Research background: In order to tackle climate change and ensure Paris agreements are met, countries are forced to look for alternative ways of producing, consuming, and wasting and adopt a circular economy. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions becomes one of the key elements. The demand for electricity is increasing, and most greenhouse gas emissions derive from the energy sector. Because of that, it is crucial to ensure the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Renewable energy, as a part of the circular economy, also contributes to sustainable development. Only the efficient implementation of circular economy and renewable energy practices can ensure that sustainable development goals are achieved. Purpose of the article: The study aims at determining the efficiency of European Union countries implementing circular economy practices through renewable energy to attain SDGs. The study focuses on the significance of renewable energy as a tool for the circular economy to achieve sustainable development and highlights the progress achieved in SDG through renewable energy in the EU. Methods: For efficiency assessment of the circular economy represented by the renewable energy indicators, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was performed. Findings & value added: This study presents a relation analysis of the circular economy and renewable energy and the importance of efficiency in achieving SDGs through a circular economy. The study helps to understand the circular economy represented by renewable energy and how it transforms into sustainable development and contributes to necessary actions needed for countries to improve. Based on the results, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland, Latvia, Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands and Bulgaria are considered the most efficient countries, while Austria is the least efficient. Unused solar and wind power potential can slow down sustainable development; however, EU programs and renewable energy strategies help countries move towards clean energy and ensure efficient implementation of sustainable development goals.

The volume of international trade heavily depends on factors facilitating trade and contributing to reducing its costs. The importance of international logistics as trade facilitator is increasingly emphasised in the literature. The aim of the paper is to assess the level of the impact of logistics performance on trade volume in the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and Western Balkans. In order to achieve the aim, the impact of Logistic Performance Index (LPI) on international trade in 2007 and 2018 is investigated. This relationship is examined using the gravity model approach with a focus on overall LPI and its components. The research results show that there is a positive statistical significance and impact of logistics on bilateral trade between CEECs, and logistics justifies the role of a trade facilitator. Besides, the importance of LPI components in intensifying international trade was emphasised. Research implications indicate that improving logistics performance and logistics services lead to a positive impact on the volume of international trade. Better logistics performance in trading countries will lead to increased bilateral trade and reduced trade costs. The limitation of the research is that only two years have been taken into account. This is done in order to highlight the differences between the year the LPI was introduced, and the last year the LPI was calculated.

Research background: Circular economy is of great importance, as it plays a vital role in ensuring the reuse of waste created and, therefore, reduces the waste of limited resources, which is the primary goal of the general economic concept. In line with the circular economy, sustainable development gains great attention, as the United Nations announced the sustainable development goals that should be reached by 2030. Hence, the current paper aims at examining whether the circular economy could be treated as an effective assistance tool for sustainable development of OECD countries. Purpose of the article: The paper aims to investigate whether the circular economy could serve as an assistance tool for sustainable development and, therefore, seeks to determine if the circular economy could directly impact a country?s sustainable development. Methods: First, the countries chosen were prioritised using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) methodologies. AHP method was used for weight assignment to the circular economy indicators that were further used for OECD countries? prioritisation procedure for which multi-criteria decision-making method EDAS was employed. Second, to reveal a link between the circular economy ranking results and sustainable development, a comparative analysis was done. Third, the impact of the country?s circular economy on sustainable development was evaluated using the fixed-effect regression model on four years of panel data from 2016 to 2019 for the sample of 32 OECD countries. Findings & value-added: The comparative analysis of the circular economy?s prioritisation results and Sustainable Development Goals Index (SDGI) ranking showed 20 out of 32 matches, assuming a link between the circular economy and sustainable development could be made. The fixed-effect regression equation results demonstrate that the unemployment rate, poverty rate, air pollution exposure, and CO2 emission per capita negatively influence sustainable development. In contrast, indicators such as gross domestic expenditure on R&D, renewable energy, number of passenger cars in use, and households with Internet access positively impact SDGI. The hypothesis that the circular economy is seen as an assistance for sustainable development and directly affects a country?s sustainability was approved. The paper contributes to the scientific literature in the field of circular economy and sustainable development interaction and could be seen as an assumption for new research directions, focusing on the linkage between circular economy and sustainable development. Moreover, the obtained results could contribute to a country?s policy-makers by highlighting the essential indicators of a circular economy that should be considered while forming the strategy of a country?s sustainable development.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational culture on organizational climate in the process of change. After exploring the impact of organizational culture on organizational climate through distinguished culture's factors, article examines the importance of these factors and, what is more, presents the case study analysing organizational culture determinants impact on organisational climate based on the research of two Latvian medium-sized companies.MethodologyThe research design is based on Yin (1994) methodology and consists of two main stages: data analysis and validation for case study and case study's methodology. In the first stage an expert evaluation method was used to investigate impact and stress the significance of organizational culture factors’ on organizational climate. To verify the results mathematical calculations and case study were used. Within the research the most significant factors were stressed. In this study comparison was studied between Latvian medium-sized companies with Latvian capital and companies with international capital.ResultsThe results of the research confirmed that during the period of changes organizational culture has an impact on organizational climate through specific factors. Theoretical model how change of organizational culture impacts organizational climate is developed.Paper typeResearch paper

The issues regarding measuring and managing bank performance are always on the agenda due to the critically important role of banks in the national economies of new member states of the European Union. The goal of the given study is to explore drivers of bank profitability in Latvia and Lithuania. Research period covers 2008–2014. Performance of the banking sector is proxied by profitability ratios. The set of explanatory factors involves financial and non-financial measures. The core research method is a multiple regression analysis. Data processing is performed in SPSS environment. The paper contributes to the scope of knowledge regarding bank performance drivers and the research results provide the basis for the future studies in the related field

Background: To explain the link between household finances and the quality of the relationship between married or cohabitating partners and their life satisfaction, the Family Stress Model (FSM) was used and placed within the theoretical framework of the Couples and Finances Theory (CFT). Methods: The measures used to examine the relationship between partners were the Financial Management Behaviour Scale, the Marriage Questionnaire (KDM-2) adapted to a version for cohabitating couples, The Shared Goals and Values Scale, Harsh Start-up Scale, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). In order to find out the relationship between variables, artificial neural networks (ANN) were applied. The research was conducted on a sample of 500 couples living in Poland (384 married and 116 cohabitating couples). Results: The results indicate that overall life satisfaction is most influenced by fundamental, direct, current ways of dealing with the daily financial routine and by saving and investing behaviours. Credit management and insurance behaviours are the most important for the quality of the relationship between partners. Conclusions: The research shows that financial management behaviours have an impact on the quality of relationships as well as on the subjective well-being of people in a relationship, and their relationship dynamics. This finding may be used to highlight the psychological importance of financial management behaviours.