Číslo 2
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- ItemComputer literacy and use of ICT as key factors of micro-enterprise success(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Werber, Borut; Rajkovič, Uroš; Urh, Marko; Žnidaršič, Anja; Ekonomická fakultaThe objective of this paper is to emphasize issues connected with micro-business financial success and adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) as possible factors to determine further organisational growth. This understanding is based on the results of an investigation conducted in Slovenia between May and December 2009 in 134 Slovene micro-enterprises. Data for the main study were collected via structured interviews with owners or top managers of micro enterprises. We used some demographic questions about the business annual turnover, computerisation, owner’s characteristics and some questions about the financial investments in ICT. To visualize and define factors we proposed a research model of annual turnover dependency in micro enterprise. The research focused on characteristics of owners of the enterprise, investments in ICT and characteristics of enterprises’ usage of available ICT in correlation to business annual turnover. The results indicate that adoption, the number and type of hardware and software are positively associated with the micro- enterprise success. An important factor is also formal education of the manager and/or owner and his or her computer and ICT knowledge and skills. We also found out that use of internet, eBusiness and number of used business software contribute to enterprise’s success. We can confirm that micro-enterprise informatisation can be the basis for a healthy economy growth if adequate knowledge and skills are present. To increase growth in micro-businesses we can use this and additional factors (intentions to growth, size, annual turnover, industry type, …) as filters to separate potential growing micro-enterprises from others that represent more than 94% of all enterprises in country. When we defined target group we can start to encourage growth with knowing methods from best practices all over the world. Based on our survey and on the review of literature, recommendations have been given how to be more effective and efficient in encouraging the growth of micro-enterprises.
- ItemThe position of management of Czech joint-stock companies on dividend policy(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Duspiva, Pavel; Sejkora, František; Ekonomická fakultaThe concept of distributing economic results belongs unequivocally among management’s basic financial decisions. Dividend payout to shareholders can be considered to be the distribution of economic results while fulfi lling legal conditions. The goal of this article is to identify factors that have a fundamental infl uence on dividend payout and to further determine and evaluate the position of management on dividend theories. This problematic is current for the conditions of Czech joint-stock companies, because deeper studies in this area are not available for recent years. Nevertheless, currently, the greater majority of joint-stock companies now regularly pay dividends, and dividend policy has become a part of their fi nancial policy that is impossible to overlook. With regards to the fact that profi t is the necessary condition for dividend payout, research was aimed at the sector, “Production and Distribution of Electricity, Gas and Water,” which is most interesting among Czech joint-stock companies from the perspective of profi tability and frequency of dividend payout. For the reasons of quantitative research, a two-part questionnaire was created for workers in financial management – specifi cally, members of the executive board, who are assumed to have comprehensive knowledge and an overview of the company. The survey showed that the most important factors for management when making decisions concerning dividend payout are the following: the requirements of existing shareholders, access to funds, the actual amount of profit and maintaining the target state of debt. Further resultsconfirmed that dividend policy does infl uence fi rm value. However, dividends are not supported as a tool for lowering information asymmetry and agency costs between management and shareholders. This conclusion can becaused by ownership structure when the fi rms investigated are characterized by high concentration of ownership; then, one shareholder is able to better protect the other shareholders against the implementation of management’s interests.
- ItemForeign markets entry motives and strategies of polish exporters(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Ďaďo, Jaroslav; Wiktor, Jan W.; Źbikowska, Agnieszka; Ekonomická fakultaThe article presents the results of research on the strategy of Polish companies that export their products to foreign markets. It presents motives, conditions and forms of expansion and is comprises of three parts. In the first one, the theoretical aspects of a company’s internationalization are discussed, with stress on motives and forms of entering foreign markets. The second part is concerned with the complex problems regarding methodology of research – goals, hypotheses, methods and description of study sample are the main focus here. The synthetic, summation of the results of the study are presented in the third part. The study verifies the hypotheses regarding motives of internationalization and concrete forms of entering foreign markets. The most powerful premises to internationalize Polish companies are market motives. The relationship between the size of the company, decision to start export goods and the nature of expansion (offensive, as well as defensive) has been ascertained. One of the strong motives for internationalization among companies belonging to SME group, were encouragements and invitations for cooperation from foreign partners. However, the main strategy was direct export, complemented by other forms of expansion, of lesser importance. In the expanding process Polish exporters took advantage of direct investments, via establishing divisions and subsidiary companies that deal with distribution of products. The waterfall strategy proved to be the most common in entering foreign markets – used by roughly 70% of the examined exporters. The research could be a contribution into the process of scientific examination and development of international business practice. It can also provide a ground for further discussion on marketing internationalization, methodology of formulating marketing strategies, their nature and assessing their effectiveness on international markets. Last but not least it can encourage more such scientific studies and research conducted by international teams of scholars.
- ItemFactors determining the corporate capital structure in the Czech Republic from the respective of business entities(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Strýčková, Lenka; Ekonomická fakultaThe specific corporate capital structure is fundamentally a complex process dependent on a large variety of determinants; and the chosen fi nancial strategy therefore depends on the particular decisions of individual firms. The aim of this contribution is to capture the most important determinants of the corporate capital structure from the perspective of entrepreneurs on the basis of an empirical inquiry. Although the number of respondents was limited, inquiry results still can be considered as relevant to formulate conclusions for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the manufacturing and processing sectors with the legal form of the limited liability company. To identify the most important factors affecting corporate decisions concerning the sources of financing, the statistical methods and procedures were used for the research evaluation. With the help of factor analysis, the three key external factors, brought in by the entrepreneurs, were derived: the economic and political development of the country, the market environment of the country, and the levels of tax and interest rates. The effect of internal factors determining the corporate capital structure was perceived by respondents as more important. The inquiry revealed that the most important internal factors were supposed to be: the corporate philosophy, the cost of the capital, and the fi nancial health and indebtedness of a business. The answer to the essential question of this article, whether the fi nal capital structure of a company is the result of its own decision-making, or rather a result of various external factors, thus tends rather to the predominance of the internal factors.
- ItemThe importance of design in business practices of czech companies(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Kramoliš, Jan; Staňková, Pavla; Richtr, Michal; Ekonomická fakultaIn the context of discussions about the role of innovation in business policy and marketing activities, questions of design to participate in the innovation success are often considered. The main aim of this paper is to comprehensively review the sources of design management. Furthermore, the study shows current situation in Czech business. This paper also attempts to analyse and identify the awareness of companies of various sizes concerning the importance of design. The primary aim of research was to investigate companies´ concern for design in relation to other factors: price, quality and reliability. A comprehensive review of the extant literature and journals identified several sources of design approach for Czech companies. The research consists of two main parts. Firstly, a method of smart internet Google SpreadSheets questionnaires designed by the authors was used. Total of 168 entries collected from 305 addressed respondents were used in the research. In the second part of research, the results were analysed using quantification and by means of seeking a mutual dependence. The results obtained were subjects to a statistical study. The results of the research have offered interesting findings. It was discovered that design represents a very important competitive factor that influences firms’ final decision. On the other hand, quality, reliability and price are still perceived as more interesting factors of innovation. Briefly, design is not likely to be perceived as the main innovation factor in the Czech Republic. This paper identifies several interesting aspects regarding design within Czech companies, including the mindset of management.
- ItemQuantifying corruption at a subnational level(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Linhartová, Veronika; Volejníková, Jolana; Ekonomická fakultaRegarding the fact that bribery and other methods of corruption are illegal in most countries, their participants try to hide them very carefully and uncovering corruption is often almost impossible. Despite that a high number of specifi c procedures exist nowadays. A common feature of these methods is however that they focus on the corruption rate at the level of countries. Quantifi cation of the corruption rate in smaller regional areas is still a considerably unexplored territory not only in the Czech Republic but also all over the world. Also the defi nition of the potential impacts of corruption or their precise quantifi cation is an area that was investigated only in general level of state. Detailed analysis of corruption still lacks regional dimension. Subnational distinction of a territory in terms of the corruption rate could provide a completely new extension of theories of reasons and consequences of regional disparities. There are several reasons why to focus on this issue. Perhaps the strongest reason is that if corruption is one of the variables that have an effect of reducing economic performance, the elimination of corruption in certain regions may be the key to the elimination of regional economic disparities and thus increase the economic performance of the state. The main goal of the presented article is formulated in this connection. It consists of a proposal of a methodology for quantifying the corruption rate in individual regions of the Czech Republic. It will be possible to mutually compare individual regions and at the same time defi ne the rate of deviation of a region from “surface” corruption rate in a country. Defi nition of these
- ItemDeterminants of bank social responsibility: case of Croatia(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Ivanisevic Hernaus, Ana; Stojanovic, Alen; Ekonomická fakultaRecently fi nancial sector and its responsibilities have come under great scrutiny. This has led to putting more emphasis on social responsibility of fi nancial institutions, primarily banks, due to their powerful and infl uential position. Banks have an impact not only on fi nancial and economic system, but on a wider community as well. Their socially responsible practices in particular may have important social implications, what is even more emphasized within bank-centric fi nancial systems, typical of CEE countries. Due to a lack of existing research, the aim of the paper is to assess social responsibility of banks at individual and industry level in a specifi c CEE context. At bank individual level, focus is put on factors of bank size, ownership status and fi nancial performance, while at the bank industry level the structure of granted loans is included in the analysis. The framework for assessing bank social responsibility is derived and adapted from previous research conducted by Cuesta-Gonzalez, et al. [23] and Scholtens [81]. It is applied to Croatian banking sector, while the level of social responsibility is empirically related to factors at bank individual and industry level. Research fi ndings offer an overview of social responsibility of Croatian banks. The results demonstrate that bank social responsibility is related to factors of bank size and ownership status at the individual level, and to the structure of granted loans at the industry level. However, the nature of the link between bank social and fi nancial performance did not prove signifi cant. Such findings offer a wider lesson of what factors are associated with social performance of fi nancial sector. Additionally, they may serve as a useful reference point for further investigation of socially responsible practices in Croatia and other CEE countries.
- ItemMethod for selecting expert groups and determining the importance of expertsjudgments for the purpose of managerial decision-making tasks in health system(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Ivlev, Ilya; Kneppo, Peter; Barták, Miroslav; Ekonomická fakultaThis work aims to develop a methodology for determining the qualitative composition of an expert group and the weighting factor regarding the importance of expert’s judgments for the purpose of participating in decision-making. It is based on the expert’s overall work experience, experience in solving tasks, level of education and scientifi c record, interest in solving the particular task, current position and awareness of how to solve the task. This study also considered the relevance of the expert’s knowledge and the overall self-evaluation concerning their total competence in solving the task. For the purpose of validating the methodology, 96 potential experts (physicians, biomedical engineers, radiological assistants, medical physicists, etc.) from 72 health facilities in the Czech Republic were interviewed through a web-based questionnaire. The calculation model that was selected was able to eliminate errors in estimating the proportionality of extreme values and reduces the impact of uncertainty in the experts’ overall self-evaluations concerning their total competence. A statistically signifi cant correlation was found between the complex weighting factor and the following characteristics: the expert’s experience in dealing with similar tasks (r = 0.512, p < 0.001), the expert’s theoretical background (awareness) and the relevance of the expert’s knowledge (r = 0.440, p < 0.001), the expert’s current position (r = 0.319, p = 0.002) and the level of his or her education and scientifi c record (r = 0.280, p = 0.007). The developed methodology may be especially useful in scientifi c and technological forecasting, medical and managerial decisionmaking, quality assessment and operational research.
- ItemRanking of priorities among the baltic capital cities for the development of sustainable construction(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Lazauskas, Marius; Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras; Šaparauskas, Jonas; Ekonomická fakultaCrisis of the real estate sector resulted in disadvantageous conditions for legal entities operating in the fi eld of construction and implementation of new property development projects. As a result, many such entities started investigating their options to offer construction services and products to more economically attractive foreign markets. This necessitates the need to assess the effectiveness of investments into new markets, considering the current developmental trends of the construction sector, which are related to implementation of sustainable construction projects. Close cooperation of Baltic States at the national level and joint activities of several construction market participants predetermine the necessity to assess biggest cities of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia being the potential market of construction sector to be selected as a target segment of effi cient development of construction needs.These are the reasons behind the creation of a typical calculation model, which could be adapted for an effective and uncomplicated assessment of investment rationale in new markets while ensuring the adherence to principles of sustainable development. Assessment of potential capabilities of a construction sector of three Baltic capitals (Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn) could provide the opportunity to direct capital and investments of construction market participants in the wore effi cient way and create the highest added value for the economy, residents and development of sustainable environments. Identifi cation of project implementation area is a key factor in determining directions of the activity performed by private investors, performed in order to assess the opportunity of effi cient realisation of construction project proposed for implementation with particular environment. A multiple-criteria task is formulated, which aims to determine the rank of priorities among cities of the Baltic states; and multi-criteria methods MOORA and MULTIMOORA are used for decision-making.
- ItemEconomic deglobalization – from hypothesis to reality(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Postelnicu, Cătălin; Dinu, Vasile; Dabija, Dan-Cristian; Ekonomická fakultaLately, a new term is used in international economic literature, namely “de-globalization” which has already sparked off numerous debates. As expected, some economists were quick to adopt it unhesitatingly, but others have labelled it as “absurd”, “superfi cial”, “simple”, “anachronistic” and even “counterproductive”. In fact, there are two diverging processes opposed to each other, both worth mentioning. First – globalization – with its multiple meanings and defi nitions, and the second – deglobalization – which is just beginning to fi nd a place within the confi nes of concepts used in international economics literature. The issue is not to treat them only as antonyms, but rather to demonstrate the causal relation between them. We consider trying to measure deglobalization as an important step in determining the true meaning of such a phenomenon, or if it is real. Also, would be interesting to fi nd out if deglobalization is really a long lasting trend, or just a short term turn in the evolution of the world economy. Using the “globalization index” and its components as a tool in this direction could be one of the potential solutions in defi ning the meaning of the new and complex changes which tends to shape the international economic relations and, after all, the international business environment. Although it is admitted not being a perfect tool, it could be a starting point in studying such a vast change. Therefore, the motivation of this article is to contribute to theoretical debates that bear on this new term, given that, as in the case of globalization itself, economists have not yet reached a consensus on the defi nition.
- ItemThe role of management decisions in explaining firm market exit(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Došenović Bonča, Petra; Ponikvar, Nina; Pušnik, Ksenja; Tajnikar, Maks; Ekonomická fakultaWe study factors of fi rm market exit and focus on the role of the fi rm’s management. We assume that the quality of decisions made by the fi rm’s management can be assessed by the firm’s technical and cost efficiency levels. We argue that the decisions of management are an important determinant of fi rm market exit and hypothesise that the characteristics of the macroeconomic environment infl uence the impact of technical and cost effi ciency on fi rm market exit. This is why we study whether the importance of decisions that are relevant for attaining technical effi ciency and decisions that contribute to cost effi ciency for firm market exit depend on the macroeconomic environment of the analysed fi rms. Such an analysis reveals which types of managerial decisions are relevant for fi rm market exit in differing macroeconomic environments. We use a logistic regression for rare events to estimate non-nested microeconomic models of fi rm market exit in Slovenia for two periods characterised by differing macroeconomic conditions. The results confirm that firms in which decisions of management result in inferior effi ciency are more likely to exit the market. Even though a fi rm’s management plays many relevant roles within the fi rm, our research demonstrates that those management decisions that refer to input selection and their substitution are those which are most crucial for preventing a fi rm from failing and ensuring its survival. We also fi nd that in differing macroeconomic environments different types of management decisions explain fi rm market exit. The results show that technical effi ciency has a more signifi cant infl uence on a fi rm’s market exit compared to cost effi ciency in a favourable macroeconomic environment, while cost effi ciency has a more signifi cant infl uence on a fi rm’s market exit than technical effi ciency in unfavourable macroeconomic conditions.
- ItemAn Exploratory study of a comparison between the UK and Czech Republic of the financial models used in the appraisal of ICT and non-ICT capital projects(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Hynek, Josef; Janeček, Václav; Lefley, Frank; Ekonomická fakultaOur research is aimed at identifying the current practices in respect of the financial appraisal of information communication technology and non-ICT projects. We look specifically at the UK – a well-established market economy – and the Czech Republic – an emerging market economy. Our research is based on a unique survey, which simultaneously examines the financial appraisal models used in the two types of projects, and addresses these issues from two diverse market economies. An important fi nding is that any differences in the fi nancial models used relate to the two countries rather than between ICT or non-ICT projects. While both countries make extensive use of the payback model, they fully defend the view that this model infl uences a short-term mentality.The Czech Republic, more so than the UK, also support the view that the payback is unsuitable for appraising information communication technology projects, yet they still use it to appraise such projects. The Czech Republic places less importance on the discounted cashfl ow models than the UK, with the Czech Republic preferring the ‘net present value’ to the ‘internal rate of return’. The UK, by using an ‘opportunity cost of capital’ approach in the determination of the ‘discount rate’, may be making it harder to achieve a positive net present value than the Czech Republic, who adopt an approach which is nearer to the true cost of capital. This exploratory study will aid both practitioners and academics in a greater understanding of the appraisal of capital assets and focus future research in a positive way.