Radu Oprea

"SMART Method of Public Policy" and milestones.

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The PhD in Economics

I am currently pursuing my PhD Degree under the guidance of Professor Daniela Sarpe, at the School of Economics and Administrative Studies from “Lower Danube” University of Galati, Romania.

I started the Program in October 2008 and in Fall, 2011 I am expected to graduate. In the summer of 2009 I finished the PhD regular classes. My field of research comes naturally given my Master and Bachelor studies: Economics. It is vague, but during the two remaining years I am pursuing a more specific specialization.

I will focus my research in a very important and highly debated field given the current economic context, that is entrepreneurship in times of recession. As I am particular interested in participative democracy, I will dedicate one chapter of my PhD thesis to address methods of citizen engagement that entrepreneurs, who survive an economic crisis, use to influence favorable public policies.

But here’s my thesis proposal, that will suffer many changes during the two years I am expected to conduct research:

PhD Thesis title:  “Entrepreneurship in Times of Economic and Financial Crisis. Methods of adaptation and survival.”

PhD Candidate 2011 in Economics: Radu Oprea, MPP

Instructor: Professor Ancuta Daniela Sarpe, PhD

General framework: Romania is facing the biggest recession from modern times. Both the governmental and private sectors were taken by surprise by the fierce force of the economic and financial crisis that hit the Romanian business climate. Although many businesses have been closed down, other companies have managed to survive and only diminished their activity. Under these circumstances, my PhD Thesis will analyze the way Romanian companies become more flexible on the market in times of crisis, the way they use labor more efficiently and effectively and the way the crisis is stimulating the creativity of the entrepreneur. I intend to stress out the entrepreneurial behavior that is worthy to become good practice examples. I want to find out and promote the abilities and core competences that are essential for managers to survive the times of crisis.  I will dedicate one chapter to the way the private and the governmental sectors should collaborate to prevent or ease the times of recession.

Contents:

• Chapter 1: will present the greatest global  economic and financial recessions from 1900 to the present, stressing their cyclical occurrence.

• Chapter 2: will analyze the current economic and financial recession that is affecting Romania beginning with Fall, 2008 and will position it within the global context.

• Chapter 3: will contain a macroeconomic analysis of the indicators that are relevant to the entrepreneurial activity in Romania.

• Chapters 4, 5 and 6: will contain the results of an “on the ground” research activity of SME entrepreneurship, that I will conduct in the South-East region of Romania (Galati, Braila, Buzau, Vrancea, Tulcea and Constanta counties). I’ll be identifying the needs of entrepreneurs, finding the good practice examples that could serve as future reference of entrepreneurial behavior, applying surveys, and conducting interviews. The major milestones will be:
  • Creating the right methodology to conduct my research.
  • Implementing the methodology on 100 companies from the South-East region of Romania.
  • Using relevant statistics about SME activity.
  • Observing the trends of economic development and employment on short and medium terms.
  • Determining the level of development of the businesses from the South-East region of Romania.
  • Identifying new opportunities of entrepreneurship development.
  • Wrapping up and analysis of the surveys, interviews and data, collected during the “on the ground” research.
  • Finding the correct recommendations for businesses to pass times of economic crisis.

• Chapter 7: will cover participative democracy. I intend to find out whether entrepreneurs try to influence favorable public policies and how. I am interested to see what methods of citizen engagement do they use and why. I will also see if they are successful or not in their endeavors and if they feel positive about their chances to influence the governmental sector. I’ll also be collecting their ideas of economic development and governmental policies in times of crises and whether these are related to the measures that the Romanian Government is actually taking.

• Chapter 8: will contain policy recommendations, the results of the research activity and other relevant findings of the thesis.

I’ll be presenting the progress of my PhD Thesis on the blog, at the “My PhD in Economics” section. Please, feel free to give me any feedback!

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