Research background: Fluctuations in economic activity forced companies to change the traditional methods of organization and management and to search for new tools, knowledge, resources and competences in order to strengthen their positions. This has particularly intensified debates on corporate social responsibility (CSR) not only between business people, but also between pieces of research,  industry leaders and government representatives. The ongoing global ecologic crisis quickened discussions about how the alternation of macroeconomic business environment influences the development of CSR. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to investigate how the changes in macroeconomic business environment influence the development of socially responsible activities in Baltic Countries and Slovakia. Methods: A statistical analysis of secondary data was used in order to reanalyse the data for the purpose of gaining new insights. The objectives of statistical analysis in this paper were twofold: firstly, to identify the challenges in macroeconomic business environment; secondly, to explore the development of socially responsible activities in different countries. The research period covered the years 2006–2016. The choice of this period is determined by data availability. Findings & Value added: The authors found that economic conditions may diversely affect the development of different dimensions of CSR. Even in unfavourable macroeconomic conditions companies continue to be involved in socially responsible actions because of long-run CSR benefits. The analysis is useful at an international level because it justified the development of socially responsible businesses in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, and has provided an opportunity to assess the tendencies of CSR development during the different period of economic cycle.

The authors of the article analyze the importance of innovation in gaining competitiveness of company. The innovation in business is understood as a broad, continuous, systematic activity that takes place throughout the company. Different types of innovation open new possibilities for companies and contribute to the attainment of competitiveness of companies. By emphasize the importance of creating different types of innovation the article treats of socially responsible initiatives as sources of innovations. The paper deals with the development of socially responsible innovations in Lithuanian companies. Companies in Lithuania innovate in socially responsible way, but for more streamlined development of socially responsible innovations require the better advertence and competence of business representatives. Researched the socially responsible initiatives as sources of different types of innovation, the authors found that an active development of socially responsible initiatives positively influences the creating of business innovations and increases competitiveness of company in the global economy.

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Lithuania is one of the EU Member States, where the rate of energy consumption is comparatively low but consumption of electricity has been gradually increasing over the last few years. Despite this trend, households in only three EU Member States consume less electricity than Lithuanian households. The purpose of this research is to analyse the impact of socio-economic factors on the domestic electricity consumption in Lithuania, i.e., to establish whether electricity consumption is determined by socio-economic conditions or population's awareness to save energy. Cointegration analysis, causality test and error-correction model were used for the analysis. The results reveal that there is a long run equilibrium relationship between residential electricity consumption per capita and GDP at current prices as well as the ratio of the registered unemployed to the working-age population. In consequence, the results of the research propose that improvement of living standards for Lithuanian community calls for the necessity to pay particular attention to the promotion of sustainable electricity consumption by providing consumers with appropriate information and feedback in order to seek new energy-related consumption practices.

The purpose of this study was to examine the assumptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as competitiveness factor in economic downturn. Findings indicate that factors affecting the quality of the micro-economic business environment, i.e., the sophistication of enterprise's strategy and management processes, the quality of the human capital resources, the increase of product / service demand, the development of related and supporting sectors and the efficiency of natural resources, and competitive capacities of enterprise impact competitiveness at a micro-level. The outcomes suggest that the implementation of CSR elements, i.e., economic, environmental and social responsibilities, gives good opportunities to increase business competitiveness.

The authors of the article analyze stakeholder-company relationship as factor enhancing competitiveness of companies. The building stakeholder-company relationship is described as a strategic business investment, opens new possibilities for companies and contributes to the attainment of competitiveness of companies. By emphasize the importance of stakeholder-company relationship the article treats of socially responsible policies, which implementation determines the building long-term stakeholders' trust as a basis for strong and enduring stakeholder-company relationship. The paper deals with the development of strategic policies of socially responsible Lithuanian companies. Companies in Lithuania in their relations with the stakeholders focus on realizing policies of transparent business, anti-discrimination and anti-corruption. Researched the impact of stakeholder-company relationship on enhancing competitiveness of company, the authors found that an active development of socially responsible policies positively influences business relationships with stakeholder groups and increases competitiveness of company in the global market.

The problem of income inequality is globally relevant, receiving the attention of both scientists and pol- iticians. Lithuania as a small country has made significant progress in approaching the standard of liv- ing in Western Europe. However, there are still differences in economic growth between separate popula- tion groups. Thus, the problem of income inequality remains very acute. Currently, researchers are widely discussing the risk of income inequality to the country’s society by analysing its causes and proposing var- ious solutions. Although scientific debates address income inequality across regions, such studies are often limited to examples of large countries. Meanwhile, there is a lack of studies on regional income inequality in small countries, so the question of whether a small country is characterised by regional income inequal- ity remains open. This research aims to examine the level of regional income inequality in Lithuania. We hy- pothesised that Lithuania has a high level of regional income inequality and this is one of the causes of the high income inequality in the whole country. To estimate regional income inequality, we used the most com- mon measures: Gini coefficient, decile ratio, and the coefficient of variation. The analysis was performed at level 3 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), according to which Lithuania is divided into 10 administrative counties. For this research, we chose the indicators illustrating income per capita on various levels, i.e., gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, average disposable household income per cap- ita, and gross hourly wages, as the various types of income can be used. For the estimation of GDP per cap- ita and average disposable household income, we analysed the data provided by the Lithuanian Department of Statistics (Statistics Lithuania) for 2014–2017. Due to a lack of data to estimate gross hourly wages, we examined the statistical data from the Lithuanian Department of Statistics for 2014. The results show that the hypothesis has not been confirmed. According to the research results, there is a small distribution of in- come between different regions of a small economy, although the level of economic development of different regions differs. The study findings are important not only from an academic perspective for identifying the causes of income inequality and raising questions for further research, but also for regional economic policy makers. The obtained results show that decisions related to a more equal distribution of income in Lithuania as a small country are determined not only by the specificity of its regions but also by the general trends of the country.

Strategical Perspective of Corporate Environmental Policy The authors of the article analyze the benefits of corporate environmental policy in pursuance of a competitive advantage in the global market. Corporate environmental policy described as a strategic business investment opens new possibilities for their relationships with stakeholders and contributes to the promotion of social activity and to the attainment of the competitive advantage. By emphasizing the positive environmental policy's impact on competitive advantage of corporation in the global market the article treats of corporate environmental performance benefits, which are defined as improvement of relations with all stakeholders, intensification of corporation image, reputation development, business growth and customer loyalty. The paper deals with the development of Lithuanian corporate environmental policy in recent years and investigates the relationship between corporation activities and the improvement of relations with the stakeholders, which influences intensification of corporation's image and thereby increases competitive advantage of corporation. Researching the impact of corporate environmental policy on increasing competitive advantage, the authors found that active environmental performance positively influences business relationships with stakeholder groups and increases their competitive advantage in the global market.