Suchergebnisse

Our paper is focused on the factors that influence innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic. The country that went through long economic transformation that resulted in the set-up of the new improved standards for entrepreneurship activities is currently dealing with the aftermath of world's economic and financial crisis. With regard to all that, Czech SMEs are facing tough competition on domestic and EU markets. This is when innovations might become one of the key factors of success that can help to differentiate the product, beat the competition and attract more customers. Our study is based on the empirical model that employs the data from the survey questionnaire with 1144 Czech SMEs. We find several forms of innovations (e.g. own R&D, investment into technology, improvement of quality of a product or service, or presence on foreign (EU and world) markets) can become very significant in enhancing the growth and success of Czech SMEs, while the bureaucratic barriers for innovations and external factors with negative impact did not come through as obstacles. Based on our results, one can state thatthe most important policy implications are for the relevant stakeholders would be the support of investment activities of SMEs, creation of SMEs clusters within business parks, education of employees, expansions of Czech exports to the new markets, and intensive support of R&D. It would also make sense to increase the number of small SMEs (sole-traders and micro-enterprises) by making the registration process easier, or by offering subsidies or government support to the new companies and start-ups.

N/A

Rural micro-enterprises are an important factor in sustainable rural development in post-transitional Eastern Europe. This paper deals with determining the key factors influencing profitability in rural micro-enterprises in Poland. The research design was based on a questionnaire survey of 300 rural micro-enterprises in the food-processing sector in rich and poor Polish provinces. The analysis carried out in this study is centered around the Polish EU accession in May 2004. Similar to other related studies, our results show that EU accession was not perceived as a major change by rural Polish micro-entrepreneurs and that the EU related factors were not significant determinants of their profitability. However, our results also show that the success of the rural food processing micro-enterprise in Eastern Europe is most related to its owner/manager and enterprise characteristics. For the owner/manager the most significant determinants are his/her age and risk-taking as the main motive for establishing an enterprise. The enterprise characteristics that determine the profitability include enterprise location within a region with competitive situation, enterprise size (being a sole trader or family enterprise), ICT advancements in enterprise and the fact whether the enterprise has any certificates for its products. The results have significant implications for the researchers and policy-makers and can become a basis for preparing relevant enterprise support policies in post-transitional Eastern Europe.

Rural micro-enterprises are an important factor in sustainable rural development in post-transitional Eastern Europe. This paper deals with determining the key factors influencing profitability in rural micro-enterprises in Poland. The research design was based on a questionnaire survey of 300 rural micro-enterprises in food-processing sector in rich and poor Polish provinces. The analysis carried out in this study is centered around the Polish EU accession in May 2004. Similar to other related studies, our results show that EU accession was not perceived as a major change by rural Polish micro-entrepreneurs and that the EU related factors were not significant determinants of their profitability. However, our results also show that the success of the rural food processing micro-enterprise in Eastern Europe is most related to its owner/manager and enterprise characteristics. For owner/manager the most significant determinants are his/her age and risk-taking as the main motive for establishing an enterprise. The enterprise characteristics that determine the profitability include enterprise location within a region with competitive situation, enterprise size (being a sole trader or family enterprise), ICT advancements in enterprise and the fact whether enterprise has any certificates for its products. The results have significant implications for the researches and policy-makers and can become a basis for preparing relevant enterprise support policies in post-transitional Eastern Europe.

This paper analyzes the possible incidence of pending** Croatian EU accession that is to take place on the 1st of July 2013, on the labour migration from Croatia to the European Union. We apply panel data estimators using the data on emigration from 18 EU countries into Germany (which is the EU country with the largest share of ex-Yugoslav and Croatian migrants) in order to construct possible scenarios of Croatian migration to the EU. Three scenarios of migration - pessimistic, realistic and optimistic - are drawn and the sensitivity of estimated coefficients on migration from Croatia into Germany during next 25 years is further discussed in detail. We conclude that, similarly to hypothetical Turkish accession, Croatian EU accession is not going to cause massive migration inflows. Keywords: international migration, EU enlargement, Croatia, panel data, seemingly unrelated regressions. (Romanian Journal of European Affairs / SWP)

Rural micro-enterprises are an important factor in sustainable rural development in post-transitional Eastern Europe. This paper deals with determining the key factors influencing profitability in rural micro-enterprises in Poland. The research design was based on a questionnaire survey of 300 rural micro-enterprises in the food-processing sector in rich and poor Polish provinces. The analysis carried out in this study is centered around the Polish EU accession in May 2004. Similar to other related studies, our results show that EU accession was not perceived as a major change by rural Polish micro-entrepreneurs and that the EU related factors were not significant determinants of their profitability. However, our results also show that the success of the rural food processing micro-enterprise in Eastern Europe is most related to its owner/manager and enterprise characteristics. For the owner/manager the most significant determinants are his/her age and risk-taking as the main motive for establishing an enterprise. The enterprise characteristics that determine the profitability include enterprise location within a region with competitive situation, enterprise size (being a sole trader or family enterprise), ICT advancements in enterprise and the fact whether the enterprise has any certificates for its products. The results have significant implications for the researchers and policy-makers and can become a basis for preparing relevant enterprise support policies in post-transitional Eastern Europe.

This paper aims at comparing the management perspectives with the audit conditions in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Poland, and Hungary) in the following areas: legislation governing the auditing, statutory duty of auditing, mandatory rotation of auditors in public interest entities, requirements on auditors and professional activities, and audit supervision organizations. The paper also tests the hypothesis whether there is a relationship between the size of the accounting entity and the auditor's opinion.The methodology is based on the statistical analysis of the data using the Chi-square test of independence applied to a sample of 800 randomly selected accounting entities from all V4 countries (200 per each country in question).The results demonstrated significant differences in the management approaches to financial reporting, especially in the area of the statutory duty of auditing. In addition, quantitative research was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between the size of the accounting entity and the auditor's opinion. At the 5% significance level, no such dependence has been found for any of the V4 countries, but at the 10% significance level, the dependence has already been proved in case of the Republic of Poland and Hungary. The practical value of the obtained results is the knowledge of how to manage accounting standards for business entities in the V4 countries, as well as to determine the statutory duty to audit financial statements. These results might be of a special practical importance for business managers, tax authorities, and auditors operating in the EU countries.