Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The article deals with the peculiarities of formation and enforcement of the national investment security in terms of distribution of investment flows and demand for investments. The global market for investment resources was analyzed and its impact on the investment needs and security of the individual countries was evaluated. At the methodical level, the interrelation and interdependence of components of national investment security were defined. Leading security indicators were identified and characterized taking into account investment risks factors. A Process model of the country’s investment security system was developed considering the risks and threats from the external environment and economic issues from the internal environment. The algorithm of complex assessment of the investment security of a country, based on the identification of stages and components of use of investments at the national level, was formed. A Model for evaluating the country’s individual investment security measures was developed.

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of business size, market value of equity, required rate of return, systematic risk, debt ratio and total debt along with inflation on cost of capital for selected firms in five states of ASEAN region. Secondary data is collected during the time of 2000–2017 for ten firms in each country. Findings through regression analysis indicates the fact that significant determinant for fixed payment ratio is required rate of return, size, market to book ratio, systematic risk, and inflation are significant determinant. For interest covered ratio, key determinants are required return, total debt, and market to book ratio, size, and inflation. For dividend payment, size, debt ratio, inflation, and market value of equity. For interest payment, systematic risk, inflation, log market value of equity, size and market to book ratio are found to be significant determinant. These findings are providing a new insight in the literature of finance and financial management. Both theoretical and practical significance of the study can be viewed through provision of literature discussion and empirical findings. Policy makers, financial analysts, and other industry experts can utilize these findings as a meaningful source for strategic decision. However, future studies can be reconsidered remaining countries in ASEAN region and better sample size of the firms.

Since the quality of the business environment is decisive for the inflow of investments in the country, this paper is focused on a brief analysis of the Slovak business environment based on international indicators. Assessing the quality of the business environment is the assessment of the level of the individual components of the business environment. A high-quality business environment that creates the conditions for long-term economic growth is a basic precondition for business development and increasing the competitiveness of the country. Elements of the business environment in the country constitute a legislative framework for business and law enforcement, administrative and financial (tax and fee) burdens, interference with business freedom and business infrastructure (conditions, quality and availability of key factors of production and business services). It is clear from this that the business environment is a complex variable, including many areas. Therefore, this paper will point to some selected areas of business environment in Slovakia. A sustainable busines environment constantly innovates and simplifies individual indicators affecting businesses on the market. The paper provides results of the analysis of business environments of Slovakia over 2012–2018 (GCI) on the basis of data provided by organisations dealing with business environment surveys such as the World Bank and World Economic Forum.

Do foreign controlled firms exhibit a different environmental performance from domestically controlled ones for ‘developed countries’? The aim of this paper is to examine whether foreign firms are more environmentally sustainable than their domestic counterparts, i.e., the Pollution Halo Hypothesis generally analysed in developing countries. By using firm-level panel data over the time period 2002-2006, this study explores the differences in environmental performance -measured by air and water pollution emissions—of Italian dirty-firms with different types of ownership: Foreign multinational enterprises (FMNEs), National multinational enterprises (NMNEs) and Domestic enterprises (DOMESTICs). Econometric results show that foreign ownership does not influence air and water pollution emissions, suggesting the lack of evidence of a Pollution Halo Hypothesis in developed countries.

The aim of this article is to formulate hypotheses about the impact of the foreign direct investment (FDI) on sustainable development indicators of differently developed countries with reference to the relevant scientific literature. The impact of foreign direct investment on development and facets of sustainable development has been discussed in this article. After the review of the relevant scientific literature some consistent patterns have been identified, what, finally, led to the formulation of initial hypotheses. The countries were grouped according to the level of their development. A set of sustainable development indicators reflecting different facets of sustainability and sensitive to countries’ development level has been distinguished. The following indicators have been considered as relevant for inclusion into the set, which would be used for estimation of FDI impact on enhancing well-being in the unevenly developed countries: GDP, exports, inflation, population, life expectancy at birth, primary school pupils, infant mortality, total health expenditure per capita, total tax rate, internet users, and residential consumption of electricity). As this article is focused for the long-term perspective of FDI impact on sustainable development, it was based on three aspects of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Series of hypothesis have been formulated in this paper.

The share of natural gas as an efficient resource in the deficient Baltic primary energy balance is and will be significant (power generation, district heating, households, industry, etc.). Therefore, in the paper the risk of gas supply is evaluated and appropriate actions are recommended to assure reliable availability of affordable and sustainable energy in the Baltic States. Macro-region’s base (including supply and transit countries), risk and cost assessments, timely introduction of non-market measures, high cyber security level of information processing and management systems are the components of the security strategy. The extension of Incukalns UGS, interlinked pan-Baltic LNG receiving terminal and upgrade of cross-border trunk pipelines are recommended as the most efficient tools. Complex realization of all instruments and solidarity of the countries are the key issues to implement proposed strategy.