This research seeks to identify the value of a few common factors determining the speed of economic growth in Baltic states and analyzes their impact in detail on Latvia’s lagging. Latvia’s economic starting point after regaining independence because of the collapse of the Soviet Union was at least comparable to its neighbors. Still, after the implementation of liberal reforms towards a free market’ economy and 20 years of operation as an EU full member, Latvia is lagging in growth, prosperity, and innovation. Within the analysis, this scientific paper pays special attention to the three less discussed factors, namely, the impact of post-Soviet mind-set effects as a part of local innovation culture, lasting since regaining independence in 1991; the importance of the availability of talent pull, its density, diversity, and accessibility; and readiness and capability to capture external knowledge and technology adoption. The overall approach is the systemic assessment of the national innovation system and/or innovation ecosystem, trying to understand the differences between these two models. Research is performed by analysis of the performance of the local innovation ecosystem in connection with export- and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies. The authors present a novel method for visually representing economic growth and its application in analyzing process development within transitional economic nations. The study uses an analytical and synthetical literature review. It offers a new GDP data visualization method useful for monitoring economic development and forecasting potential economic crises—the outcomes from aggregative literature analysis in a consolidated concept are provided for required talent policy proposals. The post-Soviet mindset is seen as a heritage and devious underdog that has left incredibly diverse consequences on today’s society, power structures, economic growth potential, and the emergence of healthy, well-managed, and sustainable innovation ecosystems. The post-Soviet mindset is a seemingly hidden and, at the same time, an intriguing factor that has a significant impact on the desire to make and implement the right decisions related to innovation, education, and other policies promoting business development. The key outcome of the article is that sociocultural aspects and differences in innovation culture led to a slow-down of Latvia’s economic growth compared to Estonia’s and Lithuania’s slightly more successful economic reforms.

This study examined socio-economic factors affecting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) e-commerce adoption, focusing on gender, income, and education. Using the 2022 National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) data, a logistic regression model was employed to analyze key determinants of e-commerce utilization. Additionally, an online survey of 550 MSMEs across 29 provinces was conducted to assess the impact of digitalization on business performance. In comparison, an offline study of 42 MSMEs with low digital adoption provided insights into the barriers hindering digital transformation. A natural experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in promoting the adoption of e-payments and e-commerce. The main contribution of this study lies in integrating large-scale national survey data with experimental approaches to provide a deeper understanding of digital adoption among MSMEs. Unlike previous studies focusing solely on socio-economic determinants, this research incorporated a digital nudging experiment to examine how targeted incentives influenced e-commerce participation. The findings revealed that digital transformation significantly enhanced MSME performance, particularly in turnover, product volume, customer base, and worker productivity. Socio-economic factors such as gender, household head status, and social media access significantly influenced digital adoption decisions. Behavioral nudging proved effective in increasing MSME participation in e-commerce. Although this study was limited to Susenas 2022 data and survey responses, it bridges a critical research gap by linking socio-economic factors with behavioral interventions in MSME digitalization. The findings offer key insights for policymakers in formulating evidence-based strategies to drive MSME digital transformation and e-commerce growth in Indonesia.

This study seeks to explore the information value of free cash flow (FCF) on corporate sustainability and investigate the moderating effects of board gender diversity and firm size on the association between FCF and corporate sustainability of Thai listed companies. The dataset consists of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 2022. Multivariate regression analysis is executed in this study. Subsequently, PROCESS macro served to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. This study found that FCF has a significant positive relationship with corporate sustainability. As well, board gender diversity and firm size both moderate the relationship between FCF and corporate sustainability, such that the positive effect of FCF on corporate sustainability is stronger when the proportion of female boards diminishes, while firm size is smaller. However, when firms have a larger proportion of females on the boards of directors for all levels of firm size, free cash flow indicates that there is no statistically significant effect on corporate sustainability. This study contributes to FCF and sustainability literature by understanding the extent of corporate sustainability.

The article aims to evaluate the participation of below-poverty-line local community in tourism-related business activity in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Further, this article addressed for those who work in the tourism sector. The study employs a mix of methods, including survey data from 500 respondents with a random sampling approach, using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical tools for analysis, other methods were interviews and observations at six tourism sites in Garhwal and four sites in Kumaun. Our findings showed that there has declined in community participation in tourism development, due to the lack of economic benefits obtained in the tourism sector, many believe that the tourism sector does not provide much income growth for them and does not make a significant contribution to the development of their region. Moreover, lack of understanding is considered the basis for community’s inability to play an active role, and lack of stakeholders’ involvement in encouraging them to improve their economy and culture through the tourism sector. Ultimately, this research also underlines the existence of some efforts by tourism travel to encourage public trust, which can help reduce poverty and increase community trust in tourism development in their region.

The scientific objective of this study is to demonstrate how a hybrid photovoltaic-grid-generator microsystem responds under transient regime to varying loads and grid disconnection/reconnection. The object of the research was realized by acquiring the electrical magnitudes from the three PV systems (25 kW, 40 kW, and 60 kW) connected to the grid and the consumer (on-grid), during the technological process where the load fluctuated uncontrollably. Similar recordings were also made for the transient regime caused by the grid disconnection, diesel generator activation (450 kVA), its synchronization with PV systems, power supply to receivers, and grid voltage restoration after diesel generator shutdown. Analysis of the data focused on power supply continuity, voltage stability, and frequency variations. Findings indicated that on-grid photovoltaic systems had a 7.9% maximum voltage deviation from the standard value (230 V) and a frequency variation within ±1%. In the transient period caused by the grid disconnection and reconnection, a brief period with supply interruption was noted. This study contributes to the understanding of hybrid system behavior during transient regimes.