bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ASSESSMENT OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM INTEGRATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM LITHUANIAN ENTERPRISES
Authors: Butkevičius Arūnas
Published: January 2019

An accounting information system (AIS) plays a key role in providing the financial information for decision making within an organization. The degree of usability and value of the information provided by an AIS largely depends on its timeliness and quality. Both can be improved by the participation of the non-financial stakeholders in its preparation, and by its reuse across multiple business processes. The goal of the research was to investigate AIS integration models in Lithuanian small and medium enterprises, and to determine the prerequisites and obstacles for their integration with the business processes and external information systems. A number of Lithuanian business companies were visited to investigate their information systems. Interviews with the accounting personnel were conducted and the related documentation was inspected. The object of the research was a set of problems concerned with the use of the information provided by the entity’s accounting information system in other functional areas for decision making purposes. Issues involving the preparation and communication of the accounting information for the use of external stakeholders were considered as well.The results of the research showed that the degree of integration of the accounting information systems of small and medium Lithuanian enterprises with their business partners and state institutions remains low, although prerequisites for the integration in some cases are in place.. Obstacles that preclude closer integration with external the systems are the relative inflexibility of the accounting software, the lack of use of the contemporary information and communication technologies, and high investments. To encourage closer integration within the systems, the Service Oriented Architecture should be provided, and be open for Data Integration, easy customization, and extensibility.p>
THE MACROECONOMIC POLICY TRAP: LITHUANIAN CASE
Authors: Gylys Povilas
Published: January 2019

Macroeconomic policy is a major factor of country’s wellbeing. It could be a catalist of the economic growth and could have detrimental impact on the economy. In other words, it may be both public good and public evil. The gist of the given article is to show how cognitive, fiscal and monetary factors influenced Lithuanian economy in both pre-crisis and crisis periods.p>
BUSINESS CLUSTERS AND THE POTENTIAL OF THE BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR IN LITHUANIA
Authors: Giedraitis Vincentas R. , Notten Tom , Rastenienė Aušra
Published: January 2019

What are the unique circumstances that allow innovations in an economy to take hold and mature into productive business sectors? We pose the given question in our discussion of the uncommonly favorable circumstances surrounding the biotechnology sector in Lithuania. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Lithuania’s ability to expand its economy during a time of crisis, focusing on its unique ability to innovate in such sectors as biotechnology.Our primary hypothesis is as follows: Lithuanian biotechnology sector is expanding because business clusters have been established. Drawing upon Schumpeter’s ideas of innovation and Porter’s business cluster theory, we argue that Lithuania is “at the right place and the right time” to make itself a regional leader in biotechnology. We draw upon the world-systems theory to argue that biotechnology is one means whereby Lithuania can rise in the global core-periphery hierarchy.
FACTORS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE CHANGE
Authors: Kulvinskienė Violeta Raimonda , Šeimienė Eleonora Seminogova
Published: January 2019

Organizational culture has a significant impact on the organization members’ life and in general it helps a company to achieve positive financial results. Organizational culture is very important in achieving internal integration and implementation of the strategy of adaptation in the external environment. Therefore a lot of companies explore their organizational culture and leaders, if needed, seek consciously to form, develop and change organizational culture.The aim of the article is to analyze the theoretical attitudes towards organizational culture change, to present research results of furniture manufacturing company‘s organizational culture, to describe the aspects that had impact on the organizational culture change and the matrix of organizational culture management.The object of the research is factors that have impact on the organizational culture change.Methods of research: analysis and generalization of literature, opinion survey of organization members by means of the designed questionnaire and in-depth interview as well as comparative analysis.Results of the research show that organizational culture change during 2006–2008 can be described as the movement from the “hierarchy” type towards “adhocracy” type and the main factors that had made impact on the organizational culture change were persons from outside incorporated in the organization and the installation of new technology. The main conclusion of the article is that it is important to establish and ensure continuous monitoring of the organizational culture, to estimate factors that have impact on the organizational culture change and to establish the matrix of organizational culture management in order to manage organizational culture in the right direction.
DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS IN LITHUANIA IN THE EUROPEAN AND WORLDWIDE CONTEXT
Authors: Ruževičius Juozas
Published: January 2019

This article analyses the peculiarities, interrelations and development of two relatively new concepts of organizational development – socially responsible and sustainable business. Socially responsible business, which adopts the sustainable development concept, more and more often requires than adequate behaviour of the supply chain partners. The complex of tools to achieve socially responsible and sustainable business – SA 8000 (Social Accountability), Global Compact, OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series), ISO 14001, EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), eco-labelling, etc. – can be integrated into one organization. The paper provides an analysis of the development of these systems in Lithuania within the context of the European and global business. The interrelations of different management systems, the links among them, integration possibilities and improvement propositionsare described.
COMPETENCES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: EXPECTATIONS AND REALITY
Authors: Lobanova Liudmila , Palekaitė Airina , Radzevičiūtė Justė
Published: January 2019

The competence of human resources specialists becomes more important nowadays due to the knowledge-based development of society and economics. It affects not only the quality of their own work, but also the efficiency, capacity and motivation of all the employees in an organization. The article deals with the composition of competences of human resources management, the profiles, responsibilities and functions of personnel managers. By means of theoretical studies and empirical research, the functions of personnel management and the related competences have been analysed with the aim to reveal employees’ expectations regarding personnel managers. The analysis has revealed the current situation in organizations. The results of the empiric research have shown which actions of the personnel management that refer to the competence of human resources management are most acceptable by the employees and how they are affected by these actions.p>
PRODUCTIVITY OF UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS IN POLAND: A MALMQUIST-INDEX APPROACH
Authors: Rój Justyna
Published: January 2019

The purpose of this article is to present the result of productivity analysis of university hospitals in Poland. The hospital sector, and especially the tertiary hospital subsector, are a large consumer of scarce health care resources, and it is of particular relevance to use these scarce resources as effectively and efficiently as possible. This is why it is so important to measure the efficiency and productivity of a hospital to find out whether it is still possible to improve their performance. In this paper, an analysis of 40 tertiary hospitals (which are called university hospitals in Poland) for the period from 2000 to 2007 is presented. To measure hospital productivity, the Malmquist index was employed. The usage of the Malmquist index is based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA), a non-parametric method to estimate the frontier functions, and this is a reason why this method was also employed in this research. The data comprise the number of physicians and nurses employed in university hospitals, the number of beds and the total number of bed days. The results show that in general there has been a worsening of the productivity of these hospitals over this period, and it was caused by an inappropriate usage of inputs. The paper is organized as follows: a brief description of hospital systems in Poland and the concept of their efficiency and productivity are presented, and then the method and data are discussed. In the fourth section, the results are presented, followed by conclusions.
EVALUATION OF INVESTMENT PROJECTS IN CASE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN AND THE NET PRESENT VALUE METHODS
Authors: Mackevičius Jonas , Tomaševič Vladislav
Published: January 2019

Results obtained by employing the net present value (NPV) and the internal rate of return (IRR) methods allow to objectively determine the effectiveness and attractiveness of an investment project and to compare investment projects differing in scope, length or the amount of expected profit. While results obtained by the NPV and IRR methods normally correlate, contradictions are possible in individual cases. Such contradictions are called ‘conflict between the IRR and NPV methods’. The paper deals with the main characteristics of NPV and IRR, analysing the substance of the conflict and cases of its manifestation. A technique for the resolution of the NPV and IRR conflict is proposed.
STATISTICAL SCORING MODEL OF LITHUANIAN COMPANIES
Authors: Dzidzevičiūtė Laima
Published: January 2019

In the banking sector of Lithuania, the necessity to apply statistical scoring models has especially increased after the transposition of the New Capital Adequacy Directive into the national legal acts. According to them, banks are allowed to apply their own statistical models to calculate capital adequacy. However, banks‘ internal data are not allways sufficient for developing internal statistical models. The need to apply statistical scoring models increases not only for banks, but also for other institutions that grant credits. Until now, only several authors in Lithuania have proposed their own statistical scoring models for corporates; however, these models were developed using very small data samples and are suitable for specific types of companies for which they were developed only. The model proposed in this article solves these problems because it is appropriate for assessment of all companies, it is not industry-specific and has been developed using a large data sample. The objective of this study was to develop a logistic regression scoring model for assessment of corporates, using data of the external register JSC Creditinfo Lietuva1. In the proposed model, there are 19 variables characterizing all the features of a company: size, locality, age, economic sector, financial condition, past due payments, negative facts and claims from external debt collection institutions.p>
MULTIFACTOR ASSET PRICING ANALYSIS OF THE BALTIC STOCK MARKET
Authors: Lieksnis Raimonds
Published: January 2019

This study investigates whether the Fama–French three-factor asset pricing model is applicable for explaining cross-sectional returns of stocks listed in the Baltic stock exchanges. Findings confirm the validity and economic significance of the three-factor model for the Baltic stock market: only investors who chose to invest in value stocks during the reference period achieved positive returns by matching or beating the returns of the stock market index. The monthly returns of 8 Latvian, 13 Estonian and 27 Lithuanian company stocks are analyzed for the time period from June 2002 till February 2010 by the methodology presented in Davis, Fama, and French (2000). Cross-sectional multivariate regression is calculated with stock portfolios representing the book-to-market and capitalization of companies as independent variables along with the stock market index. The study concludes that these three factors in the three-factor model are statistically significant, but, in line with earlier studies, regression intercepts are significantly different from zero and the model is not statistically confirmed.p>
THE EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF A POLITICAL FACTOR FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH IN UKRAINE
Authors: Stavytskyy A.V , Zatonatska T.G.
Published: January 2019

The article deals with the complex of economic-mathematical models applied for the investigation of the influence of some kinds of budget expenses on economic growth considering changes in the Ukrainian economic system over the last years. The main idea of the investigation is to analyze the effectiveness of budget expenditures under the political changes that took place in Ukraine in 2005–2009.p>
STABILITY POLICY DURING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN: INSTITUTIONAL AND INTERVENTIONALISTIC ASPECTS
Authors: Paliulyte Regina
Published: January 2019

The issue of stable policy became extremely relevant during the recession. Stable policy encompasses recovery of the lost equilibrium, prevention of the undesirable situation and assurance of sustainable economic development. Two competitive decisions of stable policy – intervention and institutional – can be accentuated. Intervention strategy means supply stimulation and balance recovery through fiscal and monetary policy. Institutional stable policy stresses the prevention of unwanted situations through creating a resilient institutional economic structure and freeing the market self-regulation mechanism. The article compares both strategies, analyzes their consequences, influence on the development and depth of the crisis, and possibilities of the national adaptation mechanism.
MONETARY POLICY CREATES MACROECONOMIC STABILITY
Authors: Visokavičienė Birutė
Published: January 2019

The study of monetary policy concentrates on the systematic analysis of the interaction between the major monetary policy targets and macroeconomic indicators as signals to policymakers about possible changes which may influence the macroeconomic stability. In this respect, the purpose of this article is to justify the arguments supporting the role and importance of monetary policy and its proximate targets for ensuring macroeconomic stability. The object of the study is the impact of monetary policy on macroeconomic changes.The method is analysis of monetary theory, scientific literature and documents. Such a methodological position enables justification of the influence of the key targets of the monetary policy on the global economic processes related to inflation, finance stability and economic growth.
TESTING THE HOMOGENEOUS INTEREST RATES ASSUMPTION BY PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS: THE EURO AREA CASE
Authors: Stelmach Jerzy
Published: January 2019

Although there are many different interest rates in the economy, in theoretical and applied model building these distinctions are usually ignored by assuming that there is only one, “true” interest rate. Hence, the aim of this article is twofold. First, we empirically examine whether such assumption is plausible for the Euro area yield curve data. Second, using different time spans we try to assess the impact of the financial crisis on the validity of this assumption. For both purposes, the principal component analysis technique will be employed.
STOCK MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN CEE COUNTRIES – THE PANEL DATA ANALYSIS
Authors: Kurach Radosław
Published: January 2019

Since financial system development is a necessary condition of the long-run economic growth, in this paper we address the question about the factors that may drive in particular the development of stock market segment. We propose a set of potential determinants and then empirically verify their importance, employing panel data methodology. We focus our attention on the thirteen CEE states and look for the conclusions that may be specific for transition economies in this region. Finally, we formulate the finding that large budget deficitshave affected significantly and adversely the CEE countries’ stock markets growth.p>
SELECTED REFLECTIONS ON EXTERNAL SUPPORT AND ENDOGENIZATION – WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION
Authors: Fiedor Bogusław
Published: January 2019

The paper starts with a brief discussion of two aspects of convergence hypothesis. The first one (theoretical) refers to standard growth theory, the second is of normative character and pertains to axiological aspects of socio-economic policy, also including the EU cohesion policy. Not aiming to provide any comprehensive evaluation of that policy from the viewpoint of its actual effect on elimination of differences in social and economic development among the European regions, the paper provides selected reflections concentrated on:• an attempt of formulating a viable interpretation of cohesion policy (CP) as a form of ‘regulated capitalism’; the attempt in question refers to the normative approach towards public regulation in a market economy but defines the general rationality and fundamental objective of cohesion policy in terms of setting activities directed towards provision of the public goods that stimulate and facilitate exchange of goods and services among regions, thus contributing to the dynamization and endogenization of growth in poor or less developed regions;• the need of growth endogenization as the main objective (and main condition) of effective implementation of cohesion policy, provided that the definition of such endogenization is broader than that employed in the new growth theory. In particular, not rejecting the new growth theory definition of endogenous growth, the author pays special attention to the necessity of maximizing the regional value added through raising the level of processing broadly understood region-specific economic, social and others factors and resources;• correlations between the effects of distribution and growth within the scope of cohesion policy. It is analyzed from the perspective of three important questions: (1) Are the aims of social cohesion and growth competitive, or mutually complementary and reinforcing? (2) Why the hypothesis of regional convergence fails to explain the EU perspective, despite two decades of ongoing efforts of implementing active cohesion policy and regional policy? (3) Whether, and to what degree, the elimination of differences in the level of regional development is a legitimate strategy in the light of the controversy ‘equality vs. effectiveness’.
ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES IN THE TURNOVER OF LITHUANIAN RETAIL TRADE ENTERPRISES IN 2001–2008
Authors: Vengrauskas Petras Vytautas , Mackevičius Vytautas
Published: January 2019

The paper presents an analysis of the methodological side of assessing the turnover of Lithuanian retail trade enterprises, i.e. the indicators to be employed in assessing changes in the volume and composition of the turnover over a longer term, their relationship with other national economic indicators, as well as their theoretical and practical significance. The analysis of changes in the volume and composition of the turnover of Lithuanian retail enterprises in 2000–2008 has revealed its positive and negative trends and the factors influencing these changes. The period under consideration is remarkable in that the years 2000–2001 marked the recovery of the Lithuanian economy after the financial crisis in Russia, its growth until the third quarter of 2008 and the beginning of its decline. The paper summarizes trends in and problems of changes in the volume and composition of the turnover of the country’s retail trade enterprises in the period under consideration and shows the possibilities for its development.
COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATION SYNTHESIS IN THE INTEGRATED GLOBAL ECONOMY
Authors: Jatuliavičienė Gražina , Kučinskienė Marija
Published: January 2019

The article aims to show that the main and most important prerequisite for successful business development in the integrated global market becomes improvement of the competitiveness of countries and business firms finding new ways for economic growth and prosperity. Theoretical and empirical researches highlight the importance of competitiveness in a national framework for business growth and development in the current era of globalization. The article examines how the challenges of competitiveness and innovation interrelate and how their synthesis links with economic growth. Therefore, gaining competitiveness through innovativeness, the capability to be innovative is one of the most important prerequisites for creating successful businesses, sophisticated products and production processes and raising the standards of living.
A MODEL OF USING IPA FUNDS FOR PROJECT REALIZATION IN PRE-ACCESSION COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF SERBIA
Authors: Kranjac Mirjana , Maksimović Rado , Sikimić Uroš
Published: January 2019

During the process of enlargement, the European Union established a mechanism to develop institutions and to support transition process in the EU, through financial help, for potential candidates and candidate countries. This foreign aid is operating throughout different EU funds. The instrument for the pre-accession assistance (IPA) has replaced all other financial funds for the budget period 2007–2013. The aim of this article is to give suggestions for a more efficient use of IPA funds. The article presents a case of Serbia by showing the empirical results from a questionnaire survey of 108 organizations evaluating a range of issues. A model of IPA funds’ use has been created. Risk points have been determined and divided into three groups: informing of potential beneficiaries, their education, and assistance in the realization of all project phases. Improvement could be achieved through the implementation of a new idea for setting up “project centres” which would support the process. Thus, civil society would be involved into the monitoring system.
INSOLVENCY OF AN ENTERPRISE AND METHODS OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR PREDICTING IT
Authors: Mackevicius Jonas , Sneidere Ruta
Published: January 2019

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the topical problem of entity-level insolvency and the insolvency prediction models. Definitions, symptoms, causes and factors affecting insolvency, suggested by various authors, are reviewed. The impact of enterprise insolvency on a country’s economic growth is weighed up. Finally, the article presents the authors’ research work in the field of testing various enterprise insolvency forecast models and a system of insolvency prediction methods. Recommendations of possible solutions, based on the conclusion drawn from the research, are put forward.
MODEL FOR EVALUATING THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF INVESTMENT PROJECTS: ARCHITECTURE AND MAIN ASPECTS OF APPLICATION
Authors: Mackevičius Jonas , Tomaševič Vladislav
Published: January 2019

Evaluation of investment projects is a complex multilateral process which also entails a great responsibility as its results form a basis for adopting investment decisions. These decisions, to a large extent, depend on the reliability and justification of the evaluation results: therefore, the process must be based on clear logic, acceptable assumptions and the duly selected methods that have been tested in practice. The paper contains an overview of the main principles of investment projects’ evaluation and a detailed analysis of the main requirements for the model architecture and its evaluation process.The authors propose a model for evaluating the economic efficiency of investment projects that has been described in detail and tested in practice. The model consists of a coherent evaluation scheme made of three phases and detailed algorithms of internal procedures. Such an architecture of the model enables a comprehensive analysis of investment projects of different types and a validation of the objectivity of evaluation results.
PRICE SETTING IN LITHUANIA: MORE EVIDENCE FROM THE SURVEY OF FIRMS
Authors: Virbickas Ernestas
Published: January 2019

The article examines price setting in Lithuania, based on the ad hoc survey “On Price and Wage Setting” of the Bank of Lithuania. The study extends the survey data analysis presented in Virbickas (2009). The article points to the incidence of both time-dependent and state-dependent price reviewing policies used by the firms under study, though the price reviewing practices appear to be somewhat tilted to the state-dependent pricing. Analysis provides evidence on the reasons for the upward and downward stickiness of prices. Delayed price adjustment is found to be related to the price adjustment rather than the price reviewing stage. The most momentous explanations for not adjusting prices upwards or downwards rest on the cost-based pricing and the explicit contracts. The study finds an asymmetric influence of some of the price factors. In particular, the cost factors are found to be decisive in invoking a price increase rather than a price decrease.
TAXATION AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY
Authors: Kalendienė Jonė , Pukelienė Violeta
Published: January 2019

Macroeconomic theory says that taxes play a repressing role in an economy. Introduction of new forms of taxation, the increase of tax rates and augmentation of tax income of the Government puts a downturn risk on consumption and therefore on economic growth. Knowing that, governments of different countries start to competing among themselves by lowering corporate tax rates and trying to boost economic growth by using foreign investments. On the other hand governments are pushed to lower personal tax rates in order to satisfy their electorate. It has been strongly believed that countries with lower tax rates have better prospects for the future growth. However, small tax income is limiting governmental spending and might cause serious imbalances in the economy. As the Irish example shows, smaller taxes cannot guarantee a sustainable growth of the economy. Thus, the relationship between taxation and economic development needs rethinking.This study aimed to test the efficiency of taxation in terms of sustainable economic development and to discuss the factors that are the most important here.A comparative analysis of EU countries was used in the research. The results suggest that the harmfully small tax rates could have violated the sustainability of some European economies.
TRANSITION TOWARDS NEW GLOBAL SETTING IN LITHUANIA
Authors: Starkevičiūtė Margarita
Published: January 2019

The experience gained during the transition decade and five years of the EU membership by Lithuania could be an insightful contribution to an economic policy debate on managing the transition period driven by the global rebalancing of supply and demand.The purpose of the paper is to define the growth enhancing policy measures that have proven efficient during the transition reform period and could be relevant under the new global setting.Findings. Regulated markets set better conditions for the growth of economy than do self-regulated markets, while the most important problem of economic strategy is to evaluate the degree of impact of each determinant on growth and to set their combination favourable for a long-term growth. The growth-enhancing public policy should be aimed to increase the total factor productivity and to ensure competitiveness in global markets.Policy makers have to focus on facilitating an environment conducive to establishing new SMEs in new sectors of economy, instead of focusing on restructuring the old sectors. Restructuring some loss-making industries takes some time, but the efficiency of investments could be ensured if cost reduction is prioritized and leads to an increase in the total factor productivity.
EVALUATION OF FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CENTRALISATION
Authors: Šerpytis Karolis , Vengrauskas Vytautas , Gineitienė Zinaida
Published: January 2019

One of the main goals of public procurement centralization is to generate monetary savings directly impacting the total costs of public institutions. It seems to be a remedy in economic downturn, but the impact of centralization may have both positive and negative financial effects. A central procurement organisation constitutes an additional link in the supply chain that makes the distance between the buyer and the supplier longer. Therefore, the existence of this link should be justified, and the evaluation of centralisation impact is one of the key tools in ensuring the procurement centralisation decisions to be beneficial to the state. The aim of the study was to formulate the model which would serve as a basis for evaluating the financial impact of centralised public procurement.
ASSESSMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION STRUCTURAL ASSISTANCE AUDIT MODEL
Authors: Lakis Vaclovas , Simonaitytė Živilė
Published: January 2019

The paper covers an analysis and critical assessment of the procedure of selecting the audit model for the European Union structural assistance and elaborates on applicable models. It reviews the authorities of the EU Member States tasked with the performance of the auditing function. The article provides an assessment of the status of the supreme audit institution which acts as a body auditing structural assistance. The conclusion is drawn that in cases when the provisions of different auditing standards differ, regulations of the European Union should specify the particular requirements applicable to the audit.
POPULATION AGEING AND THE TRAGEDY OF THE PENSION COMMONS
Authors: Schlett András
Published: January 2019

The essay deals with sustainability issues of pension systems. Considering the functioning of the dividing–imposing systems, the definitive factors are the proportion and quality of active-age population and its willingness to pay pension contribution. It delineates the “prisoner’s dilemma” situation of the approach of childbearing in today’s social insurance pension systems. The fundamental problem with pension systems is that individuals with few or without children are in a better financial position by gaining more savings and having more time to spend on work which results in a higher pension income. Therefore, the dividing–imposing system erodes itself. The process is very similar to the tragedy of a theoretical common pasture described by Garrett Hardin. The most important lesson of the tragedy of commons is that individual rationality can lead to bankruptcy on the community level. Hardin was of the opinion that the tragedy of common pasture can be prevented by subdivision, namely privatisation. The present study examines the possible outcomes of the pension reform and what have been realised of these. The experience of the past decade demonstrates what confusion can be created and misinformation disseminated when the debate about the future of social security is left to those who have other interests than preserving an adequate social security protection.
ANALYSIS OF STOCHASTIC INFLATION IN THE INTERACTION OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND REGARDING THE ASPECT OF DINAMIC CAUSALITY
Authors: Butautas Dainius
Published: January 2019

Systematic analysis of the development of understanding the causes of inflation, taking supply and demand conditions as the central axis, offers a deeper insight into the inflation process and its essence. It is obvious that the long-term inflation impacting human, productive and financial resources can in no way be justified by extremely short-term benefits to a country’s budget or to monopolistic structures. Analysis of the literature clarifies and confirms the fact that in order for inflation to occur and significantly accelerate, the growth of demand factors must exceed that of supply factors during several years. The research shows that the policy of encouraging the demand, and thus a significant and long-lived inflation, is possible only in non-competitive oligopolistic economies marked by corruption and provoking emigration. On the other hand, adjustment of demand instruments to changes in supply is rather a result of fair competition. Interest rate change as an independent factor is shown to be important for the inflation process, especially for deflation, and therefore for the economy. Moreover, it is not completely clear whether delayed is the cause of inflation or its result, but it is obvious that the negative impact of delayed demand, as delayed human and social well-being, results in weaker supply and thereby also in higher poverty and inflation, all of them encouraging a more thorough examination of this problem. Analysis of the phenomenon of inflation over a historic period provides a realistic picture of this problem and shows the ways how to solve it.
THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF CHANGES IN ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
Authors: Vitas Arturas
Published: January 2019

The aim of the study was to analyze the theoretical essence of economic structure, present the concept of economic activity and compare the classification systems of economic sectors. The author analyzes the composition of an economic structure and compares their classification systems on the national, EU and world levels. Changes in the economic structure of the Baltic States are also evaluated. The analysis is performed using the data valuation, grouping and comparison methods. The obtained results are summarized and presented in conclusions.
UNIVERSITY IMAGE: NEW APPROACH AND PERSPECTIVE THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL DECISIONS
Authors: Melnikas Borisas
Published: January 2019

Greta Drūteikenė, Albinas Marčinskas. Universiteto įvaizdžio kaita. Vilnius: Vilnius University, 2010. 320 p.
THE IMPACT OF MINIMUM WAGE ON THE LABOUR MARKET OF LITHUANIA
Authors: Karpuškienė Vita
Published: January 2019

Recently, Lithuanian trade unions have announced the requirement for the government to raise the minimum wage by more than 10 percent, e.g. from 800 to 900 Lt. The aim of the study was to investigate the possible consequences of the implementation of such a requirement. Minimum wage (MW) macroeconomics in theoretical aspects and the practical evidence of it consequences in the EU countries are analyzed in the first part of the article. The second part provides an assessment of the impact of the 100 Lt raise in MW on the Lithuanian labor market. This assessment is carried out using econometric techniques.
INTEREST RATE PASS-THROUGH IN LITHUANIA
Authors: Lapinskas Vytenis
Published: January 2019

The paper considers the pass-through of the interbank and retail interest rates for the case of Lithuania. The need for the interest rate transmission analysis has grown during the volatile market period caused by the global financial crisis. The objective of the article is to check theoretical and statistical aspects of domestic currency (litas) interest rate pass-through from interbank to retail interest rates and, specifically, to determine whether the recent global financial crisis has affected this process. Methods used in the article include a systemic analysis of related studies, historical data analysis and statistical testing. The analysis is expanded to cover the alternative interest rate-related variables in order to check the consistency of the pass-through of the litas interest rate over the period from October 2004 to December 2010. Results of the research show that though the lending interest rates have increased and the interest rate relationship has transformed over this period, there is no proof that changes in the bank interest rate setting policy has led to abnormal profits for banks.
FIGHTING CARTELS: AN APPLICATION OF ECONOMIC THEORY AND THE EFFECTS OF LENIENCY POLICIES
Authors: Klimašauskienė Danguolė , Giedraitis Vincentas
Published: January 2019

The paper focuses on the theory and practice of antitrust action in detecting and deterring cartels and analyzing the development of the modern leniency policy. Drawing from game theory and following the examination of the main conditions and reasons for cartel formation and sustainability and a statistical analysis of cartel prosecutions, our attempt is to show that leniency programs, accompanied by strong enforcement powers and effective sanctions, increase the inherent instability of cartels and therefore have proven to represent a functional and successful tool for detecting and punishing, as well as preventing the formation of anticompetitive agreements.
VALUE ADDED TAX DIMENSION: THE CASE OF LITHUANIA
Authors: Bikas Egidijus , Raškauskas Julius
Published: January 2019

The article sums up works of different scientists, dealing with the impact of value added tax (VAT) on the economy of some countries. The authors analyse the Lithuanian VAT structure, the dynamics of income from this tax and amendments in the Law on Value Added Tax in terms of narrowing and widening the taxable base according to the theoretical analysis of the sources. It is aimed to determine the impact of VAT standard tariff, reduced tariffs and shadow economy on income from this tax. Multiple regression, correlation, optimization and C-effectiveness ratio are used for the analysis. The analysis has revealed that amendments in the Law on Value Added Tax in terms of narrowing and widening the taxable base influenced the amount of income from VAT collected to the budget.
ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH CYCLES’ SYMMETRY IN THE MAIN ECONOMIC SECTORS OF EURO AREA COUNTRIES
Authors: Šidlauskaitė Brigita , Balčiūnas Norbertas
Published: January 2019

Abstract. With the European Union integration growing deeper and Euro area countries having the common currency, excluding possibility of a national monetary policy, academic society has raised a debate on economic stabilization opportunities in individual Euro area countries in case the common monetary policy would prove to be adverse. According to the optimum currency area theory, one of the necessary conditions for the successful functioning of the monetary union is the homogeneity of its countries. The possible economic shocks could have a different impact on the economy of individual Euro area countries in the presence of significant differences in their economy structure. Applying the Hodrick–Prescott method, this study identifies and analyses economic growth cycles in the main economic sectors of the Euro area countries. The results suggest that not all economic growth cycles of the Euro area countries sufficiently correlate with the Euro area average, and one of the predetermining factors is the differences in the economic structure.Key words: asymmetry of economic growth cycle, Euro area, value added structure
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IN THE PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING: CHANGES AND TRENDS
Authors: Vizgaitytė Gintarė , Rimvydas Skyrius.
Published: January 2019

The concept of business intelligence has drawn substantial attention of both academicians and practitioners. As one of the fastest eveloping business application areas, business intelligence has also created a trail of confusion regarding its role, potential, sources of value creation. This study aimed at elucidating the role of business intelligence in the near future through the analysis of the current research and practical trends. The current prevailing trends in business intelligence technologies and systems are mobile business intelligence, location intelligence, software as a service, big data and predictive analytics. The paper points out that human factors in business intelligence are often underestimated, while a thorough consideration of their role should create additional ground for effective business intelligence applications. Some of the important considerations regarding human factors, such as support of problem-solving patterns and an efficient coordination of business intelligence activities, are presented.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF PLAY IN LITHUANIA AND BELARUS
Authors: Diskienė Danuta , Seiliūtė Jovita
Published: January 2019

The article reviews the essence and main principles of social responsibility. The content and conception of social responsibility of a business organization is discussed mainly through elaboration of the reasons for business organizations to bear and implement social responsibility. The approach to corporate social responsibility in Lithuania and Belarus is analysed and discussed by comparing the attitudes regarding a wide range of elements related to the corporate social responsibility and its implementation. The approach of business actors of the two countries is collated through different perspectives and angles.
THE EFFECTS OF MACROECONOMIC CONDITIONS ON LOAN PORTFOLIO CREDIT RISK AND BANKING SYSTEM INTEREST INCOME
Authors: Mileris Ričardas
Published: January 2019

This article presents on analysis of macroeconomic conditions in the EU countries in relation loan portfolio to credit risk and banking system interest income. The changing economic environment of banks influences their risks and activity results, so it is important to find the macroeconomic indicators that can determine the changes in debtors’ credit risk and banks’ financial condition. The banking system performs very important functions in a country’s financial system, so for its stability it is important to be able to predict the financial results of the banking system in relation to changes in the economic environment. The new Basel III Agreement seeks to improve the financial sector’s resistance to the possible negative scenarios in the economy and motivates to develop the credit risk assessment models considering their dependence on business cycles. For this reason, the statistical dependence between the set of macroeconomic factors and the loan portfolio credit risk together with interest income were estimated in this research. A statistical classification and regression tree model was developed, which allows to predict the possible changes in the interest income of a country’s banks with the 82.7% accuracy.
GOVERNMENT DEBT SUSTAINABILITY: THE LITHUANIAN CASE
Authors: Kregždė Arvydas
Published: January 2019

The paper deals with some aspects of sustainability of the government debt of Lithuania for a long, medium and short time horizon. The purpose of the study is to investigate the sustainability of the debt with respect to the nominal GDP growth, the interest rate on the debt, and the primary budget deficit. The differential equations calculus technique is used for the analysis of the debt. A scenario approach is used to simulate the sensitivity of the debt to economic shocks. An inequality for a non-increasing debt over a medium term is applied for the possibility to restore the level of the debt to a pre-crisis level. The sensitivity of the debt to a short movement of interest rate, the GDP growth rate and the primary budget deficit is investigated. A rule of debt change in a short run by one percentage point is formulated.
THE EUROIZATION OF LITHUANIA AND POLAND: A COMPARISON
Authors: Czaja Jaroslaw , Dulkys Arūnas
Published: January 2019

Usually, euroization is connected with the necessity of passing through not easy to fulfil and to maintain the Maastricht Treaty criteria and to accept (à) priori a definite course of resigning from the national currency. Upon fulfilling the required adjustment periods of euro adoption, the European law forces a total departure from the national currency. This process is subjected to a solid supervision and control of the EU organs. Additionally, the Maastricht Treaty obliges to introduce the euro when a country is in a good economic condition, confirmed by the fulfilment of nominal convergence criteria. In such a situation, the common currency adoption must be (or should be) always interpreted as a proof of a stable economic development and abilities of keeping such parameters in the future. However, in case of euroization accomplished with omission (or even with infringing) the Treaty, there is no necessity of complementing any European law duties, and especially there is no obligation of totally resigning the national currency. Such kind of euro adoption means not a full but a partial euroization, which can appear in a very difficult situation in country`s economy or when currency independence is not safe and profitable. Resignation from the national currency is like an act of desperation, or at least it is forced by the lack of the abilities to manage the economic problems. The purpose of this publication is to show euroization as state (partly also as process), particularly on the examples of Lithuania and Poland. It obviously it does not seem new, but many changes in the world economy (with special regard to the crisis hurting the European Union) and the lower enthusiasm for joining the Euroland (euro zone) show the need to consider such a problem.
THE INFLUENCE OF INVESTMENT INTERMEDIARIES ON THE CORPORATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE
Authors: Zhylinska Oksana , Bazhenova Olena , Bukalo Anna
Published: January 2019

As the world experience shows, countries with the developed market economy are characterized by a high level of investment intermediation, as well as by an effective cooperation and interdependence of investors and corporations. The practice of domestic corporations shows also the objective dependence of the development level of intermediation and corporate sector that is stipulated. So in this study, the impact of investment intermediaries on the corporate sector development was estimated on the basis of econometric modeling. The result of the research is a proof of investment intermediaries operation in the domestic corporate sector that generally requires finding the way to increase the impact of their activities on the development level of the corporate sector. Investment intermediators’ activation opportunities as to corporate sector investments with some challenges are shown in their investments into the Ukrainian corporate sector.
ERP SELECTION CRITERIA: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL VIEWS
Authors: Ratkevičius Donatas , Ratkevičius Česlovas , Skyrius Rimvydas
Published: January 2019

This article deals with the problems of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system selection as the initial and vital phase of ERP system implementation.Firstly, the paper presents an analysis of different classifications of the fundamental criteria for the ERP system selection process, published in scholar sources, and defines two main groups – software-related, and implementation-related ERP selection criteria. Secondly, combining theoretical and practical approaches, the most significant ERP system selection criteria of both groups are identified and reviewed by analyzing and interpreting their definitions and differences. The study is complemented by adding practical/statistical findings produced by different consultancies.The paper concludes that there is no standard classification of ERP selection criteria. They are classified mostly on the basis of scientists’ research interests.The significance of ERP system functionality as the principal software-related ERP selection criterion is emphasized. Eleven other criteria were defined as important to consider, such as the total costs of the ERP implementation project, vendor reputation, ERP reliability, ease of integration with other systems, technology advance, scalability, upgrading ability, customization / parameterization possibilities; ease of use; flexibility and modularity.The importance of all-round knowledge for a successful ERP implementation is emphasized, including ERP software functionality, project and change management, business processes, organization of training etc. All these areas are closely connected with implementation-related ERP selection factors: organisational fit, end-user readiness, training, system support quality, and the overall ERP implementation success which is predefined by the complexity of business environment as well as the level of business transformation, defined by technological changes.Finally, it is stated that for creating a decision support system which would automate the ERP selection process, the quantitative analysis of ERP selection criteria would be required.