Asian Journal of Business and Management (ISSN: 2321 – 2802) Volume 03– Issue 06, December 2015 Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com ) 485 Assessment of Strategies Using Analytic Network process: Case of Media Company in Latvia Diana Aleksandrova 1,* , Irina Voronova 2 1 PhD student, Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia 2 Doctor of economy, Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia * Corresponding author’s email: Diana.aleksandrova [AT] rtu.lv _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT— Republic of Latvia as a single state is divided into four regions, where there are socio-economical differences, depending on their location and geographical features. As one of the options contributing to the region’s economic climate and development is the use of regional media, which can be used to motivate the citizens to start they own business. This paper includes the assessment of the regional media strategies that will contribute to the growth of the business sector. Latgale region, which is less socio-economically developed, is taken as an example. To determine the best strategy, the authors use A’WOT hybrid method, that is a tool for company environment research and estimation. This method is a combination of two methods – SWOT and Analytic Hierarchy Process that has been used since 2000. The combination of the methods allows identifying the best strategy from the offered in TOWS matrix, taking into account SWOT factors and sub-factors values and their importance in implementing the strategies. As a result, each strategy was assigned a weight that helps to create the hierarchical structure of the strategies and identify the most important strategy to promote economic status of the region with no loss of money and time. Keywords — SWOT analysis, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Analytic Network Process, strategy, Media Company, Latvia _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION Over last 500 years, the influence of mass media has grown exponentially with the advance of technology. First there were books, then newspapers, magazines, photography, sound recordings, films, radio, television, the so-called New Media of Internet, and now social media (Anthony, 2007). Press, radio, television and online public message portals are primarily providing secondary socialization. Nurseries, schools, churches, interest clubs, colleges, and other institutions are also engaged in the same secondary socialization. Nurseries, schools, churches, interest clubs, colleagues and other institutions are also engaged in the same secondary socialization (Veinberga, 2010). We do not think that the media has enormous power in our daily lives – media is like a mirror, where we see ourselves and our society, as well as public interest and thoughts. So the mission of the media should dispassionately, comprehensively and professionally inform, persuade, educate and what is the most important – to motivate people to act, participate and create, which will affect the development positively. The subject of the paper is Latgales Laiks – a newspaper of the Latgale, which is one of the largest press representatives in the region. The object of the paper is to present an application of Analytic Network Process for strategic decisions making. The objective of the publication is to identify the region‟s strengths, and to develop strategies to contribute to the improvement of the region‟s economic climate and potential development, on the basis of comprehensive socio - economic research of the Latgale region. On the basis of the objective, the hypothesis has been put forward – it is possible to identify the best strategy, using A‟WOT hybrid method, that represents the combination of Analytic Network Process and SWOT analysis has been used to define the principal operation strategy. The article consists of three main sections. In the first part the development and implementation process of the SWOT and ANP methods are viewed. In the second part the chosen region and problem is described. On the basis of SWOT matrix, four strategies of Latgales Laiks ltd. were proposed, and the significance of each strategy has been estimated by the means of A‟WOT hybrid method, thus creating the hierarchy of the strategies that will facilitate the implementation of the principal strategy of the company. In the conclusion, the proposals for the improvement of the content of Latgale Laiks have been made for the purpose of motivating people to engage in entrepreneurship, which will positively influence economic situation of the region.