Číslo 1
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- ItemThe effects of european economic integration and the impact of Brexit on the uk immigrants from the CEE countries(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Simionescu, Mihaela; Bilan, Yuriy; Smrčka, Luboš; Vincúrová, Zuzana; Ekonomická fakultaConsidering the debates regarding lower increase in the economic growth after Brexit, the main objective of this paper is to measure the positive impact of economic integration of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries on the UK economy and the effect of Brexit on the immigration from these countries to the UK. The European Union membership of some CEE countries increased, in average, the number of the UK immigrants by 12 times in the period 2004-2014 compared to the group of countries formed by Russia and Ukraine. The empirical findings show positive economic effects of immigration on the UK’s economy, even if the pro Brexit group claimed that a control of immigration is necessary. CEE countries emigrants stimulated the UK economic growth, price stability and reduced the homicide rate. The effects of immigration on the unemployment rate, health and education spending were positive, but very low. According to mixed-effects Poisson models estimations, after Brexit the number of the UK immigrants from the CEE countries that are member of the EU might decrease by 2 times. This significant decline in immigration might impose austerity measures, because of the fall in the economic growth trend with negative impact on the UK economy. Therefore, we recommend policies that focus more on high-skilled labour force than on the reduction of the number of immigrants. The UK should propose measures to slow the expected immigration decline in order to alleviate economic issues like decline in economic growth, decrease in labour productivity, cutting backs on public services.
- ItemBehavioural economics of organization: employees and managers(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Houdek, Petr; Koblovský, Petr; Ekonomická fakultaThis short perspective article presents an overview of empirical evidence on the behavioural organizational economics on the basis of the extended standard model of worker's behaviour. The advancements of behavioural economics theories, new detailed and structured data on actions of economic actors, and increasingly used fields experiments provide a strong basis for the creation of more precise and more robust models of the behaviour of employers and employees. In this article we analyse 4 stylized extensions of standard model of worker's behaviour. Firstly, we give several examples of worker's reference dependent decision-making. Secondly, we utilize Akerlof’s hypothesis on the relationship between an employer and an employee which is as predicted very reciprocal, similarly to the gifts exchange paradigm. We show that the more the employee thinks s/he is trusted by the employer, the harder and more efficiently s/he works. Thirdly, we show several instances of the importance of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in employees and how those two motivations interfere with each other and crowd each other out in some situations. The research shows that meaningfulness of the work can be a significant driver of the employees’ efficiency as well. In the last section devoted to employees we provide evidence on the impacts of relative performance compensation on cooperation, reciprocity, and sabotage in firms. The last part is devoted to analysing behavioural regularities of managers in their day-to-day decision-making. The overview briefly expands particularly on their over-optimism and on their possibly undeserved remuneration resulting from random events and market changes rather than from the managerial skills. The article concludes by proposing possible directions for further field research.
- ItemPricing of the tourism product: a tool for entrepreneurs to adapt to a flexible market(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Buiga, Anuţa; Stegerean, Roxana; Chiş, Alexandru; Lazăr, Dorina; Ekonomická fakultaThe paper approaches the hedonic pricing analysis as a useful instrument for tourism entrepreneurs to get a competitive advantage through price setting policies. The main goal of this research is to conduct an analysis useful to measure the marginal effect of the attributes which contributes to price setting; the empirical analysis is developed on the prices of accommodation establishments from Romania. The study focuses on small and medium sized accommodation units, most of them entirely privately-owned. Within the analysis we set attributes from inside and outside the accommodation establishment as long as they are both ultimately linked with the pricing policy. Several hedonic specifications are estimated, in order to investigate the significance of accommodation attributes in the formation of room rates. There is a set of attributes with significant effect on the room price in all models, but with different intensity. The managers have to pay more attention to their internal facilities, goods or amenities (as recreational facilities), and to be committed to increasing the quality of their service delivery process, but there is also an opportunity for higher prices supported by attractive neighbourhoods. These findings are useful for the entrepreneurs interested in developing new businesses in tourism but also for managers already performing in the sector. Both categories have to face challenges such as new services development, price setting policy, choosing new locations. A flexible pricing strategy could become an effective and efficient tool for accommodation units in order to increase their performance. These elements are potential competitive dimensions and provide good opportunities for adapting to a dynamic market. Public and local administration organizations can develop appropriate policies for regional development based on hedonic models and thus, generate revenues and create opportunities for a sustainable development of tourism and also of the geographical region.
- ItemMulti-criteria group decision-making using an extended edas method with interval type-2 fuzzy sets(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Ghorabaee, Mehdi Keshavarz; Amiri, Maghsoud; Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras; Turskis, Zenonas; Ekonomická fakultaMulti-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are very useful in the real-world decision-making problems. We are usually confronted with the decision-making process in an uncertain environment, and the fuzzy set theory is an efficient tool to handle this uncertainty. Interval type-2 fuzzy sets are one of the extensions of the fuzzy sets which are very flexible to model an uncertain environment. This study is related to MCDM problems within the context of interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2FSs). The evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) method is a new and efficient MCDM method, and assessment of alternatives in this method is based on the distance of them from average solution with respect to all criteria. In the EDAS method, each alternative has positive and negative distances which are used to determine the appraisal score of it. In this research, we present an extended EDAS method, which is named EDAS-IT2FSs, for dealing with multi-criteria group decision-making problems with interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Basic concepts of interval type-2 fuzzy sets and the arithmetic operations of trapezoidal IT2FSs are used to develop the extended EDAS method. A numerical example of multi-criteria subcontractor evaluation problem is used to illustrate the process of using the extended EDAS method. The example involves eight subcontractors that need to be evaluated with respect to seven criteria. A comparison and a sensitivity analysis based on different sets of criteria weights are also performed to show the validity of the proposed method. The results of these analyses show the efficiency and stability of the extended EDAS method.
- ItemSpatially blind or place based policy? A comparison of innovation support in the Czech and Slovak Republic(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Šipikal, Miroslav; Szitásiová, Valéria; Pisár, Peter; Uramová, Mária; Ekonomická fakultaWith the ongoing changes in development of the European Union, also conditions for financial support are changing. For Central Europe, most financial aid comes from Cohesion policies. The same applies for the support of innovations, which are considered to be a driving force of development. One of the main debates concerning cohesion policy is the issue of “placed based” versus “spatially blind” policies. Their role mainly differs within the area of economic growth. This paper deals with the evaluation of innovation support as a driving force for economic growth from structural funds in two neighbouring EU member states – in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. This article provides a picture of what kinds of policies are implemented and how consequently the resources of the European Union are territorially distributed to support innovation. We especially dealt with the question of the support criteria for projects and their role in the implementation of support. Based on this, the paper tries to identify where assistance is concentrated and how the criteria influence the geographical distribution of this support.As a result, we found that, despite very similar spatially blind policies in both countries and very similar systems of providing support, they still have very different regional effects. In the Czech Republic, support was allocated to developed regions and high tech sectors to a greater extent. In the Slovak Republic, support was concentrated more on disadvantaged regions and in traditional sectors with lower added value. It shows the need to pay much more attention not only to policy set up, but also to policy implementation.
- ItemGender equality and corporate governance in Slovakia(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Musa, Hussam; Debnárová, Lenka; Musová, Zdenka; Krištofík, Peter; Ekonomická fakultaGender representation on company boards is controversial and currently a highly debated issue in corporate governance. It is also considered to be an important tool of corporate responsibility in economic areas. Of all the progressive actions that the EU and Member States have implemented to revive the European economy, the issue of women's participation in the labor market, particularly in corporate governance, merits more attention. Equality between women and men is one of the European Union's founding values yet clearly there are significant differences in pay by gender and representation of women on boards. One of the principles of corporate governance, the responsibilities of the board, is closely related to the issue of gender equality. According to this principle the board should ensure the strategic management of the company, the effective monitoring of management and should act responsibly towards both society and shareholders. These activities may be determined by many factors and one of them is gender equality. Advancing gender equality in the labor market continues to be a policy objective in many European Union countries. Wide national variations are evident in strategies and accomplishments towards improving gender equality at all levels of the labor market, including corporate governance roles. This paper focuses on the effect of gender diversity on corporate governance in companies listed on the Bratislava Stock Exchange. We measured the level of corporate governance by using a corporate governance index, compiled separately by company, and based on information from companies` annual reports. The paper uses a correlation analysis to examine the association between the representation of women on boards and the level of corporate governance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the link between corporate governance and gender equality in companies on the Bratislava Stock Exchange.
- ItemTwin deficits threat in the European Union(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2017-03-15) Siničáková, Marianna; Sulikova, Veronika; Gavurová, Beáta; Ekonomická fakultaThe aim of the contribution was to identify presence and contagion threat of twin deficits, i.e. simultaneous budget and current account deficit in the EU countries. Using correlations and Granger causality testing we recorded existence of twin deficits in most of EU countries. In several countries we confirmed traditional causality that budget deficit implies current account deficit. In several other countries the opposite, known as current account targeting, was true. In two counties (Spain and Hungary) bi-causality was detected. We consider existence of bi-causality as the most complicated situation in practice. Then it is a real vicious cycle. Policy makers must target both imbalances at the same time, to solve this problem, which can be very difficult. Persistent macroeconomic problems in these two countries confirm our assumption.Our paper extends existing literature by determination of two thresholds for public debt-to-GDP which modify occurrence and risk of twin deficits in the EU countries. These break points were identified via threshold panel data model. Twin deficits problems are not probable for countries with public debt-to-GDP lower than 30.668%. However, risk of this phenomenon is much higher if public debt is from 30.688% to 98.126%. Countries with public debt over 98.126% suffer from high and persistent twin imbalances. Therefore we suggest reconsideration of Maastricht criterion on public debt and its reduction to 30%. Finally we observe contagion effect of twin deficits throughout EU countries regardless their economic performance or the euro area membership which is indirectly triggered also in the case of non-euro area members.
- ItemThe specificity of knowledge management in the food industry in Poland(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Firlej, Krzysztof; Żmija, Dariusz; Ekonomická fakultaThe article presents an analysis of the problems of knowledge management in the food industry in Poland, which was carried out on the basis of the results of the author’s own study. The study was conducted in the years 2007-2013. The research shows that businesses established in the food industry are actively involved in the use of knowledge management instruments including: elements, tools and all kinds of sources of cooperation. The company's production processes use various sources of knowledge. It should be noted that outstanding cooperation takes place between customers and suppliers, as well as in external training. A weak interest of the surveyed enterprises in using the knowledge of the acquired business, and very insignificant cooperation with universities or research centres was discovered. Companies frequently acquire knowledge in trade relations, but also from specialist companies with an appropriate base which was also recognized as the most useful sources. The lack of cooperation with universities and research centres can attest to the impossibility of its use in practical applications in enterprises, or a lack of understanding of the benefits of this kind of cooperation. It is stated that, in the years 2007-2012, less than 2/3 of the surveyed enterprises of the food industry carried out activities related to the implementation of elements of knowledge management in the enterprise; internal training proved to be the most supportive in implementing acquisition and transfer of knowledge; more than half of the surveyed enterprises of the food industry spend funds on knowledge management, increasing them annually; surveyed companies noted the annual increase in the average level of financial resources incurred for the management of knowledge in the years 2007-2011(except 2010).
- ItemLoyalty programs and personal data sharing preferences in the Czech Republic(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Tahal, Radek; Formánek, Tomáš; Mohelská, Hana; Ekonomická fakultaEffective loyalty program management and evaluation requires that retailers have access to relevant data. In most cases, loyalty program organizers aim to establish consumer databases for the purpose of identification of individual customers: loyalty program members. The structure and quality of customer data often has a strategic effect on retailers’ decision-making accuracy and profitability. On the other hand, consumers worry about their privacy and fear their personal data may be misused. For a good-faith loyalty program organizer, it is an ongoing task to reconcile their corporate interests with the interests of consumers who are often rewarded by purchase incentives and personalized services. Consumer’s willingness to disclose personal information to loyalty program organizers is not uniform. In fact, individual preferences, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors play a very important role. This study provides a structured quantitative analysis of customers´ willingness to share selected key types of personal and contact data with loyalty program organizers in the Czech Republic. Cost-benefit assessments based on our results may help marketing managers with establishing and/or amending key LP incentives. We identify and discuss important differences in personal and contact data-sharing preferences among specific consumer groups. To highlight some of the empirical results, respondents aged 65 and older are significantly less willing to disclose personal data as compared to younger consumers. On the other hand, we do not find a statistically significant evidence for education-based differences in data sharing preference. Our results may be utilized by marketing professionals (loyalty program organizers) as well as by academic researchers in order to optimize their consumer data-gathering processes.
- ItemInfluence of business performance measurement systems and corporate sustainability concept to overal business performance: “save the planet and keep your performance”(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Rajnoha, Rastislav; Lesníková, Petra; Krajčík, Vladimír; Ekonomická fakultaNowadays the dissatisfaction with only financial indicators has led to a focus on non-traditional areas of performance measurement as Balanced Scorecard, environment indicators and others. Moreover many recent studies has focused on the corporate sustainability concept and performance measurement interconnection. The aim of this paper is to identify the relationship between selected management tools and concepts of various development phases of strategic performance measurement systems to overall business performance measured by indicator ROE. Similarly the aim is to identify the relationship between the sustainability index and indicator ROE as a key aspect in terms of the current climate crisis. Our most important findings bring new information and knowledge for the strategic transformation from traditional business performance measurement system to strategic and sustainable performance measurement system. Specifically we found out that the BSC methodology has a demonstrable impact on the business performance. Also KPI system and orientation on the environment affect the performance of enterprises. In the case that companies do not have the knowledge information system as a complex system and do not take into account its implementation they tended to have a lower level of performance. This means that the BI knowledge information system has a major impact on business performance. Regarding to the corporate sustainability concept we can confirm that the direct moderate correlation is apparent between economic sub-index and also composite index of sustainable development and indicator of ROE. The connection of environmental and social sub-index separately to ROE had not been shown sufficiently. Based on results we can conclude that the index of sustainable development is a challenge for enterprises reflecting a growing need for change purely short-term oriented, consumerist patterns of production and consumption.
- ItemDetermining factors of the benefits derived from the implementation of EN 9100 Standards(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2017-03-15) del Castillo-Peces, Carlos; Mercado-Idoeta, Carmelo; Prado-Román, Camilo; Ekonomická fakultaIn Spain, as well as in the rest of the world, the aerospace sector is one of the most important. The EN 9100 Standards (AS 9100 in America and SIAC 9100 in Asia), are a quality management system for the aerospace industry derived from the ISO 9001 standard, that include the requirements derived from the ISO 9001 and 83 specific additional requirements for the aerospace industry. This research aims to begin covering the virtual lack of studies about the results arising from the implementation of quality assurance standards in this sector. In particular, the objective of the research involves analyzing whether the appearance of the various positive effects that may arise as a result of implementing EN 9100 Standards is influenced by the following factors: a) size of the company; b) implementation of EN 9100 seniority; c) prevailing type of motivation (external and/or internal) to adhere to such standards. To that end, the research was addressed to the Spanish aerospace sector, and the population subject to the investigation was defined by 317 companies. A questionnaire was sent by postal mail and e-mail to the directors of quality of all the selected companies, and a multiple linear regression model was applied to data from the 126 valid survey responses. The results show that EN 9100 adherence seniority, as well as the prevailing type of motivation (internal or external), are significant variables for the appearance of positive effects arising from the implementation of EN 9100, while the size of the company is non-significant for the emergence of such positive effects.
- ItemA restaurant quality model based on marketing factors(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Kukanja, Marko; Omerzel, Doris Gomezelj; Bukovec, Boris; Ekonomická fakultaPrevious studies have highlighted the importance of several quality factors in guests’ assessment of restaurant quality. As there is no general consensus on which marketing quality factors really matter in assessing the quality of the dining experience in the previous literature, this paper describes and tests the development of a marketing-oriented Restaurant Quality Model (RQM 7P). In addition, this study tests whether guests’ perceive overall restaurant quality offerings as coherent. Special attention was devoted to a marketing perspective (7P). Following the discussion of the conceptualization and operationalization of the restaurant quality construct, the procedures used in constructing and refining a multiple-item scale to measure restaurant quality are described. Evidence of the scale’s reliability, factor structure and validity on the basis of analysing data is presented next. A sample of 1,998 valid questionnaires obtained by domestic guests in different restaurant facilities in Slovenia is analysed. Results show that guests perceive restaurant quality according to three marketing quality dimensions – (1) people, (2) placement, and (3) product (food) and physical evidences, while other marketing factors are not statistically significant in determining restaurant quality. In addition, the results indicate that guests perceive restaurant quality offerings as highly incoherent. From a theoretical point of view, this study contributes by developing a restaurant quality model based on marketing factors. In addition, it is the first study to test the perception of all seven marketing dimensions in the restaurant industry, and it provides insights regarding how guests perceive restaurant offering coherency. This research has thrown up many questions in need of further investigation. Future research should include a cross-national study involving different segments of guests in different types of food and beverage facilities.
- ItemRecenze: Kraftová, Ivana; Maštálka, Martin; Matěja,Zdeněk; Svoboda, Ondřej; Zdražil, Pavel: Bezpečný rozvoj regionu. Základní koncept, Wolters Kluwer ČR, Praha, 2016(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Vodáková, Jana; Ekonomická fakulta
- ItemAccess to finance: innovative firms’ perceptions in post-transition EU members(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-03-15) Botrić, Valerija; Božić, Ljiljana; Ekonomická fakultaThe post-transition EU member countries generally have to catch up with EU most developed economies in many aspects. Access to finance problems in these countries are potentially harmful to development of entrepreneurship, innovation performance and overall growth, leading to further lagging behind more advanced market economies. In this paper we analyse perceptions on access to finance in post-transition EU member countries. Special focus in the paper has been put on the differences between innovative and non-innovative firms. Furthermore, we seek to identify the characteristics of the firms that contribute to the gap formation. Empirical analysis in this paper relies on the latest available Business Environment Survey (BEEPS V), covering the 2012-2013 period. The sample in this study consists of 3,393 firms from eleven central and eastern European countries – EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia). The analysis expectedly revealed that innovative firms perceive financing constraints to be more important for their business, but somewhat unexpectedly the differences across countries are present. Although access to finance is more likely to be perceived as a problem by innovative firms, the firms that are either a segment of larger enterprise or established as joint venture, in general have less problems in financing their activities. When exploring the contributors to the perceptions in access to finance gap, only one variable proved to be important – female top management. It seems that if female top managers were more equally distributed between innovative and non-innovative firms, the perceptions on access to finance gap would be smaller.