, what is the value of energy efficiency to you?

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“You don`t lose energy because you age, you age, because you lose energy. (Kwang Jo Choi)”

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aging, choikwang do, fitness, health, loose weight, martial arts, martial arts science, PACE training, reminder, sport

In 2012 during 25th Choikwang Do Anniversary I had the privilege with my colleagues and our instructor to meet with the founder of a revolutionary martial arts system. Being impressed by the wisdom of the founder of Choikwang Do and the uniqueness of this style and also by the physical condition of Grandmaster who at the age of 71 punches and kicks with incredible agility, speed and power; and who still teaches regularly different students from all other the world,
we decided to ask him his secret, and the answer was this simple quote.

What do you do to save your energy and to be in a good shape?

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Again a new increase of fuel prices?

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“ “To be or not to be?

(W. Shakespeare) “

Shakespeare’s dilemma seems to be critically actual for citizens of the Republic of Modova, although having another connotation that we all knew.

The authorities put forward this new question on February 10, 2010, during the government session, which was broadcast online on the internet. They talked over the issue of cancellation of the fuel ticket system by making some changes in the legal framework.

 

At the moment, the effects of these changes will be felt by ordinary citizens, private companies and public entities, which purchase fuel using the Ticket System. The advantage of this system was that the buyer (which may be any natural person, legal entity or state institution) may acquire certain oil products (gasoline, diesel) and benefit from a commercial discount by paying in advance the price fixed for retailing. Petroleum products are cheaper when purchased through the ticket system rather than purchased directly at the fuel station.

 

Since the moment these changes have been adopted , we will have a new increase of prices for purchasing petroleum products (I mean those who use the system of tickets), in addition to the one that has taken place recently; which will depress the power of purchasing.

 

This initiative has caused a lot of discussion, splitting the Government in two camps for and against. It is clear that the answer to this question we will find out very soon, because the final decision on this matter was postponed to the next meeting.

It remains to see what will happen.

Crisis Evolution in the Republic of Moldova

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Global Financial Crisis took its origin from USA, in august 2007, when it triggered a collapse of the mortgage market, which prompted the bankruptcy of some biggest banks. The USA government and most governments from the European Union had undertaken some measures, aimed at saving the bank system.

 

At that moment Republic of Moldova seemed not to be concerned about what was happening in the world, claiming that we had professionalism and stability in our country. Indeed at that time we were not affected by the crisis. It might be explained that we don`t use the same credit system as developed countries do (eg.ABS, CDO).

 

After one year and two mounths , we started to confront the problem of liquidity, and gradually the demand in the housing market started to decline. This might be explained by the fact that our citizens working abroad had been already affected by the crisis from the country of their employer. In this way it had an impact on mortgage market in Moldova, that led to halting construction activities. These construction companies fell into default and then we started feeling the financial crisis on our skin.

The number of these companies was not so high and a cautious position had been put forward by commercial banks, which was manifested by: deliberate identification of real client who is to be granted a credit, allocated credit resources covered only 40 % of the estimated collateral value (fair market value of assets), compared with 60% granted previously; in order to attract citizens’ savings they were paying a high interest rate, sometimes exaggerated.

 

Unfavorable situation in the world, political and financial crisis in Moldova led us to determined economic crisis in octombre this year,which had an impact on real sector of national economy (production and consumption of goods and services). I think that this shift from financial to economic crisis represents the second wave of crisis. According to the writer and historian Niall Ferguson, it will bring a lot of negative effects to developing countries and those in the period of transition to market economy and Moldova is not an exception from this.
Initially this effect will be felt by economic entities with a less eficient management and then other companies might follow.

A good example would be the bankrupcy of a well- known company producing brandy “Aroma” and the fact that other three companies with a major state shareholding could be declared insolvent: ” Moldresurse”, “Combinatul de produse alimentare din Bălţi” and society ”National-Vin”. The second example might be the reduction of wages in average by 5 %, that took place in October compared to September 2009 (from 1621 to 1538 lei in agriculture (here, this decline may be caused partially by seansonal factors), from 3224lei to 3073 lei in industrial sector, from 5629lei to 5241lei in banking system).
To better understand how many employed people in Moldova were affected by the economic crisis I propose you to examine the chart, based on statistics data.

According to the chart displayed above we can conclude that only in October 2009, 45% of employed work force in Moldova suffered from economic crisis.

 

Another factor that aggravates the economic crisis is the decline of remittances. So if we compare the statistical information, reported by the National Bank of Moldova, regarding remittance flows provided by people working overseas (residents and non) in the first three quarters of 2008 compared to 2009, we can see a negative trend as there was a reduction of 416.68 million dollars.
In other words, one of the most important sources, which directly influences the budget tax revenue, decreased by about half bilion in the period of January-September 2009, compared to the same period of 2008.

 

Further development of the economic crisis in Moldova is highly dependent on the decisions taken by the present government, and how they can attract external financial resources. (Our economy is highly dependent on foreign financial assistance).
In the context of above, we can conclude that further development of the economic crisis may run after one of two scenarios:

 

First, if our government manages to attract the financial support promised by Russia, EU, U.S. and China starting from December 2009, we will be able to easily surpass the economic crisis by the end of 2010, although its top point will be attained in March-May 2010.

 

If they fail to attract financial resources, the second scenario will follow that might deepen economic crisis and later even turn into a social one.
Inability to attract funds may be caused by:
– Failure of presidential elections, which will transform the current government in one provisional. In this way, many of the promised loans would become unaccessible because the potential creditors require certain guarantees and sustainability (sustainable development);
– lack of professionalism of the current leadership in adopting an effective fiscal-budgetary policy for the upcoming year;
-failure of the current government to maintain the level of credibility in relations with donors andforeign creditors.

Social crisis brings about public agitations and protests, finally threatening legal order, and as history repeats, some events of ’29-’33 in Europe could become very authentic for Moldova.

 

However, I refuse to believe that such events will take place and starting from the maximum “Hope dies last!”, I remain with the idea that the situation will not complicate so much and worries appeared on people’s faces over the last year will turn into smiles and it will create an amiable atmosphere in society.

Early elections are coming?!

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Today, I had a meeting with my friends and together we were reflecting on eternal but trivial problems of our life .Talking about it, one of my friends reminded us of a discussion we had in August, when I joked that in Moldova it came in vogue to have parliamentary elections every half year.image-2009-07-27-5998394-46-alegeri-moldova

But they denied it and tried to persuade me that liberals and democratic parties had won and would be able to govern our country in next 4 years. I was apolitical and a little bit skeptical and we decided to wait for some months to discuss this phenomenon later.

 

Once we returned to that subject, I think that Moldova has been facing a difficult period of financial and political crisis. At present our society is divided in different groups depending on their political preferences. It gives me great concerns, because in order to maintain good relations of friendship and avoid contradictory arguments we should refrain from such issues.

 

Personally, I think there is a big probability of repeated elections and it could be justified by the declaration made by the president of the Party of Communists. As the leader, he has put forward a vision of not voting for president. Analyzing their behavior and decision-making within the party for the last 8 years, we can say with certainty that nobody will vote.

 

I am convinced that the ideologists of the opposition party, have taken into account the idea shared by the writer and professor of Harvard Business School, Niall Ferguson, that many governments all around the world will fail during the global financial crisis. Therefore, if not voting for the president, the early elections will be organized in 2010. In my opinion the opposition believes that by that moment the crisis will have a negative impact on the image of the Alliance for European Integration and many of the electorate will change their preferences

In case if some of the members of the Party of Communists vote, they might form a new party with social focus. However at the election of 2013, this new founded social oriented party as well as PCRM, are not likely to pass the 5% electoral threshold of representation:

1. Vladimir Voronin will not be considered as a leader of the party, but just a symbol, which might disappoint the voters of communists.

2. If they participate in electing the head of the state, a positive image will be transferred from the PCRM to AIE, and it will significantly increase reliability and rating of the alliance.

3. We should not forget that our citizens are guided by a very simple principle, not to live worse than we used to do.

 

If we are talking about parties PLDM, PL, PDM and AMN, they have come to a consensus and have constituted the ruling coalition , like leaders of european parliament. They believe that the will be able to choose the president and govern the country. In this regard, an important moment is the signing of the declaration of August 8, 2009, where common goals and responsibilities were set.

Even if the president is not elected, the future of these parties depends on how they will manage to achieve their objectives in the period till elections. Thus, if the present government doesn`t convince foreign donors to give financial support, there will be quit small chances to achieve their goals. However, the presence of AIE in government can be a good advantage in the election campaign.

 

As a member of society I think that people are already tired of this political battle, enormous funds allocated from the state budget, time wasted in vain to participate in meetings with potential candidates of parliament and moreover a lot of people are disappointed in them, as some lawmakers have been ignoring their own electoral platform.

 

However, in case of anticipated elections party success will depend on: representativity (candidates for the position of deputy should be recognized as opinion leaders in society and protect the interests of citizens), transparency in party activity, promotion of democratic values, using the means of mass media (take into consideration that people are tired of advertising campaigns, tragic events of 7th April and that fact that in sec. XXI reality has been replaced by virtual life).

 

Finally I would like to quote a maximum “Time takes the truth out to light” and as everyone realizes, there is not much time left.

Lord help us!

 

 

Notes:
PCRM- Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova.
PLDM- Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova
PL- Liberal Party.
PDM-Democratic Party of Moldova.
AMN-“Moldova Noastra ”(Our Moldova) Alliance.
Alliance for European Integration(AIE)=AMN+PLDM+PL+PD

Globalization and Entrepreneurship

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“Companies that will succeed in business will be those that will succeed in
development of the most effective global network. (Ph.Kotler ) ”

Yesterday, there was September 1st , my first day at the university when recent graduates of high schools were praised by the lecturers, deans and rector on the fact that they had become students.
One of the speeches aroused admiration, respect and a lot of applauses. In it, the speaker referred to the opportunities that the graduates of universities would benefit, the economic role they would play in the development of Moldova and in the process of globalization.
128 Thus, I realized that in our country the idea of being a member of a legal entity, where free movement of capital, labor , goods and services is allowed, where religion, culture and human rights are respected, enjoys a great support among young generation. Proceeding from this, I decided to write some ideas that I have acquired at the seminar ”Globalization and Entrepreneurship ” held by the professor from the University of Texas at Dalas , Mr Tevfik Dalgik within 15th Anatolia Congress. According to his opinion, the ideal model of globalization is the existence of a single global market. Thus, the unification of the economies will cause thousands of changes .The most important point is the new way of entrepreneur‘s thinking:

-He has the right to do business anywhere in the world;

-When initiating a company or developing a brand he must take into consideration that there are about 6.5 billion potential customers;

– He is firmly convinced that the supply and demand are likely to overlap and the initiation and production will take place in different parts of the world in various forms of legal organization;

-Tax issue will be examined: in this way some products will cost much cheaper, which is an advantage both for consumers and for manufacturers (eg. An American is to pay for a new Hyundai car $ 7000 including taxes and charges, while a citizen of Turkey – 14,000 $).).

According to recent studies in countries with free economies, there have been stated that in those country the pace of economic growth is higher. There are many views that globalization was launched by USA, that aimed at monopolizing world. However it is a well-known fact that China was the first to build up transnational companies (eg. Hyundai. Honda ).

Certainly, due to this phenomenon, people have some concerns such as loss of national identity, cultural and religious values. Personally, I believe that these fears are unfounded as globalization will come up and will have positive effects when it will be supported by the majority and we will become aware of that fact that the goods on earth belong to all human beings . This, in its turn, will be possible if we are able to learn how to tolerate and respect our and other religions, traditions, cultures, just as it is happening now in the European Union. If such conditions are followed it will be possible to find out the truth, assure security, maintain the liquidation of poverty and wars, achieve free trade and movement.

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