Klaipėdos universitetas

Civic engagement is a core value of democracy that approves legitimacy of democracy itself and decisions made by public institutions. In Latvia, civic engagement rates are decreasing, thus for public institutions it is important to find new ways how to engage citizens in the decision-making process. In the twenty-first century, it means that public institutions should also be present in social media. The objectives of the article are to identify foreign experience how public institutions are using social media for civic engagement and evaluate the reasons for Latvian public institutions to learn from this foreign experience. Accordingly, methods of the research are analysis of scientific publications covering examples about digital democracy, civic engagement and use of social media by public institutions, as well as analysis of data about the Internet and social media usage in Latvia. The study findings suggest that Latvian public institutions are already using social media for one-way communication. Moreover, in Latvia, availability of the Internet and participation rates in social media are above the EU average, thus there is potential to use social media also for two-way communication and foster civic engagement.

Innovation is the basis for competitiveness. At the same time, the primary objective of the manager is stockholder wealth maximization,therefore it is essential to study the relationship between innovation and value. The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact ofinnovation on company value. The research covered Baltic listed companies for the period of 2005−2011. The study finds thatinnovative companies have a higher value and they are bigger. Within innovative companies it was observed that higher companyvalue is achieved if their ratio of intangible assets exceeds 1 %. Using correlation and multiple regression analyses it was found thatinnovation is a significant determinant of company value, whereas size is a weaker factor and growth is the least significant factor.The authors of the paper recommend for companies to invest in innovation process, since it increases company value, especially ifthe ratio of intangible assets exceeds 1 %.

This article aims to review economic advantages of the one of the most modern cutting edge technologies, namely blockchain for eProcurement. As eProcurement (including its part – Supply chain) is a concept consisting of plenty of different processes, therefore specific advantages per such major different processes are explained. Assumptions and pre-conditions of Blockchain application are explained. Article‘s main conclusion is that due to the main characteristics of Blockchain technology (safety, transparency, reliability, speed and cost efficiency) payment settlement and products‘ shipping tracking/inventory management are eProcurement‘s phases that could benefit from this technology the most, among others (such as analysis – requirements‘ gathering, sourcing/vendors‘ selection and contract management cycle).

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.