Indexes as Business Environment Characterizing Instruments
Indexes as Business Environment Characterizing Instruments

Summary/Abstract: Every year several world organizations evaluate countries according different criteria and determine their indexes, such as KOF Index of Globalization, Corruption Perception Index, Global Competitiveness Index, Global Innovation Index, and others. These indexes later are used for analysis of the aspects of entrepreneurship activities in specific countries. One particular application of indexes is related to analysis and evaluation of the business environment of the country. The entrepreneurship is affected by many factors; to research all of them is very time and effort consuming process. The proposed approach (i.e., use of indexes) is targeted and can yield results of the practical significance. The goal of the current paper is to compare indicators of the Baltic countries with average indicators of the European Union by using selected indexes that characterize business environment. To reach this goal we set the following tasks: (1) to characterize theoretical framework of indexes that pertain to the business environment; (2) to perform comparative analysis of selected indicators of business environment of the Baltic countries and the EU according to 4 indexes; (3) to make conclusions about business environment in the Baltic countries, especially in Latvia, on the basis of indexes. The current study employs the logical-constructive method – comparison of theoretical notions with empirical data. The factor analysis allows identifying and comparing factors within chosen indexes. The benchmarking is used to estimate indicators of the Baltic countries and compare them mutually and with the average indicators of the EU – it allows to identify the best examples and calculate the deviation. The graphic method allows depicting information visually and making subsequent analysis.

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