The primary goal of public projects is to create social benefits for the community. The prepared public project usually has more than one option. In order to choose the most efficient option, it is necessary to take into consideration all social benefits. For this reason multi-criteria methods may be applied since they provide a possibility to assess quantitatively social benefits which are measured in many different quantitative and qualitative indicators. The problem of the research stems from a variety of social benefits indicators of public projects, the problematic establishment of their value and the need of their complex valuation. The paper presents a methodology for TOPSIS multi-criteria method adapted for the valuation of public projects in order to select investment option and the empirical research makes it possible to look at the problems of public project valuation from the practical approach. The research of the paper is aimed at revealing the advantages and limitations of TOPSIS multi-criteria method used for public projects valuation.

Promotion of non-agricultural activities in Latvian rural areas is highly important for diversification of rural economy due to decrease in agricultural and forestry employment. So far too little attention has been paid to this aspect. Although EAFRD is the only EU fund directly supporting rural development, only 14% of its public financing for projects in 2007-2013 was invested in non-agricultural entrepreneurship, half of this in financially demanding energy production projects. By total eligible accepted project expenses, approximately 60% of rural entrepreneurship projects were financed by EAFRD. ERDF was also important in which a smaller number of higher value investment projects was implemented. Although EU funds have some importance in activating rural entrepreneurship, so far the direct impact on creation of jobs and value added has been small. The impact could be increased by setting forth specific job creation requirements for the beneficiaries. It is also suggested to avoid supporting expensive projects which do not create a substantial number of jobs. In view of rural entrepreneurs improvements in entrepreneurial environment, including taxing policy are more important than direct support. It especially concerns operation of small companies. Development of small companies in rural areas is of high importance because in many territories there is no capacity and rationale to develop large projects.

Currently one of the hottest local governments’ issues on the agenda of the government of Latvia is the elaboration of new improved local government finance equalization system, which is an important integral element of the implementation of regional development policy. Local government finance equalization is affecting development capacity of any territory, including rural territories. The purpose of the article is to highlight and discuss in academic society the finance equalization issues that affect the rural municipalities and work out proposals for the new system. The study does not cover all local government finance equalization system’s elements, but gives attention to three – importance of the equalization for rural local governments – municipalities (novads); revenue sources, that are necessary to include in the equalization system; criteria for calculation of local governments’ expenditure needs.

In the article, following the theoretical aspect, there is analyzed the business model canvas and there is presented the business model classification involving the discussion related to the particularity of veterinary activities. The research aim is after having summarized theoretical aspects of business models, to disclose business model application peculiarities in veterinary activities. In order to disclose the business model application peculiarities in veterinary activities and to supplement the research by other authors, there was disclosed the peculiarity of veterinary service and there was completed the most relevant business model analysis allocated to the development of veterinary activities. Having systematized the business models introduced in different sources it was noticed that there had not been found any business models which were named as ones being unambiguously relevant to veterinary activities. There have been accurately analyzed application possibilities of the business model canvas for the analysis and development in veterinary service activities.

Quality of information about cost structure of farm is of high importance when making management and production process improvement decisions. Aggregating and analyzing production process cost information by correct and unified methodology provides possibility of evaluating the structure of expenditures. Moreover, it is possible to identify most important cost positions and get perspective on production process. By collecting and processing data using unified methodology it is possible to conduct comparing evaluation between different farms. This is done to identify the most and less efficient farms, their work methods and cost structure. When developing unified methodology, it is essential to take into account that different farms might use different production systems and structure. When creating revenue and expense calculations, it is essential to receive accurate data. Good quality data is fundamental for receiving good quality and usable results. Precise data accounting is another important factor that ensures good quality of cost calculation. Precise accounting decreases number of cost allocation coefficients used for allocation of cost positions and thus decreasing effect of assumptions on unit production cost calculation. Fixed cost allocation by its nature to divide all costs by farm specializations is the most challenging when calculating unit production cost. In order for calculations to be of good quality, precise data on use of assets, specifics and intensity of farming is necessary. By identifying these indicators it is possible to create maximally precise calculation of unit production cost of beef.

The fastening pace of life is changing Lithuanians’ nutrition habits and the following change turns to be the most favourable for the development of fast food industry. The attitude has a very strong meaning for consumer behaviour. The attitude determines the obtainment and loyalty of consumer product and service. It is significant for marketing specialists to identify the components, which form positive attitude towards service or products. The availability of food is increasing; however, there emerges a lot of fast food, the consumption of which the aggressive advertising is promoting a lot. As in all fields, as well as in the industry of fast food, there are people, who support the following business and there are some against it. The following attitude might be determined by different components, which shape one’s attitude. The research problem: what are the attitude components and how do they evidence in the selection of fast food in Lithuania? The article aim is as following: after having investigated the consumer attitude components to identify their impact on Lithuanian consumer attitude towards fast food. The research object: the impact of Lithuanian consumer attitude on the selection of fast food. For the research completion, the methods of questionnaire survey were applied. The gained research outcome has disclosed that the selection of fast food in Lithuania is determined under hedonistic consumption although, there is present the expression of the cognitive information process between the components of cognition and behaviour.

The paper covers theoretical analysis of the tourism development in rural regions as well as the public administration role in tourism sector management in order to evaluate, plan and maintain tourism resources in the region. In the paper, there is presented a discussion on some proposed methodologies for the tourism structure and resources evaluation, in order to compare attraction potential of territories for the tourism development (competitiveness between regions). The tourism planning and management process should be proceeded at various levels of public administration institutions in order to avoid negative influence from different branches of the economy, preserve nature, historical and cultural heritage, ingeniously and cost-effectively use EU Structural funds and national budget resources for the tourism infrastructure development in order to prevent unwanted competition between local and regional public administrations, stimulating them to act jointly in order to achieve synergy attracting tourists to visit neighbouring regions. How to achieve mentioned goals the questioning of the tourism development experts has been performed, and some results of it are presented in the paper. Conclusions on the performed research and proposed methodologies as well as some suggestions for the better tourism development management at the regional level have been presented.

Land fragmentation is a problem in Europe, and Estonia is not an exception in this respect. Parcel size is widespread characteristic to describe the level of fragmentation. The aim of the study is to find out if there is difference of fragmentation among different groups of landholdings by size. In order to characterise land fragmentation, were calculated the Januszewski and Schmook indexes, average parcel size and average distance from the gravity centre of each landholding to its parcels. Results showed a high level of fragmentation of Estonian agricultural landholdings. There is a high variety of fragmentation inside and among the investigated groups. The average value of Januszewski index for all groups is 0.626, and the average value of Schmook index for all groups is 0.462. The average parcel size for all groups is 7.02 hectares and average distance from the gravity centre of each landholding to its parcels for all groups is 1.57 kilometres.

With this issue of 2008, we bring 49 proceedings of the 85, which started life as presentations at the Annual 14th International Scientific Conference on Research for Rural Development 2008 held at the Latvia University of Agriculture, in Jelgava, on 21st to 23rd May 2008. In the retrospect of four month later, we can count the Conference as a great success. The theme - Research for Rural Development - attracted participation of 357 researches with very different backgrounds. There were 2 presentations from Czech Republic, 1 from Denmark, 1 from Poland, 1 from Sweden, 2 from Estonia, 13 from Lithuania and 65 from Latvia. Four independent reviewers estimated each report. The proceedings of the Conference is intended for academics, students and professionals researching in the area of crop production, animal breeding, agricultural engineering, agrarian and regional economics, food sciences, veterinary medicine, forestry, wood processing and water management.