Regional Formation and Development Studies

The scientific articles published in this issue cover various areas of social sciences. In this volume, both theoretical and empirical research articles can be found. I. Borucinska in her article on the economic analysis of the benefits of the EU-Japan partnership agreements deals with the regional problems, while the applicability of the theory of business cycles developed in the Austrian School of Economics are analysed by R. Čiegis and S. Girdžijauskas. Z. Zeibote examines the influence of clusters on regional competitiveness. Also, quite in a different aspect, there are discussed regional problems presented in the article by R. Bučinskaitė where the discrepancies between the EU civil procedures are revealed, meanwhile A. Pahman assesses corruption and forest problems in Indonesia. In contemporary science, there are a number of research investigating the involvement of society or community in decision-making at local level or in education. In this journal, one can also find articles relevant to these topics; such are the articles by R. Jančius, A. Gavenauskas and J. Pekarskas, who study issues of ecological education in society or J. Vorevičienė’s work analysing the activities of community centres in the local communities. In addition, the authors A. Batuchin, R. Saveljeva, G. Viksne and Z. Staneva examine the welfare and future of society by analysing the immigrants’ attitude towards the host country, while the young people’s attitude towards their quality of life in Klaipėda municipality is highlighted by G. Strakšienė. Furthermore, V. Tauraitė presents the effect of fear of losses in neuroeconomics, whereas V. Valiulė and M. Vaikšnoras discuss the role of managers in the empowerment of human resources. Enjoy your reading!

Straipsnyje daugiausia dėmesio skiriama pažangių kaimų vystymo problemai, kuri susijusi su tvaria kaimo plėtra. Nagrinėjami mokslinių tyrimų rezultatai, vietinių ir tarptautinių organizacijų patirtis. Gerosios praktikos pavyzdžiai padėjo suvokti pažangaus kaimo vystymosi varomąsias jėgas ir pagrindines modelio dedamąsias. Nustatytos kaimo vietovių pažangos ir pažangaus kaimo vystymosi varomųjų jėgų prielaidos. Atliekant tyrimą taikyti mokslinės literatūros, dokumentų, gerosios praktikos pavyzdžių analizės, sisteminimo, lyginimo ir kiti metodai. Analizuoti ir vertinti tik sėkmingi gerosios praktikos pavyzdžiai. Nustatytos pažangaus kaimo vystymosi varomosios jėgos: tikslusis ūkininkavimas (žemdirbystė); skaitmeninės ir kitos atviros inovacijoms platformos; dalijimosi ekonomika; žiedinė ekonomika; bioištekliais (atsinaujinančiais) pagrįsta ekonomika; atsinaujinančioji energija; kaimo turizmas, apimantis ekologinį, sveikatai palankų maistą ir poilsį, rekreacinį turizmą; socialinės inovacijos kaimo paslaugų ir verslumo srityje; įtraukios socialinės infrastruktūros, partnerystės organizacinio mechanizmo kūrimas ir diegimas. Pažangaus kaimo vystymosi modelis turėtų būti grindžiamas partnerystės organizacinio mechanizmo, t. y. informavimo, konsultavimo, įtraukimo ir dalyvavimo, sprendimais, kelių veiklų ir sinchroniškai veikiančių suinteresuotųjų funkcionavimu.

Welfare in its narrow understanding means the state’s material help given to the members of society. It also may be understood as the whole of the state’s activities aimed at multi-level support for various social groups. The aim of this paper is to show different elements of material help given to society by the state which help society to meet social security. Also, the findings based on some examples of the current Polish history show how this kind of state’s support may help politicians to gain success in elections. The author argues that the same reality, i.e., social help, may be used for people’s welfare, however, it may be also used to obtain political goals. It must be noticed that using welfare for political goals often happens the situation when electoral promises are not necessary implemented after a particular party wins the election. To achieve the main purpose of this research the method of analysis was applied. Today, welfare can be used in both ways – as a form of ensuring the social safety of society and as an effective and successful tool in election campaigns.

Consumers are willing to buy more from companies that share their values and principles. Increasingly and rapidly consumer values are shifting towards sustainable development. This rapid shift in values has created the need for marketing communications to become anchored in appropriate sustainable marketing principles. So, it follows that appropriate sustainability marketing creates higher and longer value-based relationships with consumers. The article analyses consumer values and principles related to sustainability and its linkage with integrated marketing communications. Even though the marketing of sustainability is a heavily covered topic by scholars, it is still perceived as an alternative or “niche” solution for certain consumer segments. Considering this information, the aim of this article is to uncover the mainstream consumer values and principles and identify how they are reflected in the mainstream brands’ marketing communications. The study is based on the analysis of general and special literature, scientific papers and periodicals published by Lithuanian and foreign scholars. The retail food sector was chosen for the study due to its significant contribution to the economy. Content analysis of the sector’s integrated marketing communications was conducted. Yet the analysis of food retailers operating in Lithuania shows that consumer values and principles are only partially reflected. The biggest gap is that no brand appears to position itself as a market leader in sustainability or focuses on sustainability development within the organization. This gap shows opportunities as well as lack of commitment from the industry.

Tyrimu siekiama, remiantis bendrųjų palūkanų teorija ir rinkos transformacijos principu, iš naujo paaiškinti vertės paradoksą, patikslinant jo pasireiškimo ribas. Atliktas tyrimas atskleidė, kad, atsižvelgiant į rinkos prisotinimo laipsnį, t. y. pasiūlos ir paklausos santykį, rinka gali būti kelių tipų. Pasiūlos ir paklausos santykio pasikeitimas lemia rinkos virsmą. Prisotinimu paremtų rinkų egzistavimas leidžia pagrįsti ir pateikti naują vertės paradokso paaiškinimą. Maržinalistai, atrodytų, išsprendė šį klasikinių ekonomistų vertės paradoksą, taikydami mažėjančio ribinio naudingumo dėsnį. Tačiau jis nėra universalus. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad mažėjančio ribinio naudingumo dėsnis taikytinas tik laisvosioms rinkoms (kur paklausa yra mažesnė už pasiūlą), tuo tarpu deficitinėms rinkoms (kur paklausa yra didesnė už pasiūlą) jis netinka. Retos prekės paprastai yra deficitinės, dažnai – ir vienetinės. Ribinių teorijų pritaikyti vienetiniams objektams nėra galimybės. Retoms prekėms taikytina finansinio burbulo teorija, paremta didėjančio pelningumo fenomeno egzistavimu. Darbe taikyta sisteminė ir lyginamoji mokslinių šaltinių analizė, ekonominė logistinė analizė ir sintezė.

Atliekant tyrimą, siekiama, išnagrinėjus pajamų nelygybės poveikio ekonomikos augimui teorines interpretacijas, įvertinti pajamų nelygybės poveikį ekonomikos augimui skirtingose šalių grupėse. Rezultatai pagrįsti 28 ES šalių 1995–2014 m. laikotarpio skydo duomenimis. Pirmoje straipsnio dalyje aptarti pajamų nelygybės reiškinio turinys, samprata, apibendrintos pajamų nelygybės poveikio ekonomikos augimui teorijos. Antroje straipsnio dalyje sukurti pajamų nelygybės poveikio ekonomikos augimui vertinimo modeliai, pagrįsta vertinimo metodika ir aptariami empiriniame tyrime naudojami kintamieji. Trečioje straipsnio dalyje nustatyta, kad didėjanti pajamų nelygybė daro nevienareikšmį poveikį ekonomikos augimui skirtingais transmisijos kanalais: taupymo, socialinių politinių neramumų. Nustatyta, kad pajamų nelygybė skatino ekonomikos augimą šalių grupėse, kurios pasižymėjo aukštesniu pajamų nelygybės ir šalies išsivystymo lygiu. Kitose šalių grupėse pajamų nelygybė lėtino ekonomikos augimą.

Straipsnyje aptariami inovacijų diegimo žingsniai, kaip galima būtų tobulinti šį procesą. Inovacijų diegimo žingsnių tobulinimas – tai nuolatinis aktyvus procesas, keliant naujas idėjas, įvertinant jų veiksmingumą ir priimant sprendimus dėl jų diegimo bei kontroliuojant vykdymo eigą. Privačiose sveikatos priežiūros įstaigose inovacijų diegimo žingsniai nepakankamai tyrinėjami. Šiuo tyrimu siekiama, aprašius inovacijų diegimo žingsnius, išsiaiškinti sveikatos priežiūros įstaigos darbuotojų nuomonę apie inovacijų diegimo žingsnių tobulinimo poreikį. Kiekybiniame tyrime dalyvavo 152 respondentai: gydytojai, slaugytojai, laborantai. Pasirinktas netikimybinis tiriamų grupių parinkimo būdas – atsitiktinis. Tyrimo instrumentas – anoniminė (bevardė) anketa, kurioje pateiktais teiginiais siekiama nustatyti inovacijų diegimo padėtį ir proceso tobulinimo poreikį. Tyrimas atliktas privačioje sveikatos priežiūros įstaigoje Klaipėdos mieste. Nustatyta, kad tirtoje sveikatos priežiūros įstaigoje būtina tobulinti inovacijų diegimo (3-ias žingsnis) idėjų pateikimą ir įgyvendinimo kontrolę (8-as žingsnis). Įstaiga turėtų skatinti darbuotojų įsitraukimą į inovacijų diegimo procesą, didinti jų motyvaciją, tobulinti inovacijų diegimo kontrolės formą, tai drausmintų darbuotojų veiklą. Nuolat tobulinami inovacijų diegimo žingsniai suteikia daugiau galimybių įstaigai stebėti savo inovacinę veiklą, įvertinti pranašumus ir trūkumus, laiku atlikti koregavimo veiksmus. Tai lemia inovatyvią, efektyvią, kokybišką įstaigos veiklą.

ABSTRACTThe topic of welfare sector development in Belarus nowadays is of huge interest since by means of the welfare development level it is possible to judge the level of the country’s economic system and the quality of public sector services as well. In recent years, especially in times of recession, the welfare sector positions in Belarus have been considerably weakened. This is partly explained by the aspiration to keep the old Soviet designs in the welfare system construction. At the same time, when national and subnational budgets are planned, governments try to hold with great difficulty the budgetary indicators of the welfare sphere at the level of last years. Such attempts, however, lead to the saving of budgetary funds only and they influence the deterioration of the welfare quality. The present paper pursues the aim to show: (i) what tendencies of social budgetary policy can be observed in the time of economic recession, (ii) how consistent was the welfare orientation of the central and local budgets in practice, and (iii) prospect ways for the welfare sector financing and what new financial tools and mechanisms are to be introduced. In the paper, methodology is linked with the suggested approach to evaluate the authority’s fiscal efforts in welfare branches development using the elasticity coefficient in which exists the correlation between expenditure on welfare sphere branches and total budget revenues. By inserting the authority’s financial reports data into the elasticity coefficient there is an opportunity to assess the authority’s fiscal efforts in welfare policy. The main methodology background is based on financial reports of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus and on-line databases present in the public finance area. The author considers the Belarusian welfare branches in national and subnational budgets, their structure, dynamics and other important indicators. A comparative analysis of the welfare sector branches with other European countries is submitted. The paper highlights the inconsistent policy of the Belarusian authorities in the sphere of the welfare branches’ funding. Also, there are considered debatable issues of the welfare sphere finance reformation in Belarus during the economic crisis.

The article aims to define how the main principles of the Swedish welfare state, i.e., the “multi-stakeholder principle” and the principle of trustfulness and collaboration, affect activity of the anti-corruption civil society. For the study, the following empirical methods have been used: the analysis of documents and in-depth-interviews with experts. The author demonstrates that the anti-corruption activity of civil society in Sweden can be considered as part of wider social movements for human rights, democracy and integrity, especially at international level. There are a lot of associations and unions in Sweden that, among other joint activities, promote anti-corruption practices and rules in state organisations and commercial enterprises. The state and government need to be oriented to social challenges and keep pace with civic movements. A partnership with different stakeholders is the main type of the Swedish ACS’s activities that help to reach their goals in preventing corruption behaviour, e.g., “Anti-corruption policy networks”, and it is the result of two types of collaboration: anti-corruption participation and anti-corruption services. The research has shown that the civil society’s ability to create networks with the state, business and other agents is the main condition for the so-called horizontal accountability and sustainability and for preventing corruption in Swedish society that, in its turn, has been established over a long period of time building the culture of integrity and civic institutions.

The paper concentrates on the international transfer of capital in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI). A relatively high level of investment attractiveness of an economy is required for the attraction of capital in the form of FDI. Inflow of capital in the form of FDI is perceived as a factor stimulating economic development of the so-called catching up economies, and the Visegrad 4 countries can be viewed as such economies. The crucial objective of the paper is to present investment attractiveness of the Visegrad 4 countries in the light of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank reports and EY’s surveys. A parallel objective is to analyse the engagement of the Visegrad 4 countries in international capital transfer in the form of FDI in post-crisis period in order to identify inward and outward FDI flows and stock. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The undertaken research leads to a conclusion that foreign capital played an important role in the transformation of the V4 economies and their strong integration with the world economy. It contributed to supplementing capital shortages and increasing efficiency. The V4 countries remain net importers of capital in the form of FDI, though the positions of the V4 as investors in the world market have risen slightly over the last decade. It is of vital importance to introduce dynamic and effective actions aiming at promoting the V4 as a location of FDI and to undertake parallel activities directed at stimulating the V4 investment abroad.