Regional Formation and Development Studies

In the paper the authors examined key Latvian economy indicators, specifically focusing on trends in development of aviation industry development. In particular, also attention was paid to passengers and cargo volume transportation dynamics, as well as to RIGA International Airport Development Plan through the year 2036. The authors compared operations of RIGA International Airport with available data from other leading Baltic Sea Region airports, specifically within 300 kilometres zone. Another requirement was, a competing airport had to be in the TOP 100 airports globally to be considered.

Based on sixteen Polish provinces the author discusses, explores, evaluates and diagnoses the regional disparities in development of Poland’s provinces. First, four fields are studied, such as: demographic potential, social development, economic development and technical infrastructure. Next, the author compares sixteen Polish provinces in relation to the level of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development. Research covers the years 2006, 2010 and 2015 and has been conducted using statistical material provided by the Central Statistical Office. The research tools used in the article include literature studies, descriptive analysis and selected methods of multivariate comparative analysis. Multivariate comparative analysis has proved that Mazovia Province is a leader in terms of demographic potential and economic development, while Silesia Province takes the first position in both social development and technical infrastructure. The highest levels of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development have been observed in Mazovia Province and Silesia Province. In addition, the author presents theoretical aspects of socioeconomic development and discusses the relevance of regional policy.

Sveikatos priežiūros įstaigos (SPĮ) yra ganėtinai uždaros, kompleksinės įstaigos. Čia komunikaciniai ryšiai tarp nutolusių skyrių, įvairių profesijų atstovų ir hierarchinių grandžių yra sudėtingi, kyla konfliktų, nesusikalbama, iškraipoma informacija. Nesprendžiamų vidinės komunikacijos barjerų pasekmės – ne tik kilusi įtampa tarp darbuotojų, darbo kokybės prastėjimas, bet nukenčia ir įstaigos reputacija, galima neatitaisoma žala paciento sveikatai. Siekiant veiksmingos komunikacijos, reikia tam tikrų įgūdžių, abipusio supratimo, pagarbos tiek iš organizacijos vadovų, tiek iš darbuotojų. Straipsnyje analizuojamos SPĮ vidinės komunikacijos barjerų atsiradimo priežastys bei jų šalinimo būdai. Remiantis tyrimo rezultatais, nustatyta, kad analizuojama SPĮ neturi vidinės komunikacijos strategijos, vidinė komunikacija nepakankamai kontroliuojama, yra fragmentiška. Personalas susiduria su organizacijos struktūros, fizinio, psichologinio ir technologinio pobūdžio vidinės komunikacijos barjerais. Siekiant juos eliminuoti, pateikiama rekomendacijų, kaip gerinti SPĮ vidinę komunikaciją.

The paper is part of a research series for ancient Roman sites in Northern Bulgaria which aim to present the possibilities of creating a specialized form of cultural and historical product that ensures sustainable utilization of the Bulgarian tangible heritage. A study of the Roman fortress Sostra, located on the Via Traiani road as a cultural and historical tourist resource was conducted. The castellum is characterized as an object of cultural heritage in the region of Troyan Municipality in Bulgaria. The methodology applied in assessing the potential of the Ancient Roman fortress Sostra is primarily designed for historical and cultural sites. An evaluation was made under the following criteria: potential for development, degree of impact / interaction, degree of modification with relevant indicators. Also an expedition-field method for terrain research was applied. Summaries and conclusions were made in order to highlight the possibility of forming a tourist product of cultural and cognitive tourism.

The 2008 global economic and financial crisis hit hard in Iceland and Latvia. Economic developments prior to the crisis, as well as response to the crisis were, however, different in these two countries, yielding different results. Both countries received assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the crisis and the IMF has labeled their reform programs as success stories. This article reviews and evaluates the post crisis situation in Iceland and Latvia, both in terms economic performance, as well as social progress. It also discusses how other countries, as well a multilateral institutions, may have influenced the reform programs in Iceland and Latvia.

The article and the research presented here relies on the fact that the Law of Voluntary Activity, adopted in Lithuania, has been prepared during the European year of volunteering, so a presumption may be held, that the text of the Lithuanian Law of Voluntary Activity has been influenced significantly by the intensive political and valuable discourse of EU of volunteering promotion, which could been observed in Lithuania as well as in the whole EU in 2011. So the fallowing questions, which describe the scientific problem of the article, may be raised: how much the regulations of the volunteering promotion discourse of EU reflect in the text of the Law, which must create definitional-regulating conditions for the volunteering practice in the country by its content and functions? How did the valuable position of EU, which could been observed in the public space of EU in 2011, influence the definitions of volunteering and the regulating attitudes towards it in the text of the Lithuanian Law of Voluntary Activity? How does Lithuania contribute to the official position of EU towards understanding of volunteering?

An aging population is defined in the scientific literature as changes in the structural age composition of the population, which leads to growth in the population of those who are 60 years and older. The aging of population is a social and economic problem that needs to be understood and addressed. Aging of the population has a significant impact on national economies, as well as within individual regions of the country. The old age index has a significant impact on regional supply of services. It is worth stressing that in order to improve a community’s quality of life and reduce disparities between regions, it is necessary to continually assess the level of development and regional development opportunities. Evaluation of the regional socio-economic situation should be performed periodically, so that regional policy measures can be directed to the areas of greatest need.

Straipsnyje pateiktas naujas požiūris į ekonominį augimą ir jo tvarumą. Požiūris grindžiamas nauja bendrųjų procentų idėja. Pristatomas apibendrintas ekonominis logistinis augimo modelis. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad iki šiol egzistuoja nepakankamai ištirtas didėjančio produktyvumo fenomenas, pasireiškiantis kaip bendrųjų procentų augimo normos priklausomybė nuo rinkos prisotinimo laipsnio. Atskleidžiama procentų įtaka rinkos virsmui ir besivystančios sistemos augimui. Tyrimo tikslas – remiantis bendraisiais procentais atskleisti ir pagrįsti klasikinės bei keinsistinės ekonominių teorijų suderinamumą. Atliktas tyrimas rodo, kad įmanoma suderinti klasikinės ir keinsistinės teorijų prieštaras. Parodoma, kad, atsižvelgiant į rinkos prisotinimo laipsnį, t. y. pasiūlos ir paklausos santykį, rinka gali būti įvairių tipų. Pasiūlos ir paklausos santykio pasikeitimas lemia rinkos virsmą. Būtent rinkos virsmas leidžia pagrįsti klasikinės ir keinsistinės teorijų suderinamumo galimybę.

The image formation and support, reputation-building and active marketing are vital for the existence of the nowadays modern country and its development. Today the country’s nature, history, people and traditions became the exclusive brands that strengthens the economy and cross-border relations, a competitive advantage is obtained. There are many image definitions and classifications, each author analyses it from own perspective. It was found that individual elements make a big influence for a general country’s image. In order to use it effectively systemic attitude is required. Country’s image in the international tourism market is explained by tourist behavioural characteristics: how a person behaves in respect of country, how he or she perceives the country – as a neighbour or distant, closed or open, acceptable or unacceptable, how much the person trusts the provided information, if he or she is ready to travel to the country. Personal characteristics has an influence for perceived location’s image. Despite Lithuania’s efforts to make the image better abroad and inside the country, it’s rank on the international agencies surveys, evaluating country’s political and economic situation in the world context and how famous it is, remains low. There are no innovative strategy for building Lithuania’s image. During the 2006–2015 period, there were no core changes in associations, created for foreigners by the word “Lithuania”. The research found that foreigners imagine Lithuania as underdeveloped, neglected agriculture country, people are closed, not willing to communicate – the same as was imagined in 2006. Lithuania’s touristic image was better after the visit. More facts about Lithuania was known by tourists from neighbouring countries. During the 9 years Lithuania’s touristic image has not changed.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the results of recent empirical research concerning the impact of corporate governance on firm performance and reflect potential research design problems which lead to inconsistent results. By means of a literature review including all articles of academic journal data bases with a journal quality rating of at least a C-rating in the VHB Journal Rating or above ‘3’ in the ABS Academic Journal Rating, respectively, the recent empirical research articles are analyzed regarding their main results. Two main groups of studies are identified: studies on company level to determine the impact of single corporate governance variables such as board size, chairman-CEO duality, etc. on a small set of performance measures, and studies with a larger sample and a longer time period using multivariate analysis to determine the overall impact of corporate governance on companies measured with an extended set of financial research variables measuring multiple dimensions of impact. Overall, the results of recent research show no consistent impact of corporate governance on firm performance. Beside this, a trend to studies with larger samples and longer time periods can be seen. However, also these studies come to inconsistent results. The inconsistencies of empirical research may be grounded in mostly small size of samples and small time periods, and the application of research constructs instead of financial research metrics to measure firm performance. As this is a conceptual paper, the objective is to define a research design based on the findings of this analysis.