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- ItemEffective evaluation of cloud computing investment – application of cost benefit method analysis(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-06-15) Marešová, Petra; Soběslav, Vladimír; Ekonomická fakultaUse of information and communication technologies both into enterprises and state administration is a great step towards increasing productivity and therefore, economic competitiveness. One of currently ever-spreading technologies is cloud computing. Transfer from the current infrastructure to cloud computing one is risky and expensive matter. The main question when considering cloud computing employment is the investment's effectiveness and return on investment. The aim of this contribution is to present a model and web application for cloud computing investments evaluation, which will allow customers to answer the main question whether migration from current IT infrastructure to cloud method is suitable or not. The model specifies return on investment based on chosen economic indicators as well as suitability of the solution in regard to characteristics and chosen aspects of company management. Among the main methods used during the model development are multi-criteria variant analysis, quantitative analysis by professional discussions while assembling the model, verification of the initial model with companies, its modification, and application development. The model is based on Cost Benefit Analysis method, and therefore it allows for considering qualitative variables, by which it significantly differs from the existing web calculators for cloud method cost calculations. Furthermore, the developed application is vendor independent and it is based on the following principles: requirement of inputs that take into account the specifics of companies, scalability and complexity in the form of static and dynamic economic indicators and includes sensitivity analysis and thus enables recalculate the result and based on a certain % change of input parameters.
- ItemThe visit fees and its influence on overalL health expenditureS – the case of the Czech Republic(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-06-15) Clark, J. Stephen; Dittrich, Ludwig O.; Stará, Dana; Barták, Miroslav; Ekonomická fakultaThe goal of the paper is to develop a simple demand model of health care services that can explain why the demand for health care services, and hence overall expenditures on health care, can rise with the introduction of visit fees based on real data available publicly in the Czech Republic. One of the most common problems with the costs of health care systems around the world is that they tend to increase expenditures at a rate that is greater than the rate of inflation. This has led to the introduction of visit fees by governments and/or public, private health care facilities and other health care providers. These fees are meant to rationalize the use of the health care system and slow the growth of health care expenditures. The Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic introduced from 1. January 2008 visit fees as a way to slow the growth of health care expenditures. On the contrary, total health care expenditures increased after the introduction of visit fees. A model of visits and visit intensity is developed, where visits and visit intensity are substitutes. The model shows that the demand for health care services will increase with an increase in the price of visits when the cross price elasticity of demand for visit intensity outweighs the own price elasticity of visits. The fees were abolished with the exception of fee for emergency room visit from 2015. The introduction of a visit fee is a counterproductive rationing device for health care services if it rations a component of overall health care services with a low own price elasticity of demand without rationing a substitute variable (visit intensity) with a higher cross elasticity of demand. Thus, the introduction of a visit fee may induce a sense of entitlement for further health care services per visit on the part of consumers, leading to an increase in overall health care expenditures.
- ItemAn integrated model of customer loyalty in the Macedonian mobile service market(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-06-15) Palamidovska-Sterjadovska, Nikolina; Ciunova-Shuleska, Anita; Ekonomická fakultaThe main objective of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model of customer loyalty in the Macedonian mobile service market, analysing its determinants and their interrelationships and effects on customer loyalty. The proposed research model integrates service quality, customer satisfaction, switching costs and switching barriers as the main determinants of customer loyalty, further analysing their different effects (direct/mediating/moderating) on customer loyalty. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used in order to assess the validity of the measurement model, and the developed structural model is tested with structural equation modelling (SEM). The reported results indicate that the proposed research model as a whole has a satisfactory level of adequacy and most of the hypothesized realtionships are confirmed. The results suggest that customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty and also service quality has a direct and positive effect on customer loyalty. The satisfaction-loyalty relationship is not mediated nor moderated by switching barriers, but switching barriers have a direct and positive effect on customer loyalty. The presented results would be of great importance for managers for the successful development of strategies for creating mobile service users’ loyalty. The empirical evidence obtained in this study suggest that Macedonian mobile operators should have in mind alternative strategies in creating customer loyalty, emphasising the fact that customer satisfaction has a stronger positive influence in creating customer loyalty than switching barriers. The present research provides an integrated approach in examining customer loyalty and explores the different roles of switching barriers in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. In order to further develop the integrated approach of customer loyalty modelling, some additional concepts should be incorporated and examined in the future.
- ItemDimensions of liquidity and their factors in the Slovenian banking sector(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-06-15) Laštůvková, Jana; Ekonomická fakultaThe present article focuses on the internal factors which have potential influence on the liquidity of the Slovenian banking sector. Unlike other studies, this paper uses multiple dependent variables, encompassing different views on liquidity and leading to higher complexity. These include the creation of liquidity, its outflow, net change and total reallocation, determined on the basis of a specific method of liquidity measurement – the gross liquidity flows. The chosen independent variables include various items of internal character such as loans, deposits, profit, capital and the size of the bank. Robust regression analyses are performed. The results indicate that internal factors have the greatest influence on the creation of liquidity, where almost all the variables considered were significant. Used factors do not only affect liquidity creation, often investigated by authors, but affect other dimensions of liquidity as well. A significant item which played a role in multiple dimensions of liquidity was the value of loans and the size of the bank (total assets). The models have shown that any given factor only has an influence on the creation of liquidity without influencing its outflow and vice versa. Thus, when looking for determinants only for the creation or only for the outflow of liquidity, the results need not necessarily comprehensively show the influence of the given factors, and can lead to erroneous conclusions. It is therefore suitable to include multiple views on the value of liquidity, since the influence of a factor can be more dominant in a different dimension of liquidity and affect the final value.
- ItemEngel’s approach as a tool for estimating consumer behaviour(Technical university of Liberec, Czech Republic, 2017-06-15) Benda-Prokeinová, Renata; Dobeš, Kamil; Mura, Ladislav; Buleca, Ján; Ekonomická fakultaEngel’s approach to consumption plays an important role in theoretical economics. There is thus strong empirical and theoretical interest to analyze the cross-section Engel function of real populations. A prerequisite of any economic interpretation is a reasonable estimation of these curves from given cross-section data containing households’ expenditures and income. In submitted paper the Engel curves computation was applied on the Slovak household’s income and expenditure. A double-log specification of the Engel’s function has been chosen in order to estimate the expenditure elasticity of households by using an economic status of households’ head at work for each household by children per person. The household Budget Survey of the Slovak Statistical office was used for the period 2004–2014. Analysis of income elasticity demonstrated negative correlation of food expenditure in Slovak households and the number of children in all food groups of the consumer basket classified as necessary goods. Examination of the households based on the economic activity of their head (employee, self-employed, retired, and others) showed differences in availability of various food groups for the households (inferior, necessary, luxury goods). Increased amount of food groups were included within the luxury category in following order: the households with self-employed head, employed household head, and retirees. Households without children have meat and fats & oils included in the category inferior goods, other types of households according to the number of children considered all types of food in the consumer basket as necessary goods. Results provide deeper knowledge about consumers’ behavior of Slovak households.