Search results

This chapter offers a survey of education development in the Baltic region and the dynamics of global forces in the three Baltic states’ contexts. First, a brief overview of the incoming new-liberal global trend that impacted the education in the Post-Socialist European region will be provided, followed by a discussion of similarities and differences in the development of education in Baltic states as co-shaped by contextual contours of the post-socialist region at whole. It shows that the contextual social and cultural realities of Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania not only have a powerful mediating role on the impact of global forces but are in their own right an agency in shaping the education response of Post-socialist societies of this region. Second, the knowledge of the interrelationship between education and societal cultural contexts in the Baltic region will be explained, stressing the lack of research on informal settlements or the informal economy and its intersection with education. The International Comparative Education research agenda will not only be of significance for the Baltic states but to the entire world. Many aspects of the contextual architecture of the region are becoming increasingly evident world-wide tending the neo-liberalism in education as distinct from liberalism insofar as it does not advocate market-economic policy but instead is highly constructivist and approve a strong state to bring reforms in every aspect of society transforming the education and teaching labor market.

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.

This paper aims to use the user costs approach to identify the periods of over- and under-valuation in the Baltic residential real estate markets.

Three alternative estimates of the user costs of homeownership in the Baltics are computed: one that does not discriminate between the leveraged and unleveraged parts of a house and the other that takes loan-to-value ratios into account.

The approach successfully identifies the overheating that took place in the Baltic real estate markets prior to the crisis of 2009 and shows that there is significant upward pressure for the housing prices in the Baltics in the low interest rate environment that became prevalent ever since.

The paper uses only the current values of the fundamentals to compute the user costs. The framework could be augmented to account for the expected future developments of the fundamentals.

The macroprudential policy makers should monitor the developments in the Baltic residential real estate markets closely and be ready to act because an increase in the price-to-rent ratios might seem sustainable, given the current low interest rates, but could potentially bring harmful volatility when the monetary policy normalises.

This paper builds a novel data set on the real estate markets of the Baltic countries and is the first to derive the user costs of homeownership in the region. It is also among the first to identify periods of housing price misalignments from their fundamental values in the Baltic States.

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.

The article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of older people's situation in the labour market in three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Three Nordic countries are taken as a reference point to compare the countries in order to better understand the situation from a comparative point of view. The article asks the questions: Does a longer working life for older people contribute to their better economic situation? How satisfied are they with a longer working life and their working conditions? Do they experience any discrimination in the labour market because of their age?

In order to understand the situation of older people in the labour market, the authors employ welfare state models and the Active Ageing Index. The welfare state models help us to understand the context in which the working life of older people is taking place. The Active Ageing Index helps to gain a better understanding of the employment domain of active ageing. The analysis is based on several Europe-wide data sources: statistics on earnings from Eurostat database, information on income, job prospects, occupational safety and health, training, working life perspectives from the European Working Conditions Survey as well as a special survey, conducted by the authors, of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian residents aged 50 years and older.

Analysis conducted reveals that in the Baltic countries older employees, although actively participating in the labour market, face unfavourable material, physical and psychological situation in the labour market more frequently than their younger colleagues. The findings show that the most important factors influencing older employees' decision to stay longer in the labour market in the Baltic countries are linked mostly to welfare state-related issues, i.e. financial benefits, healthcare, possibility to reconcile work and family obligations. These welfare state-related issues are even more important for those who are going to stay longer in the labour market after reaching the retirement age.

This article contributes to a better understanding of older (50+) people's situation in the labour market. It suggests that, while the increasing employment of older people increases the Active Ageing Index and is generally viewed positively, in some countries with less developed welfare states high employment rates of older employees, although providing them with an additional means of livelihood, do not ensure a higher quality of life and, on the contrary, act as a factor reducing the quality of work and, at the same time, the quality of life.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare performances of three Nordic (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) and three Baltic (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) exchanges.

Portfolio performance is estimated using two different approaches: traditional measures – Sharpe, Sortino and Treynor ratios; and alternative measures – reward to value‐at‐risk and reward to expected tail loss (RETL).

The findings highlight the differences and similarities in Nordic and Baltic stock exchanges and their performance trends after creation of common marketplace OMX. Returns of Baltic, like Nordic, exchanges are normally distributed. During the period of 2000‐2006, Baltic exchanges outperformed Nordic exchanges.

The research is limited to six stock exchanges that are members of common marketplace OMX. Proposed alternative performance measures did not diverge from traditional approaches, because, apparently, Baltic exchanges offer normally distributed returns and should not be considered emerging markets. These measures should be further tested in developing and emerging markets.

The findings have both theoretical and practical implications. To the authors' best knowledge, it is the first public attempt to estimate performance of Baltic and Nordic exchanges in the context of modern portfolio theory and, alternatively, new science of risk management (value at risk and expected tail loss). The paper argues for the usage of an alternative measure for performance valuation – RETL. Furthermore, the paper discuses merits and limitations of different approaches to risk and performance measurement.

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.

As western businesses and governments participate in the overhaul of the former Soviet Union, the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can play a potentially important role in bridging economic and cultural differences. An analogy is drawn to Hong Kong, which has achieved remarkable success by leveraging a favourable location, good infrastructure and industrious human resources to forge a mutually beneficial relationship with its huge neighbour (and future sovereign), the People′s Republic of China. The Asian territory is proposed as a role model for the future development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As market‐oriented democracies, the three small Baltic republics will provide a gateway into Russia and serve as bell‐wethers for larger scale transformation across the former Soviet Union.

This paper aims to review female entrepreneurship in a (post) transition context, analysing its almost three-decade development in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Little research has focussed to date on female entrepreneurship in the Baltic countries. Using an institutional perspective, this paper aims to explain the unique interplay of formal and informal contexts that have shaped the development of female entrepreneurship in (post-) transition contexts.

This paper is based on an institutional reading and analysis of secondary data: statistical data, international reports and previous studies on female entrepreneurs.

There are more than 130,000 female entrepreneurs in the Baltic countries who share many common features and challenges. While the formal entrepreneurship environment is considered to be very developed in the Baltic countries, women are under-represented among the population of entrepreneurs, and there is gender-based sectoral segregation of female entrepreneurs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This indicates a need to recognise the diversity of patterns in entrepreneurial development, reflecting different inheritances from the Soviet past and the inertial character of some informal institutions, not to mention the differences in the pace of change during the transition period following the Soviet era.

This research can be used for academics, professionals, researchers and policymakers working in the fields of small business and entrepreneurship. Its data can furthermore be used to develop evidence-based policy and actions that would foster the participation of women in entrepreneurship in Baltic countries.

So far, little research has focussed on female entrepreneurship in the Baltic countries. The paper attempts to investigate that Baltic countries with their history of emphasis on gender equality on one hand and the award-winning business and entrepreneurship system on the other hand demonstrate relatively low levels of women’s entrepreneurship. This paper aims to contribute to the field of entrepreneurship, illustrating how entrepreneurship is linked to its social context.

No‐frills carriers have revolutionized Europe's aviation market and have changed the airline business in a dramatic way. Having entered most of the countries in Central Europe, the wave has also reached the Baltics. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how a Scandinavian carrier entered the market with a subsidiary airline, by combining elements of low‐cost and traditional carriers.

The paper starts by giving a brief overview of the different airline operating philosophies. It is followed by an introduction into the Nordic airline market. The main focus will be on the operating strategy of Air Baltic and its relation towards the extension policy of Scandinavian Airlines.

The paper provides an independent and structured analysis about the strategy of Air Baltic. Theory was applied to determine how much the airline was influenced by the “low‐fare wave” of the aviation branch and its implications. The hybrid character of Air Baltic reflects the Central European/Baltic business environment.

Research is partly limited to the information published by the airline itself. Because international aviation journals have not yet covered Air Baltic, newspapers and popular journals were used as a base of information. To fill this gap, two semi‐structured interviews with Air Baltic executives were carried out.

The study is a useful source of information for scientists and managers dealing with the airline industry or/and the Baltic Sea region. Lecturers might use the paper for case‐based courses.

This paper is one of the first comprehensive publications in the English language about Air Baltic and the Baltic aviation market.