Regional Formation and Development Studies

The article defines theoretical aspects of the concept of attitude phenomenon, discusses the theoretical aspects in attitude formation,

ABSTRACTThe topic of welfare sector development in Belarus nowadays is of huge interest since by means of the welfare development level it is possible to judge the level of the country’s economic system and the quality of public sector services as well. In recent years, especially in times of recession, the welfare sector positions in Belarus have been considerably weakened. This is partly explained by the aspiration to keep the old Soviet designs in the welfare system construction. At the same time, when national and subnational budgets are planned, governments try to hold with great difficulty the budgetary indicators of the welfare sphere at the level of last years. Such attempts, however, lead to the saving of budgetary funds only and they influence the deterioration of the welfare quality. The present paper pursues the aim to show: (i) what tendencies of social budgetary policy can be observed in the time of economic recession, (ii) how consistent was the welfare orientation of the central and local budgets in practice, and (iii) prospect ways for the welfare sector financing and what new financial tools and mechanisms are to be introduced. In the paper, methodology is linked with the suggested approach to evaluate the authority’s fiscal efforts in welfare branches development using the elasticity coefficient in which exists the correlation between expenditure on welfare sphere branches and total budget revenues. By inserting the authority’s financial reports data into the elasticity coefficient there is an opportunity to assess the authority’s fiscal efforts in welfare policy. The main methodology background is based on financial reports of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus and on-line databases present in the public finance area. The author considers the Belarusian welfare branches in national and subnational budgets, their structure, dynamics and other important indicators. A comparative analysis of the welfare sector branches with other European countries is submitted. The paper highlights the inconsistent policy of the Belarusian authorities in the sphere of the welfare branches’ funding. Also, there are considered debatable issues of the welfare sphere finance reformation in Belarus during the economic crisis.

The article is dealing with problems of emergence of green tourism in Ukraine, analyzing trends of eco-tourism in the world and in Ukraine. The research presented in this paper is the initial step of complex research of green tourism on the theoretic basis of social geography. The green tourism we consider as phenomenon that affects the development of rural areas, and makes a multiplier effect in the socio-economic and cultural spheres of rural areas. The paper is focussing on the regional difference in the development of tourism. The findings of O. Beydyk who created the recreational ranking methods, were taken as a methodological basis for this research. The economic estimation of GDP and the index of recreational and tourist potential of the regions in Ukraine are compared during this research stage.

Straipsnyje regiono valdysenos diskursas analizuojamas lyčių lygybės aspektu. Dėmesys sutelktas ties Klaipėdos regiono valdysenos atveju. Sąlygos yra specifiniai gyvenimo ir kalbėjimo būdai. Kokie yra šie būdai? Siekiama ne tik atskleisti esamas sąlygas, bet ir plėtoti lyčių lygybei palankią atmosferą, gaivinti žinomas istorijas, tai padeda suvokti reiškinį, įgalina veikti tiek regionų valdysenos, tiek ir lyčių lygybės srityse. Kol tebėra aktualus lyčių lygybės valdysenos institucijose klausimas, jis vis iš naujo prisimenamas ir svarstomas, siekiant pažangos. Straipsnyje aptariama postmodernioji polifoniška diskursyvaus tyrimo metodologija, eksplikuojama mokslinė diskusija lyčių lygybės užtikrinimo valdysenos institucijoje tema, paminėtos regionų valdysenos organizacinės institucijos, siekiant supažindinti su kontekstu, kuriame vyko Klaipėdos RV atvejo tyrimas: apklausa raštu ir žodžiu (interviu), aptartos apklausos procedūros ir rezultatai. Apklausų duomenys ir išvados papildo viešąjį diskursą naujomis žiniomis apie RV lyčių lygybės lokalitetą, t. y. lokalaus konteksto lyčių lygybės diskurso sąlygas.

The paper theoretically justified most important elements having direct effect upon consumer. Purpose of research is to develop theoretical model of retail internationalization elements effect upon consumers. by analyse retail internationalization process, retailers fails and success topics, consumer expectations was used general scientific methods of research – scientific literature, comparative and systematic logical analysis. The most important participant in the process of the internationalisation of retail trade is the consumer who actually determines the success or failure of a retail trade company. The analysis of the results of the survey of Lithuanian consumers allows seven principal elements of the process of the internationalisation of retail trade which potentially have a direct effect on the consumer to be identified: the format of the store, the range of the goods, the price, the country of origin of the product, advertising, communication and the image.

Regionams tampant ekonominio ir socialinio gyvenimo pagrindu, įmonės į savo veiklos strategijas turi įtraukti nacionaliniu ir regioniniupagrindu susiformavusias vertybes bei socialinius poreikius. Kompanijos, ypač tarptautinės, turi suderinti regioninę integracijąsu regionine atsakomybe. Straipsnyje analizuojama įmonių socialinės atsakomybės, kaip regioninės plėtros strategijų priemonės,koncepcija. Pagrindinė suformuluota išvada – įmonių veiklos rezultatai ir regionų išsivystymas yra glaudžiai susiję.

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.