ANALYSIS OF MEASUREMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE INSURANCE COMPANY

There are a number of different ways how to measure the company’s performance on sustainable development; despite it is not easy task to identify and choose which method is more accurate and appropriate, researches have shown that framing sustainability performance with methods of measurement can bring clearness into accountancy and significantly increase a company’s performance. The object of the research is the biggest insurance company in Lithuania and the Baltic countries. In this paper the key methods of sustainability indexes and sustainability indicator systems that are used in a level of company are analysed. To find out how the results of two measurement methods for company’s sustainable development might differ, while measuring the same company, the expert analysis was used. The analysis of sustainability measurements of company’s performance on sustainable development shows that there is likely to be different possible outcomes if company is being analysed by two, or more, different measurement methods

ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG STUDENTS : TESTING A MEASUREMENT SCALE

The overwhelming goal of the research is to evaluate the attitudes and behaviours of youth towards sustain-ability issues and sustainable entrepreneurship. The current paper reflects the results of the first research stage and aims at testing a measurement scale that consists of three groups of items: 1) statements about environmental attitudes and behaviours, 2) general intention to start a sustainable business, 3) intention to start a social business in the field of the circular economy. The reliability analysis to measure the internal consistency of the scale was performed in SPSS environment, using Cronbach alpha. A focus group discussion was organized among business students to evaluate the perceived quality of the questionnaire.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Application of ensemble of recurrent neural networks for forecasting of stock market sentiments

Research background: Research and measurement of sentiments, and the integration of methods for sentiment analysis in forecasting models or trading strategies for financial markets are gaining increasing attention at present. The theories that claim it is difficult to predict the individual investor’s decision also claim that individual investors cause market instability due to their irrationality. The existing instability increases the need for scientific research.   Purpose of the article: This paper is dedicated to establishing a link between the individual investors’ behavior, which is expressed as sentiments, and the market dynamic, and is evaluated in the stock market. This article hypothesizes that the dynamics in the market is unequivocally related to the individual investor’s sentiments, and that this relationship occurs when the sentiments are expressed strongly and are unlimited. Methods: The research was carried out invoking the method of Evolino RNN-based prediction model. The data for the research from AAII (American Association of Individual Investors), an investor sentiment survey, were used. Stock indices and sentiments are forecasted separately before being combined as a single composition of distributions. Findings & Value added: The novelty of this paper is the prediction of sentiments of individual investors using an Evolino RNN-based prediction model. The results of this paper should be seen not only as the prediction of the connection and composition of investors’ sentiments and stock indices, but also as the research of the dynamic of individual investors’ sentiments and indices

Circular economy as assistance for sustainable development in OECD countries

Research background: Circular economy is of great importance, as it plays a vital role in ensuring the reuse of waste created and, therefore, reduces the waste of limited resources, which is the primary goal of the general economic concept. In line with the circular economy, sustainable development gains great attention, as the United Nations announced the sustainable development goals that should be reached by 2030. Hence, the current paper aims at examining whether the circular economy could be treated as an effective assistance tool for sustainable development of OECD countries. Purpose of the article: The paper aims to investigate whether the circular economy could serve as an assistance tool for sustainable development and, therefore, seeks to determine if the circular economy could directly impact a country's sustainable development. Methods: First, the countries chosen were prioritised using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) methodologies. AHP method was used for weight assignment to the circular economy indicators that were further used for OECD countries' prioritisation procedure for which multi-criteria decision-making method EDAS was employed. Second, to reveal a link between the circular economy ranking results and sustainable development, a comparative analysis was done. Third, the impact of the country's circular economy on sustainable development was evaluated using the fixed-effect regression model on four years of panel data from 2016 to 2019 for the sample of 32 OECD countries. Findings & value-added: The comparative analysis of the circular economy's prioritisation results and Sustainable Development Goals Index (SDGI) ranking showed 20 out of 32 matches, assuming a link between the circular economy and sustainable development could be made. The fixed-effect regression equation results demonstrate that the unemployment rate, poverty rate, air pollution exposure, and CO2 emission per capita negatively influence sustainable development. In contrast, indicators such as gross domestic expenditure on R&D, renewable energy, number of passenger cars in use, and households with Internet access positively impact SDGI. The hypothesis that the circular economy is seen as an assistance for sustainable development and directly affects a country's sustainability was approved. The paper contributes to the scientific literature in the field of circular economy and sustainable development interaction and could be seen as an assumption for new research directions, focusing on the linkage between circular economy and sustainable development. Moreover, the obtained results could contribute to a country's policy-makers by highlighting the essential indicators of a circular economy that should be considered while forming the strategy of a country's sustainable development

Evaluation of Outsourcing Development in the Service Sector

The global pandemic has affected all sectors and disrupted not only supply chains but also had a particular impact on the range of services provided and the whole service sector. Outsourcing is used to adapt to business environment changes. However, in the scholarly literature, outsourcing of services is analysed as a complementary part of the manufacturing process—there is a lack of research on outsourcing in service companies. This article analyses the enablers of outsourcing in all service groups. The aim of the semi-structured interview was to determine not only the enablers, their significance in each WTO (World Trade Organisation) group of services but also the use of outsourcing in the provision of core and non-core services. The results of the empirical study revealed that outsourcing is increasingly used in the service sector; however, enablers vary depending on the provision of services, the nature of the service company’s activities, and the needs they meet, public or for-profit.</jats:p