Search

Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are highly important for producing highvalue-added innovative and intermediary goods and play a crucial role in being suppliers of large enterprises, their financial restraints cause them to encounter problems regarding their internationalization process and financial performance. As a dynamic capability of Resourcebased View theory (RBV), the usage of marketing communication tools (MCTs) by SMEs, such as social media (SM), websites, telemarketing, direct mail, SMS campaigns, and Google Adwords, increases the competitiveness of SMEs and might enable them to reduce their financial performance and export concerns. However, the usage of these tools can differ depending on the firm's country of origin since countries have various socio-economic and cultural conditions that affect the competitiveness of firms and their marketing communication approaches to their export and financial performance. In this regard, this paper aims to find international differences in the impact of the usage of MCTs on export and financial performance. This paper examines 1221 SMEs from Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary for this aim. The researchers created an online questionnaire to collect data from randomly selected respondents in the research sample. The researchers also ran Binary Logistic Regression analyses for analysis purposes. Although this paper confirms international differences in the impact of MCTs on the export of SMEs, the effect of SM usage on the financial performance of SMEs does not differ depending on the SMEs' country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensification of market competition, supply chain management is more critical for business development. Many studies have conducted literature reviews based on supply chain management research. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of the actual economic phenomena on supply chain management research. This paper investigates the dynamic impact of various inflation indicators on supply chain management studies in the context of inflation through bibliometric and econometric analysis. Specifically, this paper first conducts a bibliometric analysis of supply chain management research and determines the literature variables. Secondly, time series data on six inflation indicators are collected as economic variables to reflect trends and fluctuations of inflation. Meanwhile, the Granger causality test investigates the dynamic relationship between inflation and supply chain management research development. Finally, the impact of inflation on supply chain management literature data is quantitatively evaluated by the analyses of impulse response functions and forecast error variance decompositions. The analysis results of this paper show that the influence between inflation and academic research on supply chain management is bidirectional, and the bidirectional impact varies across inflation indicators. The conclusions of this paper can not only provide a reference for enterprises to improve their competitiveness in actual economic activities but also help researchers to grasp the key points in scientific research better and improve the competitiveness of academic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide are fragile and endangered in facing financial problems due to a lack of financial resources. To overcome these issues, their capabilities based on a Resource-based View (RBV), such as innovativeness and competitiveness, might enable them to reduce their major financial issues related to their financial risk management. In this regard, this paper aims to examine the impacts of SMEs’ innovative and competitive attitudes on their financial risk management. Moreover, this paper examines whether those impacts differ depending on firm size. In line with those purposes, this paper analyzes 1221 Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian SMEs randomly selected from various databases. The researchers employ an online survey to collect the research data from the survey respondents, who are the executives of the analyzed SMEs. Concerning the data analysis, the researchers run Ordinal Logistic Regression Test. According to the results, while innovativeness negatively affects the financial risk management of SMEs, competitiveness does not. On the other hand, the results regarding firm size indicate that more competitive and less innovative microenterprises perform better in financial risk management compared to their less competitive and more innovative counterparts. However, competitiveness and innovativeness do not play determining roles in the financial risk management of small and medium-sized firms. The costs of R&D activities that firms face, the sectors that firms operate, and the educational status of the executives of SMEs might be strong arguments to explain the result of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of audio marketing strategies on Generation Z within the context of fashion stores. The mentioned area, The Influence of Audio Marketing on Fashion Stores, has not yet been explored in the post-COVID era on the European market. The European fashion retail market has recently encountered numerous challenges and the previously mentioned issues. Given the stiff competition faced by fashion retailers in Central Europe, understanding how to enhance the shopping experience for this emerging consumer group is crucial. We conducted a quantitative case study using a research sample collected through online forms at V4 Economics (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary). Our five hypotheses were rigorously tested using statistical tools by One Mean Wilcoxon Test. It was found that there is an influence of audio marketing on increasing the time spent and encouraging higher spending in stores. Another significant finding is the impact of audio marketing on impulsive buying behavior, store satisfaction, and customer intentions. Additionally, our research examines suitable musical genres for Generation Z in fashion stores, with pop music emerging as the most suitable choice based on the results. This paper provides valuable insights for marketers considering the implementation of audio marketing strategies in fashion stores and guides them on selecting the appropriate musical genre to enhance the overall shopping experience for customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how political discourse reaches different audiences through neurocommunication. The specific case studied is the speech delivered by Donald J. Trump to announce his candidacy for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. A review of concepts such as neurocommunication, neuropolitics and sociolinguistics is carried out. All of these are key elements in understanding how the public perceives leaders' speeches, especially in a competitive environment where leaders are trying to reach as many people as possible. The audiovisual material of the speech is used to investigate, through a codebook, the interaction between the ideas of the speaker and the audience, the way of speaking and the tone used by the leader to convince the different audiences or the deliberate use of certain words to achieve the intended purpose, in this case, to secure votes. With these codes, results are achieved that indicate that many of the registers used in Trump's speech influence the psychology of voters when making their decisions, again in an environment where there is a large number of offers. These are factors that serve to convince and persuade the public. This paper offers, through innovative approaches and methods, an analysis of how political discourse can be competitive in the current international context. The main advantage of using these codes is that they make speeches more efficient for different audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unsettling issue for people worldwide has been the rise in medicine prices. The news routinely reports on surprising drug price increases; however, the general public isless informed about the real reason for increasing medicine prices. Although there are a number of parties involved in the drug price increase, it is unclear to whom the increase can be directly attributed. This study used the scoping review method, to map the literature on the topic. It answers a research question concerning stakeholder responsibility for increased drug prices. To do so, the authors conducted a literature survey of different scientific research databases between 2018 to 2022, using two key phrases: "unfair drug price" and "drug price stakeholders." In the study, a total of 26 papers were full-text reviewed out of 323 papers that were initially identified. The cost-effectiveness of new medications that must go through the pricing and reimbursement procedure is routinely assessed by the pharmaceutical industry. However, because there is a data gap, it is impossible to assess the relationship between drug costs and demand over a longer time period, to identify the drugs that are not covered by health insurance, or to determine the role of health insurance in rising drug prices. Even so, the scoping review reveals more evidence that pharmaceutical corporations have the ability to determine prices, undermining the idea that the health insurance industry is the primary cause of price increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms have considered intellectual capital (IC) as a key factor improving their competitiveness and performance. They can optimize their performance by maximizing resource utilization through examining the IC and physical capital. Therefore, in order to improve their competitiveness, this paper examines the impact of IC and its components on Vietnamese listed firm performance with a comparison among industry types over the period 2008-2021. The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model is employed to measure IC. The system generalized method of moments (SGMM) and structural equation model (SEM) are used to identify the factors affecting firm performance. Our findings are that IC and its components play an important role in firm performance. VAIC, human capital efficiency (HCE), and capital employed efficiency (CEE) contribute to firm performance. Structural capital efficiency (SCE) positively influences firm performance for all combined firms and manufacturing companies, while it has a negative effect on firm performance in the service sector. The financial crisis played an important role, but the COVID-19 pandemic eroded firm performance. The financial crisis had a moderating effect on IC. This research expands the understanding of IC by analyzing the impact of IC and its components on firm performance with consideration of global crises and industry comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate innovation is fundamental to the sustainable competitiveness of any economy. This paper examines whether and how local government-level macroeconomic growth pressure induced by gross domestic product (GDP) manipulation in China affects corporate innovation. Using calibrated satellite night light data to construct the GDP manipulation index, we find that GDP manipulation reduces local firms' R&D expenditure in the year ahead. The result holds up through robustness tests using different measures of GDP manipulation and corporate innovation. Additionally, we employ an instrumental variable approach to address endogeneity issues and enhance the strength of the causal inference. Furthermore, we find that the effect of GDP manipulation on local corporate innovation is stronger in regions with higher government intervention and where local governments control greater resources. Moreover, this finding is more prominent when local governors face intensified economic growth pressure or promotion incentives. This paper provides evidence that the Chinese government's incentive to boost GDP growth negatively affects corporate innovation. Our findings offer valuable insights for policymakers aiming to stimulate economic growth and enhance competitiveness within their jurisdiction. By implication, it is necessary to form a financial and administrative system that effectively promotes industrial innovation and facilitates the transformation of the economic growth model into one driven by technology and innovation to gain a reasonable competitive advantage both within China and internationally. Future research may explore the evolving dynamics of GDP manipulation's impact on other microeconomic behaviors, with particular focus on how it hinders competitiveness across industries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of green environmental practices and their dimensions, such as attitude towards green products, green marketing mix, and green customer value on green environmental practices and green purchase intention, which enhance the brands' competitiveness of manufacturing units of Asian economies. This paper further examines the influence of green entrepreneurial orientation, psychological benefits, and green innovation as mediating variables between exogenous and endogenous variables. The paper finally investigates the impact of green marketing as a moderator between exogenous and endogenous variables. The researchers employed a modified and structured questionnaire to obtain 498 responses from China, Pakistan, India, South Korea, and Bangladesh. For analysis, the researchers used PLS-SEM modeling using Smart-PLS 4.0. The research study's findings demonstrated that green environmental practices have a positive and significant relationship with green purchase intention. The outcomes of this research further reveal that attitudes towards green products, green marketing mix, and green customer value significantly and positively impact green environmental practices, enhancing competitiveness and corporate image. The mediation findings exhibited that green entrepreneurial orientation, psychological benefits, and innovation have a significant and positive influence as mediating variables between green environmental practices and green purchase intention. Finally, the outcomes of moderation of green marketing exhibited a significant and positive impact between exogenous and endogenous variables. The study's findings have demonstrated a significant theoretical and managerial implication for researchers, academicians, industry practitioners, and policymakers. Industry practitioners can develop effective strategies to enhance the competitiveness of their brands in industrial manufacturing units in Asian economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Competitiveness has published its first special issue on "Sustainability and Competitiveness." The issue includes articles on various topics such as the role of marketing tools in SMEs' internationalization, the impact of intellectual capital on Vietnamese firm performance, innovation cooperation in Central and North-Eastern Europe, financial reporting quality and investment efficiency in emerging markets, and more. The articles cover a range of countries including Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, China, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Taiwan. The journal aims to provide multidisciplinary perspectives and contribute to the existing literature on competitiveness. [Extracted from the article]

This paper proposes and to empirically tests an alternative method of measuring credit cycle fluctuations with a "nominalized" state of the population used as a denominator to the sum of the credit in the economy. It is a response to the often-quoted disadvantage of the baseline approach that estimates the credit gap with HP-filtered credit-to-GDP time, which distorts information on the state of the credit cycle in periods of significant declines in nominal GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic shock that created ideal conditions for another practical manifestation of this weakness almost on a global scale. In the proposed alternative method, the cyclical component from the adjusted credit per capita time series is obtained through HP filter, i.e., similarly as in the baseline approach. Although the "credit per capita" approach is not completely new in this research subject, we use some important innovative features, such as quarterly state of population and its "nominalisation" with the use of a GDP deflator. Our empirical results show that the proposed credit per capita approach proved to be more appropriate compared to the baseline credit-to-GDP approach, at least in periods of large swings in economic activity. This feature of the proposed innovative approach can be valuable in the sense of eliminating false signals to countercyclical regulation and assessment of a country's competitiveness to enhance the credibility and validity of the findings, adding value to the overall research outcome using data reliability validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the dynamic capabilities of exporters during the pandemic, specifically on export adaptability - since it is core to responding to and enduring the pandemic's turmoil. COVID-19 manifested sudden enduring uncertainty with severe implications for international operations, disrupting global value-chains and impacting world trade with devastating effect - crucially requiring exporting firms to swiftly adapt to cope and surmount havoc. The objectives of the research are twofold: to explore the combined impact of firms' export adaptability dynamic capabilities, together with specific exporter characteristics, on export customer satisfaction in COVID-19 times; to analyse the moderating effect of the firms' competitive advantage on this relationship. Our study investigates agri-food exporting companies in Chile, an export-oriented country in this sector. We adopt a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodology. This approach offers ideal causality identification, as it is based on the premise that outcomes of interest usually have multiple interdependent causes. We conclude that the presence of exporting firms' adaptability capability, together with characteristics typically inherent in being a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), and a permanent exporter, significantly favour export customer satisfaction, and that having a strong competitive advantage intensifies this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the effect of geopolitical risks on financial development (measured by domestic credit to the private sector) in a panel dataset of 18 emerging markets over the period 1985-2018. The results from the fixed-effects estimations indicate that an increase in geopolitical risks leads to a lower level of domestic credit to the private sector. The findings from the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable estimations also confirm that geopolitical risks impacts negatively on domestic credit to the private sector. In terms of controls, we have found that per capita income and broad money are positively associated with domestic lending. Further, external imbalances were found to suppress domestic credit in emerging markets. Various additional controls were then included to address potential omitted variable bias. Moreover, we utilized multiple robustness checks, such as excluding countries from different continents as well as extracting outlier observations. According to the findings from these robustness checks, the negative impact of geopolitical risks on domestic lending is statistically and economically robust. To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to provide evidence for the negative impact of geopolitical risks on financial development in emerging markets, the economic performance of which can slow down as competitiveness deceases due to concomitant threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, with the increasing digital competition among enterprises, it is of great importance for enterprises to promote digital transformation and achieve sustainable development. Taking China's A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2021 as samples, this paper performs empirical tests in order to explore the impact of enterprise digital transformation on the comparability of accounting information and its mechanism. The results show that digital transformation has significantly enhanced accounting information comparability, which is still significant after a series of robustness tests. The mechanism test shows that the improvement of the comparability of accounting information by the digital transformation is mainly achieved by alleviating earnings management and agency problem. Further research shows that when the degree of market competition or transparency is high, the role of enterprise digital transformation in enhancing the comparability is more significant. This paper enriches the literature on the economic consequences of digital transformation and the factors affecting the comparability of accounting information. At the same time, the conclusions of this paper confirm the governance effect of enterprise digital transformation, provide evidential support for investors to improve decision-making efficiency, and urge enterprises to accelerate digital transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change has become a necessary condition for any organisation to operate successfully in the market while meeting the ever-changing demands of all stakeholders. There is simply no other way to survive the intense competition and frequent changes that occur in the market. Only organizations that are able to respond to change, learn faster and move forward gain more expertise to better face the challenges brought about by changes in the business environment. The aim of this paper is to identify what changes organisations have made in recent years and how they manage these changes. To achieve this aim, five research questions are formulated in the area of change management in the business environment of the Czech Republic. Despite progress in implementing change, some companies are still reluctant to consider strategic changes and pursue only process improvements such as performance management, restructuring or process redesign of functional areas instead. The results also indicate that some companies are rather slow to implement change, starting with planning and attempting to change the management of the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the online environment resulted in the formation of the behavior of all subjects in the online and offline market. This paper responds to current changes that significantly shape the whole society. Therefore, this paper aims to identify changes in online shopping before and during the COVID-19 crisis. The paper is based on primary research in the form of a questionnaire survey among a selected group of respondents that assess the determinants influencing their online shopping decisions before and during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The research showed that the COVID-19 crisis was reflected in changes in respondents' online shopping behavior. Less than a third of respondents declared that they did not change their online shopping behavior during the COVID-19 crisis. The research showed that the frequency of online purchases had increased significantly (more than three times), as well as the percentage volume of goods purchased online. It can also be assessed that the COVID-19 crisis has an impact on future online shopping, and more than 40% of respondents do plan to shop online more after the COVID-19 crisis than during the crisis. However, the relationship between generational cohorts and changes in online shopping behavior before and during the COVID-19 crisis has been demonstrated. Online retailers should be prepared for these changes and should take these changes into account when designing and implementing their e-strategy and thus increase their competitiveness in e-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order-picking optimization in a business sustainable competitiveness context is challenging due to prior studies focusing on theoretical model development with unrealistic assumptions in their algorithms and methodological validation, often neglecting practical concerns. This paper improves order-picking operations by employing combinatorial optimization as a travelling salesman problem and class-based dedicated storage models for the ATP company. The paper's originality and novelty lie in bridging the gap between academia and management, presenting an effort to connect theoretical concepts with practical optimization in order-picking warehouse operations in an environment of competitiveness. Realistic data and LINGO software were employed, revealing substantial improvements in the ATP warehouse operations through optimized pick path decisions embedded in warehouse layouts. This paper provides managerial tools for distance traveled optimization in the warehouse that yield competitive edges, enhanced supply chain efficiency and effectiveness, as well as other positive impacts on social, and environmental concerns such as labor safety, customer satisfaction, energy consumption, and CO2 emission. The paper also outlines future research directions to advance warehouse management and address sustainable competitiveness challenges, adding a new dimension to the original research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprises desiring to be competitive have to continuously improve and react to the current trends. It is important, therefore, to know consumers' opinions and needs to remain competitive, especially as consumers' behaviour arises from a range of factors and conditions, both macroand microeconomic. Revenue and the prices of consumer goods, undoubtedly the key determinants that have a direct impact on consumer conduct, decide the market demand, and supply determines the real framework of consumption. Geographical, natural, civilisational, and cultural conditions are among the factors affecting consumers' decisions, influencing consumers' cultural preferences on the one hand and having an impact on consumer behaviour, on the other hand. This paper identifies the factors of enterprise competitiveness in the opinions of Czech, Slovak and Polish consumers. Specialist literature is reviewed, and descriptive statistical methods and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) are applied. The results are analysed on the basis of a survey of a consumer group using STATISTICA 13.0 software. The survey questionnaire relates to an assessment of significance of competitiveness factors used by enterprises. The research carried out can influence the development of theories of business competitiveness, and the results obtained can provide guidance to managers on the selection of key factors of enterprise competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies’ financial fraud provokes declining market asset allocation efficiency and significantly impacts trust and loyalty among all company’s stakeholders. Most investigations focused on the prediction of accounting fraud; less research concentrated on financial restatements. In this case, the paper aims to develop a model for identifying the companies’ financial fraud according to the developed index system construction based on financial statements and relationships between their items. The study applies the following stages: 1) analysis of the theoretical framework of the core determinants, impulses and factors of financial fraud and their identification; 2) development of the methodology for timely identification of financial fraud, which is based on index system construction using the Logistic regression model. The object of investigation is Chinese companies listed by China Stock Market & Accounting Research database, excluding J66 (remaining financial industry except for the monetary and financial services), J67 (capital market services), J68 (insurance industry) and J69 (other financial industry) enterprises. The period of investigation is 2017–2020. The data sample includes 53 fraudulent and 53 normal Chinese enterprises. The results show that the overall prediction accuracy of the developed model is 83% and robustness test results further verify the rationality and effectiveness of the method. The company’s stakeholders could apply the proposed approach for fraud identification to improve the efficiency of financial fraud identification from the technical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the significance of economic development, this paper undertakes a comparative assessment and analysis of the level of economic development among South American countries. Initially, a modified ITARA method was applied to determine criteria weights through the examination of real data. Subsequently, a modified version of AROMAN was introduced and utilized in conjunction with the RAM method to prioritize the nine countries based on eight economic development indicators. The findings from the modified AROMAN method indicate that Brazil ranks first among the nine studied countries in South America in terms of economic development indicators, while Argentina occupies the last position (ninth). The results obtained from the RAM method for assessing the economic development level of the 9 South American countries based on the eight examined indicators exactly align with the findings calculated from the modified AROMAN method. The RIV method has been used to validate and confirm the findings obtained from the modified AROMAN and RAM methods. The results obtained from the RIV method are consistent with those of the modified AROMAN and RAM methods. Therefore, the findings exhibit a high level of validity and reliability. The research results indicate that economic development among South American countries is not uniform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges regarding employee adaptation to change as well as job security, with levels of wellbeing and satisfaction being greatly affected. Based on the literature as well as on Adaptation-level Theory, Stress and Coping Theory, and Motivation-hygiene Theory, this paper approaches the link between job insecurity and job instability during the COVID-19 pandemic along with employee job satisfaction in an emerging market. The proposed conceptual model analyses the influence of job instability and job insecurity on individual job satisfaction, including supervisor support and promotion opportunities. The survey-based empirical study was implemented with the aid of a questionnaire taken by 568 employees in Romania. The results determined with the help of a correlation analysis highlight a strong, direct, and positive link between job instability and employee insecurity in increasing employee competitiveness. The impact of job insecurity and instability on the components considered in terms of job satisfaction vary. Job insecurity was shown to manifest a negative correlation only with regard to satisfaction concerning supervisor support and promotion opportunities. Perceived job instability showed a significant negative impact on individual work satisfaction, satisfaction with supervisor support and promotion opportunities. This paper also enhances the human resources literature by demonstrating how organisational competitiveness might be enhanced during a global pandemic by focusing on employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past few decades, globalization has dramatically changed the context of competitiveness around the world. Considering the role of competitiveness in the development of the digital economy, this paper aims to highlight the role of innovation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and human capital in supporting competitive European economies. The research hypothesis is that FDI, innovation, and human capital contribute to competitiveness growth. The paper extends the Cobb-Douglas function by including other competitiveness factors in a panel data framework based on the EU-28 countries in the period 2004-2018. The results indicate that GDP per capita variation is explained by human and physical capital, FDI, and R&D expenditure. Human capital plays a crucial role in economic development due to the innovation skills of individuals, which improve the productivity of these factors. Capital formation also makes a positive contribution to economic growth. The empirical evidence suggests that the changes in the GDP per capita are explained by modifications in the labor force and capital formation, as is described in the traditional framework of the Cobb-Douglas function. R&D expenditure and FDI stock, however, also play a significant role. Moreover, human capital could determine the adoption of external technology by absorbing new equipment and ideas. On the other hand, the education index and capital formation showed a positive impact on GCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business performance management (BPM) is an instrument that allows the fulfillment of business objectives and the improvement of competitiveness in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). When BPM is implemented and measured, it can improve the sustainability and competitiveness of the enterprise. Despite its potential benefits, the possibilities of BPM in SMEs are often underestimated due to the lack of resources (mainly personal or financial). The goal of this paper is to introduce a framework for the implementation of BPM in Slovak SMEs based on research on transportation SMEs. To this end, certain steps that support the efficient introduction and use of BPM in these SMEs will be proposed. Our proposal regarding the performance of BPM is based on the findings of previous research studies along with the results of own questionnaire surveys and personal meetings/interviews with owners/managers of transportation SMEs. The results of this research shows that SMEs are generally not familiar with BPM and how the system is used. Essential elements to implement BPM are lacking in SMEs, and although the BPM system might help these firms improve their competitiveness, SMEs remain uniformed about the advantages of BPM. The proposed framework of BPM implementation in this paper can be used to inform SMEs and to assist them in their decisionmaking processes regarding the application of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the economically, socially, and culturally vital character of olive growing in Tunisia, and the very significant proportion of small farmers operating in this sector, especially in rural areas of this country, there is a strong case to examine the performance of small olive farmers in such regions. To do so, this paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess small Tunisian olive farmers' efficiency and combines symmetric techniques (OLS and Tobit regressions) with asymmetric technique (Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)) to identify the main antecedents that might explain the gaps in efficiency among them. The results reveal that there is substantial room for improvements of the technical efficiency of these farmers. Moreover, the regression models show that four determinants individually explain gaps in efficiency among farmers: age, education, access to agricultural credit, and ownership status. The fsQCA results provide four different combinations of conditions leading to high levels of olive farmers' efficiency. They also highlight the strong causal relationship (core conditions) between olive farmers' efficiency and two antecedents in particular: farmer's level of education and ownership status of the land devoted to olive-tree cultivation. This study also provides some valuable policy and managerial implications for farmers, central and regional government agencies promoting and supporting agriculture, and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances understanding of multiplier-accelerator interaction in European countries in the 21st century. More than eight decades from the contributions of Keynes and Samuelson, multiplier-accelerator interaction has spawned rich and interesting literature. In this study, we examined the relationship between investment, consumption, and economic growth for European Economic Area (EEA) countries, with data observed between 2000 and 2021. We found evidence for both multiplier and accelerator effects. However, for most European economies, the multiplier effect is stronger than the accelerator effect, helping to explain the profile of economic cycles. These results present two emerging policy implications. First, investment made in Europe reacts to the rates of economic growth observed in recent periods. Investment dynamics have long been highlighted as promoters of economic growth and competitiveness. Economic agents use investments to improve their strategic position as agents of long-term socioeconomic development. Second, the estimated effects are not uniform over time; investments react in the same direction as the economic growth observed in the previous years. This nonlinearity of effects obliges all decision-makers to duly anticipate these reactions as well as obliges the academic community to further study the subject. The existence of spatial competition in the distribution of investments leads to strategic behaviours by which competing countries ensure long term national competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of constant competitive pressure, companies are forced to constantly look for ways to produce more efficiently. To increase production efficiency and competitiveness, the actual situation needs to be analyzed and measures proposed. However, proposals, when put into practice, do not always result in improvements, due to various errors and omissions in their design. A helpful tool to minimize failures is to apply computer simulations, in which the proposed solutions are being tested and a proven solution implemented into practice afterwards. This is especially important when a proposed solution requires increased investment costs and time. This paper deals with streamlining technological processes on an assembly line of a turbocharger with an electrically controlled actuator, by automating a section of the assembly line (reduced number of operators and defective products), based on analysis and identified deficiencies. The Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software was chosen to analyze the assembly line's condition, as well as to simulate proposed measures' impact on the line's improvement. The design brings increased efficiency of a turbocharger assembly process and a reduced number of workers. According to the simulation results, when proposed improvements are applied, the annual production of the assembly line increases from 89,575 pieces to 98,139 pieces, which is 8,564 pieces more, i.e., an increase of 9.56%, while reducing the number of workers from four to three. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper contributes to the existing literature on migration by explaining the emigration pattern from Denmark, Finland and Sweden to Germany. We have tried to discover the reason why people migrate from high-income European Union (EU) member states to Germany, which for a long time has hosted the highest number of migrants when compared to other EU member states. We have employed gravity models using fixed effects and ordinary least squares estimation for 1998 - 2019. Our results have indicated that Germany, compared to other EU member states, is more competitive in terms of its labour market efficiency. Germany is an attractive destination for migrants from Denmark, Finland and Sweden in terms of its employment rate, wages and effective government support of its labour force programmes. The current research provides insights into enhancing German competitiveness in terms of labour market factors, which is important for both the migrant and native populations. The results show that if wisely managed, the labour market attracts the labour force, which can address critical social issues Europe is currently facing. In particular, competition issues for high-skilled workers, an aging population, and a low birth rate. The study indicates that the long-term attractiveness of Germany for migrants is based on the efficient participation of the government in labour management-related decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior literature has shown that corporate transparency is linked to a firm's competitiveness. The frequently noted vagueness and inadequacy of reported risk disclosures have been accompanied by calls for industry-specific studies. This paper aims to examine the disclosure informativeness of leading multinational automobile firms worldwide regarding firm-specific risks, namely company risk and company size. Applying a content analysis to examine the prevalent disclosure context in the automotive industry, we analyze and classify the annually reported risk statements of 34 multinationals quoted within the NASDAQ OMX Global Automobile Index. These corporations are headquartered in 10 countries, located in the U.S. as well as in the E.U. and in Asia. Based on an employed Wilcoxon signed rank test, our results show that automobile multinationals favor revealing fewer (more) forward-looking and bad-news risk disclosures as compared to past-looking and good-news risk statements. Our findings further indicate that bigger and riskier automobile multinationals do not reveal larger amounts of risk information. This finding is inconsistent with disclosure theory and provides insight into less complex risk reporting practices that affect investor perceptions of risk by omitting risk information. This paper also provides new empirical evidence regarding the association between company risk and corporate risk disclosing practices in the auto industry; our data show that company size did not play a significant role. With our concentration on explaining current risk reporting practices in the automotive sector, these results are robust with respect to firm-specific risk variables, thus the findings may prove usable for policy frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value relevance is an attractive exploratory topic for firms due to its influence on a firm's competitiveness. Investigating potential factors that have an impact on firm value can provide management with the insights in how to enhance value. The aim of this paper is to explore the association between sustainability reporting and firm value to gain an awareness of the value relevance of sustainability disclosures. The study concentrates on large listed German firms as research objects to reduce the influence of firm size, legislation and geographic differences. Moreover, instead of observing diverse sustainability reporting guidelines in one research, this paper focuses on the current most popular guidance, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). With this focus, it is more likely to achieve a relevant comparability among the firms' sustainability reporting. This concentration also leads to the main research question of whether large listed German firms which have a higher adherent level to GRI guidance tend to have greater firm value. The research applies Multiple Regression to test the above relationship by involving 485 observations from 97 large listed German firms within the research period from 2013 to 2017. Along with the main model, a robustness test was performed to explore the connection in the context of a four-month period after the year-end deadline to issue sustainability reports in accordance with German Law. The findings indicate a significant negative relation between firm value and a firm's GRI adherent level of sustainability reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cluster managers have less authority compared to managers in companies, with the work of cluster managers based rather on negotiation than on issuing instructions. Nevertheless, dynamic changes regarding environment and customer needs in general have taken place, and ensuring that employees have adequate knowledge and skills has become necessary for companies to gain a competitive advantage. Thus, the development of competencies in cluster management is more relevant in terms of the changing nature of competencies in order to enhance competitiveness. A research gap, however, has emerged in terms of studies analyzing developmental activities to increase the skills and knowledge of cluster managers, including their abilities to support cluster development and related competitiveness issues. The main objective of the present paper is to identify possible methods of developing cluster managers competencies in order to increase the competitiveness of cluster organizations. To accomplish these research goals, the paper employs semi-structured interviews with Czech cluster managers, with primary data analyzed via coding based on thematic analysis and codes subsequently grouped into categories for conceptualization. The findings indicate that development of cluster managers lags behind in terms of lack of motivation enhancement and time, lack of finance, idleness, negative experiences, administrative tasks as well as personal traits. The main criteria for developing competencies in cluster organizations are reflected in activities focused on the ability to innovate, lead and protect in terms of trust building, all skills essential for enhancing the competitiveness of cluster organizations. Cluster managers select development activities based on topics and references to educational activities which they estimate mainly from practical experience based on recommendations by experienced practitioners. Finally, the study puts forth practical guidelines regarding self-development methods recommended by the respondents for developing competencies in cluster development and competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether bank finance is a substitute or complementary to trade credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. This paper uses the data set provided by the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey that was conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank during the period from 2012 to 2014. Using a sample of 1,140 firms, it was discovered that firms having an overdraft facility from banks use more trade credit, and this supports the complementary theory of bank credit and trade credit. Moreover, the results suggest that companies that are younger, innovative, risky, with a concentrated ownership structure and operated by an experienced manager use more trade credit to purchase their material inputs and services. However, the results also show that service-oriented firms use less trade credit than manufacturing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism has been one of the fastest growing industries and it makes important contributions on economies. Based on this, the literature aims to determine the factors affecting tourism demand behavior. In this paper, we analyze the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on both total and personal outbound travel expenditures in the panel data of 17 developed and developing countries. This is the first paper to examine the impact of EPU on travel expenditures within a tourism demand framework. By using the fixed-effects and the Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) estimation techniques, we find that an increase in the level of uncertainty decreases travel expenditures. Our findings imply that when people experience an increase in uncertaintyrelated economic policies, they tend to decrease their expenditures abroad. On average, a one standard deviation rise in EPU leads to a 3% and a 6% decrease in the total and personal travel expenditures. We also find that the effect of EPU on travel expenditures is higher in developing economies compared to developed countries. The empirical results in this paper suggest that governments should realize the suppressing effect of uncertainties about their economic policies on tourism demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research under discussion remains whether higher competitiveness of a country brings higher economic performance and sustainable growth, e.g., in the V4 region. The objective of the paper is to provide the results of extensive research based on verified Eurostat data to explore this research challenge in the V4 countries during the period of 2007-2019. Simultaneously, the objective is to link the country's economic performance (GDP) to urgent challenges of the contemporary world in the form of sustainability and life quality. In the paper, linear regression, multiple linear regression, and ANOVA were used. A significant impact of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) on the level of GDP, and the subsequent positive effect of GDP level on sustainability and life quality indicators has been demonstrated. Our research findings propose an unconventional sustainable competitiveness mechanism. The conclusion outlines the direction from improved competitiveness through higher economic performance reinforcing R&D expenditure and hightech employment to better sustainability and well-being. Moreover, the research results bring initial empirical evidence of the functionality of the proposed mechanism in the V4 countries. Based on this, we can offer policymakers the key research findings pointing at the sustained economic growth accompanied by higher ecology, including life quality. At the same time, the drivers of this development are presented in more detail in our paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparency of public finances plays a crucial role in making local governments more competitive and their management more efficient. In order to increase the competitiveness and development of local governments, this paper investigates the relationship between expenditure, revenues, and the transparency index in Spanish municipalities. The period analyzed includes all those years in which data on municipal transparency was collected by Transparency International (2008-2017). The findings from the panel data technique (Juodis, Karavias, and Sarafidis causality test; mean group and common correlated effects mean group estimators) and the ANOVA/linear dependent Dirichlet process mixture are useful for local policies. The results obtained show that there is interdependence in the actions of political managers and the characteristics of municipalities that have an impact on fiscal outcomes. The empirical results show that direct taxes and the transparency index are causally related in both directions. Transparency has a direct impact on direct taxes and an indirect impact on indirect taxes. Fiscal synchronization for direct taxes, indirect taxes and expenditure and spend-and-tax assumption for total revenues are supported. Transparency has a positive effect on deficit and debt, and political party exerts a causal effect on debt in municipalities governed by male mayors, while the unemployment rate is a cause for deficit in the case of mayors that are males. From the findings of this study, several important policy implications can be derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is a tactical concern for managers seeking a longterm result. Different managers are attempting to apply SSCM in order to get a competitive advantage. One of the critical processes is the identification of strategy implementation hurdles, which has been a research focus. As a result, this paper identifies these obstacles and analyzes their interrelationships. A list of obstacles was initially established by a survey of the literature and expert judgment in the form of the fuzzy Delphi approach. Next, an investigation was designed to collect expert opinions on the interrelationships between these obstacles. The fuzzy DEMATEL (FDEMATEL) approach was employed for examining the causal linkages and interdependencies of these obstacles. Subsequently, the interpretative structural modeling (ISM) technique was utilized to create a classified structure and to identify the driving and dependent connections. A fuzzy MICMAC analysis was applied for categorizing the obstacles based on driving and dependent power. The results reveal that barriers, "cost of implementation sustainability (B1)", "lack of financial resources (B2)", "institutional complexity (B3)", "complexity in measuring and monitoring sustainability practices (B4)", "lack of effective regulations (B5)", "lack of a proper evaluation system for suppliers (B6)", "lack of sustainability knowledge (B7)", and "strategic and structural restraints (B8)", are the influence-forwarding obstacles. These obstacles influence "inadequate government support (B9)", "high investments for sustainability and less return-oninvestments (B10)", "old equipment and machinery (B11)", and "lack of management commitment (B12)", which are the greatest influences on SSCM practices. Identifying the important obstacles and their interdependences can help policymakers in the manufacturing sector minimize or overcome them, boosting the possibilities of effectively incorporating sustainable principles into these projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper determines the profile of a family business that ensures the greatest engagement of family members in running a family business and has the strongest impact on the competitiveness of such an enterprise and its organisational effectiveness. The theoretical part addresses organisational effectiveness. It emphasises the variety of criteria and areas of its assessment and the relationships between organisational effectiveness and competitiveness. It discusses familiness as a unique resource and competitive advantage of family businesses. The analytical part presents the research methodology, including the authors' formula for calculating the measure of familiness and the procedure for identifying the profile of a family business, ensuring the greatest familiness engagement in business activities, which affects the organisational effectiveness and competitiveness of family businesses. This procedure was based on applying the gray system theory (GST). The research was based on the incomplete numerical induction method on a targeted sample of 200 family businesses operating in Poland that met the research criteria. The results show that the features most responsible for the highest engagement of familiness in the family enterprise are the territorial scope and size of the company, and the age of the family member involved in the activities of the enterprise. Small and medium-sized enterprises operating on the domestic market, in which a family member aged 36-45 is involved, generate the highest level of familiness in all seven researched areas of organisational effectiveness, including in the area of goals, and also generate the highest level of competitiveness of family businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a digital competency-based human capital competency (HCC) model in the 5.0 era. To achieve the purpose, it is important to integrate HCC with the dimensions of talent, flexibility, productivity, superior performance, and personal service. Digital competency covers the dimensions of information literacy, security, internal communication of digital content, and problem-solving. The idea is that digital competency has a positive impact on HCC. This study analyzed the relationship of each dimension according to the research model. The hypothesis was tested with representative data from 352 creative craft industry entrepreneurs, in 12 cities in the province of West Java, Indonesia. The analysis tool used was Smart PLS structural equation modeling with a disjoint two-stage approach. The findings suggest that the human capital competitiveness model requires digital competency support in the form of information literacy, security, and digital content. The overall results support the fact that digital competency has a positive influence on HCC. However, collaborative communication and problem-solving were found to be ineffective by creative craft industry entrepreneurs with no effect on HCC. The digital safety effect does not have a positive effect on superior performance. It was also found that digital content only affected talent, performance, and personal service. Overall increasing digital competence can be a solution for increasing HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of the length of entrepreneurship on the perception of the most important business risks in Slovakia and the Visegrad Group of Countries (V4 countries). The empirical research was conducted in 2019-2020. It was focused on assessing the state of enterprise risk management (ERM) application. The research file contained 422 online questionnaires completed by owners and managers of enterprises (OMEs). The results of this case study were compared with the results of similar studies performed in the V4 countries in 2017-2018. In total, 1,781 OMEs participated in the surveys mentioned. The following statistical methods were used to assess the data: ANOVA, Bartlett's test, Agostini test, good fit test, and Grubbs test. The overall results of the empirical research highlight the significance and importance of the assessment of business risks in the V4 countries. The results in Slovakia in 2019-2020 and the research results in the V4 countries in 2017-2018 show that OMEs still consider market and economic risks to be most important in their business. Market and economic risks are related to sources that exert the most negative influence on enterprise success. The results are valuable for entrepreneurs, enterprise managers and institutions that provide comprehensive entrepreneurship support in the V4 countries. The overall results are significant at the regional, national, and international levels of the V4 countries and have the ability to strengthen the competitiveness of entrepreneurs within the EU common market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a decentralized two-echelon supply chain: a single retailer holds finished goods inventory to meet customer demand and a single manufacturer produces the retailer's replenishment orders for a single item on a make-to-order basis. The finite production capacity in each period is considered. The manufacturer operates close to this production capacity. In this setting, the retailer's order decision has a direct impact on the manufacturer's production utilization. Most inventory-focused literature research control inventory levels and allow production levels to vary substantially each period. The manufacturer, however, prefers a stable level of production, i.e. a smooth order pattern from the retailer. Competitiveness of a supply chain is set by its performance as a whole. In a decentralized chain, each link focuses on its own interests. Can the supplier pursuing his/her own goals improve the performance of the whole chain? In this paper, we explore the effects of production smoothing on total system per-unit costs while considering inventory as well as production related costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fashion industry ranks among the most resource-intensive and environment-polluting industries. Circularity has been discussed as a solution to these problems. However, the transition towards a circular economy (CE) requires fundamental changes in the behavior and actions of all market entities. Consumer interest in sustainability and circularity can stimulate businesses to become more responsible and to offer circular solutions, and thus create a significant competitive advantage for these firms in a globalized market. This paper examines consumer attitudes towards the new circular models in the fashion industry (e.g. slow fashion, swapping, clothes rent, etc.). Consumer knowledge of these models, consumer willingness to support them as well as a correlation to selected demographic characteristics will be described along with consumer attitudes towards textile products made of waste and recycled material. Results will be introduced from a questionnaire survey carried out in October and November 2019 using the sample of 468 respondents in Slovakia. The obtained data were evaluated using statistical methods (Pearson Chi-Square, Wilcoxon test, Spearman's correlation coefficient). While generally a low awareness of Slovak consumers of new models in the fashion industry was confirmed, the willingness of consumers to engage and support circular solutions was shown, especially among the younger generations. These results show that businesses that react to consumer expectations regarding circularity by offering products and services with environmental benefits may increase their competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the relations of the macroeconomic indicators related to the competitiveness of the tourism sector among the explored countries. The tourism sector plays an important role with the purpose of contributing to the economy of each country and, thus, its competitiveness among the other countries. The fundamental aim of the paper is to investigate the relations between the macroeconomic indicators related to tourism and their influence on the economy of the countries. The data set comprises the eight macroeconomic indicators, of which the four ones are related to the gross domestic product, the two ones to employment, the penultimate one to investment, and the last one to expenditure. The observed period covers the years 1995 to 2019. The Euclidean distance is employed to evaluate the similarity of the countries and the cluster analysis to group them successively. There are several patterns visible in the analysis outcome. Firstly, the countries that behave differently for both groups of the indicators with Mexico at the top position. Secondly, the countries with considerable change throughout the observed period where Greece stands at the most extreme position for the gross domestic product indicators and Hungary in the case of the other economic indicators. Thirdly, Chile remains at the evenest position throughout the whole explored period for the first group of the indicators and the United States for the second group of the indicators. Finally, Australia has almost the same development for both groups at the evenest tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operation of air transport is one of the most significant factors in promoting economic growth and competitiveness within any given region. The present paper deals with an assessment of the performance of Germany's 27 most important airports in terms of their technical efficiency. For this purpose, the authors employed the method of Data Envelopment Analysis. The first part of the paper focuses on a literature review on the use of the DEA method in assessing the performance of airports and air transport. For this DEA a list has been compiled of inputs and outputs that have been used by international authors in their publications to assess airport performance. The second part of the paper describes the methodology of the actual research. The 2016 annual reports from various airports served as the main source of data. The number of employees, number of runways and airport area were selected as inputs. As the outputs, two variables were chosen: number of aircraft movements and the amount of cargo. By applying input-oriented DEA, CCR and BCC models, 13 German airports have been identified that are able to efficiently transform the given inputs into outputs, as they employ the best practices and appropriate processes in their operations management. Five airports can also be described as facilities that have achieved the optimal and most productive size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the present state of competitiveness along with other economic issues in a number of EU countries are investigated, with emphasis placed on the economy of Slovakia. Heterogeneous results were produced in terms of the full integration of these economies into the framework of competitiveness stated in the Europe 2020 strategy. In particular, factors were identified which are the results of rating agencies focusing on indicators based on the position of countries in international markets as well as WEF results, which devote more attention to the economic development of countries. The research objective of this paper is to analyse the relations that exist between innovation and competitiveness, taking into account the results of performance assessment models within the selected countries as the object of the research. Using these models, the present authors evaluate the relationship among composite indicators computed with the help of methodologies in order to confirm the cause-and-effect relations between innovation and competitiveness. The research methodology is based on hypothesis verification focused on level of competitiveness in EU countries and especially in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 30 years, the competition in road transport has increased significantly. For a transport company to maintain its position in the road freight transport market, the knowledge of the accurate costs arising from the transportation process is an important tool in the current competitive struggle. Carriers quantify the transportation costs in the process of price creation using the routes utilization coefficient, also taking into account routes with an empty vehicle. The value is usually set as a constant in the range from 0 to 1. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is more appropriate and economically feasible to consider this as a variable which depends on the direction as well as on the time of the transportation. In this analysis, a two-factor ANOVA model was applied to actual data of transport offers to Slovakia from 18 different countries recorded on a daily basis in a period of one year. The analysis shows that the direction of transportation is a significant factor in the offer, and therefore it is appropriate to include this factor in the price creation. The results of this analysis are in practice directly applicable to modify the calculation procedures and thus gain a competitive advantage for the transport operator in calculating the transportation price. Using this methodology, the carrier can determine the price more accurately and achieve greater price competitiveness in road transport in the common EU market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social environments provide attractive platforms for firms to connect and engage with consumers. The objective of this paper is to optimize marketing efforts by brands to improve engagement and market share in social media. To this end, we define and conceptualize the digital social media space using the concepts of homophily and social distance. For quantification purposes and a more tangible practical implementation we build on Huff's retail gravity model, which is transposed to the social media space. The model allows the calculation of the expected engagement and social media market participation at the brand level, based on the positioning of the brand and its' competitors and the distribution of consumer activity in different social media, thus enabling the optimization of marketing efforts through digital (re-)location. The model is applied to leading brands in the athletic footwear market to test its robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the hitherto less explored issue regarding the nature of the relationship between firms' green mode (including setting environmental targets, monitoring environmental burden, and adopting measures against environmental burden) and the production of process innovations. For these purposes, we focus on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which, together with their eastern neighbors, have historically represented the main polluters of the European environment. By using the World Bank Enterprise Survey and data from 3,299 firms in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia and the binary logistic regression, we provide evidence that a firm's green mode expressed, for example, by its monitoring of energy consumption or adoption of measures of environmental burden, can significantly trigger its introduction of process innovations. Moreover, we show that a firm's membership in firm groups increases its chances to introduce process innovations. In contrast, we show that firm age does not play a role in our analyses. Our results contribute to the innovation and sustainability literature, especially to the ongoing discussion regarding the innovation and environmental performance of Central and Eastern European countries. In addition, we note several practical implications of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of company size on the application of human resources (HR) investments. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 610 SMEs in the Czech Republic. Properly completed questionnaires were obtained from 581 enterprises. The data were evaluated using the Chi-square test of independence, Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and analysis of variance. Research questions were divided into four groups. The first group examined the application of HR investments as a reward, and the second group as a tool for increasing the interest in employment with the company. Another group focused on human capital management (HCM) and its impact on corporate financial performance. The last group dealt with HCM to improve the competitive advantage and the market position of the company. The results show that company size has a significant impact on the application of HC investments. In all groups, large enterprises (150+ employees) make investments to a greater extent than smaller companies. As for sector, the highest rating was recorded for companies operating in logistics and transport. The overall evaluation shows that large companies use the items more often, and no significant differences were recorded between different sectors. The findings may help large enterprises to realize that investment in human capital is long-term, increases competitiveness, and generates indirect returns. Small enterprises can also make investments in human capital, although to a limited extent, and it is not advisable to totally avoid such investments. The limitations are in the selected research method, the number of questions and respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies' green competitive advantages result from the high coordination of economic, ecological, social and corporate subsystems. Thus, it is important to investigate the influence and coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the relevant components of green competitiveness. This paper justifies the relationship between green competitiveness and the coupling degree of its components. It hypothesizes that the increasing integrated index of companies' green competitiveness was determined by levels of coordination and communication between its components. The study applies the CCD model and correlation analysis to test the hypothesis. The objects of analysis were enterprises represented by three economic sectors: agro-industrial, mechanical engineering and food. The findings show that the highest coupling coordination degree among all components is represented by the companies with the highest green competitive index. These companies are characterized by the dominance of corporate components, which can increase the general level of green competitive advantages in various combinations with other determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]