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The purpose of this paper is to provide a research agenda for qualitative studies in the field of strategic management (SM) in the Baltic area.

A total of 167 SM-related articles in this area between 2000 and 2013 were found. The content within title, abstract and authors’ keywords was analysed by means of a multiple correspondence analysis based on the HOMALS technique.

The intellectual structure of SM in the Baltic area is to some extent similar to the global structure of the field. Hence research on this topic in the Baltic area is well integrated in the field. Three topics of interest have been identified while the fourth seems to offer more limited opportunities for qualitative studies. These are: entry and competition; strategic behaviour and the micro-foundations of strategy; the growth-performance relationship; and global strategies.

Despite the modest number of articles in our sample, the findings are consistent with past research on the structure of the SM field. The classification of articles into qualitative- and quantitative-based methods helped provide a research agenda.

SM scholars in the Baltic area may find this paper as an interesting input to their quest for finding and justifying their own research path.

This is an original literature review. The use of a quantitative method in the literature review and the suggested matrix is a second original contribution to evolving methodologies for content analysis. The method allows the inclusion of large samples while limiting the use of scholars’ intuition.

While the theoretical interaction of the creative and cultural industries and entrepreneurship in business is gaining attention in the literature, such entrepreneurial practices are extending their role and position in the economy and in urban areas undergoing transformation. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to that literature by generating a model that links creative entrepreneurship with urban transformation as places see and expect continuous change and development.

The authors adopt a conceptual approach, embedded in a triple helix model, of creative entrepreneurship and urban transformation of the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool, England. The authors inform this through a case study analysis, including qualitative interview data relating to the Baltic Creative.

The authors demonstrate the need for interdisciplinary research to assess value creation, value delivery and innovation as contributors to urban transformation based on creative entrepreneurship, while at the same time resulting in creative placemaking.

This is a conceptual paper that will be used to frame future empirical research on generating additional insight by interviewing key actors to heighten understanding of innovation, value creation and value delivery process of placemaking, creative change and urban transformation.

This work can help inform creative policymaking, planning and development to achieve both social and economic impacts for a place and the wider region.

The authors both contextualize and show the transferability of the model, using the example of Liverpool’s Baltic Creative in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle area of the city, highlighting the impact of creative change.

This paper aims to describe some trends on climate change in the Baltic Sea region, along with current and future expected actions to cope with climate change in the region.

The elements that influence climate change in the Baltic Region countries are analysed and co‐operation efforts among the Baltic countries as well as their individual policy and political decisions considering this issue are described.

Climate change is one the biggest problems faced today and a major threat to society. There is a need for political measures as well as a change in socio‐economic trends in order to meet the challenges of climate change in the Baltic Sea Region.

Climate change is a matter of common concern in the 11 Northern European countries, which either are on the Baltic Sea coast or are influenced by the Baltic Sea by being in the catchment area. The importance of international co‐operation is outlined and some recommendations and possible solutions are provided.

The chapter discusses the effects of climate change on tourism development in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania by combining these countries into a single Eastern Baltic Sea Region. The chapter explores the current situation and investigates the trends that will affect the economic development if the present climate conditions are situated in historical context. The first part discusses how destinations can be better managed if they are informed by the scholarship on ecological modernization and updated by a coevolutionary approach to climate change. This discussion proceeds with an analysis of the impact climate change has on tourism following different scenarios of current and future climate conditions. The development of tourism in the Baltic countries is then assessed with references to sustainable development. Overall the chapter demonstrates how destinations can cope with the changing preferences of tourists even in the face of highly unpredictable climatic developments.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the inward‐outward dynamics in the internationalisation of Baltic banks have led towards higher incorporation into Nordic banking groups and subsequently towards diminishing autonomy.

The paper presents two case studies, which characterise the evolution of international inward‐outward connections in two major Baltic banking groups – Hansabank Group and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) Group.

Acquisitions by Swedish banks in 1998 had a different impact on the internationalisation of the two leading Baltic banking groups. Inward‐outward connections in the case of the Hansabank Group meant that they obtained strong autonomy in controlling Swedbank's activities in the Baltic. In the case of Eesti Ühispank, Latvijas Unibanka and Vilniaus Bankas inward‐outward linkages meant that they lost autonomy about the further expansion to other Baltic countries and were eventually transformed into Baltic subsidiaries of SEB. These differences in strategies between Swedish banks could be explained by the background of the companies (especially their previous internationalisation experience). However, latest developments point towards growing similarities between two groups via incorporation of Hansabank into Swedbank group.

The case study has inherently limited the capacity to offer generalisations concerning other service companies.

These results indicate the inward‐outward development pattern of international service companies. The managers of similar companies can use this development pattern to project the dynamics of market entry strategies.

The paper introduces original experience allocation framework in the context of inward‐outward internationalisation and outlines the dynamic nature of the strategic relations between the foreign owner and its subsidiary.

In the Baltic Sea area, wood fuels have been traded internationally on a relatively large‐scale since the 1990s, with trade flows primarily from the Baltic States to Sweden and Denmark. This has been driven by strong demand for renewable energy in Scandinavia, inexpensive wood resources in the Baltic States and relatively low costs of sea transport. The purpose of this paper is to clarify if this trade has contributed to integration between the wood fuel markets of Sweden and Estonia.

The authors use co‐integration analysis of quarterly price series data from 1998 to 2010, in order to determine whether there are interconnections between wood fuel prices in the two countries. As wood fuels generally are rather bulky, transport costs often have an important impact on price levels. For this reason the analysis is expanded to include estimated transport costs from Estonia to Sweden.

It is concluded that wood fuel prices in Sweden and Estonia are not co‐integrated, regardless of whether the transportation costs are taken into account or not. In other words, the wood fuel markets in the two countries cannot be considered integrated, which could be seen as a sign that international wood fuel markets still are far from fully developed.

There are some uncertainties about data quality and lack of information on market structure – in terms of, for example, fuel delivery contract specifications and shipping arrangements.

Lack of market integration implies a lack of market efficiency in the international wood fuel market.

Co‐integration analysis has been applied to many commodity markets, but there are only very few studies of international wood fuel markets.

The on‐going economic development of EU‐countries as well of the countries in the Central and Eastern (C&E) European region has been leading to a significant use of a great deal of natural resources as well as to noticeable environmental problems. Focuses on the project “Baltic environmental information dissemination system (BEIDS)” which has been acting as a focal point for the circulation of intelligent information on aspects of the marine environment among a sample of seven Baltic countries: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden (EU) and Lithuania, Poland and Russia (non‐EU), contributing to networking and know‐how exchange, complementing efforts towards transregional cooperation in sustainable spatial planning on the basis of Baltic 21. The results reached to date include: increased awareness of matters related to sustainable development in the six participant countries; enhanced communication exchange and networking among the sampled nations; improved information flow and increased participation in events, activities and programmes across the Baltic Sea region. BEIDS is a prime example of the feasibility of using marine research as a tool for sustainable development and the results reached over the first two years are reviewed in this paper.

The goal of this research is to identify which service activities contribute most to customer satisfaction in the technical wholesale industry in the Baltic States.

In order to obtain an understanding of customer service in the countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, a mail survey was done to investigate customer service obtained by 184 customers of a large technical wholesale firm doing business in the Baltic States.

The overall results of this research indicate that in the technical wholesale industry of the Baltic countries customer service contributes to customer satisfaction. Of the six dimensions tested, all of the relationships were in the expected direction. Only one did not contribute significantly to customer satisfaction. In order of importance to customer satisfaction the dimensions are: process quality, product quality, delivery quality, communication, availability and product support.

To obtain more generalizable results, future research areas should include investigating the model using other firms within the same industry, and testing the model in additional industries within the Baltics. Additional research may include testing the model in other countries in Northern and Central Europe such as the well‐developed Scandinavian countries, and the lesser developed countries of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland as well as other areas of the world. This model was tested using data from the technical wholesale industry and additional research may focus on testing the model across different industries in different countries as well.

The results are of relevance to practitioners, in particular for firms expanding to the Baltic area. In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests that the level and number of customer service activities provided by technical services firms in the Baltic area of Northern Europe are based solely on management judgment or practices borrowed from competitors without considering the impact of service provision on customer satisfaction. Instead practitioners should consider the process used to deliver services and products.

This is the first empirical work measuring the impact of customer service dimensions on customer satisfaction using data from the Baltic States.

Purpose of this research is to shed light on the changes caused by shipping sulphur regulation, which will globally take off during years 2015 and 2020. It has significant effects on diesel markets globally, but especially in regions, where demanding 0.1 per cent level is required. One of these regions is the Baltic Sea. It is relatively undealt issue, how this forthcoming change will affect these specific sub-regions of stiff 0.1 per cent sulphur level demand and their transportation modes with different tax obligations.

The authors use second-hand data from various different sources, earlier research as well as simulation to estimate the effects on the diesel markets and transportation prices in the Baltic Sea region. Different transportation modes have diverging taxation treatment on diesel oil use, which complicates analysis further.

Based on research findings, it is rather probable that diesel markets for sulphur-free diesel oil shall face price spike in the beginning of 2015 in the Baltic Sea region. This is mostly explained with needed large-scale scrubber investment and short-time span to complete these (there are both technical and financial challenges). Therefore, numerous ships shall enter sulphur-free diesel oil market. Based on the simulation study, freight transportation will mostly be hurt in shipping, whereas road and rail shall face smaller price increases. Results are mostly explained with taxation treatment, where shipping is still using tax-free diesel oil, and no fixed taxes are hedging this transportation mode from sudden price changes.

Analysis concerns only Baltic Sea region, and effects and changes in the entire Europe from sulphur regulation change in 2015 are unknown. This would mean to extent study to North Sea. In addition, taxation system harmonization is not yet complete in Europe, and differences exist between member states. Research work was completed with diesel oil tax treatment regarding different transportation modes in Finland.

Based on this study, short sea shipping will be hurt by regulation change in 2015. However, in the future, this transportation mode shall face additional cost increases, as most probably, tax harmonization in diesel markets shall lead to fixed taxes added on shipping diesel. So, transportation mode shall face difficult and challenging times ahead.

Research is seminal study from possible sulphur regulation change implications in transportation mode level. It takes into account taxation treatment, cost share of diesel in transportation mode level and possible diesel price change. Until today, no other study exists in this detailed level.