Latvian Projects

SSE Riga cooperates closely with the business community as well as the public sector. Research results are also disseminated through a number of publications. 

Completed Projects

  Development of Competence Centres in Latvia
(completed in 2005)

The Development of Competence Centres in Latvia project was commissioned to SSE Riga by the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia in late 2004. To enhance the collaboration between enterprises and science, the project aimed at developing a model for cooperation between researchers, universities and entrepreneurs. Based on studies of similar competence centres in the European Union (Austria, Estonia and Sweden), and the evaluation of the current situation in Latvia, a support model was developed. Model development included a discussion of short and long term objectives, a list of potential recipients of support, the organisational structure, and the legal status. Furthermore a list of various support activities, criteria for evaluation of potential support recipients, and financial calculations were provided.

Project summary in English
Full report in Latvian

For more information, please contact Diāna Pauna

  Better Business Ethics in Latvia
(completed in 2005)

Many perceive Latvia as country with a high level of corruption and a lack of corporate governance. For that reason SSE Riga, along with the Latvian business community represented by the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, launched this project that was co-funded by the Swedish government. The basic idea of the project was to bring together groups of approximately 10 persons at a time to discuss various ethical issues, with the aim of having a draft of a Latvian Code of Conduct for Business Ethics at the end of the project.

For more information, please contact Gunnar Ljungdahl

  Ethnic Differences in the Latvian Business Environment
(completed in 2004)

This was the first systematic social scientific study of the impact of ethnicity on business practices in Latvia. The project was co-financed by the Society Integration Fund Latvia (PHARE funding). The focus of the research project was the link between social values, norms and cultural representations within the everyday practice of collective decision making, negotiation and conflict management in Latvia’s private sector companies. The main finding of the project was that there is a remarkable similarity between Latvian speaking and Russian speaking business people in the way business is practiced in Latvia. However, there exists a strong perceptual gap supported mostly by Latvians (i.e. Latvians think Russians do things differently, whereas Russians do not see such a difference). This perceived gap seems to be maintained by social communication processes outside the business community. In other words, as long as constant reverberations of the issues of ethnic differences exist across society (through media and political activism), such a perceptual gap will exist among business people - which actually is not supported by any major or significant differences in actual business practices.

Report (in Latvian)

For more information, please contact Roberts Ķīlis

  The Infrastructure in Riga
(completed in 2004)

This project was commissioned by the Riga City Council and conducted by SSE Riga. The project provided an overview and analysis of the current infrastructure in Riga. The analysis was followed by suggestions on how to develop the city’s infrastructure in order to ensure sustainable development. 

For more information, please contact Aivars Timofejevs