Regional Formation and Development Studies

The article reflects on the attitude, understanding and knowledge on sustainable marketing, as well as the essence of sustainable marketing,the strategy of its practical use and the concept of development. As a result of research, definitions of sustainable developmentand sustainable marketing and a model of concept of motivation of its use at a company were developed and the strategy of practicaluse of a sustainable marketing and the motivation of use at Latvian companies was ascertained, confirming the initially advancedhypotheses. In order to fulfil the purpose and objectives, the authors used the following quantitative and qualitative methods ofeconomic research: polls, comparisons, grouping. The study is based on scientific papers published by Latvian and foreign scholars,general and special literature, periodicals. The authors performed an assessment, market research, comparative analysis, arrangedan expert examination and used the computer software MS Excel for the analysis and processing of data. The article is based on theresults of the author’s research in 2013. The authors used examination and monitoring in their research.

The main aim of the research is to reveal the philosophical foundations of the concept of sustainable development. The scope of this research includes an analysis of the philosophical meaning of the concept of sustainable development, focusing on the revealing of the synergy of metaphysical, ethical and ecological parameters of this concept. To give a deeper understanding about different opinions and approaches to sustainable development, there will be an interpretation of some theoretical perspective both about sustainable development and also about different philosophical theories and how they are related sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development is not only concerned with the well-being of people but also of the world where human live, therefore the concept of sustainable development can be understood as holistic philosophy that includes classical philosophical prospects as well as harmonizes and integrates the activities of economic, sociopolitical and ecological system. Therefore, in this article are raised concrete tasks: to analyze the literature and reveal the philosophical context of the formation of the concept of sustainable development; to analyze classical ethical philosophical theories and argue their significance for the concept of sustainable development; to analyze a holistic philosophical approach and to argue its significance for the concept of sustainable development.

In this article there are being analyzed the natural and social economic structures of Lithuanian coastal strip. The research is based on survey about the hindrances and proposed suggestions for sustainable development. There are presented authors’ results about geographic profile of Lithuania’s coastal region, degree of exploitation and processes of spatial planning, suggestions for improvement of sustainable development of coastal strip. There are distinguished the types of bad examples as institutional, projects related, shortage of financial issues, private housing and the types of good examples as legislative, institutional, projects related, NGOs related for exploitation and sustainable development of coastal strip.

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.

The research aims to update the corporate marketing role in promoting sustainability. The study is based on the assessment of today’s economic, ecological, and social responsibility issues, as well as public issues associated with the development of sustainability. The following scientific research methods have been applied in the research: analytical, comparing, graphical, statistical and surveillance methods. The authors have studied sustainability issues, i.e., economic, environmental and social, in the world and particularly in Latvia, as well as their impact on public welfare. In research, there was chosen and analysed the Latvian food retail industry, which makes a significant contribution to the economy of the trade sector. Companies, which take on social responsibility, should focus in their activities on the education of consumers. Using marketing communications, they can educate their consumers about ecological characteristics of products and their environmental impact on the public health, i.e., composition of products, acquisition, storage, use and disposal possibilities, also putting great emphasis on the Latvian products. Thus, companies can support the domestic market and promote sustainable development of the Latvian economy in general.