International competitive positions of the Baltic States – changes and determinants in the post-accession period

The article presents the results of an analysis comparing changes in the competitive positions of the Baltic States in comparison with the Visegrad Group countries and the new EU Member States in the post-accession period (2006–2017). This type of study has not been presented in more detail in the available literature. Researchers of international economic competitiveness mostly focussed on the EU-15. The Baltic States mainly have been excluded from such investigations. Therefore, the article may significantly contribute to bridging the gap. The study employs the method of secondary data’s comparative analysis concerning indices and pillars of economic competitiveness described in The Global Competitiveness Reports of the World Economic Forum. An important element of the examination was to identify major determinants of those developments. It focussed on the identification of structural factors shaping the competitive positions of the countries covered. The demonstration which of the factors determine competitiveness and the assessment of long-term changes may serve as the basis for economic policy making. The assumption is that the EU accession had a considerable impact on the development of the competitive position but specific effects varied between countries. The Baltic States differed rather widely regarding the improvement of their competitive positions throughout the post-accession period

Quantitative assessment of quality management systems’ processes

Based on the particularities of assessment of quality management systems, we have developed an aggregate of dependencies between the singular indicators of process quality and their values, on a dimensionless scale. The application of the aggregate allows a quantitative quality assessment of processes to be obtained and takes into account a diversity of indicators and the significance of processes in the enterprise. The application of the said dependencies allows to assessment of quality indicators and interval assessment of quality indicators. Taking into account changes of process quality over time, coefficients are developed. We have proved the use of the tests of non-parametric characteristics for the analysis of the dynamic characteristics of process quality. The results of the application of the developed methods of qualitativequality assessment in the mechanical engineering enterprises are presented

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic development of EU countries

CC BY 4.0One of the essential consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is a slowdown in economic development, which is reflected in an integrated way by the Gross Domestic Product per inhabitant of the country. However, its dimensions are not the same for individual countries of the European Union, so it is crucial to determine what circumstances led to this phenomenon. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine individual EU countries’ losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the circumstances they depended on. Correlation-regression analysis was used, which made it possible to calculate what effect the countries’ economic development level and the intensity of its positive changes on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic had on the losses incurred. In 2018, it was found that this relationship is very strong (the value of the correlation coefficient r equals 0.8 and 0.7, respectively). The study’s results highlighted the regularity – economic development slowed down the least in those countries where it was in the best condition, and the positive development changes were the most intense. It was found that in the ten most developed EU countries, economic growth slowed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic by approximately 2.3%, and in the rest of the countries – 5.1%. According to the slow-down of economic development, insensitiveness was approximately 3.45 and 5.46%

New trends of development of beer industry in Lithuania – diversification and social responsibility

The main purpose of this article is to outline the current challenges of beer industry in Lithuania and provide suggestions for future development of organizations in this industry, by focusing on diversification strategy and social responsibility. The main challenges of Lithuanian beer industry are related to finding ways of future development in a constantly contracting market, as well as to find a competitive strategy of market penetration. In connection of these challenges, product differentiation creates new benefits for the consumers. However this strategy proves itself not being sufficient to reach the desired goals. Diversification of portfolio, being more risky, gives opportunity to target new customer groups and increase market presence. However, both strategies are less effective without changing the culture of drinking and consumer perceptions of beer. These issues will be addressed through the lenses of social responsibility, by emphasizing the promotion of responsible alcohol consumption and responsible behaviour of beer industry. As a result, the customers have to be ready to pay higher price for new products and develop a more responsible culture of beer consumption. To overcome outlined challenges, organizations in Lithuanian beer industry, must rethink their existing strategies and operations. Based on proposed future directions, the paper provides suggestions for business practices, how to implement differentiation strategy and actions in order to increase the level of social responsibility of various stakeholders

Development of a system of rent criteria for immovable Properties (offices)

Companies are starting to rent premises, suitable for their business, much more often today. The size of the renting activity is constantly growing. In practice, successful business is very much depending on the location of the company. On another hand, finding the good option of renting the premises is not very easy task, because it is important to evaluate different factors, having influence to the final business results. The scientific and practical problem here – finding the system of factors, having impact to the choice of renting the premises. This system will be the basis for ranking of all possible renting options. Taking into consideration the fact, that the case of the rented premises is being reflected by the big number of factors, related to the premises itself, their geographical location as well as the financial conditions of rent, the system of factors is getting hierarchically structurized form

Evaluation of the impact of R&D on the socio-economic development of EU countries

Investment in R&D varies widely in EU countries, both in terms of its overall volume and the sources of investment, business, the state, and higher education institutions. To a large extent, the volume of investment depends on the state of economic development of the country. Economically developed EU countries are dominated exclusively by business investments, while investments in higher education play a limited role. This is because higher education institutions perform a large part of R&D together with businesses. In developing countries, investment in R&D is equally distributed between business, the state, and higher education institutions. This is because scientific business research opportunities are still limited in these countries. To adequately determine the impact of R&D investments on the economic development of countries, the overall size of R&D investment needs to be transformed in such a way as to assess its internal structure in which business and higher education institutions have the highest importance. Investments in R&D have a lower direct impact on a country’s social development compared to the impact on economic development. This is because R&D affects economic development directly through technological innovations and social development indirectly through economic development. Keywords: investment in R&D, countries' economic and social development, multi-criteria approaches

Influence of market concentration on the results of enterprise commercial activities

Under the conditions of intense competition, concentration is a strategy, allowing an enterprise to stay competitive in the market. In spite of its importance, the influence of concentration on the results of commercial activities of particular enterprises and industries has not been thoroughly investigated. The correlation - regression analysis has revealed a strong relationship between the industrial activities' concentration and the financial activities, overall profitability and sales income. The calculated dependences may be used in managing concentration processe