Regional Formation and Development Studies

Nors perdraudimo veiklos ištakomis galima laikyti 1370 m., ši veikla XXI amžiuje vis dar yra aktuali. Įvertinus perdraudimo veiklos svarbą šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje, šiame straipsnyje pateikiamos teorinės įžvalgos apie perdraudimo veiklą. Pritaikius mokslinės literatūros sisteminimo, lyginamosios analizės, kokybinės turinio analizės ir atvejo analizės metodus, pateikiamos teorinės perdraudimo veiklos interpretacijos. Atlikus minėtą analizę, išsiaiškinta, kad perdraudimo veiklos svarba yra akivaizdi tiek pirminiam draudikui, tiek perdraudikui. Žinoma, atsižvelgiant perdraudimo formą, grupės ir rūšies sutarties sąlygos bei pirminio draudiko ir perdraudiko įsipareigojimai gali skirtis, tačiau vis tiek siekiama suderinti draudiko portfelį ir didinti draudimo pajėgumą, norint apsisaugoti nuo galimų katastrofinių įvykių. Viena iš šių tikslų siekimo priemonių ir yra perdraudimo veikla.

The current tendencies in global society are clear: the internationalisation of studies in HEIs, the expansion of the labour market, foreign employees with a different cultural background in almost all organisations, etc. A successful professional life depends on the readiness of people to be open to global changes and innovation. Intercultural communication may lead to openness and a better preparation for a future career. This form of communication strengthens a positive attitude towards new trends in the labour market, global business, immigrants and foreigners. In addition, intercultural communication can be used to promote the local culture to others, and to become familiar with remote cultures. This article reveals the importance of intercultural communication for careers, and presents students’ perspectives. According to the results of the survey, intercultural communication is beneficial for personal development: it strengthens qualities such as self-esteem and confidence, and can form new abilities such as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. This type of communication provides students with more opportunities to study abroad, and ensures a competitive advantage in business. As students noted, intercultural communication should be practised constantly, and its beneficial aspects have a positive impact on the broader world-view, cultural awareness and career prospects.

The paper concentrates on the international transfer of capital in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI). A relatively high level of investment attractiveness of an economy is required for the attraction of capital in the form of FDI. Inflow of capital in the form of FDI is perceived as a factor stimulating economic development of the so-called catching up economies, and the Visegrad 4 countries can be viewed as such economies. The crucial objective of the paper is to present investment attractiveness of the Visegrad 4 countries in the light of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank reports and EY’s surveys. A parallel objective is to analyse the engagement of the Visegrad 4 countries in international capital transfer in the form of FDI in post-crisis period in order to identify inward and outward FDI flows and stock. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The undertaken research leads to a conclusion that foreign capital played an important role in the transformation of the V4 economies and their strong integration with the world economy. It contributed to supplementing capital shortages and increasing efficiency. The V4 countries remain net importers of capital in the form of FDI, though the positions of the V4 as investors in the world market have risen slightly over the last decade. It is of vital importance to introduce dynamic and effective actions aiming at promoting the V4 as a location of FDI and to undertake parallel activities directed at stimulating the V4 investment abroad.

Darnaus vystymosi idėjų ir principų taikymas šių dienų plėtros procesuose, be abejo, yra populiari, diskutuotina pastarųjų metųmokslinė tema. Vis dėlto tai nepadeda atskleisti kai kurių darnaus vystymosi tyrimo problemų, nenusako to, kaip darnus vystymasisįvertinamas tam tikruose etapuose ir kaip išskiriami rodikliai, padedantys apskaičiuoti procesą. Šio straipsnio tikslas – pateikti metodologiją,kaip, autoriaus nuomone, būtų galima išskirti rodiklius, kurie tiktų vertinti įvairių procesų darną. Straipsnyje aptariamiįvairių procesų vystymosi veiksniai, aplinkos būklės saugumo kriterijai, apimantys skirtingas sritis.

This article presents the socioeconomic and demographic situation in Klaipėda county that is illustrated by chosen indicators’ analysis. In this article Klaipėda county has been chosen as an example territory to measure the peripherality phenomenon. Thus, in order to measure the peripherality the chosen indicators’ values were compared with Lithuanian average and state’s centres’ values. The article stresses the most peripheral regions in Klaipėda county which needs the governance attention and also the strongest one that leads all the county. The article finds out that the cooperation question is essential for both – county’s peripheries and centres – as it provides possibility to stay stable or even endows a potential to grow.

The sustainable city debate is gaining ground in recent years, featuring as a prominent issue in several policy documents of the European Commission, and enjoying support by the main organisations and institutions at international level. At the same time, improving local governance standards by involving citizens in local decision-making is a recurring issue in the debate on local democracy and enhancement of community cohesion. This paper presents an analysis of the European experience and best practice relating sustainable development to the day-to-day practice of spatial planning. The overall purpose is creating a proposal of indicators for measuring the sustainability of planning actions in urban environments.

“Gray customs system” is an illegal practice of getting goods across the border without official customs approval. Such practice makes a negative impact on Russia-China economic relations and is, therefore, considered as a barrier for bilateral economic relations between Russia and China. In this context, the paper examines the problems occurred due to the gray customs system and the action taken to mitigate this problem. The research method used for this article is the case study method referring to secondary data, scholarly literature and reports.

This paper presents the development of a distance learning course for pre-service teachers which focuses on science education in

Emphasizing sustainable economic development preconditions in Lithuania and in order to research the formation of regional policy, the article was made on Lithuania financial crisis impact on the economy, comparative study. It was found that in the literature lacks of general method to compare the different financial crises that have occurred in different regions, countries or at different intervals impact to economic indicators, so was created financial crisis impact on countries economy index, to compare this diferent impact. The study identified three financial crisis which negatively affected Lithuanian economy – “Lithunia banking crisis” (1995), “Russian financial crisis” (1998) and “Global Financial Crisis” (2008). Based on this new index calculations, the financial crisis affect was compared and found that the greatest negative impact on the economy caused the Global financial crisis (2008). Examining the specifics of Lithuania’s economy noted that all of the financial crisis affected the gross domestic product growth, labor market and the country budget balance. Meanwhile, the impact on other macroeconomic indicators of the crisis depended on the crises specifics and was different.

Income inequality has received widespread attention in the scientific literature. Income inequality has a significant impact on the health and education levels of the population, as well as increases social tension and crime rates, however there is less research on the impact of income inequality on people`s overall life satisfaction. In Lithuania and Latvia, income inequality expressed by the Gini index of disposable income is among the highest in the EU, whereas in Estonia, income inequality is slightly higher than the average in the EU. Similar results are also found for the Lithuania and Latvia regarding overall life satisfaction, which is among the lowest in the EU, while overall life satisfaction in Estonia is somewhat lower than the average in the EU. The aim of the research is to assess whether income inequality has a negative impact on people`s overall life satisfaction and to evaluate how fiscal policy has affected income inequality and overall life satisfaction in the Baltic States. The results of the research show that income inequality and life satisfaction are negatively correlated, and that fiscal policy has reduced income inequality in the Baltic States, expressed by the Gini index based on market income, on average by 30%.