RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUSES AND PROBLEMS OF PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY COMPANIES AND CO- FINANCED BY EUROPEAN UNION FUNDS IN LATVIA

Abstract

The aim of the research is to study the correlations of the risk degree of the projects co-financed by the European Union (EU) funds and implemented by companies in Latvia with the amount of non-obtained project co-financing during their implementation. Findings: The research shows that in all phases of the project cycle, starting with planning and finishing with implementation a great role in achieving of project aims is paid by a qualitative risk management process that allows identify early and prevent different risks of project implementation. Although, to obtain project co-financing of the EU, the risk management process is stated as obligatory requirement already in the project financing phase, the practice shows that not always entrepreneurs have sufficient capacity to carry out a qualitative risk management process. Research methodology: Research quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis have been applied to carry out the research. To summarize the project risk management experience in the world and to analyse the results of the previous research the monographically descriptive and logically constructive method has been used. To assess the risks of the projects co-financed by the EU and to analyse their correlations with other indices that characterize projects the primary data obtained with the permission of the system holder from the information system of the European Structure and Cohesion funds of the Ministry of Finances of the Republic of Latvia have been used in the research. The obtained data have been analysed applying the sociological research data procession program – Statistical Package for the Social Science, using both descriptive and analytical data procession methods, including frequency measurements, crosstabs measurements and nonparametric statistic Kolmagorov - Smirnov test. Conclusions: The risk management process in the projects mostly takes place only in the project planning phases when it is stated as the obligatory requirement to get co-financing. The research shows that the obligatory requirement compliance quality and obtaining of co-financing depend on the risk management process quality during the project implementation. It allows conclude that it is necessary to research additionally and look for deeper regularities between the risk management process organisation and the ability to run projects qualitatively in companies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.6.1605