Suchergebnisse

Investment in research and development (R&D) plays a vital role in sustainable economic growth in many countries around the world. In addition, also companies are aware of that R&D investment is becoming more and more important since it can generate future benefits, which may ultimately result in the sustainable corporate growth. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of private R&D expenditures and R&D tax incentives on sustainable corporate growth. Using multiple regression analysis, a panel dataset of 1372 companies investing the largest amounts in R&D activity is analysed. The results of this paper reveal that private R&D expenditures as well as R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) have a positive impact on sustainable corporate growth at the firm level in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The comparison between different subgroups of companies reveals that private R&D expenditures represent one of the main driver of sustainable corporate growth especially in high-tech companies, while R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) are key determinant of sustainable corporate growth in both subgroups of companies. The results may help governments in the formulation of relevant R&D tax incentive policy in the future.

Purpose: Legislation and tax authority conduct upon play a very important role in determining overall business environment by defining the rules under which the enterprises have to operate. Nonetheless, the complexity of legislation creates also unnecessary administrative burdens and consequently hinders entrepreneurial activity. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to establish whether there is a link between the perception of administrative barriers in the field of tax compliance and financial reporting and different characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Design/Methodology/Approach: Conducting a field survey and applying a parametric statistical technique on a sample of 293 Slovenian SMEs. Findings: The empirical results show that there are statistically significant differences in characteristics between those SMEs that perceive administrative barriers above average and those that perceive administrative below average in the field of tax compliance and financial reporting. Practical Implications: The overall findings suggest that regulatory authorities bear in mind that complexity of tax-related administrative barriers have a price resulting in deterioration of the business environment for SMEs and their performance. Originality/value: Utilising a comprehensive dataset covering Slovenian SMEs made by merging multiple data sources, namely field survey, balance-sheet and income-statement data, representing the main originality and value of the paper. ; peer-reviewed

The public sector and public governance play a crucial role in the contemporary society which takes care of social needs. Therefore, it is not surprising that good governance has often been used to explain good economic performance as well as the well-being of a society over the last decade. However, the business sector often represents a channel through which public governance affects economic performance, which has largely been neglected in the existing literature. In this context, not much is known about the role of public governance in promoting research and development (R&D) in the business sector in the EU. Therefore, this article aims to explain the interaction between the public and business sectors in a cross-national setting by investigating the relationship between different public governance practices and business R&D activity. The aim is to be achieved by applying a multiple regression analysis on a cross-sectional dataset of EU member countries. The empirical results show the following. First, they reveal that, in general, public administration in the EU is predominantly based on neo-Weberian state rather than New Public Management governance practices. Second, they reveal that public governance practices have important implications for business R&D activity. They show that impartiality, accountability and efficiency enhance business R&D activity in the EU, while closeness deteriorates it. The findings of the article are especially beneficial for contemporary governments and policymakers to establish appropriate public governance and policy practices in the future.

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P5-0093). ; Purpose: Private R&D investment in the business sector is often subject to market failures, such as positive externalities, information asymmetries, uncertainty and risk, making it often less than socially desirable. This is the primary reason that governments promote private R&D investment. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of public R&D policy on business R&D expenditures. Design/methodology/approach: Applying panel data regression analysis on a sample of 3,113 company-year observations, covering Slovenian companies for the period 2012-2016. Findings: The empirical results show that public support for R&D investment plays an important role in firms' R&D expenditures. As to R&D subsidies, the empirical results reveal they are generally ineffective since they displace firms' R&D expenditures. Yet they do become effective when used in combination with R&D tax incentives and received by companies that are growing. On the contrary, the empirical results also show that R&D tax incentives are always effective when companies have a sufficient tax base. Practical Implications: The overall findings suggest that R&D tax incentives are more effective than R&D subsidies in Slovenia. However, R&D subsidies are still attractive especially for smaller companies without a sufficient tax base. It is hence important to consider both public policy instruments as two parallel ways of supporting firms' R&D expenditures. Originality/value: Utilising a comprehensive dataset covering Slovenian companies made by merging multiple data sources, namely R&D survey, tax, balance-sheet and incomestatement data, representing the main originality and value of the paper. ; peer-reviewed

Investment in research and development (R&D) plays a vital role in economic growth. Therefore, the crucial role of government is to encourage companies to develop new knowledge, skills, and innovations in order to achieve greater competitiveness, employment creation, and economic development. The aim of this paper is to determine whether R&D subsidies contribute to corporate performance and ascertain whether the relationship between the amount of R&D subsidies and corporate performance is moderated by Slovenian cohesion (NUTS 2 level) and statistical (NUTS 3 level) regions. This paper ultimately tries to classify statistical regions within meaningful groups. Using an OLS regression, a unique dataset of 407 Slovenian companies is analysed for 2014. The empirical results reveal that R&D subsidies have a positive impact on corporate performance and confirm that cohesion and statistical regions can moderate the effect of R&D subsidy on corporate performance. Moreover, the paper provides for the classification of Slovenian statistical regions into four groups.

The main purpose of the article is to identify which components of public internal financial control (PIFC), as part of risk management, have been improved by the crisis the most at the regional level, and what is the possible reason for that. During the period 2008–2014, healthcare in the EU and consequently in Slovenia was under the pressure of aggravated circumstances. Therefore, it is important that healthcare organizations, especially regional hospitals, as a main provider of secondary healthcare, have risk management tools in place that prevent risks and provide a reasonable assurance that public funds are being used for the intended purpose. To test which components significantly improved in that period, a paired-samples t-test is performed on a sample of 10 Slovenian regional hospitals. The empirical results show that the components of risk assessment and control activities saw the greatest improvement.

This research advances the field of digital government by developing and empirically validating a model for measuring the digital state of public administration, with a specific focus on Slovenia. Moving beyond traditional digital maturity models, our study introduces a holistic framework that integrates elements of technology, process, structure, people and organisational culture, enriched by dimensions of digital principles, good governance, and external environmental factors. This framework is grounded in an adaptation of Leavitt's diamond model, tailored to capture the nuances of digitalisation in public administration. The empirical validation is conducted through a comprehensive questionnaire administered to Slovenian public administration organisations at both local and state levels. The results provide a nuanced understanding of the current digital state that extends beyond technological aspects, including process optimisation, organisational structure, people elements and culture dynamics, and insights into internal and external barriers to digitalisation as well as principles of good governance and digitalisation. The study's results show that ministries in Slovenia generally possess a more advanced digital infrastructure than municipalities, particularly in various aspects of ICT development and integration. While Slovenia aspires to align with the EU digital strategy, it faces various challenges, particularly at the municipal level, in achieving coherent development of digital skills and policy implementation. The comprehensive approach allows for a more informed evaluation of digital transformation efforts, offering insights into areas of strength and opportunities for further development. The findings have significant implications for policymakers and stakeholders, highlighting critical areas for targeted improvement and strategic planning in the digitalisation of public administration.

Public administration and public governance play a crucial role in society today by ensuring that social needs are met. Due to the constantly changing environment, public governance models have transformed many times, creating differences in public governance practices among public administration institutions, with combinations of contradictory structures and principles that coexist. Accordingly, this paper aims to provide an overview of different public governance models, extract quantifiable elements based on models' principles and examine the extent of layering of different governance models at different levels of public administration in the specific case of the Slovenian administration. Thus, the main focus is on identifying the differences in characteristics of public governance practices between state administration and local self-government. The results show state administration institutions are more strongly characterised by the Neo-Weberian model's principles. In contrast, local self-government institutions are more oriented to managerial public governance and Digital-Era Governance practices. Public managers may regard the results as additional resources for democratic and efficient governing. At the same time, they may provide policymakers with in-depth insights to consider while determining the trajectories of future public administration reforms.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are very important for the European economy. However, SMEs often encounter various barriers, whereby tax-related barriers are perceived as the most burdensome that affects their business operations and entrepreneurial activity in general. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it attempts to identify SMEs perception on current state and measures to be carried out in order to reduce respective red tape. Second, it tries to establish the relationship between burdens imposed by tax policy and entrepreneurial activity. Using hierarchical cluster analysis and descriptive statistics two different datasets are analyzed for the European Union (EU) and Slovenia separately. The results provide evidence that tax burden is less influential than tax administrative burden among EU countries by considering their impact on new business density and total early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Additionally, the results for Slovenia reveal that the need for a stable tax system, with IT and procedurally related measures are highlighted.

The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is widely recognised for the Slovenian economy. However, the issues regarding legislative and other administrative barriers and their perception by SMEs as a heterogeneous group of enterprises are not yet fully investigated. The main research hypothesis concerns that there exist significant differences in the perception of administrative barriers among characteristic SME groups. Consequently, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the key administrative barriers SMEs face in Slovenia. This entails three activities: (1) identifying the main areas in which barriers are found; (2) establishing what they imply performance-wise; and (3) providing policymaker guidelines tailored to different SME groups (size, legal form, sector, age). The empirical results, based on one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post hoc tests on a sample of 925 SMEs, show differences in the various groups of SMEs mentioned above. Thus, it is shown that it is most promising to address the administrative barriers through an in-depth approach that targets specific enterprise groups and is reflected within guidelines for responsible policymakers.

The task of every government, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to provide services and goods for citizens and to maintain economic order. Therefore, the combination of legislation, the judiciary and administration is inevitable. Moreover, public administrations must transform the way they function by using more information and communication technology in order to remain responsive and efficient. This challenge was further revealed during lockdowns in individual countries, which affected their social and economic development. The solution to that challenge is the implementation of e-government in the public sector. It also increases innovation in governance processes as well as efficiency and effectiveness by offering more participative opportunities to citizens. Hence, a mature level of e-government development also arises. Nevertheless, there are significant differences among the levels of e-government development in the EU-28. The aim of this article is to assess the influence of e-government maturity on government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In order to obtain empirical results, a two-stage least square regression (2SLS) was applied. The empirical results show that e-government maturity positively and significantly contributes to enhancing government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In addition, the rule of law plays an important role in each stage regression model. Based on the empirical results, we can conclude that e-government is inevitable and should ensure the proper functioning of public administration during the Covid-19 pandemic. ; Naloga vlad, zlasti v času pandemije covida-19, je zagotavljati storitve in blago za državljane ter vzdrževati gospodarski red. Pri tem je kombinacija zakonodaje, sodstva in uprave neizogibna. Poleg tega morajo javne uprave, če želijo ostati odzivne in učinkovite, prilagajati svoje delovanje in uporabljati več informacijskih in komunikacijskih tehnologij. Ta izziv se je pokazal zlasti med zaustavitvijo javnega življenja v posameznih državah, ki je vplivala na njihov družbeni in gospodarski razvoj. Rešitev za učinkovito spopadanjem s tem izzivom predstavlja uporaba e-uprave v javnem sektorju. Ta povečuje inovativnost upravljavskih procesov, pa tudi njihovo uspešnost in učinkovitost, saj državljanom ponuja več možnosti sodelovanja. S tem razvoj e-uprave doseže tudi zrelejšo raven. Kljub navedenemu pa še vedno obstajajo velike razlike med stopnjami razvoja e-uprave v EU-28. Cilj tega članka je oceniti vpliv zrelosti e-uprave na učinkovitost in uspešnost upravljanja v EU-28. Za pridobitev empiričnih rezultatov je bila uporabljena dvostopenjska regresijska analiza najmanjših kvadratov (2SLS). Empirični rezultati kažejo, da zrelost e-uprave pozitivno in pomembno prispeva k povečanju uspešnosti in učinkovitosti upravljanja v EU-28. V regresijskem modelu posamezne stopnje ima pomembno vlogo tudi načelo pravne države. Na podlagi empiričnih rezultatov lahko ugotovimo, da je e-uprava neizogibna in bi morala med pandemijo covida-19 zagotavljati pravilno delovanje javne uprave.

The task of every government, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to provide services and goods for citizens and to maintain economic order. Therefore, the combination of legislation, the judiciary and administration is inevitable. Moreover, public administrations must transform the way they function by using more information and communication technology in order to remain responsive and efficient. This challenge was further revealed during lockdowns in individual countries, which affected their social and economic development. The solution to that challenge is the implementation of e-government in the public sector. It also increases innovation in governance processes as well as efficiency and effectiveness by offering more participative opportunities to citizens. Hence, a mature level of e-government development also arises. Nevertheless, there are significant differences among the levels of e-government development in the EU-28. The aim of this article is to assess the influence of e-government maturity on government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In order to obtain empirical results, a two-stage least square regression (2SLS) was applied. The empirical results show that e-government maturity positively and significantly contributes to enhancing government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In addition, the rule of law plays an important role in each stage regression model. Based on the empirical results, we can conclude that e-government is inevitable and should ensure the proper functioning of public administration during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based on the notorious fact of our era digitalisation, this paper is focused on the probability of relations between the notions of law and digital era government (DEG), as they are found in the scientific literature. Out of the total of 3917 articles that were identified in the Scopus database as relevant in DEG research, 77 of them were further considered due to their connectedness between legal notions and notions of DEG. Results show a very modest presence of law in DEG literature. Based on this, the paper confirms Collingridge's dilemma of control and gives answers on the cross-disciplinary interconnection of law and IT, how digital dimensions and technology are addressed in the law, and whether the latter pursues modernisation or just reflects existing public governance principles. However, results based on a literature review may not be always aligned with the practical effects of digitalisation in society.