Problems of Management in the 21st Century

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2015, PMC

6-17

Authors: Peter Bóna, Robert Lippert

What makes a company successful? What kind of instruments may it use to achieve outstanding results? Instruments necessary for effective operation depend remarkably on the current age and the environment surrounding the organisation. Various ages have had their different keys to success. This key has become more and more complex and complicated due to the continuous acceleration of world economy and the fact that distances have become negligible. The aim of this study is to explore, whether companies having an interest in the processing industry use hard or soft success factors as a key to achieve success. In order to do that, the research will identify the possible success factors first. Henceforward it will reveal the effect of the resulting factors on success by logistic regression, which will be examined via the balance scorecard by complementing the four classic aspects – as one of the pioneers – with a fifth one, i.e. sustainability. Thus it will become visible, to what extent strategic, structural, cultural and leadership success factors influence the performance of a company to reach excellence in accordance with the expectations of the owners, the customers, the employees and the social sphere. The results of the research will thereby show the unravelled correlations between the successful operation of a company and the instruments indicating hard and soft success affecting it.

26-36

Authors: Diāna Līduma, Aija Kairēna, Māris Priedens

There are 10 operating ports in Latvia and 3 of them – Liepaja, Ventspils and Riga ports are regarded as the leading commercial ports. Role of port operation in the economics of region and country is essential from the point of view of employment and entrepreneurship. This is based with data on investment of operation of Latvian ports in GDP, on average it is assessed to be 5-7% annually. In the context of employment, Liepaja Port gives work to 6.9% of human resources of the city. However, concern about the competitiveness of Liepaja Port influenced by the proximity of more developed competitive ports, technical possibilities of the port and dynamics of freight turnover has occurred in recent years. Therewith in framework of this article in the context of such criteria as location of ports and their technical parameters, volumes of freight, specialization and costs of ports, the operation of leading ports of Latvia is intercompared and analyzed by clarifying whether Liepaja Port is competitive among other ports of Latvia. Opinions of port experts on perspectives of port development and statistical data of ports from 2011-2013 are analyzed within the framework of the article. The aim of the research is to clarify the comparative advantages of ports of Latvia. The research revealed that the provision of competitiveness of Liepaja Port is to be related with application of the available free territories, advantages of location in relation to the Scandinavian market, and the necessity to develop the cooperation among ports of Latvia to offer joint freight acquisition, distributions and unified logistics solution and strengthen the position of ports in the circumstances of international competition.

49

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

On behalf of the organizing committee, we are delighted to welcome you to Šiauliai, Lithuania, for the II International Baltic Symposium on Science and Technology Education, BalticSTE 2017. The Symposium will be held in Šiauliai (Lithuania) in June 2017 during days 12-15. We cordially encourage you to attend and contribute to one of the major events of 2017 on the field of science and technology education. We are confident that you will appreciate the scientific program and the city of Šiauliai. We look forward to seeing you in 2017 in Lithuania.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2015, PMC