Mačerinskas, Jogaila

The importance of national intellectual capital is widely recognized, however it is difficult to define the value of these resources. In this paper the value of national intellectual capital in EU countries and its change is analysed. The aim of the analysis is to show how the level of national intellectual capital changes in EU countries and what the main sources of this change are. Firstly, the concept of national intellectual capital is described. Secondly, national intellectual capital measurement capabilities are analysed, and a model for measuring national intellectual capital is proposed. The proposed measurement model combines two indicators values aggregation functions: refined methods of factor scores and a non-refined method (SAW). This model is applied to evaluate the level of national intellectual capital in EU countries during the period of 2002-2012. The findings have shown that the level of national intellectual capital increased in all analysed EU countries except Finland. The growth was mainly influenced by the growth of human capital and structural capital, though the level of social capital has decreased in many countries during this period. The growth of national intellectual capital was lower in countries, which initially had higher levels of intellectual capital; and this finding shows that national intellectual capital converges between EU countries.

Previous experience has proved that the range of goods of any newly opened shopping centre is an important element of the retail internationalisation. An assortment of a trade object is an indication of satisfaction of consumers with the trading centre. Rarely retail companies directly inquire the opinion of the consumers before entering the market; they tend to prefer relying upon their international experience, or the results of an analysis of the trade market of the country or the region. The present paper examines and deals with the attitudes of the consumers, identifies and presents the composite parts of the elements, and provides their evaluation methodology. The study conducted and constituting the basis for the present paper proved that consumers have developed their attitude towards the assortment of the goods at the IKEA trade centre. The object of the present study is the assortment of goods at a retail centre. The purpose of the present study and the paper is an assessment of the impact of the assortment of goods upon the attitudes of consumers. A problem identified for the purpose of the present paper was the fact that the impact of assortment of goods upon the attitudes of consumers in the process of retail internationalisation has not been studied neither from theoretical nor practical viewpoint, and no practical methodological manuals have been drawn up to assess the impact concerned.

Paper reveals performance diff erences between stand-alone fi rms and fi rms belonging to business groups in Lithuanian textile sector. Signifi cantly better results of stand-alone fi rms are found and presented. Based on empirical evidence of performance indicators’ diff erences in time, the assumptions are made on factors infl uencing Lithuanian business groups’ organizational behavior. Th e extreme fl uctuations in global Lithuanian textile manufacturing sector’s performance are explained.

Straipsnyje pateikiami teoriniai sociokultūrinių sistemų saviorganizacijos aspektai verslo grupių pavyzdžiu. Verslo grupės suprantamos kaip atviros sudėtingos adaptyvinės sistemos demonstruojančios gebėjimą saviorganizuotis. Straipsnyje suformuluotas ir pateiktas verslo grupių apibrėžimas sistemų teorijos kontekste, parodoma, jog saviorganizacijos kritinio taško pasiekimas yra visiškai mechanistinis procesas, priklausomas tik saviorganizacinės sistemos vidinių procesų.

Though the analysis o f volatility in stock returns lias a ric/i history, the focus in academic literature is usually being paicl to the general stock market indices or individual company’s returns missing more discussions on differences o f sectorial indices. This research considers volatility behavior using various tests and modeling techniąues in order to find distinctions between sectorial indices o f the Baltics. The results suggest that though the sectorial indices contain several, common for financial data, features, at the šame time, the differences o f characteristics and sensitivity to previous crisis are found to be significant. The ft n dings are useful not only for theoretical features o f financial data, būt also for practitioners who sėt sectorial limits for their portfolios (loans, investments, etc.).

Straipsnyje susistemintos ir aprašytos liberalizuotų gamtinių dujų rinkų verslo rizikos, nagrinėjamos Lietuvos gamtinių dujų rinkos liberalizavimo pagal ES 2009/73 direktyvos I-ąjį modelį sąlygotų gamtinių dujų prekybos bendrovių verslo rizikos, aptariamas galimas jų poveikio rezultatas būsimų gamtinių dujų prekybos bendrovių veiklai, prognozuojamos galimos aptariamų verslo rizikų bei jų svarbos kitimo kryptys, empirinio tyrimo rezultatais pagrindžiamas būsimas gamtinių dujų prekybos bendroves veiksiančių verslo rizikų skirstymas pagal svarbą.

In the article business group conceptions of scientists of different countries are analysed; their characteristic general features are discussed; the peculiarities of the formation of business groups are revealed; the heterogeneity of business groups as a phenomenon as well as of its illustrative definition is shown; Business groups in developing and developed countries are reviewed; positive as well as negative operational result of business groups for a country’s economic, social, and political life is emphasized. Prerequisites for the appearance of business groups are analyzed; the review of the prerequisites of the appearance of business groups in Lithuania is presented.

In the article business group conceptions of scientists of different countries are analysed; their characteristic general features are discussed; the peculiarities of the formation of business groups are revealed; the heterogeneity of business groups as a phenomenon as well as of its illustrative definition is shown; the limits of definitions of business groups and business conglomerates of the USA and the UK are separated. Business groups are defined as diversified, quite autocratically managed business organization forms with a pyramid structure, having many branches and subsidiaries, with a controlling shareholder (usually a family) at the top of the pyramid. Business groups in developing and developed countries are reviewed; positive as well as negative operational result of business groups for a country’s economic, social, and political life is emphasized. Prerequisites for the appearance of business groups are analyzed; the view of different economic doctrines on the prerequisites of the appearance of business groups is presented.