Knowledge Intensive Business Sector in Latvian National Economy: Random Effect Factor outlook

Global experience shows that sustainable economic development takes place in countries with economies focused on the creation and intensive use of knowledge. Entrepreneurs are interested in investing in knowledge, using obtained findings in the company’s development. Investment knowledge strengthens company’s market position, thus increasing the probability of successful implementation of its new products and services. Based on the general idea of tailor-made mix of content, structure, and functioning mechanism of market relations, it can be stated that knowledge is necessary for market participants in order to reach broader market share, take business advantage from innovations, increase competitiveness and uptake new markets, as well as ensure higher satisfaction regarding both goods and services for their customers. Investing in large-scale research projects enables opportunity to accumulate knowledge is a power for large corporations, which further determines their dominance in the global market. However, knowledge in terms of disruptive services is still more important among owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The expansion of knowledge in the medium and especially in the small business environment promoted the emergence of a specific business niche known as the knowledge intensive business. The knowledge-based economy is gradually “displacing” the resource-based economy, stimulating entrepreneurs to put more focus on the use of information resources as a feature of the knowledge-intensive economy, thus pacing overall growth dynamics of segment. This article focuses on the identification and analysis of factors affecting the knowledge intensive business development business sector in Latvian national economy with random effects regression model. Random effects regression was used since it best suited for panel data. Compiled available repeated observations on the same units allowing to enrich the model by inserting an additional term in the regression, capturing individual-specific, time-invariant factors affecting the dependent variable.

Latvian-Brazilian Economic Relations 1918–1940

This article provides an overview of Latvian-Brazilian economic relations in the interwar period. In the interwar period, economic relations between Latvia and Brazil were mainly confined to foreign trade. Latvia declared its independence in 1918, however Latvians had been emigrating to Brazil from 1890 and establishing farming colonies. By the end of the 1930s some 8000 Latvians had settled in Brazil. Latvia’s foreign trade in relation to Brazil was regulated by the 1932 Commercial Agreement. Latvia’s main imports from Brazil in the interwar period were coffee, cocoa, hides and furs, tobacco, raw rubber, and cotton, whilst Latvia’s main exports to Brazil were fish conserves, paper, and rubber goods. In general, trade and thus economic relations were of marginal significance to both countries in the interwar period due partly to some similarities in their economic structures, but mainly because of geographical distance.

Social Movements for Democracy in Post-Communist space: two Revolutions in Czechoslovakia (1968, 1989)

This article is a comparative analysis of two revolutions in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1989. The main question of this article is: Why did the revolution in 1968 fail, but the revolution in 1989 succeed? In this article the main reasons, common features and differences of those two revolutions were analysed and defined. The main conclusion of this article is the fact that a necessary condition for the victory of popular resistance is the support of these manifestations by the military or their non-interference. The 1968 revolution was suppressed as a result of the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops under the leadership of the Soviet Union, but the events of 1989 were marked by a decision by the country’s military leadership on their neutrality.

Ethnic Politics and Electoral Violence in Nigeria: A Study of the South-South Geopolitical Zone

The Nigerian state since political independence in 1960 has been basking in the euphoria of ethnic politics and electoral violence. Each ethnic nationality in Nigeria has its own culture, interest, aspiration, language and faith and these factors seems to affect the socio-economic and political fate of each group, make identification with the nation a problematic task and exacerbate the difficulty in attaining credible elections a true democracy in the society. Against this backdrop, this study examined the relationship and the effect of ethnic politics on electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. A cross sectional research designed was adopted and data was collected via a survey of six hundred (600) respondents. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages, correlation, and linear regression analysis with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between ethnic politics and electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study also showed that ethnic politics exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concludes that ethnic politics has significant influence on electoral violence in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends, among other things, that Nigerian political leaders should place Nigerian citizens at the centre of their political project without recourse to ethnic chauvinism and the acquisition of political power as a means for serving the collective interest of the citizens irrespective of their ethnic origin. This will go a long way to reduce electoral violence in Nigeria, especially in the south-south geopolitical zone.

The Influence of Demographic Variables on Empirical Studies Concerning Cio Gender

Companies are more and more dependent on information technology (IT) and the buzzword digitization is present everywhere. Some companies are inventing new business models based on disruptive innovation supported by information technology. Others adapt these business models as followers. All these new business processes and underlying information technology need to be managed, serviced, and supported by IT organizations to ensure business continuity. Traditionally heads of the IT department have been fully responsible for all aspects of IT usage in the company – including IT cost, IT governance, IT & process planning and implementation and IT operation. This results in the fact that there is a need of more intensive business-IT alignment to ensure the adequacy of the overall IT architecture in a company and ensure the economic value contribution of IT as a whole. In the last two decades researchers have investigated the area of CIO effectiveness by doing empirical research looking at IT roles/tasks, interaction and strategic importance of IT, personal background of CIOs. As a side effect some researchers have constructed and used demographic variables both as control and causal variables. This article looks on the comparability and the source of such demographic data especially on the case of Gender information and highest academic title. It also discusses the question if survey results could be compared with representative datasets to evaluate validity of the sample and responses of empirical studies.

Secularism and National in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: an Empirical Study

Nigeria is a plural state with diverse culture, ethnic and religious institutions. These portray the beauty of the country to the outside world and successive Nigerian governments have not ceased to preach the nation’s desire to forge unity in diversity. However, the reality on the ground is that ethnic chauvinism, ethnic politics, ethnic consciousness, ethnic factionalization, religious fanaticism and extremism have overshadowed the desire for unity, which is a basic ingredient for national development. These are manifested in political and constitutional instabilities, ethnic and religious violence, bad leadership and governance, political competition for power, insecurity of lives and property, corruption, tribalism and nepotism, injustice, immoral acts, bloodshed, and intolerance. The challenges of national development in Nigeria assume such an awful proportion that seems to defy any kind of antidote; this is the stage at which the concept of secularism becomes most apt. This study therefore explored the effect of secularism on national development in Nigeria’s fourth republic. A descriptive method was adopted and data was collected via a survey of 900 respondents comprises of Christian leaders, Muslim leaders, Traditional leaders, leaders of Civil Society groups and Youth leaders. Data collected were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation and linear regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between secularism and national development. The result also showed that secularism does have a significant effect on national development in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Requisite recommendations and conclusion were provided in the light of theoretical and empirical findings.

The Strategic Importance of Entrepreneurship as a mechanism for Sustainable Economic Growth in Nigeria

The focus of this paper is on the importance of entrepreneurship as a mechanism for sustainable economic growth in Nigeria considering the experiences of developed nations like the United States, Europe, India, and China. Entrepreneurship has been instrumental in economic growth, balanced regional development, and job creation in most dynamic economies, where technology is changing at a faster rate and the product lifetime cycle is shrinking. Research in entrepreneurship development indicates that there is a lack of a theoretical model to examine rural entrepreneurship development particularly in the developing countries. The methodology adopted in this paper is the narrative – textual case study (NTCS); it is a social science research method that relies on the information and data from several sources for problem-solving. It is undeniable fact that entrepreneurship development plays a vital role in economic development of any nation including the developing countries like Nigeria. However, despite this, most entrepreneurial policies and programs seems to favour the urban cities except recently when efforts are geared towards the rural areas. Thus, this paper examines the role of entrepreneurship in the development of the rural areas in the developing economy. The study reveals that the right business environment for entrepreneurship is lacking in Nigeria on account of bad and inadequate infrastructural facilities, political instability, terrorism, multiple taxes, all stand as barriers to entrepreneurship and economic growth. The paper concludes that government should focus on adequate security, improve infrastructural facilities and enabling environment that will lead to economic growth.

Latvian–Norwegian Economic Relations 1918–1940

This article provides an overview of Latvian–Norwegian economic relations in the interwar period. In the interwar period, economic relations between Latvia and Norwegian were mainly confined to foreign trade, although there were some investments in Latvia from Norway as well. Latvia declared its independence in 1918, however normal trade with Norway did not commence until 1920 after the end of the Latvian War of Independence. It ended with the occupation of Norway in 1940. Latvia’s foreign trade in relation to Norway was regulated by the 1924 Commercial and Navigation treaty. Latvia’s main imports from Norway in the interwar period were herrings, cotton cloth, agricultural and industrial machinery, treated hides, various types of metals and metal products, animal fats and fish oils, drive-belts, stones and wire, whilst Latvia’s main exports to Norway were butter, meat, plywood, pit-props and boards, thread, linoleum, pulpwood, gypsum, paints and paint products, as well as radios. In general, trade and thus economic relations were of marginal significance to both countries in the interwar period due mainly to similarities in their economic structures and geographical distance.

Three decades of post-Soviet period: analyses of outbound tourism development patterns and environment in Latvia

After regaining independence, the borders were opened for Latvian residents, and they had the possibility to leave behind the travel or non-travel principles of the Soviet Union period, as well as go into the global tourism market. Post-Soviet transformation that was seen in different sectors, including the change in tourism and travel habits, which happened slowly. Since every decade of these three post-Soviet decades has its own development characteristics and is impacted by different external environment elements, the aim of this study is to analyse the tendencies of each decade and its most impactful external environment factors in Latvia. Even though the impact of the economic environment has always been meaningful in tourism, the main factor that impacted the first post-Soviet decade was without doubt the political environment. With the start of the 21st century and the improvement of the economic situation, world’s technological achievements enter Latvia’s tourism industry. Different sociocultural factors highlight different outbound tourism tendencies in each decade. Travel habits of Latvian residents have changed over time – values and expectations have changed for travelling abroad. As expectations and knowledge increase, Latvian travellers join the tendencies and travel habits of the collective European travellers.

“No Sensational Disclosures”: Foreign States and the Establishment of an Authoritarian Regime in Estonia in 1934

On 12 March 1934, the Estonian government carried out a coup d’état and justified it by the danger allegedly posed by the radical right movement, the Estonian War of Independence Veterans’ League. This article examines the reports of diplomats residing in Estonia from six countries and concludes that the foreign diplomats were convinced that the real reason for the coup was the government’s fear of losing power to the Veterans as a result of the forthcoming elections. Nevertheless, the coup and the subsequent establishment of an undemocratic regime did not damage Estonia’s international position.