PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the culture dimensions of young Latvians and Lithuanians in accordance with Geert Hofstede's indices. These culture characteristics are discussed from the perspective of their similarity with Estonia and the Scandinavian countries.Design/methodology/approachThe research is part of the Hofstede national culture studies. The survey is based on more than 800 questionnaires, which were handed out to students in Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. The Swedish scores were used to calibrate the Lithuanian and Latvian values to the existing Hofstede database.FindingsThe study shows that respondents of both countries score very similar for all five dimensions of the Hofstede model: power distance moderate low, moderate for uncertainty avoidance, very low for masculinity, individualism moderate‐high, and very low in long‐term orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical research was limited to participants who classified themselves as belonging to the dominating ethnic class. Ethnical minorities were excluded – however they might have a considerable influence in daily business life. A second weakness might be that the students sample represents the values of young Lithuanians and Latvians – the future society of the countries. An examination of the majority of population who grew up with communist ideology might have shown different results.Practical implicationsThe results of the study have shown that the three Baltic countries score pretty uniformly and much more similar to Scandinavia than Russia and/or Poland. International business actors should therefore include the Baltics in their Nordic strategy – rather than adding them to central and eastern Europe.Originality/valueThe main value of this study is that the Hofstede methodology was for the first time applied for Latvia. The results for Latvia and Lithuania were meanwhile reviewed by Prof. Hofstede and included into his database.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in transition and developed economies. Design/methodology/approach Building on social capital theory, the creating shared value approach and institutional theory, the authors study why and how six SMEs in the food sector implement CSR. Findings The authors show that CSR adoption by SMEs is motivated by company values and beliefs, relationships with the local community, a desire to abide by rules and regulations and business motives. They also show that SMEs are involved in various CSR-related activities such as respecting their employees, infusing CSR in the supply chain and philanthropy. Originality/value The findings suggest that although there are similarities between the CSR motives and activities of SMEs in developed and transition countries, there are also some differences, which can be explained by differences in institutions and related to the maturity of the CSR construct in each setting. The authors consequently call for a more holistic approach when investigating CSR across countries, in particular when such investigation concerns SMEs.

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This paper investigates the historical trends in economic development through the impact of economic depressions and emissions of greenhouse gasses, namely carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The analysis includes four countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. The focus, therefore, will be on the impact of two economic crises and their effect on global warming. Temperature changes in the longer period are very often regarded as a result of human activity, which can be measured by the increase of GDP (per capita). The findings indicate that GDP (per capita) parameters cannot be considered as correct measures of human pollution activity. The results show that the long-run temperature can be evaluated with the help of annual average temperatures of the previous four years. The proposed model does not only provide quite satisfactory forecasts, but is very stable with coefficients variables that can make a model more reliable for practice.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether switching to a CEO of the opposite sex affects the tax aggressiveness of firms.Design/methodology/approachRegression analysis using a difference in difference approach and propensity score matching on a dataset of 8,798 firms from 2007 to 2017.FindingsThe authors find evidence that switching to a female CEO reduces the effective tax rate paid, implying a higher level of tax aggressiveness.Social implicationsThe findings contradict the narrative that female CEOs are less tax aggressive.Originality/valueThe authors are the first (to the best of the authors' knowledge) to specifically investigate if changing the CEO gender has an impact on the effective tax rate paid by the firm.