Two questions

The sentence is not flawed. You CAN use the present perfect for a past event. But in that case you can't specify an exact time and still remain grammatically correct.

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Again, the sentence is fine. There is only one management. With the apostrophe at the end of "managements" two or more managements are indicated. And then there is the question of whether "management" is a count noun at all. Taking "management" as a noncount noun, the apostrophe after the "s" is completely impossible.

Hope this helped.

No, Andrei. It's not correct. I guess my clarification needs clarification!

It has to be
"During the Second World War, people had many difficulties [to] overcome."
(I assume you accidentally left out "to".)

The reason is that the end of WWII does not reach as far as the present moment.

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In the case of
"During the last year, we have had to face ..." (the example in your original post)
the last year is presumed to end at the present moment. Since "last year" (in this reading) reaches as far as the present moment, the present perfect can be used.

If, in October of 2004, we wish to refer to all of 2003 as "last year", we can use the expression "the last calendar year". In this case we will need to say
"During the last calendar year, we had to face ..." or "During 2003 we had to face ..." because the time periods in question do not extend to the present moment.

Post:49164 also.

Even more clear?

In general terms, yes, I believe you understand the differences, but the word "during" is also important.

I think the contrast is more between "during the last/past week" and "last week".
With the first you can use the present perfect tense. The use of present perfect will force a reading of "during the past seven days ending today".

The use of the words "during the last" or "during the past" is important to clarify that the time period extends into present time. If the time period extends up to the present, the present perfect can be used; otherwise, not.

During the past week, we have answered many questions.
During the last week, they have seen two elephants and three tigers.

But:

Last week we have answered many questions. (Wrong. Last week has ended. Otherwise we would have said "this week".)
Last week we answered many questions. (Correct.)
During the last week of their African safari in 1998, they have seen two elephants and three tigers. (Wrong. The seeing does not extend into present time.)
During the last week of ..., they saw two elephants ... (Correct.)

I'm not sure if that answers all your questions, but you can always post again if necessary!

Hi Andrei,

California Jim is great. He's excellent at providing answers. As to whether he speaks BrE or Uncle Sam's English, I encouage you to look at his name. There's a hint.

I too like reading his answers. They are very good.

MountainHiker