Ekonomika

The low-fare airline business has dramatically changed the face of commercial aviation in Europe. The main idea and strategy of airlines following this approach is to focus on cheap fares rather than comfort for passengers. However, the majority of low-fare airlines do not simply copy a given system of their competitors; rather, they design their own strategy by implementing various elements which can be considered as “low-fare”-related. The authors of this article seek to lay a theoretical groundwork in the analysis of low-fare airlines. We employ the “McDonaldization” model of economic sociologist George Ritzer, which was heavily influenced by the German economist and sociologist Max Weber, to analyze cost-saving methods of the Irish airline Ryanair.
The authors show how McDonaldization is able to mirror and describe this current trend in the aviation business. According to the results of this study, ‘Ryanair’ (and not its American counterpart Southwest Airlines often used as a synonym for low-fare airlines) is the airline which has most radically applied the low-fare idea.

Ryanization: how one European airline exemplifies the “McDonaldization” model  658.8 KB

Jau parsisiuntė: 40

Fish caught by Lithuanian Baltic Sea fishermen is used for industrial purposes to a relatively large proportion – 60–80 percent of the total volume versus 25–30 percent on the global level. There is no fully developed fishmeal industry in Lithuania, so industrial fish species are disposed of at foreign markets. The first sale prices for fish used for human consumption are higher. It is considered that saling sprats and herrings for human consumption would increase fishermen’s income, create an additional profit and value added. The purpose of the study was to determine the economic reasons why a large portion of Lithuanian landings of Baltic Sea pelagic fish species are used for industrial purposes. The study has shown that the main reasons are unstable, seasonal supply of sorted and good quality raw material and the lack of production sales markets. The authors have investigated the problem and proposed possibilities to increase the use of industrial fish for human consumption in Lithuania.

Evaluation of problems and possibilities of industrial fish utilisation for human consuption  1.78 MB

Jau parsisiuntė: 32

The scientific problem lies in the fact that consumer needs in the postmodern1 era, as a response to the growing significance of the socio-emotional values in contemporary society, are stated rather than examined in a specific industry context to identify the feature of the needs which dominates in consumers within a specific industry. The paper presents an analysis of the motivating consumer needs within the Lithuanian mobile telecommunications sector, enabling identification of the prevailing type of consumers (based on the features of motivation needs), which affects consumer commitment to a specific service provider.
This work aims at testing the assumption that the socio-emotional feature dominating in the needs of consumers in the postmodern era is characteristic of the consumer needs in the Lithuanian mobile telecommunications sector. The dominating feature of consumer needs was identified on the basis of the scientific literature examining the concept of postmodern marketing, which reveals the system of needs characteristic of contemporary consumers and its features.
The analysis of consumer needs, made in the Lithuanian mobile telecommunications sector, is relevant in that motivating consumer needs are differentiated into the notional types depending on the characteristics of those needs. The practical outcome of the analysis is relevant as it explains the basic causes that determine the consumer commitment and/or buying/consumption decisions.

The prevailing feature of consumer needs in the postmodern era: consumer needs analysis in the Lithuanian mobile telecommunications sector  1.12 MB

Jau parsisiuntė: 33

The paper presents results of a field study on the feasibility of applying tradable discharge credits approach to wastewater management. The hypothesis that formed the basis of the present study is that conversion of the existing municipal wastewater discharge management system in Lithuania into the one that uses tradable discharge credits can bring both private and overall (social) economic benefits in the form of increased flexibility of the sewerage subscribers to select the most cost-effective means of compliance with the discharge limits. Research has been conducted in order to determine whether the tradable discharge credits can be employed for municipal wastewater management and, if so, how it can be done. The presented framework of wastewater management, based on tradable discharge credits, can serve as a blueprint for similar applications in other countries or regions, as well as a basis for policy steps.

Application of tradable discharge credits to wastewarter management: a feasibility study  661.99 KB

Jau parsisiuntė: 30

The importance given to the problem of capital structure comes from the influence of debt on equity profitability (financial leverage) and the financial risk induced by debt. This paper is actually an analysis of the evolution of financial risk in the building sector during 2001–2008 on a sample of 11 enterprises in the Galati County, Romania. In this approach, we used information from the balance sheets of enterprises, provided by the Register of Commerce. To carry out this analysis two methods were used, which rely on the breakeven point and the leverage.
Analysis of aggregate data reveal a low fluctuating trend of financial risk, which shows that by the end of 2008 the effects of the economic and financial crisis still have not been felt as much as statistics show in 2009. The conclusion that emerges from this study is that the world crisis produces major effects on the building sector, but they can be seen a bit later. The effects are disastrous for economy (lack of work, offs of staff, etc.), which is why the government began to seek solutions to relaunch this sector.

Financial risk analysis in the building sector: a case study of Romania (Galati County)  1000.43 KB

Jau parsisiuntė: 47

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.

Insolvency of an enterprise and methods of financial analysis for predicting it  1.11 MB

Jau parsisiuntė: 37

The author analyses financial ratios of Lithuanian enterprises by economic sectors in the period from 1998 to 2008. During the period in question, which was selected consciously and purposefully, Lithuanian economy experienced two recessions: the first one took place after the Russian crisis 1998 and the second started in 2008, together with the global financial crisis. In the period between the two crises, a rapid economic development was observed.
In the paper, the efficiency of the sectors of Lithuanian economy is assessed using various financial ratios, reflecting various aspects of performance of an economic entity: its capability to secure income, to perform profitably, to properly manage liabilities, to make proper use of available potential, to avoid jeopardising its further performance. Since no common methodology for the assessment of economic efficiency has been developed, it is offered to form an integral aggregate ratio to make possible the intercomparison of economic sectors and to determine the level of efficiency based on a set of financial ratios but not on each of them separately. The experiments and calculations performed showed that most suitable is the weighted arithmetic mean method.

Financial ratios of the country’s enterprises in the face of economic growth and decline  1.4 MB

Jau parsisiuntė: 34

This study estimates the effects of Active Labour Market Programmes on unemployment insurance (UI) benefit recipients in Denmark, depending on the time spent in unemployment before entry into the programme. I estimate two separate effects of the ALMPs in the duration model: a locking-in effect and a post-programme effect, and finally, the net effects of ALMPs on unemployment duration are calculated.
The results in this study are in line with the findings of studies in other countries, i.e. I find that only one of ALMP types – Private Job training – reduces unemployment duration. Analysis leads to a conclusion in favour of activation of unemployed persons in their first year of unemployment; however, it does not support activation in the first 1–6 months of UI benefit spells.

The effects of active labour market programmes on unemployment duration  688.16 KB

Jau parsisiuntė: 29

In the paper, relation between GDP and subjective well-being, expressed as personal life satisfaction is analysed. On the basis of the European Union data from 2000 to 2009, the so-called Easterlin’s paradox, which claims that life satisfaction stays flat in face of the increasing wealth of nations, is tested. The test is carried out using aggregated country level data on life satisfaction from a Standard Eurobarometer survey and GDP per capita data. Both the cross-country correlation and the within-country trends’ regression analyses show that the GDP level is positively related to the level of life satisfaction. Although the relation is particularly strongly expressed in Eastern European countries, it also stays positive in many more prosperous EU countries. Nevertheless, further studies on factors influencing the shape of relation are necessary to explain exceptions from the relation. The authors also suggest a possible necessity to find more sensitive indicators of life satisfaction to measure it more accurately in the future.

Relation between life satisfaction and GDP in the European Union  670.79 KB

Jau parsisiuntė: 33