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- ItemThe influence of gender on financial decisions: evidence from small start-up firms in spain(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2015-12-01) Hernandez-Nicolas, Carmen Maria; Martín-Ugedo, Juan Francisco; Mínguez-Vera, Antonio; Ekonomická fakultaThe presence of women in management positions in companies is one of the topics that have generated the most interest and controversy over recent years. This has also been the case in Spain, where several legal initiatives have promoted the presence of women on decision-making bodies of companies. These important and pioneering legislative initiatives focus on the recommendation of positive discrimination in favour of women in large firms. This measure is justified not only for reasons of ethics or social justice, but also for the purposes of efficiency and rational economic behaviour. These laws have created an open debate in Spain and in other countries where they have been enacted and they have attracted the attention of researchers. In this context, the majority of the studies have attempted to analyse the effect of gender diversity among top managers on corporate performance of listed firms. On the contrary, this paper analyses the influence of gender on some financial decisions, using a sample of 12,376 Spanish small and micro start-up firms. Unlike previous papers, this manuscript examines not only the level of debt but also the cost and maturity of the debt. To control the endogeneity of the variables, a system of simultaneous equation with Three Stage Least Squares methodology is employed. The results show that companies run by women and boards with gender diversity tend to borrow less, have lower costs for debt and longer term debt, reinforcing the hypothesis that females are more risk averse. These results are robust for diverse measures of gender diversity (the presence of a woman as CEO, the percentage of female directors and Blau and Shannon diversity indexes).
- ItemFinancing craft enterprises associated in the polish craft association(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2015-12-01) Foltys, Joachim; Dębicka-Ozorkiewicz, Grażyna; Królczyk, Jolanta B.; Hiadlovský, Vladimír; Ekonomická fakultaThis article concerns functioning of small and medium enterprises and in particular: craft ones. In the sector structured European Union, the abovementioned stand for 80–95% of the existing companies and moreover, they generate the biggest number of job positions and the national income. The article focuses on a selected part of SME sector: craft enterprises and especially, on financing their activities. This financing relates to both, financing craft businesses’ investments and their current operations. In the first part of the text one presents a literary query concerning the definition of a craft enterprise and the resulting from its characteristic functioning: conception and tools for financing investments and current operations of craft enterprises. In the second part, one demonstrates the results of researches on the conception and the tools for financing craft enterprises functioning on the Polish market. In the summary of the article one demonstrates conclusions concerning the ways of maintenance and (in many cases innovative) changes of the conception and the tools for financing craft enterprises. The element congruous with the basic topic of the article relating to the current functioning of a craft enterprise in the real environment (both: inner and outer one), is its functioning in the digital surrounding (including with regard to the conception of financing activities), which correlates with the dynamic development of ICT technologies. The aforementioned development together with digitalization determines many aspects of craft enterprisesfunctioning; also the ones connected with financing tools and conceptions. Referring to the things stated, it is clear that ICT technologies should be taken into account in enterprise's current activities and in other aspects of its functioning e.g. communication, as well as eservices it provides and receives.
- ItemMultiple criteria analysis of the life cycle of the built environment(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2015-12-01) Žižka, Miroslav; Ekonomická fakulta
- ItemSignificance and possibilities of major accident insurance(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2015-12-01) Jindrová, Pavla; Jakubínský, Radim; Ekonomická fakultaThe development of human society is placing ever increasing demands on their production. This action brings the company not only positive but also negative impacts. Along with the development of industrial production, people have to face the risks posed their activity brings. The accidents, which occurred in the recent past, they still have a negative impact not only on humans but also on the environment and the economy. In this paper, we address the issue of major accidents. Major accidents are meant only accidents caused induced by human activities. The paper presents the best known major accidents since the beginning of the 20th century. They have come in the European Union to modify the legislation that is valid for the all EU Member States. In the Czech Republic, these rules are enshrined in Act No. 59/2009 Coll., on the prevention of major accidents. For human society is a necessary protection against the effects arising from major accidents. One of the possibilities is the insurance of major accidents. Since in major accidents frequently occurs very high damage is therefore utilized modelling and simulation of extreme values. One of the options that can be used is modelling using the quantile function. The paper recalled model and process simulation of extreme values. It is possible to estimate the values of the damage amounts thanks to the help of the simulation of the quantile function, and it is also possible to estimate the maximum limit of the interval of damage. This knowledge can be used in deciding on the appropriate type of non-proportional reinsurance and also for the management of catastrophic risk insurance.
- ItemDoes concentration of ownership and family control affect specialisation/diversification business strategies?(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2015-12-01) Hernández-Trasobares, Alejandro; Galve-Górriz, Carmen; Ekonomická fakultaThe impact of family ownership on strategic decision-making and diversification in public corporations is an important but not clearly understood aspect of modern corporate governance. In many cases, large-block family owners of public corporations may have a great deal of input in strategic decision-making in large corporations. Previous literature investigates how ownership structure and diversification are connected, but conclusions are not homogeneous. Agency theory suggests that professional managers are fundamentally self-interested, and the public corporation diversifies because managers pursue their own interests, rather than the interest of shareholders. However in family firms, ownership and control use to coincide and family diversification decisions which causes a lower diversification. In this paper authors analyzes the impact of ownership concentration and the influence of ultimate owner’s nature of business group (family or non-family) in diversification's decision: specialization, related diversification, unrelated diversification and mixed diversification (when a company uses both related and unrelated diversification) Based on a sample of ninety-nine Spanish listed companies during the years 2000–2005, and using the listed company an their subsidiaries (pyramidal group) as unit of analysis, this research finds: firstly, the highest ownership concentration increases the adoption of specialization strategies and reduce the mixed diversification; Secondly, attending to ultimate owner’s nature, family firms adopt more strategies of specialization and related diversification, and less diversification strategies than non-family firms; Finally, results also show behaviour differences in family firms according to ownership concentration’s degree: an increasing ownership concentration’s degree in family firms rises the probability of diversification.