Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

The presented paper aims to discuss new Lithuania’s in role taking presidency of the EU and to evaluate Lithuania’s development process. State of Lithuanian economy is being presented; aims of further development are identified. The context of other European countries is being taken into account. Authors rely on critical analysis of contemporary scientific literature and comparative statistics. Among driving forces affecting process of economic development investments of foreign origin and increasing level of education are being distinguished. Insights considering a role of the latter driving forces are being offered.

Agricultural extension services being provided predominantly by public agencies in the developing world have contributed to quantum jumps in food production in countries like India. However, these services have failed to eliminate persistent structural poverty among a significant proportion of the farmer households. Part I of the paper summarizes generic problems that have so far persisted in the provision of agricultural extension services in various developing countries (including India) as given in the published literature. It then brings out various elements of the reform processes that are being recommended and implemented in developing country programmes by various donor agencies, like the World bank, FAO, GTZ, etc.

This article aims to find how government expenditure for the sectors of defense, public order and safety influence the economic situation and national security in Lithuania. The problem how government expenditure for public safety relates to statistics of national security and economic situation in the country is analyzed in the article. The fundamental aspects of the structure of public expenditure and relationship between major defense, public order and economic indicators are analyzed in the article. Analysis is made using self-made figures and counted coefficients that show the strength of the relation of the analyzed factors. Resulting conclusions give an answer how government expenditure affects economic situation and safety of the country.

This paper aims at conceptualising and assessing operational environment of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in sustainable supply chains in regional context. The paper starts an attempt to explore how SMEs in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany from transport, logistics related value-added services and especially from the air freight sector collaborate, perform and develop from supply chain management perspective, and what crucial determinants for burgeoning business performance and sustainable strategy are effectively to be linked for the benefits of SMEs. Using a qualitative case study approach, the paper bears on empirical evidences of the project “Baltic.AirCargo.Net” financed by the European Regional Development Fund / European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument in the framework of the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. The paper builds upon a qualitative research approach involving expert interviews, focus groups analysis and secondary data research based on relevant project documentation and field notes from project meetings and workshops. Findings of the case study from the German air cargo service providers are explored and discussed through key theoretical concepts pertaining to sustainable supply chains and logistics of SMEs. Based on the relevant scholarly work and results of empirical evidence and case studies, a conceptual model is designed with propositions and possible future directions for SMEs. The paper showcases empirical findings gathered from the practices of regional SMEs operating in the air cargo transport and logistics service field, thus expanding this poorly conceived research area. The research is based on direct information and insights from SMEs located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and highlights how SMEs under the given circumstances may streamline their development paths operationally, tactically and strategically. Insights obtained from this paper can be employed as critical tool among SMEs’ managers, strategy planners and policy decision-makers on how to utilize SMEs’ practices in the context of supply chains, logistics networks and emerging scope of globalisation and trade.

A paper seeks to justify a need for the better development of sustainable innovative entrepreneurship by public policy initiatives. It takes into account two sides of this issue going from the main challenges of business innovation activity to the possible public policy actions necessary to improve the existing situation. The main focus of this paper is directed on the improvement of current Lithuania’s innovation policy for the more effective business innovation promotion. Moreover, a concept of the innovative entrepreneurship is also discussed here as a foundation of the linkage between innovation and entrepreneurship policies. The research is based on the interpretative, systematic and comparable analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data. The paper provides the results of Lithuania’s innovative enterprises survey performed by the author. The findings include the issues related to the innovative business needs and the role of innovation policy actions in the promotion of this kind of business.

There is major concern with Lithuania’s industrial development because its manufacturing structure is increasingly dependent on the consumption of energy. In spite of the Lithuanian energy intensity decrease more than 35 percent in the last decade, the energy required to produce a unit of output in Lithuania twice exceeds the average of the European Union countries.