The self-evaluation of health in Latvia has recently gained a special awareness, due to the financing for health being among the lowest in the European Union. Latvia has recently faced various difficulties, such as problems paying the salaries of medical personnel, and medical personnel emigrating to work in other countries.The aim of the study is to analyse the self-evaluation of health by inhabitants in the regions of Latvia.Research methods used in the preparation of this paper: the analysis of scientific publications and results of previously conducted research; the analysis of the results of a survey on household income and expenses conducted by the EU-SILC and the European Central Bank, compared with the results from other EU countries. The results of the survey are analysed using descriptive statistics indicators and cross-tabulations for the regions of Latvia. For areas, urban-rural living and ANOVA analysis of variance are used. To analyse self-evaluations by regions, the correlation of the relationship between health self-evaluation and educational level is used. The results of the analysis indicate that the situation of the regions of Latvia in the context of health self-evaluation is very different, and that there are very big demands on decision makers to find the best possible solution.
From 2008 the education action – Latvian Solar Cup – is organized in University of Latvia. In this event, intended for pupils and students, the basics of one of the types of renewable energy – solar photovoltaic – are taught, and pupils from 5th to 12th classes are being taught, and students – those who teach. Lectures about renewable technologies are organized for pupils, and materials are distributed them for homework – to built up just a solar-powered vehicle. First Solar Cup became with an active participation of Czech colleagues (University of Ostrava) and their experience in organizing similar initiatives. Over the next few years the German colleagues from the University of Kassel (Germany) shared with their experience from German Solar Cup activities.
Banks and insurers as part of financial service industry engage in partnership under the concept of Bancassurance. Several studies are done on this topic, focusing on economies of scale and performance of most Bancassurance common models. The purpose of this study is to identify the key market environment factors that influence the development of Bancassurance for retail banks in Latvia and the level of increase. Aim of this research is to analyse – how market environment factors influence the development of Bancassurance in Latvia. The current paper is focused on the Latvian market where several Bancassurance models are present as we test our propositions by interviewing management representatives of major stakeholders and analysing secondary market data. Main research findings – motives of banks and insurance companies in Latvia for implementing Bancassurance are in correspondence with the academia: new clients and additional revenue for insurers, improvements of customer service and loyalty for banks. Study results highlight the great impact of economic growth and technological development on Bancassurance over other market-based factors and reflect the importance of their integration for achieving better results in each model.
Higher education export is gaining more and more importance taking into account international competition, the benefits offered by the industry and demographic changes in many countries – the number of local students is reducing due to low birth rates and extensive emigration of young people. There are many academic publications on several aspects related to higher education export. The aim of research is to analyse foreign students’ evaluation on the importance of different organisations’ (universities, agencies dealing with higher education export, ministries) webpage content and design for higher education export. Research methods used: scientific literature review analysis, evaluation of webpages by experts, survey of foreign students (using the evaluation scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means ‘do not agree’, and 10 – ‘fully agree’). Data obtained from the foreign student survey are analysed by indicators of descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, mode, median, range, standard deviations, standard error of mean), cross-tabulations, correlation analysis and factor analysis. The obtained research results have indicated narrow places and challenges for the information placed in respective webpages and webpage design which could be practically implemented.
Pension systems have become one of the main priorities for the national governments. Developed countries population is getting older by putting the pressure on the state budgets and work age people tax load. The current pension system in Latvia performs according to regulation of state compulsory unfunded pension scheme since 1996 and regulation of the state funded or accumulated pension scheme since 2001. The third pension system pillar is private voluntary pension schemes realized in form of people contributions into pension funds and life insurance policies. Aim of the research – deeper analyses of voluntary private investments as the pension system part and its development challenges in Latvia. Research methods: scientific publications and previous conducted research analysis; analysis of time series on private pension fund developments in Latvia and comparisons with the situation in other OECD countries. The authors were looking for answer on the question – can voluntary private investments cover the gap between pre-retirement and after-retirement income of population in Latvia and what are the pre-conditions for it.
Material deprivation has recently gained prominence as a topic of debate as its proliferation is reising throughout Europe in particular in the countries hit hardest by financial and economic turbulences what leads to the gap in material deprivation levels throughout Europe. The aim of the study is to analyze material deprivation in the regions of Latvia. Research methods used in preparation of the paper: scientific publication and previous conducted research results analysis, analysis of anonimised data of EU-SILC survey results and European Central Bank conducted survey on Household income and expenses survey results, results are compared with the results of other EU countries. Survey anonimised data are analyzed using indicators of descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations for regions of Latvia, for urban-rural living and analysis of variance – ANOVA are used. The results of analysis have indicated in what situation are regions of Latvia in the context of material deprivation especially in Latgale region and what are the challenges for decision makers to deal with – more attention for several approaches in reduction of income differences in regions of Latvia.
Social entrepreneurship is becoming more and more popular as there is a growing share of people who would like to contribute for social enterprises and are ready to become customers of the social enterprises and in this way participate in reduction of poverty in the country and support entrepreneurship development. For social enterprise marketing communications to be effective, an understanding is necessary not only of the information channels which are most effective but also of the preferences customers hold regarding the information channels that they would like to receive information from. Purpose of research: to investigate the preferences for different information channels among customers of Latvian social enterprises. Research methods: scientific publications analysis, analysis of previous conducted research results, social enterprise customers’ survey conducted by Kristīne Casno. Results of research have indicated that regular customers of social enterprises prefer such information channels as social networks, followed by television and radio.
Within development of telecommunication, e-commerce is rapidly replacing traditional shopping as well as offering new ways to pay for goods. Payment is one of the main phases of buying decision process and it is crucial to e-commerce, because there is a big possibility that consumer will abandon the shopping cart if preferred payment method is not available. Not only flexible payment options can help company to attract and retain customers, but it also can ensure that company get paid more quickly. The aim of the research is to find out how much money Latvian customers invest when shopping online and which payment methods they use to pay for the purchase on internet in Latvia. Research methods used in the study are scientific publication studies, studies of statistics on internet shopping development, survey realised in Latvia at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 on internet shopping in co-operation with company iMarketing, University of Latvia and Chamber of Trade and Commerce of Latvia. For many aspects in evaluation of opinion of respondents it was used evaluation scale 1–10, where do not agree with the statement; 10 – fully agree with statement. For data analysis there were used indicators of descriptive statistics, cross – tabulations, statistical tests of hypotheses, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis. Main results and findings of the study reveals that the most commonly used payment methods for online purchases in Latvia are paying with debit or credit card at the moment of purchase and paying at the store, but the least used payment methods for online purchase is cryptocurrency and at the pick-up box place. Also, there is no statistical difference between female and male customers on use of credit or debit card usage for online payments.