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Long-lived non-financial assets impairment in latvian listed companies
Full text linkPurpose of this research – To explore key aspects to consider in analysing information about impairment of long-lived non-financial assets reflected in financial statements, and to develop recommendations on what kind of issues should be considered in ensuring the accounting concept “true and fair view”.
Design / methodology / approach – The research is based on the analysis of 1) theoretical literature and research papers within the area of evaluation of long-lived non-financial asset impairment; 2) IAS 36; 3) the results of a survey, which in this research work sticks to a questionnaire containing 16 questions. The survey was sent out to all 28 Latvian companies listed on the Baltic Stock Exchange; the number of respondents was 25.
Findings – The main finding of this research paper is the identification of key issues to be considered in the impairment of long-lived non-financial assets to be sure a company’s financial statements reflect the real situation and conservatism of financial reporting has been ensured.
Research limitations / implications – There is a need for further research to find out whether / how the impairment (recognition / reverse) of long-lived non-financial assets influences companies’ financial results and information reflected in financial statements. The research period is from the end of the year 2013 to the year 2015.
Practical implications – The results of this research could be beneficial for academic researchers as well as educators and practitioners of financial statement analysis. The results obtained provide the possibility to identify problems in accounting practice with regard to impairment of long-lived nonfinancial assets and to formulate recommendations for further research.
Originality / value – The research conducted enabled the definition of possible problems in the accounting and reporting process of long-lived non-financial asset impairment in Latvian companies listed on the Baltic Stock Exchange
Social enterprises’ startups: possibilities and barriers
Full text linkPurpose - In capital markets, the primary interest of all parties involved is to build a profitable entity and to earn a high return on investments. Meanwhile, social enterprises’ primary goal is to solve topical social and economic issues of society. Thus, the capacity to attract funding is tied to the specific social problem or need that is being addressed. Consequently, social enterprises dispose of fewer channels for accessing unrestricted sources of risk seed capital than traditional ones. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibilities and barriers with regard to social enterprises becoming startups.
Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research methods including individual semi-structured interviews with experts and desk research were undertaken.
Findings – As startups, social enterprises possess the ability to attract investments, especially impact and angel investments.
Research limitations/implications – Due to the limited time, validity and generalisation, further research with additional data is needed to verify social enterprises’ envisaged possibilities of being startups. Also, continued efforts are required to adjust risk capital markets to some extent, making them more accessible to social entrepreneurs’ needs.
Originality/value – The article suggests that there are certain expectations to receive social and financial returns on investments and this balance could benefit both investees (social enterprises) and investors, as well as society on the whole
The competitive ability of Latvian export: current situation and prospects
Full text linkPurpose: Analysis of the competitive ability of Latvia\u27s exports is a most relevant subject in light of Latvia’s negative foreign trade balance. The aim of this study is to analyse the competitive ability of Latvia\u27s exports.
Methods: The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index was calculated to establish the diversification level of export markets, and the method developed by G. Lafay was used to determine the most competitive products; the market positions of exported goods were appraised based on the Boston matrix. Tools developed in the interactive Trade Map system were employed for the study.
Results: The most competitive Latvian products as well as the Latvian export products with the greatest potential on the world market have been established in this article.
Application: The results of this study may be useful as reference points in developing Latvia’s trade policy and determining priority sectors in Latvia to ensure they are supported and to encourage their development
Digitalisation: the future of health care
Full text linkPurpose The health care industry is way behind other industries in adopting digital technology, even though there have been rapid advances in big data and data analytics. The health care industry has adopted the first two generations of technology changes with ease but is finding it difficult to adopt the third level of digitalisation due to several factors. There have been rapid advances in the last few decades in health care informatics – electronic health record systems, genomics, remote diagnostics, wireless technologies, wearables, context-aware computing and cellular technologies that are changing the scene of the health care industry. Big data and data analytics will change the health care delivery system if adopted. The convergence of these technologies will result in a health care delivery system far ahead of customer expectations.
Approach The objectives were achieved by secondary research. The main method for research was to identify high technology companies in the IT sphere and analyse the research work being done and the products or services developed by these companies in health care by using big data and data analytics. Do they have any commercially viable products or services and how are they useful to the health care industry? Work done by major research institutions on health care was analysed to arrive at the findings. Scholarly articles on health care digitalisation and relevant books were also referred to.
Findings The benefits of big data are entirely dependent on how the electronic health record system develops and integrates itself into the routine of various hospitals, health care providers, doctors, diagnostic labs, etc. Genomics is being billed as a disruptive technology and game changer in health care. Genomics will transform the health care industry like never before. The pharma industry is making steady progress in “pharmacogenomics”, which means developing medicines to suit individual patients’ genetic profiles. This will ultimately lead to custom-made health care through digital technology. The new innovations in diagnostic wearable devices with sensors along with big data and big data analytics supported by context-aware computing in real time will lead us to global health care and health delivery models and hospitals which will be highly cost-effective. Digital technology can be used for predictive, preventative health care. Digital technology, with the help of big data and data analytics, will be able to provide remote health care.
Research limitations/implications Further research can be undertaken on genomics data banks from cities to nations to the whole planet and on prediction of epidemics through data mining and analytics, gene-based therapy based on hard data, pharmacogenomics, predictive health care based on data analysis or genomics, preventative health care through analytics, surgery robotics, and context-aware health care at home.
Practical implications Through digitalisation and data analytics health care providers will not be selected by patients based on country, city or geographical location but based on the expertise the patients require. The other determinants could be the cost, convenience of health care delivery and quality. The selection of a health care provider will take place at a global level as health care will transform into a world hospital offering the lowest cost anywhere at any time.
Social implications Health care will become available to the underprivileged at an affordable cost in any part of the world. Digital technology will make it possible to have home-based health care with real-time expert advice from anywhere in the world. Corporations and NGOs may look to the underprivileged to support remote health care.
Originality/value The world is facing a serious health crisis. New diseases are infecting human beings. This research work provides direction in the areas where digitalisation, with the help of big data and data analytics, can make the world a healthy place for all to live in.
Category of paper: Technica
Students workload during their study process: evidence from Latvia
Full text linkPurpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide analysis on students’ workload in Latvia by researching the differences among study branches and modes of studies, and to find the correspondence of the real study workload to the officially regulated – 40 hours per week.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Analysis are based on the survey results performed in 2013 where 2917 students representing most of the Latvia’s higher education institutions provided answers on their study workload. Statistical calculations are used for data analysis.
Findings: The research results reflect that students in general spend less than 40 hours per week on their studies. In most cases devote less numbers to individual work, if compared to the number of hours spent in classes, the study directions of psychology, sociology being an exception. More than 56% of full-time students and 72% of part-time students consider the workload should be increased - in most cases they would prefer having more contact hours. In almost all the higher education institutions students do report on irregular workload that turns to be high in certain weeks and much weaker in others.
Research limitations/implications: The response rate - more than 3% students of higher education institutions and 7% of colleges is comparatively high, the data still doesn’t allow providing detailed analysis on each higher education institution and on each study level.
Practical implications: The research results and research methodology can be used by higher education institutions, in order to measure the students workload as well as to gain.
Social implications: Education is one of the most important tools for promoting person\u27s professional and personal development. In this regard – better quality in education will always promote better carrier possibilities for students.
Originality/value: The research draws a framework on the measurement possibilities of students workload. In addition, this is the first research in Latvia, involving more than 2900 respondents’ opinions, thus providing a representative sample
Psychological Climate, Leadership Style and Workplace Stress at Fuel & Retail Company
Full text linkIn 2012, the Retailer acquires the business of Fuel & Retail Company. Each team member experiences certain changes, the volumes of work had increased in the petrol stations, and this changes the psychological climate at work and creates stress.
Purpose: To study the psychological climate, management style, workplace stress, and their mutual relations in Fuel & Retail Company.
Methodology: The authors of the Paper used the following tools: The Professional Life Stress Scale, the Team Psychological Climate Survey; the Leadership Styles Questionnaire. The research questions were the following: What is the psychological climate, leadership style in Company? What are the key workplace stress factors? Were there any significant relationships between the psychological climate, leadership style, and workplace stress? The surveys were carried out in April 2014. The total number of respondents in the study was 105.
Findings: Most of the respondents believe that the prevailing management style is authoritarian, the assessment of the psychological climate was more positive than negative. The levels of workplace stress were high.
Research limitations: The authors of the Paper were able to carry out the empirical research study only in the petrol stations of Fuel & Retail Company located in Riga.
Practical implications: The results obtained during the study were presented to the Human Resources and Retail Sales management of Fuel &Retail Company.
Originality/ value: Psychological climate, management styles, and workplace style have been studied by various authors, but none of them has studied it in employees of petrol stations, who work 24 hours a day in an environment of organisational changes.
Classification: case study
The socio-economic dimension of health in Romania
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the interaction between human health and the socio-economic conditions in which it occurs.
Form the individual health point of view, the health is an element component of the individual needs system. But, from the national perspective, the health is a broader concept that implies economic, social, and psychological influences.
The study will employ the method of statistical data analysis. The source of these data will consist from the official national and international reports issued by the institutions involved in these tasks.
Having as start point the reality of the increasing needs and limited resources for the health care aims, results the necessity of diminishing the impact of risk factors, besides the well-balanced resources management.
The social dimension of health analysis has to take into account that health care market does not operate by the rules of a free market; it is a typical case of "market failure". The analysis of risk factors with social implications (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, poverty) is about to be done in conjunction with health services market, with income and, not least with government health policy.
In Romania, the financing gap in health care, lead to an increased incidence of certain diseases. These diseases determine direct implications in the economy (labor productivity, the use of working time, etc.), and also in the level of welfare.
The process of searching of the most appropriate way in organizing the Romanian health care system consisted of privatization of primary health sector (family doctors, pharmaceuticals), and in decentralization and aggregation in the secondary health care (hospitals). This reform did not resolve the inconsistency between funding opportunities and health needs.
Based on these developments, we consider that state policies should be adapted to the realities, based on a coherent system of indicators to highlight the relationship between the health status of population and economic growth
Firm Performance, Corporate decision and the Role of Managerial Optimism – the Case of Creece: Literature Review and Methodology
Full text linkAlthough corporate investment has been of great interest for researchers for many years, research on its correlation with behavioural corporate finance, psychology and investment decision process is quite limited. Since the mechanism of investment decision process is crucial for firms we hope that this study will demonstrate several ways in which managers could tackle with risk and personal, psychological biases in order to achieve greater outcomes. The investigation of managerial behaviour, its mindset and potential behavioural biases such as managerial optimism, is the main area of research in order to find out if these factors can be accounted for the underperformance of companies. Corporate investment decisions are among the most important decisions that firms have to deal with. In order to fully understand the investment decision process we have to focus on investment measures such as capital expenditures, investments in advertising, R&D and intangible assets (Glaser, Schafers and Weber, 2008). Investment decision process encompasses risk and thus, managers have to make decisions that are more or less risky. How managerial optimism as well as other psychological biases affect a firm’s investment decision process (Behavioural Corporate Finance)? Is there an optimum procedure risk – averted or not in order to achieve the best investment opportunities for a firm? These are the main questions we deal with in this paper in order to read into managerial optimism and its impact on firm performance and corporate decisions. In our paper we link balance sheet and stock market data as well as optimism measures of managers based on their insider trades (directors’ dealings). Our main sample is based on all non-financial Greek ASE stocks between 2008 to present as well as on insider trading data of all senior managers of companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange
The impact of governance of the efficiency of The Baltic States\u27 major ports
No full textThe purpose of the present research is to evaluate port governance models within the Baltic States at European Union-level trans-European core network ports (TEN-T) following the principle of commercially-oriented corporations in public ownership and with the overall direction of independent port management for landlord configuration ports, quantitatively assessing the impact of governance on port performance results, analysing and comparing seaports and determining the best performer within the region. In the course of the work, port performance results were analysed from both an operational and a financial perspective, port authorities were ranked according to the results, and recommendations for better performance were proposed. The results of this research may be of value to port authorities, policymakers and scholars
Inter-organizational relationship of consumer non-governmental organization vs environmental governance: example of energy sector in Latvia
Full text linkThe paper examines the role of consumer non-governmental organizations in environmental governance in Latvia. It argues that in view of the complexity of environmental problems the role of consumer non-governmental organizations promote the interests of protecting consumers from energy inefficient decision, hazardous products or false advertising. They function through inter-organizational relationship as a set of pressures and incentives that motivate business to improve its environmental performance from one side and shaping policy and programs in order to reach needs of the society throgh implementing the environment friendly and economicaly reasonable solutions.
The aim of the paper is to investigate inter-organizational relationship (refered to interchange of views) between consumer non-governmental organization and environmental governance as integrated and harmonised governance. The paper examines the environmental governance aspects reflecting theoretical approach described by Baron Adger D.P., Jordan A., Biermann F., Weston B. The consumer non-governmental organizations role of interrelation meaning is revealed by the Dietz T., Ostrom E., Stern P.C. and Young D.R., Wagner A.
The theory of environmental governance determines the key players influencing environmental outcomes and their objectives, the organizations within which they interact, and the expected results of their relationship. Key to different forms of environmental governance, therefore, are the political and economic relationships that organizations embody, and which shape identities, actions, and outcomes.
The paper describes emerging environmental policy implementation planning, action programming and implementation of specific projects in collaboration with consumer non-governmental organizations since consumer organizations play a central role in sustainable development and environmental government initiatives to promote sustainable consumption.
The research methods of the paper are based on case study research method as a source of theoretical insight that tends to embrace a range of research designs that use governance as an exogenous factor in political environment. Conclusion of the paper states the interrelation meaning between consumer non-governmental organizations and environmental governance in the framework of regulation of public utilities commission