We are thrilled to announce the publication of a new book by the Executive MBA alumni community. The volume II of “In Search of Tomorrow: Critical Thinking about the Romanian and International Business Environment” continues our initiative of publishing and sharing with the academic and business community and the wider public the research work of the MBA students engaged in the Hull University Executive MBA class of 2019-2022 delivered in Cluj‐Napoca.
The volume is meant to showcase some of the most interesting papers coming out of an Executive MBA program but also to offer to future economics and business students an example of the MBA standards of writing and ways of critically reflecting on current challenges and transformations that companies and the business environment are experiencing locally and globally. Executive education programs of this standard and format are rather a new thing in the academic and business community in Cluj‐Napoca.
This book project was coordinated by Dr. Ovidiu Oltean – Research officer at Transilvania Executive Education and Dr. Alin Baiescu – TEE MBA Alumni representatives and published by Cluj University Press in February 2023. The book can be ordered by writing an email to
Content of the book
This volume offers a snapshot of the students’ research work and research preoccupations and brings together highest rated papers which were submitted as assignments for the 12 modules of the Executive MBA programme. The readers will find several analyses on areas as diverse as innovation and creativity within global companies with branches in Romania and the European Union, expansion of local business into international markets, strategic management within organic food local companies, critical analysis of the supply chain processes of a Romanian company, leadership models and organizational change processes, cybersecurity risks within cloud solution systems, management consultancy within multinational companies and up to date researches that capture the transformations of the Romanian economic and business environment in the past decade.
Who are the authors?
The authors of this volume are proud graduate of the fifth generation of the Executive MBA from the Hull University. Some of the case studies analysed here have been documented and studied by the authors from the position of managers or coordinators of business units or companies who have experienced or overseen the challenges and developments that they are analysing.
Authors: Teodor Balaşanian, Radu Borza, Georgeta Buran, Daniela Burcă, Horaţiu Cacovean, Cosmin Chindriş, Cătălina Chingaru, Andra David, Simona Fuchilă, Dan Negrea, Daniel Opriş, Leda Panaiot, Alina Păcurar, Vlad Păunescu, Dinu Pop, Irina Pop, Sergiu Remete, Vlad Ringhilescu, Renata Saitan, Crenguţa Şteţ, Claudiu Târziu.
Teodor Balaşanian has an extensive experience in Banking, mainly in Finance and Treasury area. He is currently involved in Finance merger and acquisition projects as well as other Finance related projects – IFRS9 implementation.
Radu Borza has over 20 years of experience working into a multicultural environment, leading manufacturing, engineering and operations of large organizations like Eckerle, Nokia and Emerson. He held different roles, from Engineering Management to Plant Management and Director of Operations generating business performance improvements and business turnaround in low cost and highly competitive markets.
Georgeta Buran has a long experience as an executive with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry. Strong professional skilled in Banking, Credit Analysis, Commercial Banking, Credit Risk, and Loans.
Daniela Burcă is a senior executive with repeated achievements in the operations field. In her 15 years at Emerson, she has a strong track record in building and managing complex organizations and leading high performance teams to achieve consistently exceptional levels of performance.
Horaţiu Cacovean holds an executive position in sales in the IT industry. He has a long experience as project manager in the development and delivery of numerous IT security and remote access management projects employed in different domains and industries.
Cosmin Chindriș has done business in more than 30 countries and has come to understand the regulatory, cultural, socioeconomic, and political challenges that impact successful partnerships.
Cătălina Chingaru has 17 years HR experience working in Banking, Big4, Transportation and Automotive. Each role she held had a different focus and impact, helping her achieve important business knowledge and helped her become a complete HR professional.
Andra David has worked in banking for many years, as a loan and business analyst, but has recently taken on a Project Manager role in a different industry. She has a major interest in all forms of storytelling and dreams of becoming a writer one day.
Simona Fuchilă has long experience in HR management, leading strategic initiatives concerning employee experience, talent acquisition and career development, diversity, equity and inclusion, organisation review and development, performance management, legal compliance, and compensation and benefits programs for the Western Region (Nordics, Benelux, Iberia, France, Ireland and the UK) for a multinational technology company.
Dan Negrea is currently holding the position of General Manager of Baumann Automation with responsibility over the Eastern European Region. During his career path, he has been working mostly with foreign companies under significant development in Romania, operating in different industries (oil and gas, plastic welding, packaging, IT, robotics, and automotive).
Daniel Opriş is an export management professional at Transavia SA. For more than 10 years he has been pioneering the representation of the Romanian meat industry on international markets while attracting strategic know-how such as international QSR projects, animal welfare certifications, access to mature and ‘premiumized’ retail markets.
Leda Panaiot has accumulated an extensive experience as a Senior Legal Advisor for the gas and power industries, being part of the legal team in several important transactions and projects, mergers and carve-out processes, and start-ups in an important energy group. Currently, she holds the position of Legal Consultancy Coordinator, involved in the legal consultancy activity (21 in-house legal advisers) in relation to the top management, various departments, and internal & external stakeholders.
Alina Păcurar holds an executive position in Sales and Operations Planning in a global engineering and technical company. She has experience in Business Analysis, Operations Management, Forecasting, Purchasing/Logistics, Resource Management and Utilization, Operations KPI’s, Inventory management VMI, Finance/Accounting, Audit/Consulting, Customer/Client Service, and in managing European Sales and Operations Planning process for Process Systems and Solutions.
Vlad Păunescu has been working in the field of spatial data management for over 12 years. He has managed projects of systematic registration of property for 10 localities in Romania and has been a part of consulting teams for projects of photogrammetry, LiDAR and GIS. From 2014, Vlad was an Assistant Teacher and from 2021 an Assistant Professor at The University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest.
Dinu Pop is head of Finance and Accounting for an automotive company with global operations. He has accumulated an extensive experience in finance and accounting in the Big Four’s assurance area and Merger and Acquisition Departments.
Irina Pop has over 10 years of experience in the real estate development sector, where she held different management positions, developing sustainable and green buildings.
Sergiu Remete is an accomplished and results driven Proposal Manager working for a global engineering and manufacturing company. He has extensive progressive experience in proposals management, project management and directing cross-functional teams in various industries and proven ability in evaluating proposal content requirements using the BU strategy and managing deliverables and projects of varying sizes for the European market.
Vlad Ringhilescu has accumulated an extensive experience in the banking industry whilst working as a project manager in numerous software developments projects destined for in-house customized use. He will always be remembered in our community.
Crenguţa Şteţ works as treasury manager for a Romanian group of companies activating in electrical energy sector, where she had the opportunity to apply what she had accumulated over the years of banking experience, and to develop her career by experiencing new challenges.
Renata Saitan holds the position of Senior Manager for Partner Training Operations in a global technology company. She has over 10 years’ experience in training coordination, consultancy, and administration of transnational teams in the EMEA area, working closely with global stakeholders on large scale rollouts of operational process improvements. She is an Associate CIPD member.
Claudiu Târziu is chief accountant in a large nationally important postal packaging company with a long tradition on the market. He has experience in Financial Accounting, Auditing, SAP, Financial Reporting and Forecasting.
The first volume of this book was published in 2019 and represented a collection of the best essays published by the 2017-2019 University of Hull Executive MBA class. The Hull University Executive MBA delivered in partnership with Transilvania Executive Education (TEE) was launched in 2015. Since then, TEE together with its business and academic partners is working to make possible the existence of such a program in Cluj and wider North‐Western regions of Romania and to contribute to the development of business research and scholarship to the benefit of both business environment and academia as well as social innovators and entrepreneurs who work hard to accomplish their dreams.
The book can be ordered by writing an email to