Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The paper analyses possible directions for sustainable development of heat supply systems of the countries participating in the Eurasian Economic Union when creating a united electricity market. The present problem is subject to the fact that the key technology for the energy products production which forms the basis of the energy systems of the former Soviet Union countries is combined generation of electric and heat energy at the CHP. At the same time, this type of combined production is ineffective in the energy market conditions, and creation of a unified energy market can significantly affect the energy and economic efficiency of regional heat supply systems and energy security of states. In this regard, possible ways of sustainable development of regional heat supply systems in the context of integration of market pricing mechanisms are proposed and risks of various business models of commercial activity in the sphere of heat supply are identified.

This paper argues that social enterprises (SE) in EU Member States share at least following common features: the dominance of a social or societal objective over market goal, an apparent social responsibility, particularly in the field of profit distribution. However, numeric limits for the criteria of SE identification remain ‘unclear’: in the majority of cases there are no comprehensible requirements regarding the employment of vulnerable groups and the reinvestment of profits into social projects. Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, and Slovakia advocate accuracy and precision in dealing with the terminology surrounding SE regulatory and legal acts to the greatest extent. Being a significant facilitator of sustainable development, SE growth has a close relationship with certain macroeconomic factors. Our correlation and regression analysis clearly proves that there are certain factors of financial and social environment which have the greatest impact on the increase of the number of SE per 10,000 population, namely: Monetary Freedom, Income Distribution and Helping a Stranger. The first two factors show the impact of government regulation quality in business relation, including the links between employers and employees. The latter factor demonstrates an average social perception of so-called ‘inclusion ideas’ in different societies.

The aim of the article is to explicate methodology, facilitating the evaluation of biomass cluster‘s impact to the growth of the energetic independence and national security. The analysis of the biomass clusters‘ impact to the energetic security is related to the critical analysis of the resources as well as to the analysis of the secondary data. The conception of a biomass cluster is relatively new as it emerged basically given the complex geopolitical situation and the aim of the pursuit for some energetic alternatives. The cluster unites enterprises, operating in some certain region and engaged in biomass preparation, logistics and burning. The main impetus of the cluster activity is the objective of the consumers‘ provision by some local renewable energy. Some serious issues, related to the energetic resources consumers‘ behaviour, are often occurring in the states where import-based structure of energy prevails. Lacking some competition and local production, both energetic and national state security is “walking with a limp“. Under the above circumstances, a biomass cluster may become a counterweight from monopoly-based import, ipso facto, increasing national security of the state itself. In the latter case, some stable energy supply would be assured and the price would be based on the market but not on the shifts of the geopolitical situation. The authors have created the following research methodology, contributing the evaluation of the benefit of the local resources use.

For establishing the best monetary policy it is essential to know if in practice monetary variables determine gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices. Price stability contributes to the formation of stable environment for the development of commercially sustainable activities and expresses the responsibility of central banks for sustainable industrial development. It contributes to maximizing the GDP, employment, stable interest rates and sustainable economic development which have consequences for households’ welfare as well as enterprises’ value maximization. For a set of more monetary variables, we identified that in Romania money aggregates M2 and M3 as well as internal credit were strongly correlated with GDP over the time period 1995:Q1-2015:Q4, while in Slovakia only M2 and M3 were strongly correlated with GDP in the same time period. Contrary to expectations, according to a Bayesian linear regression, the internal credit changes had a negative impact on economic growth on the overall period. This conclusion is consistent with other empirical studies. This paper’s analysis discovered that the aforementioned negative correlation is due to the crisis period, because the regime-switching Bayesian model indicated that only in times of economic contraction changes in internal credit negatively affected economic growth.

Security and competitiveness are two very important aspects of the economic and political development of every country. In the 21st century, one of the key drivers of most economies in countries throughout the world is energy. Different countries adopt different measures so as to ensure their security and competitiveness through the effective energy policies that make traditional and renewable resources adequately available hence eliminating the possibilities of shortages. Our paper takes up the case study of Germany as one of the wealthiest and most developed economies in the European Union which also occupies the first positions in the charts of energy uptake and consumption. German policy-makers realize its vulnerability when it comes to energy security and attempt to diversify its energy competitiveness using the renewable sources of energy (for instance via the adoption of the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz or the “Renewable Energy Act” (EEG)). We analyze the issues of energy security and competitiveness of a country using an example of Germany. Moreover, we describe what challenges the renewable energy sources (RES) might bring into the conventional game and how this might influence the competitiveness and security.

Circular economy conception is a result of development of sustainability. Since 1987, when the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) has developed and published the document “Our Common Future”, numerous institutions monitor sustainable development (SD) at global, national or regional level. Recently The European Commission adopted a Circular Economy Package, which consists of an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy that establishes a concrete programme of action, with measures covering the whole cycle and sets out the timeline when the actions will be complete. This paper analyses and tries to answer a question about what should be taking into account setting circular economy indicators.

Stability and functioning of entrepreneurial environment in accordance with the principles of lawfulness is regarded as an essential prerequisite for sustainable development of a country operating under the market economy conditions. Allowed use of illegal duress, including violence, against entrepreneurs directly and unequivocally poses a threat to sustainable existence of society and country. For instance, the so-called Reiderstvo or asset-grabbing is regarded as one of the numerous risks in entrepreneurship which makes investing into the Russian economy less attractive than it should objectively be. In the same way, violent and intimidating actions may seriously endanger stability and sustainability of entrepreneurial environment. The abovementioned is recognised by the laws of the Republic of Latvia which respectively criminalise a range of wrongful acts in which force and fear or violence and different types of threatening are mentioned as one of the essential elements of offence. The same way, the Civil Law of Latvia points to unacceptability of unlawful application of force in legal transactions. Therefore, the contemporary legal norm maker, enforcer and defender needs in-depth understanding of the essence of the concept of force and fear and logical interrelations thereof. Since the origins of the idea of the legal framework of force and fear, just like of many other contemporary legal thought phenomena, go back to Roman law, understanding of the legal concept of force and fear is impossible without a thorough study of primary sources of Roman law. This research was developed guided by the abovementioned reasons. Under this research, the legal essence of force (vis – Latin) and fear (metus – Latin) was identified, the signs characteristic of them and criteria qualifying them were analysed. The mechanism of sanctions provided for in relation to unlawful use of force and fear was studied. The methodology for identifying the person liable for force and fear, i.e. the defendant, was reviewed. Procedural mechanisms and conditions for settlement of disputes were studied.

Energy security is conditioned by numerous factors, among which solutions and patterns of energy storage play important role. Electrical energy storage (EES) is the process by which energy is stored from the power network to a form which can be used later when converted back to electrical energy. There are various ways by which electrical energy can be stored for future purposes. Nowadays, the electrical energy is mainly stored in pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES) that comprises about 99% of EES worldwide and the battery energy storage (BES) that uses chemical energy with both methods yielding characteristic advantages and disadvantages. Electrical energy is mainly stored when there is low demand and when there is high generation of power at low costs. The energy is then used when there is high demand of power and the generation cost is high or when there are no other means of generating electrical energy. Electrical energy storage has many uses such as in the electrical devices, motor vehicles and stationery energy resources and is gaining special attention with the widespread usage of renewable energy sources (RES).

The article is devoted to the research and assessment of the development of the triple partnership between the participants

The present study is devoted to researching the peculiarities of the hierarchy of motives in the structure of professional motivation 44as a sign of success of the professional activity of private security company employees in Latvia. C. Zamfir’s Work Motivation Inventory (WMI) was applied as the research method. The results have revealed that the motives directly related to professional activity do not have a leading function. The presence of the authoritarian syndrome as an axiological political phenomenon, which serves the regulating function of company employee behaviour, indicates the existence of an internal crisis and the necessity of changes in the operation of the companies. It is stated that the combination of motives with high ranks in the structure of professional motivation can be viewed as a prognostic factor of sustainability/unsustainability of development of the company as a whole.