The challenge to have a good blend of local and foreign . . .

Citation

Pundziene, A. (2009), "The challenge to have a good blend of local and foreign . . .", Baltic Journal of Management, Vol. 4 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bjm.2009.29504baa.001

The challenge to have a good blend of local and foreign . . .

Article Type: Editorial From: Baltic Journal of Management, Volume 4, Issue 2

If I had a gallery, I would put the names and the photos of my authors on the walls for all visitors to see. I have seen this in one of the Helsinki Publishing Houses – the walls of the building were decorated with portraits and when I have asked them if the paintings are of their managers or owners they smiled and replied that they are of their best authors! I have remembered this experience since then as exemplifying behaviour on behalf of a publisher. To develop a strong authors community is what each editor would wish! You may ask – “what about readers?” – Readers should have quality articles to read – but that is why taking care of authors is also taking care of readers.

That said, I come in my thoughts to analyse the reasons why local (Baltic) researchers are less active in publishing in international scientific journals than their Western counterparts. Talking with my colleagues – Editors of the young scientific journals (up to five years old) – it appears that the most significant challenge for them is to become more international; in other words, to attract more international authors and readers. I have a different case – as an Editor I was happy to work on the Special issue of Estonian Review (Vol. 3 No. 2) and I am pleased by all the articles submitted by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian researchers. BJM, as a journal that bridges “East and West”, should have good blend of local and foreign research representation.

In the region, management and administration as an independent research field gained its status only with the independence of the three Baltic States. Until 1991 the predominant discipline, incorporating only some issues of management and administration, was economics and engineering economics, with all the following implications for management research development. Thus, management research within 18 years of its history in the Baltic States made its path intensively incorporating “Western” management research practices, whilst keeping a lot of “quantitative”, “science like” features from Economics research.

Following the history of management research development in the Baltic States there are three distinctive periods: management research during the first independency period (1918-1940), Soviet occupation era (1941-1991) and management research since 1991. Management research in the three Baltic countries had a very dynamic and turbulent history. The evolution of management research was interrupted by 50 years of informational isolation during the Soviet era and was only revitalised in 1991. Even though “Baltic” researchers have succeeded to integrate themselves and their research into Western European as well as worldwide management research communities quite satisfactorily, the topicality, locality as well as activeness of management research is still to be improved in terms of productivity as well as impact.

Currently, observing the situation in the region, we could point out three main challenges for the future development of Baltic management research:

1. 1.

   Opening up of local communities of management researchers and conducting more joint research projects between the three Baltic States universities, but most important between “East and West” and in that way integrating research findings into existing management theory. This cooperation should result in publishing research findings in international publications and in an exchange of knowledge.

2. 2.

   Strengthening Baltic States management researchers’ competence in qualitative research, enabling them to select the best research design instead of generating sometimes meaningless quantitative data.

3. 3.

   Attracting and sustaining the best researchers inside the country and university in order to strengthen intellectual capacity. Creating a system for fund raising for management research as without funds it would be impossible to keep intellectual capacity. Develop competencies as well as international research.

To contribute to the development of the Baltic Management research, the BJM Editorial team is working on two new special issues – Latvian as well Lithuanian Reviews. We will soon announce calls for papers hoping that Latvian and Lithuanian scholars as well as other scholars doing research in Latvia and Lithuania will actively support the idea to foster visibility of Baltic Management research.

Coming back to the BJM Vol. 4 No. 2 – this issue includes a number of papers on human resource management. Norwegian, American, Lithuanian and Estonian researchers (a nice blend) shine light on different aspects of human resource management topics. Main topics revealed are: “Is the standardization of human resource practices perceived as fair across national cultures? The cases of China, Lithuania and Norway”; “Limiting the Brain Drain: Determinants of Employee Organizational Attachment in Lithuania”; “Leadership In Transformational Estonia”; “Moral Judgment: A Comparison Of Latvian And US Business Persons”; “Social Conflicts and the Culture of Cooperation in Transitional Society” and “The Inward-Outward Dynamics in the Internationalisation of Baltic Banks”.

We look forward to your feedback.

Asta Pundziene