Klaipėdos universitetas

Social entrepreneurship is an important component of the European social market economy that is based on the principles of solidarity and responsibility and the priorities regarding the individual and social goals; it promotes social responsibility and social inclusion. However, in practice, social enterprises face various problems that negatively affect their competitiveness. The present research has set an aim to examine the competitiveness of social entrepreneurship in Latvia. To achieve the aim, a case study was carried out to identify the factors affecting the competitiveness of social entrepreneurship and its competitive advantages and disadvantages in comparison with conventional enterprises. The research found that the key competitive advantages of social entrepreneurship were the story told by social enterprises and their employee motivation, while the negative effects regarding competitiveness were as follows: the lack of government support for social entrepreneurship, insufficient information in society about social entrepreneurship and the social value created by it, as well as various other factors in the internal environment of an enterprise.

Climate change adaptation being one of today’s main challenges on global agenda do affect people worldwide, but even though most decisions regarding climate change governance are made at the international or national level, the implementation of these decisions in most cases takes place at the local level. Municipal climate change adaptation research project in Latvia was carried out with special emphases on main stakeholder understanding, preparedness and communication factors using several complementary research methods – case study research in Salacgriva coastal municipality, sociological surveys with both Salacgriva town households / inhabitants (home visits / questionnaires) and also nation-wide municipal planners/ specialists survey (web based) in Latvia, as well as complementary interviews with various national agencies governance level experts. The comprehention and level of understanding of all sectors and necessary elements of complex municipal climate change governance development in Latvia is not sufficiently high neither for municipal planners/specialists nor for municipal (flood endangered) households, according to the needs of both those groups. There is in Latvia diverse and wide list of separately developed and already available instrument groups for municipal climate change governance (MCCG), especially, complementary communication instruments, as well as suffient enough number of insturments are in possession of the any particular municipality, but usage of them is quite limited by their type and range, and not complementary. Necessary is to change municipal project type thinking-working towards comprehensive planning / programming municipal development / support and pro-active communication and collaboration.

The main aspects of the tourism industry in the Odessa region, development trends, and features of the activity of specialised

Since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the Kurdish question has been the biggest ethnic issue of Turkey which became one of the important subjects in the agenda of Turkey and international organizations. The question has certain impacts on the stability of the country that is today being associated with security and terror issues. Consequently the Kurdish question challenges the state and the country in the aspects of ethnic problems, human rights, democracy, as well as socio-economic and political. The aim of this article is to uncover how the Kurdish question challenges the stability in terms of Turkish state and the Kurds. In this regard, the research engages several objectives; evaluations of approaches toward Kurdish issue, analyzing historical background, and evaluation of the issue in the present time. Research methods of the paper consists of comparative analysis of decision, document analysis on the reports and agreements, descriptive method on the developments, and media analysis to engage relevant news. The main results of the research are concluded on variety aspects of the Kurdish question, such as security, terrorism, minority issue, human rights, and so on. Thus, it creates certain impacts on the stability in Turkey both in terms of state and the Kurds regionally and internationally.

This article is the analysis of Jurgis Šaulys’s letters to Morta Zauniūtė which are held in the Vilnius University library. These letters represent a lot of new details on all of their lives, personalities and creations. This article discusses the impact J. Šaulys had on all of their lives by analysing their correspondence. This article shows initial stages of J. Šaulys life as a cultural figure who will eventually be viewed as one of the most influential organisators of the literary life of the beginning of the 20th century.

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 %.

The article deals with the relation of electronic government (further – e.government) and electronic business (further – e.business)in public procurement. A special focus is on the theory analysis of e.government and e.business, on the legal regulation of publicprocurement in the European Union (further – the EU). The authors of the article analyse public procurement paying attention to theLithuanian membership experience in the EU. They also state the arising problems and difficulties in public procurement. The stateof small and medium-sized business (further – SMB) in the process of implementing public procurement is discussed, too.

The situation of families in children disability situation is very complex affected by many factors and their integral interaction. The families often feel balancing between the reveal and ideal discourse of reality, between life before and after disability fact. Therefore, researches constantly face a methodological challenge transferring families’ life into the scientific research. According to Smith (2010, p. 33), a researcher is always at least one-step is distinct from the picture that (s)he needs to draw. Potentially method is very helpful to reveal family life as reality, however we have to be creative in applying a method, because the method is not a collection of neither a learned nor repeated procedures that was done by another masters. Research of family in disability situation is perceived as sensitive therefore in this variable process social reality is created in a “sense of family”. The article introduces analysis of different epistemological approaches towards qualitative research in social sciences and in particular in the field for families of children with disabilities.

This article analyses business market change factors of travel agencies in Lithuania. Travel agencies and organizers represent an important part of tourism sector, which includes all functions and forms of tourism as well as reflects the trends of this industry. Travel agency business is affected by intense external and internal market change factors. The problem of the research raised in the introduction is that business conditions of the travel agencies are getting complicated. There are two principal external factors that made the most significant impact on travel agency market: internet with new information technologies and deregulation of passenger air transport. The article identifies internal change factors of travel agency business market, analyses emerging challenges and their impact, and the managerial response is analysed which would help travel agencies survive in this business.

The article is devoted to the study of socio-cultural environment of the student youth as a reference group of professional socialization. According to the collected theoretical and practical material, the development components, trends and standards are reviewed. The research results show that the process of unsuccessful professional socialization and adaptation, which may result in a process of social exclusion, also deserves careful research attention. The obstacles of successful professional socialization are mentioned, such as a sharp increase in social differentiation and changes in the structure of public relations, which act as factors – demotivators of the process of professional socialization. It is emphasized that the main determinant of stabilization should act as handling social conflicts (misunderstandings), which is inevitable. It is noted that the initial professional socialization within the university as a social institution can be seen as a means of reducing social conflicts, because in the professional socialization and proper labor standards and values, the greatest achievement of combining norms and values is held.