Unified client service centres for rural development and smart governance in Latvia

ArticleNowadays rapid increase of technological environment allows residents to be more mobile, choose working place, different from one’s place of residence, start a new business or transfer company to rural areas, thus promoting polycentric development of a territory and increasing capacity of rural territories. It means that government should think of smart governance and service provision, providing different government services at one place. From June 2015 until December 2015, under the concept of improvement of public service system, the government of the Republic of Latvia established 75 unified state and local government customer service centres. Service centres operate on a local basis and in accordance with the uniform principles, provide customer with one place to access multiple public services. The objective of the present article is to evaluate the necessity and current activity of unified customer service centres and their contribution to smart governance of the country. The necessity for unified client service centres in the rural areas were therefore assessed with the analysis of attributable data, theory on establishment of such centres, and residents’ survey, which showed that a big part of customers of the present centres are residents of neighbouring towns and cities where the regional governmental and local institutions are located, but they are attracted by the possibility to receive all the necessary services at one time

Changes in composition and spatial distribution of knowledge-based economy in rural areas of Latvia

ArticleOne of the features in the 21st century is growth of knowledge - based economic sector, which is referred as n ew growth theory. New growth theory reflects the attempt to understand the role of knowledge and technology in driving productivity and economic gr owth. In this view, key factors are investments in research and development, education and training and new managerial work structures. The aim of research is to estimate the composition and geographic location of knowledge economy and its perspectives in rural areas of Latvia in post - crisis stage. A special focus was placed on the mentioned processes in territorial units of the regions – municipalities , as the life of residents is influenced not only by national policies, but also by on - going processes in the administrative territories of local governments. The Eurostat classification of industries was used for the analysis of c hanges in composition and spatial distribution of knowledge - based economy. D ata were processed by quantitative and qualitative stat istical analysis, as well as grouping methods. The analysis of the information allows concluding that: municipalities with high and medium - high business is increasing and the business directions with bioeconomic features are the fastest growing ones in ter ms of composition. It must be stated that the economic growth in the rural territories was greatly affected by the quality of local governance and the fact that local community residents’ readiness for active, innovative and inclusive action is strengthene d

Through economic growth to the viability of rural space

ArticleRural areas as a living space for the population has been increasingly explored in official documents of various EU institutions and in research topics. Both the documents and the research papers stress the necessity to enhance and maintain the viability of rural areas. The viability of rural areas is ensured by employment opportunities and readiness of residents for active and innovative economic activities. The paper presents an analysis of vertical and horizontal changes in entrepreneurship in the period of 2009–2015 and their effect on changes in the living space of the analysed territories in Latvia’s regions. The processes in administrative territories of regions, municipalities were analysed, as the life of residents is influenced not only by national policies but also by on-going processes in the administrative territories of local governments. The data of LURSOFT for the period of 2009–2015 and the Central Statistical Bureau for the period of 2013–2015 were used as the sources of information. The data were processed by quantitative (growth) and qualitative (structural change) statistical analysis methods. The Eurostat methodology and the methodology developed by the authors for classification of industries were employed for the analysis of structural changes in the national economy. The development level-rate matrix method was used for an in-depth examination of the research results. The research results showed that, in spite of the global economic crisis, both vertical growth and positive horizontal change took place in the national economy of all five regions of Latvia, nine cities of national significance as well as all 110 municipalities that composed the rural areas of Latvia. The authors arrived at the conclusion that, first, performance trends contributing to economic growth were observed in the rural space; second, there was no direct causal relationship between the population density and economic activity in the rural territories; third, the economic growth in the rural territories was greatly affected by the quality of local governance and local community residents’ readiness for active, innovative and inclusive activities

Digitalization as an essential growth factor contributing in SME development (experience of Latvia and Romania)

ArticleIn today’s global economy, entrepreneurship is an important economic growth engine for the European Union. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Europe’s economy, providing 85 % of all new jobs. The European Commission aims to promote entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for SMEs, to allow them to realise their full potential in today’s global economy (EC.2015. COSME). The expansion of SMEs in today's environment is increasingly influenced by the use of digital networks. The present research focuses on the characteristics of digital environment use by SMEs in two EU Member States – Romania and Latvia. Groups of entrepreneurs that produced both goods and services and differed in number of the employed and geographical location were surveyed in each country. The information acquired revealed the technological and economic characteristics of the digitalization process in each country, highlighting both similarities and differences. An analysis of the data gives an opportunity to identify main priorities to enhance SME digitalization processes in the future. The first of them is the accessibility of competent workers in digitization and digitalization

Trendy w przygotowaniu młodych przedsiębiorców stymulatorem rozwoju przedsiębiorczości Łotwy

The paper found that mostly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) prevailed in Latvia and the EU and their number increased year by year, particularly because various measures for the establishment and support of micro-enterprises, including financial ones, were implemented. In recent years, at the same time, activity in starting up entrepreneurship considerably declined, as well as students’ entrepreneurial attitudes to set up their own business and to associate their future careers with entrepreneurship significantly deteriorated as well. Therefore, the present paper aims to investigate Latvian high school students’ entrepreneurial attitudes to become self-employed and to set up their own business according to the challenges of the twenty-first century for entrepreneurship. To achieve the aim of the present research study, 5910 students aged from 15 to 22 years (2015) were questioned about the factors motivating as well as promoting and hindering the start-up of entrepreneurship. The results of the survey showed that in recent years, students had insufficient information and knowledge about entrepreneurship promotion measures, as well as about the demands of the labour market and further education in learning a profession. This means that there is a need to improve the teaching and training for entrepreneurship in Latvia and implement targeted career education measures.Przedstawione w artykule wyniki badań pokazują, że w większości małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa (MSP) dominowały na Łotwie i w krajach europejskich. Ich liczba wzrastała z roku na rok, zwłaszcza, że zostały uruchomione różne środki w celu wspierania MŚP. W ostatnich latach aktywność w uruchamiania MŚP spadła w sposób znaczący. Dlatego w wyniku badań ustalono, że najważniejszy jest nacisk dotyczący edukacji, w zakresie tworzenia treści kształcenia w oparciu o kompetencje, włączając do niego elementy kształcenia w zakresie przedsiębiorczości i działalności zawodowych

Pagastu attistibas iespeju analizes metodologija

Available from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLETempus PHARE, Turin (Italy)LVLatvi

Nozares zinatniskas petniecibas darba koordinacijas pasakumu pilnveidosana saskana ar ES direktivu 1728/74, 1467/97 par lauksaimniecibas petijumu ieviesanu un augstakas izglitibas integraciju

Available from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLEMinistry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia, Riga (Latvia)LVLatvi

Information society and modern business Selected proceedings of international scientific conference

Available from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLEJSC Ventspils Nafta, Ventspils (Latvia); Latvian Council of Science, Riga (Latvia)LVLatvi