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he end-of-life (EOL) tyre recycling industry in Latvia is encountering economic and sustainability challenges, which require solutions by various stakeholders. Improvement of tyre waste management and recycling is important within the context of sustainability and the new streamlining of circular business models. Its importance is also recognized at the European Union level in relation to the further strategic goals and the European Green Deal. In addition, the tyre recycling industry in Latvia demonstrates a relatively unfavourable financial situation, which is one of the most significant factors hindering the introduction of new circular business models. The aim of this research is to clarify the challenges related to the financial viability of tyre recycling companies adopting the new circular business models. The main research methods are literature review, semistructured in-depth interviews, case studies and financial analyses. There are large stocks of EOL tyres and on average just 50 % of them are recycled. The tyre waste management companies are not motivated to supply EOL tyres to recycling companies. On the other hand, due to various reasons, most of the tyre recycling companies are not working with their maximum production capacity. The research results reveal that the tyre recycling companies mostly run traditional and inefficient business models that require large operating costs and ensure comparatively low profitability. In order to enable more efficient and environmentally friendly tyre recycling process, the companies should implement new, investment intensive technologies. Yet, they face critical issues of liquidity and financial returns. Major conclusions are related to the necessity to develop several business models interlinked within one portfolio thus ensuring the manufacturing of various products with higher added value and quality. This may maximise the profits and improve the financial viability of tyre recycling business models [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Latvia, the education level of women is higher than of men, while the rate of remuneration is higher for men than for women, and women are under-represented in management positions. The aim of the research is to analyse the theoretical aspects of the gender balance and diversity management in companies, to explore the situation of the gender proportion within the large companies of Latvia and to identify the factors that contribute to the growth of the women representation within the TOP management. The European Commission (EC) has set the target to reach the women representation up to 40% within the management of companies by 2020 and encourages the EU Member States on the application of the legislative quotas. Latvia is among those EU countries that has expressed official position against the introduction of quotas within the legislation, and thus, is seeking for other opportunities to stimulate gender balance within the companies. Latvia is a newcomer and lacks research in this field that emphasises the novelty of this paper. The paper investigates the gender situation in order to determine to what extent the 'glass ceiling' affects women's career growth in large companies of Latvia. Moreover, the paper analyses the benefits of the gender diversity to be used as incentive for the large companies of Latvia. The article has been prepared based on the analysis of primary and secondary sources, outcome synthesis and the evaluation of results of a survey of employees of large companies of Latvia (n=211) and survey of HR managers of large companies (n=50). Results present characteristic features of good female and male managers as perceived by the respondents. Managers of each gender have their strengths, which could together contribute to improved management performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]