"Scientific research" Almanac

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  THE PRACTICE OF MUNICIPALITIES IN DEVELOPING PLANNING DOCUMENTS FOR THE PROGRAMMING PERIOD 2014–2020

  The purpose of this study is to present the results of a survey conducted on the planning practices of municipalities in Bulgaria in the development of planning documents for the new programming period 2014-2020. The object of the study are the municipal development plans (MDPs) for 2014-2020 of all 264 municipalities within the country and the ... The purpose of this study is to present the results of a survey conducted on the planning practices of municipalities in Bulgaria in the development of planning documents for the new programming period 2014-2020. The object of the study are the municipal development plans (MDPs) for 2014-2020 of all 264 municipalities within the country and the subject is the quality of the MDPs and the implementation of the fundamental planning principles in the preparation of strategic documents for local and regional development. The study is based on a set of criteria developed by the team of authors, which provides an opportunity for objective assessment of the quality of the MDPs. The results obtained are a basis for presenting some best practices and making recommendations for future actions, aimed at improving the strategic planning process at municipal level, increasing both the coordination and cohesion between the planning documents of different hierarchical levels and establishing a national body with prerogatives in the field of strategic planning of the regional development. The main research thesis is that the municipal administrations in our country have a significant potential for improvement and standardization of their planning processes, which in the long term influences regional development and the opportunities for generating municipal competitive advantages.

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  CUSTOMER RESPONSE PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS USING UPLIFT MODELLING

  Traditional customer response models are based on the understanding that marketing campaign effectiveness could be measured by predicting response probabilities of each customer. Such approach seems to be very reasonable and in most cases it gives better results than random targeting. A fundamental problem of response modelling is that it does not ... Traditional customer response models are based on the understanding that marketing campaign effectiveness could be measured by predicting response probabilities of each customer. Such approach seems to be very reasonable and in most cases it gives better results than random targeting. A fundamental problem of response modelling is that it does not separate the impact of a campaign from other stimuli and spontaneous responses because response models predict the wrong thing. They model and predict response probabilities, not the change in those probabilities as a result of the given marketing intervention. Following the understanding that traditional response models do not give optimal marketing decisions, the goal of this study is to define, estimate and apply on a real data base uplift model for predicting the change in customer behaviour resulting from marketing action. The specific tasks relate to studying the opportunities of a relatively new and less familiar methodology for identifying hesitant and persuadable customers. The study illustrates the application of the direct approach for uplift modeling and demonstrates its significant advantages over targeting based on uplift models over traditional response models.

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  SCENARIOS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND THEIR POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY

  The reality in the European Union makes it necessary to consider various scenarios for the future development of the European integration. The inclusion of the Republic of Bulgaria in the single market makes our country a part of a much larger space, which directly affects the economic processes in the country. Therefore, we need to consider the ... The reality in the European Union makes it necessary to consider various scenarios for the future development of the European integration. The inclusion of the Republic of Bulgaria in the single market makes our country a part of a much larger space, which directly affects the economic processes in the country. Therefore, we need to consider the impact of the possible scenarios for the development of the EU and their effects on the development of the Bulgarian economy. The study aims to develop possible scenarios for the future development of the European integration. The formulated tasks are to analyse the geographical orientation of the EU’s foreign trade relations; to analyse the foreign direct investments in the Republic of Bulgaria and their implications for the economy of the country in the context of the European integration processes; to analyse the trends in the European integration processes and their impact on the Bulgarian economy. It supports the idea that the possible scenarios for the development of the European integration are to be reflected in the national integration policy. The study presents a positive, a realistic and a negative scenarios for the European integration and reflects their potential effects on the economy of the Republic of Bulgaria. The study employs graphical and tabular methods, ABC-analysis, SWOT-analysis.