| Abstract [eng] |
Foreign direct investment is important for the Lithuanian economy. In order to enhance Lithuania's investment attractiveness, there is a need to assess the investment attractiveness of smaller territorial units - counties, in the face of changing environmental conditions and uncertainties. The assessment of the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties is needed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of counties and to provide directions for further development. The object of the work is the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties in context of uncertainties. The aim of the work is to identify the factors determining the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties and to assess their impact in context of uncertainties. In order to achieve the aim of the work, four tasks have been formed: reveal the problem of uncertainty conditions and the need for investment attractiveness assessment in the context of uncertainties, identify the factors determining the investment attractiveness of a region, develop a methodology for assessing the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties and to conduct a study of the factors determining the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties and to provide recommendations. The first part of the work assesses the issue of uncertainty conditions. Each economic and geopolitical shock is found to present unique challenges that limit the future applicability of past strategies. The increasing uncertainties are becoming more prominent in the contemporary scientific literature, because increasing uncertainty reduces foreign investment flows, and potential investors increasingly focus on assessing political risk and uncertainty indicators. Based on the analysis of the scientific literature, the second part of the work identifies the factors determining the investment attractiveness of Lithuanian counties and categorises them into five groups of factors. These groups of factors are: economic and business environment, infrastructure and accessibility, sustainability, technological environment and innovation and sociocultural environment. The third part of the work develops a research methodology for the development of the Investment Attractiveness Index of Lithuanian counties (LAIPindex) and an evaluation of uncertainty conditions. The results of the fourth part of the study revealed that the main problem of Lithuanian counties is the uneven distribution of foreign direct investment flows, which creates significant regional economic disparities. The strong influence of global and European political uncertainty on individual groups of investment attractiveness factors was also found, with the strongest influence on the sociocultural environment. Uncertainty conditions are found to affect Lithuanian counties differently. |
