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Model Based On Key Performance Indicators For Assessing The Market Position
Of A Company. Case Study In A Car Rental Company

Article · September 2012

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Revista EconomicČ Supliment nr. 3/2012
Marketing, Commerce and Tourism and a New Paradigm of Change

MODEL BASED ON KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR ASSESSING THE MARKET

POSITION OF A COMPANY. CASE STUDY IN A CAR RENTAL COMPANY

URSACESCU Minodora
Ph. D. Professor, Faculty of Management/Department Management, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies,
Romania, minoursa@ase.ro

CIOC Mihai
Ph. D. Professor, Faculty of Management/Department Management, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies,
Romania, mihaicioc@gmail.com

Abstract: The present paper is the result of a research approach realized on the Romanian car rental
services’ market. Beginning from the characteristics of this economic sector and from the activity’s specificities of
the car rental companies, the present study intends to develop an evaluation model of the position on the competitive
market of a Romanian company in the car rental industry, based on Key Performance Indicators and Balanced
Scorecard. The research’s objectives reside in defining an indicators set depending on their importance and on the
impact’s dimension over the organization’s competitive maturity level. The study’s result is the creation of an
objective assessment instrument of the company’s rating on the car rental market.

Key words: Key Performance Indicators; Balanced Scorecard; Car Rental Industry; Business Trip Index.

JEL classification: M 31

1. Introduction
A series of conjuncture factors, arising especially from the deep transformations generated by the
globalization phenomenon, lead in the last decades to an important extension of the services sector, the
car rental one having an important share. Nowadays we are witnessing substantial modifications in the
geographical repartition of the production and of its control manner, in the liberalization of the products,
services, capital and work forces exchanges. In these conditions, the car rental services has known an
important development, enabling the apparition at national level of some new companies, which
alongside with the ones established in the domain (Avis, Europcar, Hertz etc.) cover a significant market
share and accede to a great part of the request. The car rental service is increasingly more imposed at
worldwide level as an alternative to the transport with own vehicles. One of the particularities of the car
rental activity resides in the fact that due to the economic ensemble development, at national and
international level, this service type is no longer mainly addressed only to the tourists’ category who
request a car in their vacation periods, but it intends to accede to the request coming from the business
people category, whose mobility manifests during the entire year. A second significant aspect
characterizing in entirely the car rental service refers to the great feedback on it of each deep change in
the structure and functioning of the competitive market. Thus, the apparition of the new economic agents
in the industry, commerce, transport sphere, the accentuation of the competition between them, the
rapidity of the sale processes, represent a great part of the factors which determine the companies to adapt
and to revise their strategic options. In this measure, one of the « success keys » is determined by the
insurance capacity of the employees’, commercial representatives’ mobility, who by the nature of their
tasks are dependent on possessing a transport means that seldom is their own.
The car rental also became in the post-communist Romania a growing business, many of the
companies in this sector resorting to rigorous practices, methods and instruments in the domain of the
management, marketing or informatic and communication technologies. During the beginning of the car
rental market the most aimed target group were the tourists, but their percentage in the total of the car
rental demand was relatively low, Romania being a country with a still relatively low exploited touristic
potential. Towards the end of the 90’s, once with the increasing volume of the foreign investments in
Romania, a well defined clients category begins to be formed, consisting of the companies’ staff which
opened in Romania business representations, commercial banks etc. It should be noted that, for this
clients category, the car rental companies began to offer services associated to the main one, in this case,
renting office logistics, as well as travel logistics necessary for a business man, passenger in town.
Taking into account the car rental market dynamic on worldwide level, but also the “youth” of
this market at Romania’s level, it becomes important for the top management of the companies activating
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in this sector to have an instrument by means of which it can rigorously and realistically assess its market
rating. The acceding to such a managerial request is motivated both by strategic considerations and by the
fact that on a developing profile market, gaining the leader position and imposing the own brand
represents a real success.
In this context, the purpose of this paper consists in developing a model to assess the position on
the competitive market of a Romanian company in the car rental industry, based on Key Performance
Indicators (KPI). In fact, a company’s competitive maturity level represents a measure of its performance,
which might be quantified through a relevant organizational benchmarks number, reflected in KPI. There
have been taken into account in elaborating the model, different importance levels of the defined KPI set,
as well as their alignment to a strategic development instrument, materialized in the Balanced Scorecard
matrix.

2. General considerations regarding the car rental market and the car rental services
The car rental market was hard hit during the recent economic recession largely due to overall
decline in spending, and reduced travel, among other factors. According to Euromonitor International
(2010) small and medium car rental companies in Romania have perished under the pressure of the
financial crisis, while the large players were faced with a very volatile consolidating market. Highly
dependent on the corporate sector, and affected by the declining numbers of incoming tourists, car rental
companies have not had their best period in Romania since the onset of the recession. However, revival in
economic conditions at global level, restored the consumer needs and confidence which reflected in
improved car rental market. As there are expectations of continued economic revival, the travel related
activities will also increase, further driving the growth of car rental market.
The last year’s edition of the Research and Markets (2011) report provides an analysis of the
global car rental industry, with focus on various geographic regions. The car rental market is well
organized in developed nations and further growing. The United States accounts for the majority share in
the global car rental industry, followed by Europe and other developed nations. The competition on the
car rental market is intense and primarily based on price, service, and reliability. Hertz, Enterprise, Avis
Budget, and Dollar Thrifty are the four key players in the global car rental market (tabel 1). This industry
has the roots in a constantly growing in emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil, among others.

Tabel 1: United States Car Rental market – Fleet, Locations and Revenues. RA
Company U.S Cars in 2011 U.S 2010 U.S
service (Avg. U.S Locations Revenue est. Revenue (in
2011) (in millions) million)
Enterprise Holding 920.861 6.187 $ 11.100 $ 9.800
Hertz 320.000 2.500 $ 4.241 $ 4.081
Avis Budget 285.000 2.300 $ 4.110 $ 3.900
Dollar Thrifty 118.000 445 $ 1.645 $ 1.628
Source: (Auto Rental News Magazine, March/April 2012)

The performance of the car rental services is the resultant of some quite heterogeneous factors
arising from the vehicle fleet potential managed by the company, but also from its marketing strategy,
managerial competences, the exploiting capacity of the new informatic and communication technology,
the ability of monitoring the competitive environment. There are many key success factors that drive
profitability in the car rental industry (Monestime, 2012). The efficient use of the vehicle fleet is one of
the factors that determine success in the car rental sector. Because rental companies experience loss of
revenue when there are either too few or too many cars sitting in their lots, it is of paramount importance
to efficiently manage the fleets. This success factor represents a big strength for the industry since it
lowers if not completely eliminates the possibility of running short on rental cars. Another key success
factor that is common among competing firms is the integration of technology in their business processes.
Through technology, for instance, the car rental companies create ways to meet consumer demand by
making renting a car a very agreeable deal by adding the convenience of online rental among other
alternatives. Furthermore, companies have integrated navigation systems alongwith roadside assistance to
offer customers the piece of mind when renting cars.
In Romania, the car rental market is relatively new and less known from the point of view of its
potential, importance and advantages. Moreover, its development and consolidation is – beyond the

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technical and economic development factors – a matter linked to the clients’ mentality and behavior vis-à-
vis the presence of such a service at the level of the competitive market in Romania.

2.1 Why do people appeal to car rental services?

The rental business is a service industry. According to Van Looy (2003) services have the
characteristics that they are intangible, perisable, and that theier production and their consumption are not
separable. This also applies to car rental services because they are not tangible product and they have to
be produced and consumed at the same time as well as in the same place. The argument for supplying the
car rental service by the profile companies reside in satisfying the mobility need of some client categories
with different particularities and requests. This service’s utility is however reflected by other
characteristics, like:
x It is a practical service. No matter whether is addresses to the tourist or to the business man, the car
rental on short or medium term is a practical alternative to traveling with the own vehicle. The car
rental companies are preoccupied to provide through their offer a wide range of cars (different type ans
size), at accessible prices, allowing the customer to dispose of a vehicle adapted to his needs, when and
where he desires. The car rental locations are usually in airports or train stations, as these are
considered to be the most important places in which such a service is requested.
x It is an economic service. Such a particularity is appreciated from two different perspectives: the one of
the tourists and the one of the business men. In the first category’s case, statistics show the preference
of the clients who travel with a touristic purpose, for renting a car especially when the destinations are
multiple and need a combination of transport means (airplane, car, ship, train). In the second category’s
case, it is revealed that for a person who travels for business (within and especially outside the country)
it is more efficient from the perspective of the transport expenses to rent a car during his stay (there are
taken into account only the rental costs and the ones for purchasing the fuel). Moreover, the great
majority of the car rental services developed various client loyalty programs, as well as partnerships
with the airlines or the railways, by means of which they can offer preferential taxes, discounts or
attractive prices.
x It is a service adapted to the sustainable development principles. A current practice of the car rental
companies is the maintenance of a cars fleet with a medium age of 12 months, comparatively with
personal vehicles (approx. 5-7 years). This aspect is determined by the fact that a rented car is in
circulation between 60% and 90% of the time, in consequence the physical wear rate being much
higher than in the case o the personal vehicles. In these conditions, the renewal rate of the vehicle fleet
is high, which makes a car rental company to permanently dispose of vehicles with advanced technical
characteristics (low gas emissions, low degree of noise pollution, modern and adequate design etc.). It
should be remarked that the maintenance of an obsolete vehicle fleet is not only against the sustainable
development principles, but it constitutes an essential excluding reason from the market of the
respective company in time. The most important long term trends in the car rental industry today are
technological innovation through the adoption of green cars, navigation systems and other
technological features.
x It is a substitution service that can be appealed in case the personal vehicle is temporary unavailable,
or in case a company cannot use its own cars for some justified reasons.

2.2 Characteristics of the Romanian car rental market

The car rental market in Romania consists essentially in two company categories:
a) International Rent a Car companies represented by Avis, Hertz, Europcar etc. These ones are
organizations with tradition in the domain, which operate in most states of the world, either
directly or through the agents belonging to the respective brand. The clients they address to are
usually physical persons or multinational companies.
b) National Rent a Car companies of small and medium dimensions, serving the local market and
which identified certain market niches within it, a reason why they are not competing and are
not strongly competed, by the international companies.
It must be mentioned that a car rental company might offer besides the short term renting services
(« short term rental ») the one for longer periods of time (« long term rental »). The second renting
version is preferred by the big companies, within the project management. The most significant example
is represented by the case of a foreign company which desires to realize a feasibility study in Romania
regarding the beginning of a investment. Therefore, the company has to provide to the project team the
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necessary infrastructure, including the transport one. The use of the own vehicles is not justified for a
period of about 8 months, sometimes this being absolutely impossible if we take into account a company
with its headquarters on the American or Asian continent. The most efficient solution is externalizing the
transport expenses, by renting cars from the car rental companies in the long term rentalsystem. The
rental rate includes in this case all afferent costs (road taxes, insurance taxes, maintenance etc.), these
ones representing fiscal deductible expenses for the service’s beneficiary. A concise analysis of the car
rental market in Romania highlighted some specific aspects regarding:
Clients, target market, market segmentation. The following main segments might be identified
within the market, to which a car rental company addresses:
Occasional tourists and clients – it is about individuals who appeals to the car rental service for a
few days depending on their necessities. Usually, a significant raise of the sales volume arising from this
client’s category is registered in the holiday periods.
The insurance companies – these ones provide a car in the conditions in which the own car of the
ensured person has been stolen or seriously damaged. The current practice consists in signing a
partnership between the insurance company and the car rental one.
The commercial companies in the private sector – these ones rent on short term one or more cars
for their employees, who travel for business within or outside the country. In the situations in which the
traveling is for longer periods of time, the company prefers the service’s formula of long term rental type,
which is more efficient from the expenses point of view.
Acquisition and management of the auto fleet. There are many possibilities for a car rental
company to make and develop its vehicle fleet:
Purchase from the car dealers (internal or external)through the classic sales and purchase
agreement. Taking into account that the financial effort is considerable especially in the initial moment of
the business onset, few companies appeal to this solution.
Purchase in leasing system from the specialized companies. It is the most often used solution,
both among the national companies of small and middle dimensions, but also at the big companies’ level,
due to the possibility to space out the capital expenses during the leasing period.
Getting an Auto Loan it is an option rarely used by the car rental companies, due to the
difficulties raised by the bank norms, but it can be used for purchasing a very small number of vehicles.
The big companies accumulate hundreds to thousands of vehicles, therefore fleet management is
becoming increasingly complex. The company decides on the fleet size and fleet structure. Ordinary,
these decisions were made by the company with very limited use of mathematical models. While in the
past fleet planning could be performed manually, the new size of the planning problem necessitates the
use of advanced planning tools. Papier (2007) develops an analytical model for fleet size optimization,
that take the stochastic nature of the car rental business into acount. He shows how the optimal fleet size
can be computed under stationary and under non-stationary demand.
The investment process for starting the car rental service. Generally, the investments volume
and their directions for use are a problem linked to the company’s financial availability, the development
strategy, the particularities of the market and to a series of objective and subjective factors. When a car
rental company starts her business the investments involved are pretty high. There are some marketing
steps which are very important for starting a car rental business:
Find a Mentor- find someone who has experience in this field and ask for their advice.
Keep the vehicles in good working condition- always should keep the vehicles in top condition.
Nobody wants a car to break down on them in the middle of a highway. The cars number varying from
30-200 pieces for the small enterprises to more than 1000 for the big companies. The auto fleet structure
and size depends on the target group best represented on the market, for which the company considers
that it can reach a satisfying level of its turnover.
Develop an informatic and communication infrastructure – it should include executive
information systems for managing the processes or digital scoreboard for the managers or
communication technologies such as Customer Relationship Management, Call Center.
Find a qualified staff,forthe pick-up and drop-off service, the vehicles maintenance, or the
administrative tasks.
Although it is a relatively new market in Romania and the development perspectives are positive,
it must be remarked that the demand for car rentals is mainly driven by increase in air travel, increase in
hotel occupancy rates and implementation of appropriate distribution and logistics strategy by the
companies operating in the car rental market.
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3. Study regarding the position’s assessment of a car rental company on the profile market, by
means of a Key Performance Indicators set

3.1 The research’s objective

The present research is oriented to the development of an innovative assessment model of a car
rental company’s position on the profile market in Romania, using the processes’ assessment technique
through Key Performance Indicators (KPI). In essence, such a model is useful for determining the
company’s rating on the market, depending on which it might control or redefine its strategic options.
With the purpose of defining more rigorously the KPI set, the information selection of quantitative or
qualitative nature was based on the data sources provided by the company during the research, derived
from: the monthly sales history; the company’s marketing strategy; the staff’s structure; the evolution of
the marketing expenses; the ongoing projects; the internal and external audit reports for management; the
market studies regarding the consumers’ satisfaction; the annual activity reports.

3.2 The research’s methodology

For an objective study’s approach, the research intended to define the Key Performance
Indicators in the form of organizational benchmarks. The concrete defining of these indicators resulted
from analyzing the statistical data series, realized both in the company’s internal plan and in the external
environment at national level. The KPI set included in the structure of the assessment model proposed as
a research’s objective exclusively covers conformity indicators(Ic), by means of which the effective
registered levels are being reported for each KPI, at the levels appreciated by the research team as being
optimal, in terms of the best practices in the domain. In order to realize a more realistic company’s market
rating at the level of the car rental services in Romania, the conformity indicators have been established
on a [1,3] scale, depending on each KPI’s importance and its impact’s dimension over the company’s
sales volume. Thus, the maximum value of the conformity indicators (Ic=3) represents the company’s
advanced maturity level on the competitive market, appreciated through the KPI’s optimal values. At the
same time, depending on the conformity level, there has been established a proportion of each KPI within
the assessment model, using the following coefficients: 0,99 for KPI belonging to the maximum
conformity level (Ic=3); 0,66 for KPI belonging to the medium conformity level (Ic=2); 0,33 for KPI
belonging to the minimal conformity level (Ic=1). Beginning from these specifications, the research was
developed on the following levels:
Level 1. Defining the Key Performance Indicators set. The company’s internal environment
analysis, correlated with the external environment’s research (economical, technological, socio-political
and contextual) leaded to the definition of the following KPI, considered to be representative for
determining the rating on the Romanian car rental market:
1. The increase index of the medium annual price for car rental service – describes the increase
service’s rental price, established depending on the demand’s elasticity on different market
segments, as well as on the often subjective perception of the clients. Generally, there is
appreciated in the car rental sector that a raise with 1% of the rental price contributes to a raise
with 8% of the profit, in the hypothetical conditions of ensuring a constant demand (Hong, 2007).
2. Medium index of the vehicle fleet renewal – influences the company’s capacity to honor the
demand on the market and to insure a wider covering of it. A representative indicator used in the
specialty literature is RPU (Revenue Per Unit), which indicates the annual medium profit
obtained by using an unit in the own vehicle park (Boeffgen & Kartach, 2008).
3. The medium index for assigning the publicity budget on different channels – is an indicator with a
direct influence on the company’s sales volume, as well as on its image in the competitive
environment. It is determined by reporting the publicity budget for a certain channel to the total
budget assigned for the publicity.
4. Business Trip Index - is the most used indicator worldwide, for appreciating the business tourism
evolution, representing the main evaluation and comparative analysis means of the degree in
which the big cities might represent destinations for business trips. According to EIU (2008) the
Business Trip Index (BTI) is calculated by taking into account a number of 31 assessment criteria,
grouped in five categories: the civic safety level, the medical assistance services, the culture and
the environment, the infrastructure for land, road or air transport, the medium cost of a voyage
(accommodation, food, rent a car).

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5. The general index of the new established economic agents at national level – it determines an
important weight of the business trips volume and results from reporting the number of ”new
entry” economic agents on the market to the total number of existing companies.
6. The increase index of the worldwide petrol’s price – the fuels’ increase generates negative effects
over the car rental companies by discouraging the clients to rent a car (Avis Budget Group,
2006). Being given that this market is one in which the price represents the main competition
criteria, it is very difficult to transfer to the customers the supplementary costs generated by the
fuel’s increase.
7. The request’s index of cars taken over in airports – is an extremely relevant indicator for the
company’s activity, the weight of the demands for car rental with taking over or with destination
in airport being usually between 70% and 90% of the total rental requests (Avis Budget Group,
2006). It is determined by reporting the number of cars rented from the company’s office situated
in the airport to the total number of rented cars.
8. The company’s position on the search browsers (Google) – represents one of the most relevant
performance indicators, by means of which the company’s position on the competitive market
might be appreciated. In the digital economy, the organization’s rank in the cyberspace is
appreciated by means of a specific indicator named Search Engine Result Page - SERP (Bozzon,
2011).
9. The online visibility index of the slightly negative articles – is an important indicator for the
company’s image on the world wide web, through which there are quantified the slightly negative
online publications regarding the company’s services. It results from reporting the slightly
negative articles’ number to the articles’ number published on the first page of the search engines.
10. The realization degree of the objectives assumed through the Management Plan – is an indicator
of the managerial effectiveness, resulting from reporting the number of objectives planned for the
current year to the number of the realized ones.
11. The interests’ coverage rate – a financial indicator resulting from reporting the gross profit to the
interest expenses.
12. The debt rate – is the result of reporting the company’s total debts level to the total value of its
assets.
13. The conformity rate of the operational procedures – results from reporting the number of
procedures complying with the legal standards to the total number of the company’s operational
procedures.
Table 2 includes the Key Performance Indicators set considered to be significant for elaborating
the assessment model of the analyzed company’s rating on the car rental market. After a detailed analysis
of the KPI set, through the evolution in time of the data series characterizing them, the conformity
indicator has been determined, as well as the proportion of each KPI within the respective model.

Table 2: KPI used for evaluating the company on the car rental market
Item. KPI KPI Name Conformity Proportion
no. Code Indicator (Ic) within the model
1 MAP The increase index of the medium annual 2 0,66
price for car rental service
2 MFR Medium index of the vehicle fleet 3 0,99
renewal
3 MPB The medium index for assigning the 3 0,99
publicity budget on different channels
4 BTI Business Trip Index 1 0,33
5 NEA The general index of the new established 1 0,33
economic agents at national level
6 WPP The increase index of the worldwide 1 0,33
petrol’s price
7 RCA The request’s index of cars taken over in 3 0,99
airports
8 SERP The company’s position on the search 3 0,99
browsers (SERP)
9 OLNA The online visibility index of the slightly 2 0,66
negative articles

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10 MPD The realization degree of the objectives 2 0,66

assumed through the Management Plan
11 ICR The interests’ coverage rate 2 0,66
12 DRA The debt rate 3 0,99
13 CROP The conformity rate of the operational 3 0,99
procedures
Source: Authors

Level 2. Aligning the KPI to the Balanced Scorecard perspectives. In order to assess the
services’ performance offered by the company included in the study, we have chosen to include the Key
Performance Indicators set defined in the previous stage, in the Balanced Scorecard Matrix which
constitutes an important strategic development instrument. Introduced as a concept by Kaplan & Norton
(2001) Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a reporting tool that shows the financial and non-financial indicators
of a company, grouped in four perspectives, disposed as a matrix: Internal Processes, Finance, Customer
and Learning and Development. There is presented in table 3 the distribution of the Key Performance
Indicators, which compose the analyzed company’s market rating within the BSC matrix.

Table 3: The modeling of the company’s market rating evaluation system by means of the Balanced
Scorecard
Learning and development perspective Financial perspective

Applicable KPI: Applicable KPI:

x Business Trip Index x The increase index of the worldwide
x The general index of the new established x petrol’s price
economic agents at national level x The interests’ coverage rate
x The realization degree of the objectives x The debt rate
assumed through the Management Plan
Internal processes perspective Customer perspective
Applicable KPI: Applicable KPI:
x The increase index of the medium annual x The medium index for assigning the
price for car rental service publicity budget on different channels
x Medium index of the vehicle fleet x The request’s index of cars taken over in
renewal airports
x The conformity rate of the operational x The company’s position on the search
procedures browsers
x The online visibility index of the slightly
negative articles
Source: Authors

Level 3. Determining the company’s marketing rating. From the qualitative point of view,
respectively from the one of distributing the proportion associated to the KPI in the calculation formula of
the company’s market rating, it might be observed that the importance order of the four perspectives is
the following:: Learning & Development (1,32), Finance (1,98), Internal Processes (2,64,), Customer
(3,63) (figure 1) :
Figure 1: The distribution of the proportion associated to the KPI in the BSC perspectives

Source:Authors

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Furthermore, by taking successively into account the four perspectives of the BSC matrix, it will
be remarked that the medium percentage (PAvg ) assigned to each KPI are ranked as it follows:
x Customer perspective: PAvg = 3,63 / (4 KPI) = 0,907/KPI.
x Internal processes perspective: PAvg = 2,64 / (3 KPI) = 0,880/KPI;
x Financial perspective: PAvg = 1,98 / (3 KPI) = 0,660/KPI;
x Learning and development perspective: PAvg = 1,32 / (3 KPI) = 0,440/KPI;
This distribution reveals the fact that the gravity center of the model proposed for the company’s
market rating evaluation is focused on the Customer component, considered to be the main strategic pillar
of the company’s marketing strategy included in the study. In the context of the previous defined
proportion, the company’s market rating is determined according to the formula:

R = [MAP] * 0,66 + [MFR] *0,99 + [MPB] * 0,99 + [BTI] * 0,33 + [NEA] * 0,33 + [WPP] * 0,33 + [RCA] *0,99
+ [SERP] * 0,99 + [OLNA] * 0,66 + [MPD] *0,66 + [ICR] * 0,66 + [DRA] * 0,99 + [CROP] * 0,99

The positioning of the company’s market rating within the interval [0,1] expresses the maturity
level of the company in the competitive environment The definition and characterization of the maturity
level will be the subject of some future researches, based on the experimenting the proposed assessment
model at the level of a representative companies in Romania.

4. Conclusions
Although it cannot be discussed about a tradition of the Romania car rental market similar to the
ones in the United States or Europe, in the last decades the competitive mechanisms determined a
rigorous selection of the economic agents in this domain. The economic environment’s dynamic and
incertitude raises new challenges for the actors operating on a still forming market, these ones resorting
increasingly more to techniques and instruments useful in practicing a strategic performance
management. From this perspective, the research we have realized intended to elaborate an instrument
useful for the car rental companies in assessing the competitive maturity level. Conceived as an
assessment system of the market rating by means of a Key Performance Indicators set, the proposed
model is a innovative measure for the management practice and the companies’ management in the car
rental industry for at least two reasons: firstly, due to the methodology included by the respective model,
based on using the Key Performance Indicators and Balance Scorecard concepts with the purpose of
appreciating the company’s position on the national car rental market; secondly, through the fact that the
proposed model is not limited only on financial aspects, but it also take into consideration other
perspectives linked to customers, organizational processes or economic development.
We appreciate that the present research offers through its results a strategic marketing tool useful
for the economic agents in the car rental industry and in the same time a management practice capable to
consolidate their competitive advantage.

5. References
x Auto Rental News Magazine (2012) Market Data – U.S Car Rental Market. Available at
http://www.autorentalnews.com/Content/Research-Statistics.aspx
x Avis Budget Group (2006) Annual Report. Available at http://www.wikinvest.com
x Boeffgen, B.; Kartach, K. (2008) Realising Profit Potentials in the Car Rental Industry, Simon
Knucher&Partners.
x Bozzon A. et al. (2011) A Constraint Programming Approach to Automatic Layout Definition
for Search Result. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6757, p. 371-374
.
x Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) (2008), Business Trip Index Methodology. Available at
http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/BUSINESS_TRIP_INDEX.pdf
x Euromonitor International (2010) Country Report - Car rental in Romania. Available
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