"This book addresses East Central Europe's (ECE), the Baltics', and Russia's increasingly important roles as emerging markets and competitive economic players in the European region"--

The changing dynamics in the European region and beyond, the unfolding political-economic challenges across the European Union, and the rising global power of emerging economic powers require knowledge, skills, and methodological platforms inducing strategies and operations in the new and ever-changing business landscape. Geo-Regional Competitiveness in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic Countries, and Russia seeks to address East Central Europe’s (ECE), the Baltics’, and Russia’s increasingly important roles as emerging markets and competitive economic players in the European region. This premier reference work is designated for scholars, professionals, government agencies, think tanks, and other individuals, organizations, and institutions interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the geo-regional strategic business dynamics and landscape involving ECE, the Baltics, and Russia.

Standards are everywhere, yet go mostly unnoticed. They define how products, processes, and people interact, assessing these entities’ features and performance and signaling their level of quality and reliability. They can convey important benefits to trade, productivity, and technological progress and play an important role in the health and safety of individual consumers and the environment. Firms’ ability to produce competitive products depends on the availability of adequate quality-support services. A “national quality infrastructure” denotes the chain of public and private services (standardization, metrology, inspection, testing, certification, and accreditation) needed to ascertain that products and services introduced in the marketplace meet defined requirements, whether demanded by authorities or by consumers. In much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, national quality infrastructure systems are underdeveloped and not harmonized with those of their trading partners. This imbalance increases trade costs, hinders local firms’ competitiveness, and weakens overall export performance. The objective of Harnessing Quality for Global Competitiveness in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is to highlight the need to reform and modernize the institutions in the region toward better quality and standards. The book ties in with much of the work done in the World Bank on the business environment, trade facilitation, economic diversification, and enterprise innovation. The countries in the region can improve this situation, revising mandatory standards, streamlining technical regulations, and harmonizing their national quality infrastructure with those of regional and international trade partners. Most governments will need to invest strategically in their national quality infrastructure, including pooling services with neighboring countries and stimulating local awareness and demand for quality. Specifically for the countries of the former Soviet Union, the restructuring process will need to improve governance, thus eliminating conflicts of interest and providing technically credible services to the economy.

This book analyses recent Russian-European interaction, including Russia' s relations with the Baltic States; it discusses the development of Russia' s approach to the new security architecture in Europe resulting from the enlargement of both the EU and NATO, and assesses the prospects for greater Russian engagement in European security frameworks.

This book presents peer-reviewed, state-of-the-art conceptual and empirical papers devoted to changes in the international competitive position of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, its countries and businesses. While the unprecedented scale of transformation in the CEE region has provided a distinct research setting for international business and economics scholars for more than two decades, there have also been recent discussions about the extent to which the region continues to have a unique business environment. The region's economies have reached different levels of market development and modern business practice adoption, with some of them now frequently classified as advanced economies. Consequently, the same level of heterogeneity among CEE countries can also be observed at the sector and business level. The contributions in this book highlight possible sources of competitive advantage for CEE countries and firms, in light of recent intensive debates about the danger of the middle-income trap and the potential solutions to it.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization that formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. It has few supranational powers, but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. As such, it is vital to examine this region and its economic and geopolitical impacts on the world. Economic and Geopolitical Perspectives of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eurasia is a vital research publication that explores the importance and influence of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eurasia in the twenty-first century. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as sovereign democracy, economic integration, and foreign policy, this book is geared toward business managers, economists, business professionals, entrepreneurs, business analysts, and researchers seeking current research on the effects of political organizations like the CIS on various regions.

In modern business environments, ethical behavior plays a crucial role in success. Managers and business leaders must pay close attention to the ethics of their policies and behaviors to avoid a reputation-crushing scandal. Business Law and Ethics: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications explores best practices business leaders need to navigate the complex landscape of legal and ethical issues on a day-to-day basis. Utilizing both current research and established conventions, this multi-volume reference is a valuable tool for business leaders, managers, students, and professionals in a globalized marketplace.