A study on viticulture, wine making and diversification opportunities in Georgia started in 2011, to identify the challenges to farming and viticulture and prospects for diversification. Farming has an important role in the economic structure of the EU countries and it is vital to develop models for Georgia that comply with European requirements and with worldwide experience. The research team studied European experiences and models in winemaking and viticulture and developed recommendations for adapting diversification models according to Georgian reality.

Assessing Georgia’s economic competitiveness and identifying the obstacles blocking competitiveness have been the two main focal points for economic scholars at TSU, as the competitiveness index determines investor attitudes and consequently the country’s real economic prospects. Therefore, in 2009 Associate Professor Gulnaz Erkomaishvili at the Faculty of Economics and Business began a study to determine which tools are necessary, and what means are available, to put economic policies in place and raise national competitiveness.

Professor Nugzar Todua made a presentation, Perceptions of Georgian Customer Loyalty towards Foreign Brands, on April 3-4, 2014 at the 19th Corporate and Marketing Communications Conference held at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. Professor Todua and Charity Jash, Associate Professor, carried out joint research at the TSU Faculty of Economics and Business.  The main theme of the conference in Milan was “Communication through dialogue, mutual understanding without control”.

In 2013 the TSU Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuropsychology of the Institute of Neurology and Neuropsychology carried out several research studies on neuropsychological issues related to epilepsy, autism and language impairment. Students in the MA and PhD clinical neuropsychology programs participated in the research.

Professor Tamar Gagoshidze, TSU Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, headed several of the studies on cognitive and clinical neuropsychology, including “Working memory in people with frontal lobe epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy”. This research (was) included the participation of 18 people with frontal lobe epilepsy and 18 with temporal lobe epilepsy, as well as 33 persons without disabilities. Age, gender and education were controlled among those without disabilities and a method was developed through which all the three components of working memory could be evaluated through both reasoning and non-reasoning tasks.

The development of tourism is considered an utmost priority for Georgia, however its economic role has never been adequately evaluated.  Prior to research such as that carried out by TSU scholar Professor Maia Margvelashvili, there had been no methodology to evaluate this process. Head of the Tourism Department at TSU, Dr. Margvelashvili, took the initiative of establishing a methodology. In 2011, Dr. Margvelashvili won a Fulbright Scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to enable her to carry out research in the USA. During her stay at the University of South Carolina (Columbia) College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, she worked on a project entitled Studies of the Methodology of the Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism.  In addition to her research activities, Dr. Margvelashvili’s visit to the University of South Carolina had other positive outcomes such as plans to establish a joint MA program for 2014-2015, for student and staff exchange programs between the University of South Carolina and TSU.

With globalization it becomes increasingly important to protect citizens against the influx of unfamiliar foods which may be poor in quality and unhealthy—or may even present a danger for public health. The increasing amounts of unsafe, falsified, genetically modified and other foodstuffs can have adverse effects on the environment, on economic development and on human health.

The social marketing concept emerged in the 1970s and has developed over the decades into a popular subject in marketing. It is even called the “21st century’s philosophy of business management”. The key goal of social marketing is to focus on the solution of problems to social, ecological and public welfare issues, none of which were included in the “classic” goals of marketing. The concept envisages powerful social mechanisms to ensure the unity of interests of business and the public requirements for achieving consumer welfare.  The concept has grown in Georgia over the last two years.

Many problems illustrate the fragility of Georgia’s food security food dependency and the lack of self-sufficiency.  The principle issues include weak institutional and legal frameworks regulating food ; no national strategy on food safety and quality; ineffective monitoring services; the diminishing share of agriculture within the total GDP stemming from decreasing agricultural production; low awareness by consumers on food security issues; lack of skilled staff; and the lack of risk management in the food chain.  These conclusions were made by TSU Professor Eka Lekashvili according to the results of her research “Concerning the Issue of a Food Security Strategy.” The goal of the research was to identify problematic sectors and identify solutions. The research was conducted in 2011-2012 and results submitted within local and international conferences.

Overcoming global economic crises and ensuring sustainable economic revival are some of the most important issues among modern economic problems at both the global and local level. To find innovative ways to overcome these problems has been the key goal of the research “Global Welfare Improvement – The Necessity for Innovative Approaches in Global Trade” conducted by Ia Natsvlishvili, Associate Professor at the TSU Faculty of Economics and Business and PhD in Economics.  Professor Natsvlishvili developed the research project in 2011-2012 while working at George Washington University in the St. Louis, with the support of the Open Society Foundation scholarship.

Both in scientific literature and in practice, “Economic development” is frequently confused with the term “economic growth”. This is due to the fact that past changes in economic development took place so slowly that they were barely detectable, thus more emphasis was placed on growth. This attitude was common abroad.  Then when former communist countries entered a stage of post-communist development, little attention had been given to the study of the specificity of their economic development problems.