Volume 13 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016)

In this paper, the extended framework of the IS-MP-IA model has been tested. Since the appearance of the Romer’s (2000) model, a bulk of studies with its extensions have been published. Perhaps, the most notable amongst them were those proposed by Hsing (2004, 2013) and Giese and Wagner (2006) - which are integral part of this paper. The application of the extended Romer (2000) model to selected Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Ukraine) shows that on an average, higher world output and lower world interest rate and inflation have positive effect on real output. A lower government consumption to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio also increases the real output. However, the insignificant government consumption implies that the Ricardian equivalence might hold in these economies. Hence, fiscal prudence is needed, and the conventional approach of real currency depreciation, in order to stimulate exports and raise real output, is not recommendable for the selected CESEE countries. The results from this paper can be useful for the policymakers and the academia. They prove the theoretical and empirical value of the Romer’s IS-MP-IA model. From a methodological point of view, we use generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator for dynamic panel data models, that is, first-differenced GMM.

Application of discount rate in finance and accounting is founded on the concept of time value of money. Discounted cash flow model is widely used for asset valuation under the International Financial Reporting Standards (in abbreviation, IFRS). The discount rate applied in valuation models normally is the best rate of return that investors would earn alternative investments. With emergence of ecological economics as a separate branch of economics, the concept of ecological (or in other words, environmental discount rate) has been elaborated. Muller (2013) in his paper ‘The Discounting Confusion: an Ecological Economics Perspective’, argues that traditional discounting can undermine long-term sustainability of the economy. In his work, Frank G. Muller considered adjusting the traditional discount rate in order to arrive at an environmental discount rate, which would help to ensure the sustainability of the economy. Hannon (2001) and Perrings (2001) in their paper ‘An Introduction to Spatial Discounting’ consider another variation of the discount rate - spatial discount rate. Spatial discount rate represents the rate at which the diffusion of environmental effects of economic activities is discounted over space. By February 2016, neither the application of environmental nor spatial discount rates under IFRS has been considered. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implications that environmental and spatial discounting would have for the application of discounted cash flow model according to IFRS. The research methods applied are methods of economic analysis and synthesis.

Business models are nowadays a popular topic in management science. The concept of ontology of business models in particular is used in numerous scientific works within this scope. The issue of shared understanding of a business model within an organisation is becoming essential in this regard. Therefore, this work presents the opinions of young Czechs and Polish studying on faculties of management on the issue of the subject matter of a business model in the dimensions of the way it is communicated within an organisation. The study has been conducted with the aid of a survey. Hundred and twenty persons altogether have given their answers, of which 50% were Polish and the other 50% were Czechs. The existence of statistically important correlation between independent variables (‘nationality’, ‘seniority’) and opinions concerning particular dimensions of communicating about business models within an organisation (dependent variables) has been proven. The existence of these correlations (despite their very low level) in the light of a generally formulated research problem may constitute a premise for conducting further studies on the issue of cultural conditionings of communicating about this problem as well as the way it is practised in Polish and Czech enterprises.

Although during the past few years the scopes of shadow economy in Lithuania have slightly decreased, different forms of this phenomenon, in particular digital shadow activities, still generate a significant part of the overall value added. As no constant estimations of the scope of digital shadow economy have been made in Lithuania, alleviation of this problem is based on consequence fighting rather than reason elimination. Digital shadow economy poses a significant challenge for law enforcement agencies concerning its investigation and prevention. Hence, it is purposeful to research both theoretical and practical aspects of digital shadow economy prevention in order to identify the measures that could be used for the efficient reduction of the scope of this phenomenon. The aim of this research is to identify the measures of digital shadow economy prevention and compare the attitudes of governmental institutions and consumers towards the efficiency of these measures. The results of the empirical research showed that both consumers and experts agree that the level of tax morale has to be raised not only by using the measures of self-education but also by introducing long-term educational programmes; second, public authorities should ensure business friendly environment, actively implement the principles of justice and officially acknowledge and announce the concept of digital shadow economy; finally, for more efficient detection of the cases of digital shadow activities, it is necessary to reinforce current labour resources that should be specially trained to be able to disclose revenue hiding and tax evasion schemes, employed in e-trade.

Attention to the harmonised economic growth by promoting regional economic convergence was paid in the 1960s, at the commencement of European economic integration. It served as a basis for initiation of programs intended to reduce disparities among regions. For the current programming period (2014-2020) over 350 billion euro was allocated to promote cohesion (more than 340 billion for 2007-2013 and about 213 billion for 2000-2006) and a considerable part of that funding went specially to promote regional convergence; therefore, the analysis of regional convergence in the EU countries is essential due to both economic and financial reasons. Regional policy can be considered successful if regional disparities are found to be decreasing; however, research on convergence/divergence issue has not provided any unambiguous conclusions. We aim to enrich this field of analysis by incorporating cultural dimension while analysing the factors influencing regional convergence. In order to identify a causal link between culture and economic outcomes, we define culture as the customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious and social groups transmit almost unchanged from generation to generation. Our research hypothesis is that regional policy impact on regional convergence differs between groups of countries characterised by historically diverse cultural experience. Using panel data approach like FD and covering the two last programming periods along with a set of variables to control country-specific economic environment, we investigate whether the success of Cohesion policy has depended on cultural differences in the north, south, west and central-east groups of European countries.

Borrowers default risk is one of the most relevant types of risk in commercial banking and its assessment is important to secure business profitability and avoid huge losses during economic turbulences. This leads to necessity to investigate topics related to assessment of borrowers’ default probability and applicability of factors, which would enable to capture the newest trends of borrowers’ markets. Leading economic indicators (in addition to financial and other economic indicators) are often suggested as forward-looking in scientific literature. However, there is still a discussion going on applicability of financial ratios and economic indicators. As the problem is relevant in theoretical view as well as for practitioners, this article aims to identify applicability of leading economic indicators for the estimation of default probability. Further, the qualitative criteria for factor selection were identified and used when using detailing, grouping and SWOT analysis methods. Based on current scientific literature analysis, this paper concludes that although leading economic indicators are able to capture forward-looking signals, they should be used with careful analysis of its drawbacks and in combination with financial factors in order to avoid overshooting effects. The limitation of the article is the analysis of factors based on rather theoretical analysis than estimation of quantitative criteria. This suggests that every time using leading economic indicators requires using empirical study of particular indicators’ set.

During the last three decades, social capital has gained prominence throughout the social sciences. The concepts has been analysed in various manners (from perspectives of economics, political sciences, sociology, anthropology etc.) providing wide range of theoretical conceptualizations. The aim of paper is to analyse the relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens using co-responsibility approach. In order to achieve the aim, the tasks are formulated as follows: 1) to review theoretical background for concept of social capital and subjective well-being, 2) to analyse the factors of social capital at local level, and 3) to use the results of conducted empirical research at Salaspils municipality in analysing the correlation of level of social capital and possibility to improve well-being implementing inclusive local management. Research methods used: Scientific literature studies, several stages of focus group discussions, statistical data analysis, SPIRAL methodology, scenario method. The main findings of the paper - there are evidences on relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens. In municipalities with sufficient level of social capital are good opportunities to use participatory techniques for achieving higher level of overall well-being. The paper consists of practical value how to mobilise the social capital of the municipality in order to ensure the inclusive management of the territory.

The title of this research is “The debtor’s property selling in the cross-border insolvency proceedings”. The insolvency proceeding gets the cross-border status also in case, if a debtor is an owner of the property outside of the main interests’ centre, namely, in another country. Therefore, there are many problematic cases when insolvency administrator (also called insolvency practitioner) defines the real estate in this other country and has to make a decision concerning the methods of selling the real estate in accordance with the law of the Member State in which territory the insolvency proceedings have been started. At the same time, the administrator shall provide that the property is sold in particular with regard to procedures for the realization of assets defined in the legislation of that country, where such real estate has been located. The article’s aim is to give a view of the features of the sale of the property in the insolvency proceedings and to define the possible lack and improvements in the cross-border insolvency concerning the selling of a debtor’s property. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union has adopted Regulation (EU) 2015/848 of 20 May 2015 on Insolvency proceedings, which shall apply from 26 June 2017, with some exceptions Despite the regulation of the cross-border insolvency has been improved, the procedure of the property disposal is still incomplete in the cross-border insolvency proceedings. Within the study the following research methods are applied: the analytical method, comparative method, sociological method and descriptive method. The predicted value of the research is theoretical and also practical. The research should be useful for the insolvency proceedings administrators, the companies and the banks, other experts involved in the cross-border insolvency proceedings, as well as for students to improve their theoretical knowledge about the cross-border insolvency.

Constant changes in business environment determine the significance of receivables to business. The analysis of the current situation in Lithuania has revealed that a substantial part of business enterprises are facing the problem of overdue receivables. This issue emerged as extremely topical after the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. A number of scientific studies confirmed that the level of receivables has a significant impact not only on smooth business operation but also on operational results and serves as the cause of numerous economic and social problems, faced by both business enterprises and the state. Rising level of receivables determines slower recovery of total economics because it has a negative impact on the sustainability of the public sector of the country. In addition, the scientists highlight economic problems such as production capacity losses, general decrease in competitiveness and failure to satisfy the debt claims. The social problems include the increase in unemployment rate, fall of living standards, dissatisfaction with poor economics of the country and uncertainty about the future. The aim of this article is to analyse the impact of receivables on business in Lithuania. The methods of the research include scientific literature analysis and statistical data analysis.

The skills and knowledge of the owners and employees of cultural enterprises on economic use of financial resources do not guarantee valuable artistic results. Therefore, a substantiated question has arisen: how to evaluate management in enterprises with bad financial ratios and outstanding artistic indicators. The existing definitions of cultural management (Aageson, 2008; Hagoort, 2007; Klamer, 1999; Stam, 2006; Nordman, 2003) also do not provide precise suggestions for determining the most important indicators in the evaluation of cultural management. The question is how to evaluate management in cultural entrepreneurship by determining the most important indicators for a cultural enterprise’s performance improvement. In order to define the goal of the stakeholders’ (artists, clients, media, arts scholars, third parties providing funds, cooperation partners) engagement, it is necessary to analyse the area of an enterprise’s activities, and in what way and by what kind of activities it is possible to engage the stakeholders. During the course of empirical research, it is planned to disclose, analyse and interpret the subjective reasons of pursuit. Although a numerical evaluation of stakeholders was obtained during the research and data analysis performed by Spearman’s rho correlation calculations, the obtained results during the interpretation have not been generalised. The research results reveal the role of the cultural enterprise’s stakeholders’ engagement in the evaluation of management, point to the importance of the goals’ analysis as well as the analysis of each stakeholder’s engagement, and define the criteria for evaluating the activities in cultural entrepreneurship.

Modern scientific research in the field of risk management is mainly devoted to general questions of the market theory of risk management, including qualitative risk analysis, protection of the rights of property owners and the study of the problems of selection of the best strategies for profitable market investments. The development of risk management mechanisms for small- and medium-sized businesses in Lithuania compared to other European markets is happening too slowly. The situation is aggravated by unstable situation of the field itself, corrupted officials and the lack of advanced control strategies for internal and external risk management in organisations. All these factors confirm the need to develop new management tools in the field of risk management at such enterprises. The aim of this article is to develop the mechanism of risk management of small and medium-sized businesses and justify it scientifically. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of objectivity using methods of comparative, logical, mathematical statistics and system-structural analysis.

Innovation is essential for economic growth in developed countries. One of the most important sources of innovation is human capital. In this article, state of human capital in EU countries is investigated in order to show the relationship between human capital and national innovation performance. In the first part, theoretical assumptions of human capital importance for innovation processes are analysed. Secondly, measures of human capital are analysed and a measurement model is presented. This model is applied for investigation of state of human capital in 26 EU countries during 2002-2012. Results showed that quality of human capital is the most important factor for innovation performance. Quality indicators have even higher correlation with innovation in countries with low share of innovative enterprises (enterprises with high-level of new technology acceptance and usage). The aim of research is to analyse the theoretical importance of human capital investment for national innovation capability in EU countries, and to determine human capital aspects that foster innovation performance. Therefore, objectives are as follows: to analyse theoretical assumptions of human capital importance for innovation processes and to present the current state of research; to analyse available human capital measures and create a human capital measurement model; and to analyse state of human capital in EU countries as well as its relationship with national innovation capability.