Regional Formation and Development Studies

The purpose of the article is to identify the key factors influencing socially responsible consumption and the reasons why consumers do not choose products of socially responsible companies. The article highlights two dimensions of socially responsible consumption: environmental dimension (avoidance to buy products that have a negative impact on the environment) and public dimension (avoidance to buy product of companies who have a negative impact on the welfare of the public). Consumer decisions when purchasing goods are more selfish than justified in the public interest. This is why socially responsible consumption is motivated when users see the benefits for themselves. Users almost always give priority to products with better functional features.An analysis of the literature proves that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not the dominant criteria in making purchase decisions of consumers. CSR is less important than the other purchase criteria such as price, quality, reliability, customer service, product warranty period, etc. The main reasons, which restrict socially responsible consumption are misconception of consumers, the perception that they have not much power to solve global problems, as well as lack of income, education and information about socially responsible consumption.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami tarporganizaciniai ryšiai verslo organizacijų tinkluose. Jie turi būti geri tarp visų elementų: tinklo dalyvių (veikėjų), kurie turi žinių ir patirties; struktūros; išteklių (žmogiškųjų, informacinių, finansinių, materialių ir nematerialių); dalyvių veiklos (elgsenos). Tam, kad tarporganizaciniai ryšiai verslo organizacijų tinkle atitiktų savo paskirtį ir garantuotų veiklos optimalumą, būtina juos puoselėti. Apžvelgus įvairių autorių pateiktas tarporganizacinių ryšių verslo organizacijų tinkluose problemas, pateikiamos tarporganizacinių ryšių organizacijų tinkle tobulinimo kryptys: bendri dalyvių tikslai, konkurencijos skatinimas, bendros vertės didinimas, organizacijų tinklo struktūros stabilizavimas, siekiant aiškaus vaidmenų ir atsakomybės pasidalijimo, išteklių taupymas, efektyvios komunikacijos palaikymas, kompetencijų tobulinimas, informacijos perdavimo sutrikimų prevencija, tarpasmeninių santykių gerinimas, veiklos efektyvumo didinimas. Kiekviena tarporganizacinių ryšių organizacijų tinkle tobulinimo kryptis yra kaip kokybės rodiklis, susijęs su dalyvių aktyviu dalyvavimu veikloje, siekiant užsitikrinti ilgalaikį poveikį. Norint išsilaikyti konkurencinėje kovoje būtina nuolat puoselėti tarporganizacinius ryšius verslo organizacijų tinkluose, stebint dalyvių tobulėjimo dinamiką ir rinkos pokyčius.

Sustainable development has become one of the most discussed issues on national, regional and international levels. Together with policy development, the need to assess the current situation and the achieved progress in sustainability has arisen. In Lithuania integrated evaluations of sustainability are rather rare, therefore this paper aims to apply composite index for Lithuanian regions – counties. Research focuses on four regions of Lithuania: ones with the highest and with the lowest GDP values over the period of 2000–2010. The analysed indicators were normalized calculating T values and recalculating some of indicators to have them in the same direction and applying equal weight basis approach. The results reveal rather different development of selected regions. In all areas analysed (economy, environment, health and social issues) Vilnius County has improved most. Meanwhile situation in Tauragė region has only worsened. Though not only economic issues are important then assessing the development course, regions with higher economic development favour in general and their development is more stable and sustainable.

It is pointed in the article that a significant and relevant direction of new social sciences in the body of the problems of research into welfare states (in general) and in Central and Eastern European countries in particular, could be the investigation of the problem of compatibility and coherence between welfare state models and public administration models, to be more precise, examining if this relation is accidental or not. This problem of coherence between welfare state and public administration models has to be investigated empirically in subsequent research, as the author raises this problem firstly in this article theoretically.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama diskurso prasmė, derinant organizacijos ir jos darbuotojų vertybinius interesus. Atliktas tyrimas Lietuvos verslo organizacijoje atskleidė, kad vadovai, bandydami suderinti organizacijos ir jos darbuotojų vertybes, taiko tokius vadybos metodus, kurie nesuderinami su tikrąja diskurso praktika. Nepakeitus vertikalaus valdymo metodo į horizontalų, nesudarius galimybių visiems darbuotojams dalyvauti sprendimų priėmimo procese, diskurso vadovui neturint šios srities žinių, organizacijos vadovybė lieka su savo vertybiniais tikslais, kurių žemesniosios grandies darbuotojai nesupranta. Tai lemia nesusikalbėjimą, konfliktines situacijas ir bendro tikslo nematymą. Visų organizacijos darbuotojų mokymasis ir kasdienis žinių taikymas praktinėje veikloje padėtų lengviau priimti pokyčius, kurie yra būtini siekiant susiformuoti naują vertybinę orientaciją.

Tourism is becoming a very important and fast growing industry, where rural tourism is a very important part. Tourist loyalty is a very important factor determining tourist’s wish to revisit the destination; and main loyalty’s antecedent is tourist satisfaction. Accordingly, the research was provided endeavouring to determine how to turn satisfied Lithuanian rural tourists into loyal ones. The aim of the research was to reveal core factors affecting Lithuanian rural tourist loyalty. The obtained results reveal that variables that have to be considered to turn already satisfied tourists into loyal are: ‘natural features’, ‘destination marketing’ and ‘environmental preservation’. Considering that the variable ‘natural features’ remains at the constant level due to the requirement of large investments, ‘environmental preservation’ and ‘destination marketing’ are variables necessitating specific level of compatibility.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial description of youth policy and highlight some relevant data. There has been conducted a survey in the framework of CaSYPoT project (Capacity Building for Strategic Youth Policy and Transnational Cooperation) under the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014–2020 (Project No. STHB.05.01.00-SE-0024/15). The overall aim of this project is to encourage young people to get involved into local democracy and to present the youth as the resource in the development of society and democracy. The goal of the project is the survey that was carried out in Klaipėda municipality, in the period of April–May 2017. Thus, the article analyses the findings of this survey. The questionnaire contained questions addressing young people’s well-being and safety in their neighbourhood and at school, as well as their experience getting involved in the municipality work and their influence on its decisions. The target group of the survey was young people aged 16–19.

Assessment of the first level managers only in respect of their compliance with the requirements set for a particular job position isnot sufficient. A tool facilitating identification of the relevance of the first level managers in certain management chain is required asit would ensure effectiveness of their performance and harmony in the management chain. The present article aims at emphasisingthe feasibility of identification of the relevance of the first level managers in the management chain (MLM–FLM–SUB) throughpersonality traits. The research analysed the following members (links) of the management chain: first level managers (FLM), theirdirect supervisors – mid-level managers (MLM) and subordinates (SUB) – working in five furniture manufacturing companies ofthe West Lithuania Region. “The Big Five” method was applied as research instrument to assess personality traits of the first levelmanagers. Quantitative analysis enabled modelling of a graph, which represents a derived mean value of the assessment of thefirst level managers’ personality traits, designated to identify disharmonious chains in companies. When identifying the first levelmanagers’ relevance in the management chain, only individual evaluations performed by the members /links of the chains werereferred to and used as a basis for evaluation of personal traits of particular first level manager only. The obtained data supplementsdirect indicators of FLM performance assessment.

This paper presents a thorough theoretical scientific analysis on cluster life cycles and highlights in detail the main structuring of the life-cycle types. Moreover, based on the provided example of the maritime industry cluster conditions, the author presents a deductive analysis of the entire cluster life cycle distinguishing the main local and global driving factors. Using scientific literature analysis and synthesis, systemization, as well as deduction there are outlined the emergence and evolution of the key cluster driving forces. Finally, the paper provides the most important findings on the cluster life cycle conditions that have impact on the cluster development processes.

Organizacijos didelį dėmesį skiria išorinei komunikacijai su klientais, visuomene, suinteresuotomis grupėmis. Tuo tarpu vidinė komunikacija reikšmingai mažiau akcentuojama. Vis dėlto ją būtina analizuoti ir vertinti kiekvienoje organizacijoje, nes vidinė komunikacija užtikrina sklandžią veiklą, darnius darbuotojų ir vadovybės santykius. Straipsnyje keliamas tikslas: nustačius logistinės įmonės vidinės komunikacijos poreikį, pateikti tobulinimo kryptis. Remiantis tyrimo rezultatais, nustatyta, kad vidinė komunikacija įmonėje atlieka reikšmingą vaidmenį. Darbuotojams svarbu tiksliai žinoti savo darbus, turėti galimybę pasitikslinti informaciją, laisvai išsakyti savo nuomonę, išreikšti nepasitenkinimą, pateikti pasiūlymų, idėjų. Daugumai apklaustųjų informacijos netrūksta nei iš vadovų, nei iš administracijos. Tačiau tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad ne visi apklaustieji laiku ir ne visą reikiamą informaciją gauna tiesiogiai. Siekiant gerinti logistinės įmonės vidinę komunikaciją aptartos tobulinimo galimybės.