Regional Formation and Development Studies

The article builds on the authors’ research into the formation and activity of trans-border cooperation of Belarus as part of regional policy and part of cooperation with neighbouring EU countries, addressing questions that may also be relevant on a broader regional scale. Based on empirical findings, this article aims to discuss the effectiveness of trans-border cooperation in general and activities of the Euroregion in particular. How do national and local governments, the existing legal framework, the level of cohesion of Euroregions as an important organizational form of trans-border cooperation of the administrative-territorial units of the Republic of Belarus and neighbouring countries in sociocultural, economic, socio-political dimensions contribute to the capacity of those initiatives to be a part of foreign and domestic policies? We take five Euroregions “Dnepr” (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine), “Bug” (Poland, Ukraine, Belarus), “Belovezhskaya puscha” (Poland, Belarus), “Neman” (Kaliningrad region, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus) and “Ozerny krai” (Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus). The empirical data were collected through the analysis of current legal framework of trans-border cooperation in Belarus and through personal interviews with representatives of government, scientists involved in the Euroregion studies, as well as among representatives of public institutions and associations of the countries – participants of the Euroregions. We find that even though Belarus has a reduced level of relationship with the European Union a crucial feature for all Euroregions is the number of projects in framework of mainly the EU technical assistance programs. The paper, therefore, highlights that from one hand, the economic and social development in bordering regions could take place without Euroregions, from another – the prospective role of the Euroregions will be in development of “good neighbourhood belt” on the perimeter of external borders of Belarus in all its dimensions: military, political, cultural, informational, social and economic.

This article provides a synthesis of various scholarly opinions on how to improve organizational culture of the school. The qualitative research methodology was chosen for empirical research. The survey was conducted by interviewing respondents from an educational institution in Lithuania. The semi-structured interview method was applied to the study. The results showed that the factors having influence on the success and effectiveness of organizational culture and its improvement are: strong relationship between parents and the community, a student-centred learning environment, consistent institutional guidance systems, norms, values and working environment practices. In order to improve organizational culture of the educational institution, it is necessary to improve the communication and cooperation system, develop open management that would guide the community members to be responsible for their actions, to create the atmosphere involving all community members in self-learning providing feedback, promote leadership, initiate changes. The educational institution uses these determinants to create a learning organization.

Siekiama išanalizuoti kūrybingumo konstrukto apibrėžimo ir sampratos problemą užsienio šalių bei Lietuvos autorių mokslinėje literatūroje. Straipsnyje apžvelgiamas užsienio mokslinėje literatūroje pateikiamas kūrybingumo konstrukto apibrėžties diskursas socialinių mokslų kontekste, sisteminamos užsienio autorių atliktos kūrybingumo apibrėžimų metaanalizės, pateikiant galimas kūrybingumo konstrukto apibrėžties variacijas, aptariama konstrukto apibrėžimo ir sampratos problema Lietuvos autorių moksliniuose darbuose. Nustatyta, kad užsienio šalių mokslininkų darbuose vis dar nėra bendro sutarimo, koks turėtų būti visa apimantis, bendrai vartojamas kūrybingumo apibrėžimas. Lietuvos mokslininkų darbuose kyla diskusijų tiek dėl paties kūrybingumo termino, tiek dėl jo apibrėžimo ir sampratos. Be to, atskleista, kad Lietuvos mokslo darbuose nenusistovėjusios kūrybingumo ir kūrybiškumo terminų sampratos, tad šie terminai dažniausia vartojami kaip sinonimai, o reikšmės nėra aiškiai identifikuotos. Be to, aiškiai neapibrėžti kūrybingumo jungtiniai terminai, nemažai klausimų kyla dėl terminų vertimo, skolinių vartojimo socialinių mokslų kontekste.

Intellectual capital (IC) has evolved and excelled as an academic discipline since the early 1990s, and has reached the fourth stage of research. Research was promoted by analysts in companies to understand the value creation process and identify resources required. Investment and spending on IC and value creation analysis have changed a firm’s decisions and impact analysis.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) have played an important role in cushioning the downturn in cross border trade during the current economic and financial crisis. This article discusses the role of ECAs in facilitating cross border trade to emerging markets as well as the economic rationale for the existence of such agencies. It also demonstrates how selected risk mitigation instruments of ECAs, namely: (i) buyer credit guarantee, (ii) supplier credit guarantees and (iii) export loans have been applied in practice. Finally cases are presented that highlight how companies have used the service of ECAs, for example, to obtain better terms, including longer term loans and/or lower interest rates.

Achieving a higher level of sustainable development is an increasingly important issue. Developing environmental consciousness on individuals and organizations can be successful only on a stable methodological base. This task is feasible with the support of competence management. The paper summarizes a comprehensive model for evaluating environmental consciousness that provides the necessary frames and empiric results of analysing the environmental management tools and the organizational size. This research was carried out as part of the TAMOP-4.2.1.B-10/2/KONV-2010-0001 project with support by the European Union, co-financed by the European Social Fund.

Shared Service Centres (SSCs) may lead to job creation in the professional field in the less developed EU region. By 2015, in the CEE region, the number of employees in this sector exceeded 335 000 and the trend tends to be increasing heavily. Looking at the actual numbers of the sector, the author tries to define the main decision making factors for a SSC to settle down in the region. The paper focuses on the evaluation of possibilities, arguing if the development of the SSC sector can continue creating jobs in this region.

This study aims to reveal the evolution of the EU-Japan relations towards a comprehensive and fully formalized strategic partnership, the main determinants of that process, as well the importance of the political and economic alliance. In the evolution of the EU-Japan relations, there were identified four stages – 1960–1990, 1991–2000, 2001–2010, 2011–2018 – which had led up to a strategic partnership regulated under the framework of political and economic agreements. In future, the Strategic Partnership Agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement might enhance the regional and global influence of the EU and Japan.

The article deals with the problem of “ultra small region”, which being the independent subject of the West European countries, istheir territorial, political and economic part, possessing constitutional independence. The initial factors of such regions special statusare national-cultural ethos type and geopolitical position. The goal of the article is the identification of ultra-small territories, revealingfeatures of their economic development and the modern trade status in a world and European trade system context. Ultra-smalltrade is diversified geographically and the main trading partners of these autonomous areas are the large highly developed countries,except for the four neighboring countries of Northern Europe. The main summing up conclusion is that Ålands and Faeroes island’sultra-small autonomous territories are converting nowadays into the business bridges between different European regions and countries,into the “competitive sub-peripheries” areas and points out the role of their trade in this conversion.

The paper presents a statistical assessment of interregional differences in youth unemployment in Russia. The unemployment rate was decomposed into fundamental and cyclical components, which was essential for deeper understanding of the specificity of the youth labour market. We made a typology of the regions of RF according to similar trends of youth unemployment and an empirical analysis of the rates, dynamics and factors of unemployment among the young people aged 15–19 and 20–29 years for 77 regions of Russia between 2005 and 2013. We also analyzed the response of the regional rates of youth unemployment to crises. For analyzing the regional parameters of youth unemployment, we employed economical-statistical methods. We identified the interregional differences in the youth labor market and the nature of their changes in the time of economic crisis. The statistical database for this study was the Rosstat data posted on the official website of the Federal State Statistics Service. We found that in the time of crisis the interregional differences in unemployment rates decreased and in the period of recovery growth, they increased. The interregional differentiation was on the rise because some individual regions used new points of growth. The study was conducted at the Institute of Agrarian Problems of RAS with the financial support from the Russian Scientific Foundation (RSF), project # 14-18-02801.