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The debate on the presence of economic benefits in the European Union (EU) is not over. The study responds unequivocally to this question, with the intensity of economic development in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and beyond twice as high as that of the countries that joined it this year, i.e. the EU’s old ones compared to the new ones; smoothness – 1.1 times and dynamics – 1.6 times. Another important trend for further development is that, as the level of economic development increases, its smoothness is diminishing. In respect of the context of the EP of all EU Members, it turned out that the higher intensity of enlargement was characterised by higher economic levels, with similar homogeneity and almost identical values for the dynamic indicator. The introduction to the article presents the context of the studies, i.e. two groups of EU Community countries are formed according to their level of economic development and the year of their accession to the Community, as well as a survey scheme. The literature review reveals the methods used to analyse the convergence of economic development in these countries, as members of the Community. The research methodology introduces the indicator of economic development of countries and provides a methodology for assessing its dynamics. The empirical part assesses the dynamics of economic development of both groups of countries and identifies trends in terms of convergence. The discussion section summarises the consolidation and destabilising factors in the EU and the importance of the study carried out in this context. The conclusions present the main results of the studies and outline their further directions. The results of the study can be used both in the EU and for the purpose-oriented decisions of its members on further economic development.

A country’s competitiveness depends primarily on its economic development which in turn is affected by a number of factors. Some of these, such as investment, favorable business conditions, legal environment, etc., promote economic development, while others, such as low labor productivity, insufficient staff qualification that fails to meet the requirements of the labor market, etc., slow down the pace of economic development. The latter category describes the phenomenon of the shadow economy (SE). Research into shadow economies is dominated by the analysis of the local impact factors. Nevertheless, the results of such analyses do not reveal the general patterns of the shadow economy, without the knowledge of which it is difficult to develop effective preventive measures. The basic determinants of the shadow economy must first and foremost reflect national economic development, as these particular determinants have the most significant impact on the size of the phenomenon of the shadow economy. National economic development can be expressed by employing various indicators, but recently it has most commonly been expressed by GDP per capita. GDP reflects national competitiveness, integrates a number of domestic factors, and is easily accessible and publicly available in national and international statistical sources. In addition, this indicator is calculated by employing a unified methodology, which makes it universal, allowing the comparison of countries in different situations. As presented in this article, the analysis of the relationship between economic development and the size of the shadow economy allows the division of all the EU member states into characteristic groups by the level of their economic development as well as size of the country’s SE. Our research attempts to reveal the regularity of the above-mentioned relationship: the higher the level of national economic development, the lower the size of the shadow economy.

The aim of this paper was to define and quantify significant factors that shape the quality of the business environment in the SME segment and to create the business environment quality index. A part of this aim was a comparison of defined factors in the Czech Republic (CR) and the Slovak Republic (SR). In regards to the aim defined, a survey-based research was conducted with enterprises operating in the SME segment. 312 enterprises in CR and 329 enterprises in SR were approached during this research. To verify the defined scientific hypotheses, a custom Business Environment Quality Index was created that was quantified separately for CR and SR. The research results brought interesting findings. The aggregated Business Environment Quality Index in the Slovak Republic reached the value of 0.460, which was higher than that of the Czech Republic (0.418). Slovak entrepreneurs gave the economic factors a higher rating than Czech entrepreneurs. Similarly, Slovak entrepreneurs rated the importance of the Central Bank in establishing a stable business environment and the role of commercial banks in financing business needs more positively. The evaluation of political factors is relatively negative in both countries. Slovak entrepreneurs evaluated more positively the judicial system in the area of commercial law, the state’s influence on the business environment, and the administrative burden on enterprises. Czech entrepreneurs had a minor issue with the state bureaucracy’s impact on the business environment. The evaluation of technological factors is relatively negative in both countries, as the value of this index is slightly below 0.250. Slovak entrepreneurs better assessed the situation on the job market and the cooperation of the public sector with the business environment. On the contrary, Czech entrepreneurs gave the infrastructure level in the area of research and development a better rating. The evaluation of social factors is relatively positive in both countries. Entrepreneurs in the Slovak Republic perceive a more positive attitude of the society towards entrepreneurs and a more intense influence of the family on entrepreneurship, and positively evaluate media’s activities in regards to the business environment. The evaluation of the competitive environment is more positive in Slovakia. When evaluating the narrower competitive environment, it was discovered that Slovak entrepreneurs think that customers, suppliers, and employees play a positive role in their business.

Investment, the entry of foreign firms depends of a large extent on the country’s goodwill, which is reflected in various ratings. This representation of the situation is approximate, as it does not estimate the differences between the values of the indicators with adjacent grades. This can be avoided by dividing countries into homogeneous groups. It is appropriate to do so on the basis of non-linear grouping rather than linear grouping. It is based on the transformation of data into a dimensionless scale and linear grouping. In the case, its homogeneity increases thanks to the levelling of the most distinctive values and the alignment of the statistical characteristics of the groups. The aim of the article is to propose in principle, a new approach to the ranking of countries on the basis of their level of economic development. It was found that the nonlinear decision of countries into homogenous groups and compared to the linear grouping more accurately reflect the current situation.

The significance of this study lies in assessing the resilience of the air transport sector to economic crises, which is crucial in today’s context where sustainable environmental development has become a new reality, and the development of aviation services is insufficient for achieving stable and resilient economic growth in the sector. The air transport sector significantly contributes to regional economic growth and the development of various other business sectors. This article evaluates the resilience of the air transport sector in the Baltic countries in the context of economic crises. The novelty of the research stems from the air transport sector undergoing entirely new and unexplored processes, significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and previous crises, such as the September 11 attacks and the Great Financial Crisis. There is a lack of a comprehensive evaluation model to assess the resilience of the air transport sector under economic instability. The article aims to assess the resilience of the air transport sector in the Baltic countries in the context of economic crises. The article describes external factors influencing the economic growth of the air transport sector. It examines the perspectives of different authors and institutions on the development of the air transport sector. The study analyses national and international documents, development plans, and investments related to enhancing the resilience of the air transport sector to economic crises. To assess the resilience of the air transport sector in the Baltic countries in the context of economic crises, an empirical study was conducted using the following methods: Pearson correlation coefficient method to evaluate the relationship between Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK) and Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) indicators of the sole national airline in the Baltic States, “Air Baltic”, which belongs to Latvia, crucial for ensuring comprehensive stability; a multi-criteria evaluation using Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods to assess the current state and recovery level of the Baltic air transport sector after the COVID-19 pandemic; and an exponential smoothing method to forecast the growth of the Baltic air transport sector from 2024 to 2027, providing a realistic scenario.

The focus of this research is on assessing the perception of public service quality through a customer-centred approach. Public service quality comprises multiple factors that are prioritised differently by customers. Therefore, the study aims to conduct a literature review to identify the primary quality dimensions of public services and evaluate the heterogeneity of their perception within the context of Lithuania. The research measures the user perceptions of public service quality. The literature review allowed for identifying service quality indicators and grouping them into dimensions based on unifying characteristics. Such identification of service quality dimensions grounded the research methodology. An adapted SERVQUAL model was used to analyse data collected by a survey to interview customers of Lithuanian public service organisations. Logit and probit models were applied to examine the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and the type of service on customer perceptions of different quality aspects of the provided public services. Explored heterogeneity of attitudes and detailed analysis of socio-demographic factors revealed that women with higher education are the most satisfied users of public services, while less educated men usually have a negative attitude towards the quality of public services. The study confirmed that marital status and income level are not related to customer satisfaction with service quality. Although gender, age, family size, education level, and employment status explain heterogeneity in customer satisfaction, they still account for only a small amount of variance compared to the place of residence and type of service. The study is a significant contribution to the field of service engineering as it introduces a systematic approach to the development of service quality, incorporating models and methods that enable the assessment of service quality and efficiency. The literature review has identified several research gaps related to public service quality, including a lack of research on general public services and areas such as tourism, real estate management, fire protection and rescue.

To this date, insufficient number of reasoned methods for assessing the industrial composition in the country or in the region in an integrated and quantitative manner is on offer. The existing proposals are basically intended for explaining the drivers of change in the industrial composition as well as the reasons thereof. Following this analysis, the most export-oriented industries are determined. Hence, the focus is not on assessing the industrial composition of a country or a region itself in a quantitative manner, but rather the impact of the changes thereof on economic indicators, i.e. derivative measures of industrial composition. The industrial composition of a country or a region can be described through indicators that reflect three key aspects, i.e. the variety of active economic entities by their number, size and types of economic activities. The proposed methodology is suitable for assessing the industrial composition of a country’s region.

The article addresses a topical issue which is extremely relevant in crisis periods – evaluation of the level of the shadow economy in all Lithuanian regions. By applying the MIMIC modelling, three equations were developed for three different periods: economic upturn, economic downturn (crisis) and economic recovery. The number of immigrants, employment rate and population’s density were identified as the major shadow economy determinants in Lithuanian regions. The determinants identified are unique in the case of Lithuania because they reveal that the labour market (employment rate, the number of immigrants) and population’s density are the key factors that show how municipalities address the issues of the shadow economy. 10 municipalities with respectively high or low levels of the shadow economy were ranked for each period under consideration. The maps developed for different periods illustrate the general trends of the evolution of the shadow economy. This is the first study that estimates the size of the shadow economy in 60 municipalities (a small regional division) with different economic periods taken into account. Scientific novelty manifests through consideration of the regional shadow economy and proving significance of the labour market and immigration in reducing regional disparities.

Civil participation is the main component of effective governance. The topicality of this paper lies in civil participation in decision-making defined by the principles of “new public governance” of the 21st century. This study aims to analyze the impact of civil participation in decision-making on waste management at the municipal level. In this work, the following aspects were considered: theoretical assumptions of civil participation; civil participation in the activities of institutions responsible for environmental protection; issues regarding the development of opportunities of citizens’ involvement in municipal waste management. The article is devoted to the theoretical assumptions about civil participation, theoretical model of analysis, and activity of institutions. To develop a theoretical model of analysis, a classification of civil participation was carried out. Among the methods used, one can mention the questionnaire. The analysis was focused on a legal basis for the activity of institutions; the actual activity of institutions and survey of representatives of the national environmental authorities in Lithuania. The results showed that currently there is no mechanism in Lithuania to ensure civil participation in municipal waste management. Civil participation is still formal and limited. Overall, citizens are informed about the decisions made, but they do not participate actively in decision-making. The analysis of civil participation capacity in waste management leads to the conclusion that Lithuania has no single mechanism to ensure civil participation in waste management. To enhance civil participation in decision-making on waste management, it is suggested to set up a council where the representatives of civil population are delegated.

The paper analyses the trends of organizational resilience management in Lithuanian central government institutions based on the concept of \"bounce-back,\" examining the impact on the organization from both the internal and external environments, incorporating the resulting uncertainty conditions conceptualized through the prism of the organization's available information for decision making. The results of an empirical qualitative study and a semi-structured interview with 22 experts in management positions from 19 central government organizations in the Lithuanian public sector suggest that performance deterioration in Lithuanian central government organizations arises from both the internal and the external environment. The study reveals that the strength and the frequency of these impacts are comparably similar in each environment, affecting organizational performance with regular and unexpected factors. Regular environmental influences tend to create conditions of moderate uncertainty, where information is either known and available or there is a constant demand for new information acquisition. Unexpected environmental influences tend to create high uncertainty conditions, where there is a persistent need for information to make decisions, escalating to not knowing what information is needed and where it can be obtained. According to the experts' responses, to manage resilience and decision-making under uncertainty, organizations need to invest in information processing and dissemination capacities through various forms of intra-organizational communication channels, with a particular emphasis on the free flow of information between each other and on a substantive, live communication between managers, both limiting and expanding the information provided. Effective knowledge management and learning processes that help organizations adapt to changing conditions are best supported by personnel who possess institutional memory, suitable digitization of management information, and active engagement in national networking (or international networking if no national equivalent exists). Inadequate preparation for periods of negative impact disrupts the organization's information exchange, and the learning element becomes unmanageable, especially if the negative impact situations are frequent and unforeseen, depriving the organization of the necessary time to \"breathe in, look back and learn, consolidate learning.\" Keywords: public management, organizational resilience management, bounce-back, conditions of uncertainty, qualitative research. Straipsnyje analizuojamos organizacinio atsparumo valdymo tendencijos Lietuvos centrinės valdžios institucijose remiantis „bounce-back“ samprata, tiriant poveikį organizacijai tiek iš vidinės, tiek iš išorinės aplinkos, įtraukiant susidarančias neapibrėžtumo sąlygas konceptualizuotas per organizacijos disponuojamos informacijos sprendimams priimti prizmę. Atlikus empirinį kokybinį tyrimą ir pusiau struktūruoto interviu metodu apklausus 22 vadovaujančias pareigas užimančius ekspertus iš 19-os Lietuvos viešojo sektoriaus centrinės valdžios organizacijų, gauti rezultatai leidžia teigti, jog Lietuvos centrinės valdžios organizacijose veiklos pablogėjimas kyla iš vidinės ir išorinės aplinkų, poveikio šaltinio stiprumas ir dažnis panašus iš abiejų aplinkų, tiek reguliaraus, tiek netikėto poveikio atveju. Reguliarus poveikis iš aplinkos dažniausiai suformuoja vidutinio neapibrėžtumo sąlygas, kurių metu informacija yra žinoma ir prieinama arba pastebimas nuolatinis naujos informacijos poreikis. Netikėtas poveikis iš aplinkos dažniausiai sukelia aukšto neapibrėžtumo sąlygas, kurių metu vyrauja nuolatinis informacijos poreikis sprendimams priimti, peraugdamas į nežinojimą kokios reikia ir kur yra informacija. Remiantis ekspertų atsakymais valdant atsparumą ir priimant sprendimus neapibrėžtumo sąlygomis organizacijoms svarbu investuoti į informacijos apdorojimo ir sklaidos galimybes organizacijos vidaus komunikacijos kanalais įvairiomis formomis, ypač akcentuojant laisvą tarpusavio keitimąsi informacija ir turininę vadovų komunikaciją gyvai, tiek ribojant, tiek praplečiant pateikiamą informaciją. Žinių valdymo ir mokymosi procesai prisitaikant prie besikeičiančių veikimo sąlygų labiausiai padeda išnaudojant institucinę atmintį turinčius darbuotojus, tinkamai skaitmenizavus organizacijos valdymo informaciją, kokybiškai įsitraukus į nacionalinę tinklaveiką (ar tarptautinę jeigu šalyje nėra panašių organizacijų atitikmens). Netinkamai pasirengus neigiamo poveikio laikotarpiams, sutrinka organizacijos informacijos keitimasis, o  mokymosi elementas tampa nevaldomas, ypač jeigu neigiamo poveikio situacijos pasikartoja dažnai, netikėtai ir organizacijai neužtenka laiko „atsikvėpti, atsisukti atgal ir pasimokyti, mokymąsi įtvirtinti“. Keywords: public management, organizational resilience management, bounce back, conditions of uncertainty, qualitative research.