Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Is the Economic Crisis Changing Marketing Strategies?: From Offering What Customers Need to Offering What Customers can Afford
Cristina Calvo-Porral (Economic Analysis and Business Administration Department University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain)
Chapter 2. W-Crisis in Hungarian Industries: Effects and Strategies from the Viewpoint of Enterprises
Eva Kiss (Faculty of Economics West Hungarian University, Sopron, Hungary)
Chapter 3. The System of Indicators of Economic Growth for Better Quality of Life: Economic and Social Impacts
Katja Rasic, Matjaz Mulej and Vesna Cancer (Ministry of Infrastructure, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and others)
Chapter 4. Economic Stress and Fear of the Financial Crisis: Hot and Cold Reactions
Melissa Morone, Gabriele Giorgi and Javier Fiz Pèrez (European University of Rome, Department of Human Science, Business@Health Laboratory, Italy)
Chapter 5. Economic Crises and Suicide
Marco Innamorati, Maurizio Pompili, David Lester, and Bijou Yang (Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and others)
Chapter 6. Effects of the Economic Crisis on Mental Health in Spain: Summarising Risk Factors
Anna I. Masedo Gutiérrez and B. Moreno-Küstner (Department of Personality, Assessment and Treatment, Faculty of Psychology, University of Malaga, Spain)
Chapter 7. The Impact of the Economic Crisis of 2008 on Health and Standard of Living in European Countries using a Quasi-Experimental Approach
Oznur Ozdamar and Eleftherios Giovanis (Adnan Menderes University, Aydýn Faculty of Economics, Department of Econometrics, Merkez Kampüsü, Aytepe Mevkii, Aydýn, Turkey, and others)
Chapter 8. Crises and Resilience in Madagascar: Relationships with Demographic and Social Dynamics
Michel Garenne (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMI Résiliences, Bondy, France, and others)
Index
Reviews
“The book consists of eight chapters in which both theoretical and practical studies, which introduce countries as case studies, come into place. In the first part the author, Christina Calvo Porral, deals with a very interesting issue. She analyses the practical effect of crises on marketing strategy. She examines whether crises influence applied marketing methods to any extent at all. The starting point for research is the change of consumer behaviour experienced during the crisis. The author identifies those factors to which consumers respond sensitively (prices, discounts, and brands) through an economic fall-back. The answer to the main question of whether marketing strategies have to be changed is obviously yes.
In the second chapter the author, Eva Kiss, analyses the impact of crises on corporations. The writer of the study emphasizes intervening changes in the Hungarian industrial environment, in the structure of companies and in their economic activity on the one hand, while on the other hand, she analyses crisis management techniques adopted by companies, finally she introduces their aggregate effect on these branches of industry. The basic assumption is that in the Hungarian economy and within the industry, economic decline did not shape a classical V-letter, but it was W-shaped, which is becoming more common in a new age. Therefore deterioration which was experienced by companies was bigger compared to previous fall-backs. The author concludes that those companies which are exposed to the changes of the world economy in a bigger scale (which are closer to the global economy) were felt almost immediately. She draws attention to the fact that diversification of the Hungarian industry must be strengthened, while the dependency should be weakened, in order to be not so sensitive to similar crises in the future.
The third chapter leads us from economic impact to social consequence of crises. The authors (Katja Rasic, Matjaz Mulej and Vesna Cancer) examine four main questions – the effect of technological research, innovation and knowledge on economic growth and the relationship between economic growth and quality of life. After the normalization of variables, they establish the relation among them with Pearson-correlation analysis, and then, in order to determine the concrete effect, they did regression-analysis. The authors came to the conclusion that technological research, innovation and knowledge influence significantly economic growth and growth has a positive impact on quality of life, at least in the Slovakian case. In point of fact, in order to determine the quality of life, the gross domestic products as an indicator has to be expanded with other variables like environmental components, human factor and health condition which were created by authors.
In Chapter 4, the authors (Melissa Morone, Gabriele Giorgi and Javier Fiz Pérez) approach the effect of crisis from a social side. They examine its consequences and the crisis related attitudes of employers and employees. Writers investigate stress situations caused by economic crisis, and the answers, reactions given to them and their relations to each other. From the side of employees, special emphasis is placed on fear as a negative emotional factor which causes the loss of confidence, frustration, and unquietness and increases the possibility of developing mental problems (authors regard it as hot reaction). Approaching this topic from the other side, however crisis improves the quality of work because employees do not want to lose their workplaces, therefore they attempt to do better quality and more efficient work which is a positive change from the aspect of employers (this is referred to as cold reaction). After the analyzation of 2008’s crisis they determined that hot reactions dominated and the health conditions of employees deteriorated unequivocally which was related to stress.
The fifth chapter approaches the social problems caused by crises from the aspect of psychology. Authors (Marco Innamorati, Maurizio Pompili, David Lester and Bijou Yang) analyse the relationship between suicide and economic crises with the assumption that there is no clear connection between the changes of economic processes and the number of suicides. Although, more studies refer to the dangerous consequences of both economic decline and economic growth.
A similar topic is unfolded on the Spanish example in the sixth chapter. Authors, A. I. Masedo Gutiérrez and B. Moreno-Küstner, examine the effect of economic crises on mental health. Spain struggles with serious economic and social problems because of the crisis which evolved in 2008. Unemployment and decreasing incomes of households put huge pressure on population. In the European Union, examination of poverty is not confined to minimum level of subsistence and to proportion of people who live below the poverty line but the organization determine the number of indulgent with deprivation survey. Based on this, authors established that the ratio of population who is threatened by both deprivation and serious deprivation is increased and the same time the ratio of those people who live under poverty line and minimum level of subsistence as well. The regeneration is almost insignificant. Consequently the mental health of society is continuously deteriorating and the number of antidepressant users is increasing, similarly to the number of drug users. In spite that this statement is regarded as a fact in Spain only few study was written about suggestions in order to eliminate or at least handle the problem. Therefore, authors make proposal about solution in the final part of the chapter.
The authors, Oznur Ozdamar and Eleftherious Giovanis, in the seventh chapter examine two main research questions. On the one part they study the impact of law on Austrian Health Fund, on the other part writhers examine the impact of the 2008’s crisis on the economy of vulnerable countries (like Hungary, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal) and they compare them with such countries which have similar characteristics but were less effected by crisis like the Polish or Czech one. The focus of investigation is on health, living conditions and quality of life. The base of the research is a European questionary which analysed the health conditions, aging and pension situation in European countries between 2004 and 2012. With Differences-in-Differences model they analyse the effect of crisis on mental health and living conditions. Related to the first research question, which examined the law about the Austrian Health Fund, they determined that the Fund provides protection in the maintenance of living conditions and quality of life, furthermore it helps to keep up mental health and improvement on affected areas can be clearly detectable after the law was issued. While in the case of other countries in the course of the analysis of both quality of life and living conditions deterioration could be obviously seen because of the crisis. Through the authors’ research, it has been established that the possibility of better living conditions, healthier life and better quality of life decreased among well-educated people.
In the 8th and last chapter we leave the European framework and we get an insight to Madagascar’s economic process and we get to know with the effect of the crisis on society. Author, Michel Garenne, goes back to 1960s with long-term analyses and investigate the connection among social, demographical, health situation and political, economic crisis. She establishes that before the revolution of 1973 the country was above the African average based on economic indicators but after it was an obvious deterioration. Political crisis resulted decreasing social and demographical indicators. At the same time, the population increased during the analysed period.
The diversity of chapters provides insight into those regions and economic peripheries which does not fit into mainstream literature. The book approaches the effect of crisis on society from a new aspect. I recommend this book to those who are interested in economic crises and their impact on society and would like to get information about the consequences of economic decline in different geographical regions.” – Nedelka Erzsébet, tanársegéd, Soproni Egyetem Lámfalussy Sándor Közgazdaságtudományi Kar
