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This article discusses the acceptance of innovative food products - i.e. new and unconventional products that have not been widely consumed so far. The aim of the article is to determine the level of acceptance of innovative food products by young Poles. We put a thesis that innovative food products are not readily accepted and that consumers do not perceive them as worth more than typical food products. Thus, food products are difficult to be subjected to major innovations. The research methodology was based on the literature review summarizing scholarly literature on the chosen research topic, a questionnaire survey, comparative analysis and logical construction research methods. This study is essential from at least two perspectives: 1) acceptance of novelties is important for the authorities shaping social policies regarding sustainable development and food security; 2) understanding the customers is important for food industry companies that want to introduce new products to the market. Food preferences are often tied to cultural traditions, which can make it difficult for new or unfamiliar foods to gain traction. This is confirmed by the results of the study elaborated in the article: the approach of respondents to innovative food products is ambiguous - they agree that such products are beneficial for people and the Earth's resources, but not always they are ready to use them themselves. The research also shows that innovative products would not be accepted immediately and consumers would need time to get used to them. Therefore, the authorities shaping social policies regarding sustainable development and food security, as well as food producers, should plan educational campaigns explaining the benefits of alternative food sources and innovative food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of the article present the results of a study on the evaluation of the remuneration and performance of teachers in general education institutions in the regions of Latvia, which is a topical issue in the implementation of education system reforms. The aim of the study was to find out the opinion of teachers working in general education institutions about the factors influencing work performance, paying special attention to the regional aspects of this problem. The study used quantitative research methods through an extensive online survey. The questionnaire identified the following factors influencing teachers' performance: financial remuneration, non-financial remuneration, organizational culture and politics. The opinion of teachers was analysed in depth by regions of Latvia. The results show that in all regions of Latvia the performance of teachers is most significantly influenced by financial remuneration, nonfinancial remuneration and organizational culture are also important, but political presence plays an insignificant role. The results also revealed that in all regions (least in Riga and Pieriga) the increase of the minimum monthly wage rate of teachers or the wage is not the determining factor that would increase the performance of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring a consistently high level of education performance across Latvia is difficult because the current funding arrangements do not provide equal opportunities to pay for all teacher responsibilities in regional and urban schools. As a result, teachers' performance may vary. The article introduces the key elements between remuneration and performance. Remuneration is defined as a motivating factor for employees and the organization. The aim of the study was to investigate the theoretical aspects of remuneration and to identify performance determinants. This article addresses two research questions: 1) whether remuneration and salary have different meanings, and 2) wheather remuneration is closely linked to performance. The study used a monographic or descriptive method, a graphical method, and a synthesis and analysis method. The results revealed that remuneration and salary have different meanings. Literature research involves a theoretical framework that reflects the relationship between remuneration and performance. This relationship is based on motivation that has been researched by using equity theory. Remuneration is part of the system as motivational element that provides specific performance in organizations. The system also identified the potential impact of organizational culture and policy on performance. It was also recognized that the level of skills and knowledge can influence performance. The elements of remuneration, performance, motivation, politics and cultural elements of organization are combined in a system. Thus, in the context of current regional development in Latvia, the authors assume that the "Money follows the student" financing model has adversely affected teacher performance, as remuneration is a key motivational component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topicality of the current study lies in the fact that international standards and documents that have been accepted by the European Union education sector emphasize the need to ensure equal pay for equal work and the importance of non-discriminatory treatment, while Latvian planning documents identify tasks to eliminate inequalities, with an emphasis on education system reform - introduction of teacher motivation system, teacher salary system improvement or development of a new salary system. The current teachers' salaries financing model “Money follows the student” contradicts both the framework of international documents and the framework of Latvian planning documents. The main determining factor of teachers’ wage is the number of students in an educational institution. While taking into the context of demographic and socioeconomic factor of Lative like countries with a small number of students, teachers' wages have remained low. The aim of the study was to analyze the application of the international and Latvian planning documents regarding wages for the teachers in general educational institutions and show that in the regions of Latvia there is a great differentiation in teachers' reward rate, thus teachers are not provided with a fair and motivating wage reward system. The study used a monographic or descriptive method, a statistical data processing method, and a synthesis and analysis method. In the study, the authors have clarified the legal framework of international documents and Latvian planning documents in the education sector (including salaries of teachers of general education institutions), which will be used in future authors' studies dedicated to regional development research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) has emerged in recent years as a framework to understand the nature of places in which entrepreneurial activity flourishes. Spigel (2017) defines entrepreneurial ecosystems as follows: ‘combinations of social, political, economic, and cultural elements within a region that support the development and growth of innovative start-ups and encourage nascent entrepreneurs and other actors to take the risks of starting, funding, and otherwise assisting high-risk ventures. In this regard, the areas that this paper wishes to address are; the degree to which existing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Latvia is prosocial; the role of existing dominant actors in the existing entrepreneurial eco-system in Latvia towards enabling pro-social entrepreneurship ventures; and the challenges that the existing NGOs and social enterprises are facing in their interaction with the larger eco-system. In this conceptual paper, theory and qualitative methods of data analysis, i-e interviews have been conducted to elaborate the findings. Scholars, entrepreneurs and public policy makers whom examine regional or national entrepreneurial ecosystems will have an insight towards the institution of a pro-social eco-system culture towards increased entrepreneurial activity with subsequent poverty alleviation, job creation and a larger regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the matters pertaining to regional and urban development in the EU are increasingly integrated into EU development plans and strategies. The EU actively facilitates regional development by supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the regions to contribute to employment, education and social integration. The strategic goal of the National Development Plan of Latvia 2021-2027 is to promote also regional development in Latvia in order to ensure long-term balanced growth in the country. Promoting entrepreneurship in the regions is of great importance, as Latvia is still one of the countries in the European Union experiencing unbalanced regional development and having socio-economic disparities. Consequently, financial performance and financial stability play an important role in sustainable business development. Rural entrepreneurs whose business is seasonal often lack an awareness of the role of financial leverage degrees, which could lead to making wrong decisions. Performing an assessment of the degrees of financial leverage could be useful not only in a situation when experiencing a business expansion but also when a business decline occurs, which is specific to rural entrepreneurship. A hypothesis of the present research is based on the authors’ opinion that by meaningfully applying the degrees of financial leverage, it is possible to enhance the financial performance of enterprises, which is particularly important for rural entrepreneurship. The aim of the research is to define the degrees of financial leverage – the degree of operating leverage (DOL), the degree of financial leverage (DFL) and the degree of combined leverage (DCL) – as measures of financial performance of enterprises and classify the principles of measure assessment in relation to whether the indicator percentage changes used in financial leverage calculations are positive or negative. The research employed the following methods: induction – to make scientific assumptions and identify similarities based on individual elements – and deduction – to logically systematize and explain empirical data. Applying the empirical and logical construction methods, the authors analysed six different theoretically possible situations, gave six different examples, defined and classified the principles of leverage degree assessment as different (positive and negative) in relation to the indicator percentage changes used in financial leverage calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the Polish Trade Inspection in the whole country carried out an assessment of unrefined vegetable oils and olive oils of various categories. First of all, the correctness of marking, physicochemical parameters, storage conditions, traceability of products and their dates of minimum durability were assessed. In total 380 batches of products were inspected. Results of the examination show that producers cheat consumers by providing, for example, untrue nutritional values or false information about dietetic or health traits. The purpose of this article is to determine what consumers should know to verify the correctness of information on product labels independently. The theoretical part of the article was based on the EU regulations analysis regarding vegetable oils properties, including the characteristics of olive oil. The empirical part concerned data from Polish Trade Inspection reports, as well as statistical data on production and sale of oil and olive oil from the portal Statista. In this article methods of documentary research and comparative analysis were used. For the main conclusion it can be assumed that products of poor quality or incorrect labeling can be found in each product category; therefore, consumers should pay attention to such elements as information in their native language, a full list of ingredients, or correct indication of nutritional values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today technological progress is reshaping global economic development and changing the overall welfare of societies. Therefore, it is important to assess challenges and readiness of the European Union to use its capacity to ensure that technologies benefit people and bring them towards more inclusive societies enhancing opportunities to use artificial intellect for making health, education, agriculture, services and manufacturing industries more efficient and user friendly. The Digital Economy and Society Index analyses the digital performance of the EU Member States across five main dimensions: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology, digital public services. However, despite intention to jointly develop Digital Single Market, the gap between the EU top digital countries and less digitally advanced countries remains large. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the digital performance indicators of the EU countries, in particular focusing to Poland and Latvia to assess their progress and potential of their human capital's digital skills. The research is based on theoretical literature studies on industrial revolution stages, European Union Commission documents, indexes and publications available in relevant public institutions such as ministries and industry reports. The research employed monographic method, analysis and synthesis methods as well as graphical data analysis. The research results give evidence that currently Poland's human capital is significantly better prepared for making use of future digital economy challenges than Latvia's human capital, and there is a close link between countries' R&D expenditures proportion of GDP and their human capital's readiness to integrate in digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization is rapidly evolving worldwide and today information exchange and electronic products have become an important part of life. Transformations caused by digitalization are seen as an economic, technological and social development phenomenon. Since higher education plays a key role in preparing future generations, it is essential to enhance the opportunities of higher education institutions offered by digitalization both in internal communication and marketing, thus improving their dayto-day work and ability to offer such study environment that meets young generation's needs. The object of the current research is development of the digitization process in the context of higher education, but the subject of the research - use of digitalization possibilities in internal and communication and marketing of higher education institutions. In authors' opinion, digitalization causes new challenges for higher education institutions that need to be identified and managed in a timely manner. The study used monographic method, secondary data analysis, secondary information source analysis, document research and in-depth expert interviews to identify opportunities and risks caused by digitalization processes in higher education institutions' internal communication and marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalisation is rapidly evolving worldwide, thus information exchange and electronic products have become an important part of life as well as e-services, which need to be provided not only by companies but also by public authorities. Expansion of digital technologies is seen as an economic, technological and social development phenomenon. Higher education plays a key role in preparing future generations and exploiting the opportunities of the digital economy, thus it is essential that they actively use the opportunities offered by digitalisation, both in their internal communication and marketing to improve their day-to-day work and thus are able to offer a study process that complies with today’s students’ preferences. The aim of the current research was to assess the use of digitalization possibilities in the study process based on the example of Latvia public universities, focusing on in-depth study of the digital environment of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU). The research tasks were: 1) to analyse the digital performance of the European Union Member States; 2) to evaluate external digital performance indicators of Latvia public universities; 3) to assess LLU students’ level of satisfaction with LLU digital environment. The research was performed based on the secondary data analysis, i.e. theoretical literature studies, and author’s practical survey that was conducted at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. The research revealed that currently digitalization at universities is driven by students who demand that the whole study process and communication is available in the digital environment, and universities need to improve meaningfully the curriculum and study programmes by placing the emphasis on the labour market demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Latvians have shown increasing activity in creation of eco innovation in social sphere, which has caused a need to systematize and regulate it. Although a special legislation framework has been introduced to regulate social entrepreneurship in Latvia, social innovation is not legally regulated and organized yet. For the development of Latvia regions, it is necessary to enhance commercial activities of the population, which could result in welfare improvement and job creation. However, without public support it is difficult to implement. The state and local authorities are reluctant to engage in social innovation projects because there are no clear criteria for the implementation of social innovation and rates of return. The research is focused on exploring the EU countries’ experience in social innovation and proposals for improvement of the current legal regulation are presented. The study uses methods of analysis and synthesis, method of scientific induction and scientific deduction. In scope of the research, the authors have clarified social innovation legal framework, which will be used in the further authors’ research devoted to regional development studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the scope of the theoretical discourse on business innovation today is remarkable and still growing, its off-spring „social innovation" is yet only in the process of formation. Gone are those days when economically advanced European Union countries made every effort to enhancing business innovation in their national economy sectors. Nowadays, even the most successful EU Member States show increasing interest in developing such innovation products that could overcome the failure of the existing national economy models to handle increasing social problems caused by regional disparities, social inequality, availability of primary and secondary education and health care. Latvia is one of those EU Member States, which still is exposed to uneven economic development and its caused social consequences such as unemployment, social exclusion, unavailability of social services in the regions. The intention of the authors is to explore the potential of target-oriented social innovation creation in Latvia regions to eliminate their disparities. In this respect, the authors consider that before conducting so specific research, it is first of all necessary to summarize the existing definitions of social innovation and, based on them, formulate a new, specially designed definition that would most precisely comply with and could be used in the context of regional development studies. The study uses monographic method, methods of analysis and synthesis, method of scientific induction and scientific deduction. In scope of the research, the authors have clarified the narrow and broad context of social innovation concept and have formulated a new definition, which will be used in the further authors' research devoted to regional development studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issues of Poland's tourism competitiveness and the role of rural tourism development. The study reveals that tourism can be an important area of the local economy and act as a stimulus of endogenous development. To assess the competitiveness of tourism regions in the Europe, the authors used the TTCI (Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index) covering the period from 2015 to 2017. The aim of the research was focused on the evaluation of Poland's tourism competitiveness compared with other European countries. The analysis of TTCI data reveals that Poland's tourism competitiveness shows a positive trend. In the analysed period, the most competitive countries were Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom and the closest competitors of Poland were Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Latvia. The deeper insights in comparing the attractiveness of Poland compared with other East European and Balkan countries give evidence that the nature and landscape values of agricultural land of Poland are very highly rated in Europe, and the only Poland's indicator which stands out from the overall tourism indicators is country's international openness, which in reality is only indirectly linked with Poland's nature and landscape attractiveness as it mainly depends on the EU geopolitical aspects. The research is based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data available in secondary information sources; the methods of induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis are used to reach the aim of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization in business environment and management processes at the same time entails the need for additional skills to prepare clients and members of society by explaining to them the nature and use of products. Therefore, senior and middle managers have to be not only knowledgeable in their profession and develop the relevant hard skills but also, due to the labour market demand, have to be aware of importance of soft skills’ training and understanding. In the process of developing study courses in life sciences field and bioeconomics, such challenges are integrated in the higher business education preceded by appropriate investigation. The aim of the current research was to explore the role of soft skills and their variability in a life sciences education in digitalized working environment. Research methods - monographic, graphic, induction and deduction methods, extrapolation method - selecting the five most characteristic soft skills required by labour market and focus group interviews. The research on the most demanded soft skills in the labour market for middle and senior executives in a digitalized work environment led the authors to the conclusion that communication skills, team working skills and cultural and diversity awareness lately have become more important. Skills such as presentation skills and decision-making skills have not changed their significance level, which can be explained by the fact that senior and middle-level managers perform management functions similarly and independently of changes in the digital working environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of 5G technologies is urgent for any EU Member State, including Latvia that has begun making preparations for introducing such technologies. In Latvia, mobile communication operators have begun installing 5G base stations, and several hundreds of them have been put into service. The clients of LMT and Tele2 could start using the fifth generation network or 5 G as early as next year. A survey of mobile communication users revealed that 99% of the respondents believed that transition from 4 G to 5 G would increase the flow of clients at an enterprise, and the clients would be offered customised services. Besides, more business clients will be available, and there will be more powerful devices running only on 5 G (smart homes, telemedicine, autonomous robots etc.). Marketing activities for new products are also insufficient, and more aggressive marketing campaigns targeting 5G services in particular, which are new in the market because the 5G services progress very slowly, should be carried out. By employing the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), the paper assessed scenarios for mobile operators introducing 5 G technologies. The research results showed that out of three alternatives (Enterprise initiative, professional activity and financial investment; Government support programme; Joint EU and national support programme), the best one was Enterprise initiative, professional activity and financial investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the role of healthy and sustainable consumption is increasing in Latvia. This trend focuses on animal welfare issues, promotion of organic products and enhancing of local businesses' green competiveness. Owing to the growing demand for organic products, the number of organic farms in Latvia is increasing. However, not all local producers are aware of their marketing strategy's compliance with the real situation in the market. Today, customers' needs are more sophisticated and they are knowledgeable about organic product supply, thus market players have to operate in the conditions of growing competition and more precisely adapt their product positioning and marketing strategies to the value system of today's consumers. On the one hand, organic food market policies and labelling system complies with European Union approaches, but on the other hand, Latvian farmers pay insufficient attention to target-oriented marketing activities, often relying only to word-of-mouth marketing and personal selling, which in the age of digital economy are becoming less efficient. The paper presents an overview of the development of organic farming in Latvia and analysis of contemporary marketing tools for promotion of organic niche products on the example of organic beef products. Based on scientific literature findings related to various aspects of consumption and study conducted in Latvia on consumer behavior in internet, the authors suggest organic beef producers to take advantages of micromarketing strategy for promotion of their products in Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, sustainable development is related not only to sustainable production issues but also to a sustainable consumption. In the planning document "Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia until 2030", special attention is focused on enhancement of ecologically certified and healthy products, thus shaping the image of Latvia as a "green" country by promotion of sustainable eating habits and cultural heritage. To position Latvia as one of the "greenest" countries of the EU, the consumers, food producers and catering service providers need to be aware of and have understanding of sustainability essentials. To promote sustainable eating habits in society, it is necessary to develop such local branding strategies that would position Latvia's regions as green and would increase local product brand awareness for tourists and local population. The aim of the research was to evaluate the most well-known "green" food products' brands in Latvia, their quality requirements and positioning strategy as well as consumers' opinion of "green" food products to develop further recommendations for development of such local sustainable food branding strategies in Latvia and its regions that eliminate cannibalism among national, regional and local food brands. The research employed monographic, comparative, descriptive and sociological research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural space in the Baltic Sea East Coast States - Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - comprises a significant part of the territories of these states. It occupies more than half of each state's territory and employs more than a third of labour market participants. For these reasons, the future prospects of the rural space in each of the states is an important issue in designing their smart growth strategies. Smart growth is determined not only by objective circumstances but also by local authorities, the activity of various public organisations and the readiness of residents to act under the guidance of the mentioned formations. The present research focuses on these formations, which may be assumed to be performance agents, and on their influence on smart growth and the viability of rural areas. The research employed the survey method - a survey of experts was conducted (n=171 in Latvia; n=163 in Lithuania; n=111 in Poland, carried out during 2016) to assess each performance agent's contribution to smart growth. Summarising the expert opinions allows performing a comprehensive comparison in terms of similarities and differences in evaluating each agent's performance in each country surveyed and defining primary objectives to be achieved in order to improve the smart growth process for each performance agent under the particular conditions of their country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple trees are the most common fruit tree type in the EU covering 450 000 ha. At the global scale, the largest apple exporters are EU-27, China, Chile and the USA, but the largest importers - the EU-27 and Russia. In the EU and Russia, large volumes of apples are imported during the cold time of the year. The market for fresh fruit has traditionally been driven by price, but today's market has become even more dynamic and consumers -- more fastidious. The aim of the article is to identify the main determinants influencing prices of fresh fruits and indicate a range of differences between winter and summer prices of fruits based on the example of apples. The current research should be regarded as a 'work in progress', as it will be a part of more extensive research conducted in several EU countries and different times of the year. In the present research, the authors have used comparative analysis, which was based on theoretical literature studies, publications and statistical data available in EUROSTAT databases as well as statistical data aggregated by Spanish, Polish and Latvian market research institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, healthy lifestyle and healthy nutrition aspects are essential prerequisites for the development of any nation as it is the basics of human existence and capacity for work. Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia until 2030 foresees to advance healthy catering services by promoting organic agriculture and sustainable way of life. To position Zemgale region as "the greenest" region in Latvia, and possibly in the entire EU, the society and catering service providers need to be aware of and have understanding of sustainability essentials. To promote sustainable eating habits in society, it is necessary to develop such a brand strategy of Zemgale region that would position this region as a green and sustainable catering service provider. In authors' opinion, Zemgale region has a potential to successfully develop its "green" product brand since Zemgale comprises more productive utilised agricultural land areas compared with the other regions of Latvia. The aim of the research was to develop proposals for a "green" product brand foundation in Zemgale region for promotion of sustainable catering services. The research employed monographic, statistical analysis, descriptive and sociological research (questionnaire) methods. The results of the research showed that the residents of Zemgale are interested in a "green" product brand development and there are various alternatives how to position it in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, access to medicine is a crucial precondition for many disease prevention programmes and the treatment component of virtually all diseases. The availability of qualitative pharmaceutical care services is an integral part of the national welfare system, thus their quality maintenance and improvement under conditions of budget austerity is one of the main challenges for policy makers and pharmaceutical companies. The current research is a continuation of several related research projects implemented in scope of service quality evaluation and reengineering of pharmaceutical service quality in Latvia. The research aim was to describe the regulatory framework of pharmaceutical care industry in Latvia and analyse customer expectations and real performance of pharmaceutical care service quality at the largest pharmacy network in Latvia. The analysis of pharmaceutical service quality clearly shows that the role of pharmacist's professionalism is the most important quality dimension; therefore, extensive quality evaluations should be organized on regular basis. However, retrospective evaluation of service quality can only partly reveal quality level; thus, the author recommends service providers to use a combined quality evaluation system which includes both identifying of customer expectations and their real experience of using the service afterwards comparing those evaluations to detect gaps in service performance. The research results give evidence that the current model of service quality maintenance in the analysed pharmacies' network has several quality gaps. The overwhelming new product promotions in pharmacies undermine consumer confidence in pharmacists as well as lower the prestige of pharmacist's profession. Consequently, pharmaceutical care service providers have to balance more constructively their business goals with ethical principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lately, the European Commission has developed a number of policies, programmes and initiatives that have contributed to empowering citizens and organisations to address social issues, and the new European strategic framework for 2014-2020 focuses on intelligent, durable development. The article describes the role of social innovation in the European Union and presents a study of the main approaches for enhancing the creation of social innovation in Latvia. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of social innovation implementation through higher education institutions as education is an essential prerequisite for economic development and achieving higher standard of living. The current research employed monographic method, analysis and synthesis, as well as scientific induction and deduction methods to summarize the theoretical findings and basic guidelines of strategic documents, thus developing an extensive discussion on the problems how to motivate young society to get more actively involved in solving of social problems. The current research is a continuation of several related research projects implemented in scope of the National Research Program 5.2. EKOSOC-LV "Involvement of the Society in Social Innovation for Providing Sustainable Development of Latvia". The study shows that in Latvia's situation the society has many obstacles to use opportunities of bottom-up approach, thus giving preference to top-down approach relying rather on top-down scenario than on self-initiated scenario of social innovation creation. Consequently, it is important to integrate social awareness in higher education by strengthening the collaboration among education, state institutions and business entities, thus more efficiently involving students in searching solutions to really existing and topical social problems in Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]