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European Union (EU) member countries design and implement different projects under programs designed by the union to improve standards of member countries. One of these programs is regional policy program. Thousands of projects have been funded under this program. Some of these projects are developed in collaboration between countries and some by a single country. The issues addressed by different projects are sometimes similar, for instance, improving quality of life for the elderly people. Q-Ageing and design led-innovation for active aging are two projects that focus on this issue. Even though these projects were designed independently and used different methods the main goal of both projects is to improve the quality of life for the elderly people. In this paper, case-based reasoning method is proposed for EU member countries to selects projects that has already been designed to address similar issues. Text parser and Chouquet fuzzy integral are used in the method for comparing cases in order to choose best matching cases. Application example was also performed to demonstrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments in the EU play a major role in the development of local public policies. Local governments provide public services in the public interest, funding them for public resources. The paper deals with the role of the local public sector and the comparison of competences of sub-national governments (local, intermediate, regional) in EU countries and the financial dimension of local and regional governments for development of services. The areas assessed include spending capabilities of local governments in 28 EU countries, with a particular focus on total expenditures of local and regional governments, fiscal decentralisation of expenditures, and local government expenditures by selected function (social protection, health, education, culture and recreation), including the rate of their decentralisation of expenditures. The empirical research renders a comparison of spending capabilities of local and regional governments by selected function in EU countries, making use of cluster analysis and the evaluation of similarities and differences in the individual countries. The most marked differences in EU countries were observed in expenditures of the local public sector on health. Conversely, the least marked differences in all countries are seen in the expenditures of the local public sector on recreation and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the issue of a new business entity's entry into the agricultural sector, dealing specifically with the viniculture industry. A new entering company has to confront itself with high capital costs and has to ensure appropriate access to all sources and distribution channels. Very significant barrier makes also government policy and legislation. The other barriers are variability of the labour market. It highlights current market trends towards increased labour demand, while unemployment remains low. Employees, those born in the 1980-90s (the Y Generation) in particular, have begun to require more employer activity in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The study is based on a survey of selected agricultural and vinicultural holdings in the Czech Republic, focusing on their engagement in CSR activities pursued within the HR scope. Despite the awareness of the CSR concept among respondents reaching 55%, survey outcomes suggest that the overall participation in most of the CSR activities is below 40%. Firms are not particularly concerned with the activities that the Y Generation tends to lay emphasis on, such as those associated with the work-life balance. Overall it is possible to state that existing barriers of entrance discourage potential now companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R&D tax incentives have gained popularity among the OECD countries as a means to improve innovation. However, the impact of R&D tax incentives on innovation has not been commensurate with the tax incentives given. This study aims to analyze the role of R&D tax incentives on firm innovation. Data on innovation and government support in 16 OECD countries was drawn from the Global Economy (World Bank Data) database. Three estimation techniques, Pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis, Fixed effect and Random effect models are employed in estimating the relationship between R&D tax incentives and firm innovation. The first hypothesis found that tax incentives directly improve firm innovation, hence tax incentives are a significant policy tool in OECD countries, encouraging firms to invest more in R&D activities. The second hypothesis is rejected. The third hypothesis found that R&D tax incentive is displaced by R&D intensity in full sample analysis but not in groups with high innovation performance. The study proved the importance of skilled R&D personnel in maximizing the benefit of tax credits. The capacity of R&D personnel can complement to R&D tax credit for innovation performance support schemes by the government. The study's findings indicate that while R&D tax incentives are a strong indicator of a firm's innovative activities, they tend to overshadow the R&D intensity. However, this is not observed in countries that exhibit high levels of innovation performance. The study concludes that even though R&D tax incentives are a great predictor of firm innovation, R&D tax incentives are crowded R&D intensity but not in the case of high innovation performing countries. Policymakers should consider investing in human capital such as education and training to enhance the effectiveness of R&D tax credits in OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The considered study is based on the idea of the relationship between social inclusion and economic uncertainty. The way these phenomena relate to each other should be reflected in the choice of public policy model. Although social inclusion has various manifestations, it is primarily manifested in the stratification of society by income. The initial generalizations are made on the basis of the analysis of empirical data regarding the relationship between two indicators of differentiation. The authors interpret social inclusion as a phenomenon that implies a decrease in income differentiation against the background of economic indicators improvement. Certain public authority influential factors should be identified to make social inclusion public authority strategic target. A set of endogenous variables has been analyzed according to the Ukrainian data. Neural Networks tools have been used to assess their impact on income differentiation indicators. The differentiation of income in Ukrainian society has been influenced by obvious and hidden variables. The effects of the identified variables on income differentiation have appeared to be multilevel. These variables combined into nodes of interaction. Awareness of these links and nodes of interaction is an important prerequisite for the formation of a public policy model which can ensure social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource management is a crucial factor that determines the success of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market and its competitiveness. Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic form a significant group of employers in the Czech Republic since they employ two thirds of employees out of the total number of the work force and represent over 99% of the overall number of active business entities. The main objective of the article is to evaluate the level of human resource management in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. Partial objectives of the article are to define a human resource management profile of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic and to test dependencies between selected qualitative features. The data (n = 499) was collected by means of a questionnaire technique. The results of the survey confirmed important human resource management internal factors (the size of the enterprise, the position of the HR manager in top management and the existence of the HR department) and helped to define the human resource management profile of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]