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This paper describes the process of implementing the Global Storylines (GSL) approach in Czech primary schools by looking at the data (interviews, participatory observations, written teachers' reflections) collected from 12 primary schools. It attempts to analyze the main effects of GSL on pupils, teachers, and the class as a whole and demonstrates how the GSL approach contributes significantly to the understanding of diversity, development of self-confidence, mutual respect, empathy, and the ability to cooperate.

Innovation vouchers are a tool of innovation policy, which aims to initiate cooperation between different actors, particularly between the business and research entities. The paper compares the implementation of vouchers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its objective is to compare the policy approaches to innovation vouchers in two countries in Central Europe which have a shared history, but which, at some point, went their own way. Vouchers in Czechia have a longer tradition and were first initiated at the regional level. In Slovakia, vouchers were only implemented at the national level and with a lower budget. The research confirmed the persistent differences in the innovation policies and the more proactive approach in Czechia. The paper's contribution also lies in the focus on transitive economies, which have received less research attention so far. Implications for the design of innovation policies in countries with emerging innovation systems are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on cross-border cooperation in Europe is predominated by the analysis of the European Union (EU) INTERREG Programmes' results, while other support funds are often neglected. To fill this research gap, the authors undertook the research on cross-border cooperation of the area-based partnerships (Local Action Groups – LAGs) from Poland and the Czech Republic, financed by the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) 2014–2020. The main purpose of our paper is to identify the rationales for cooperation, strategies to find partners, the scope of activities and obstacles in implementing the joint projects. The qualitative research involved a content analysis of LAG documents and interviews with LAG managers. The actions in twelve identified cooperation projects were mainly related to local traditions, inventory and the promotion of local products and services, the development of tourism and environmental issues. The respondents have emphasised that these actions required separate financing by national RDPs following different administrative rules, even though when constituting the components of a single project. The bureaucratic restrictions resulted in a clear asymmetry of LAGs activities, manifested in a lower involvement of the Czech LAGs. As a result, many projects can be considered as highly unilateral, solely national rather than genuinely international, which has not been the intention of the LAG managers, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Flexibility has become a possible means for manufacturing companies to better compete in competitive markets. Furthermore, innovations are perceived as an important factor in company strategy, which can differentiate the company from the competition. Purpose of the article: This present study investigates the problems of cooperation flexibility and innovation flexibility in manufacturing companies among electrical engineering companies in the Czech Republic. The aim of this paper is to identify the impact of cooperation flexibility on innovation flexibility in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Methods: A questionnaire addressed to SMEs in the form of the Likert scale was prepared to gather information about cooperation flexibility and innovation flexibility. All parts of the questionnaire were tested using Cronbach Alpha. Spearman correlation and regression analysis were used for analysis. Findings & value added: The results of the research show that external cooperation flexibility and internal cooperation flexibility is related to innovation flexibility in SMEs. Results of the research show that there is a positive relationship 1) between external cooperation flexibility and innovation flexibility and 2) between innovation flexibility and business performance at SMEs. The findings of the research contribute to an understanding of the relationship between cooperation flexibility, innovation flexibility and also innovation performance. The novelty value of this paper lies in its perception of flexibility as having two parts, namely external (with suppliers and customers) and internal cooperation flexibility. In addition, innovation flexibility was investigated in two fields, product, and accompanying services to products. The view mentioned provides a complex view of flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to social behaviours in Europe. One of its major consequences was the temporary closure of borders, which was introduced as a measure to prevent the uncontrolled pandemic spreading and involved internal Schengen borders. This has had a major impact in the way in which cross-border cooperation has been conducted in Europe, including the Czech-Polish borderland, as it dramatically restrained all flows across borders. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the pandemic on five roles of cross-border cooperation: 1) as a multi-level governance form; 2) as a regional development tool; 3) as a para-diplomacy form; 4) as a post-conflict reconciliation tool; and 5) as Europe-building. We argue that the impacts of the pandemic complicated regional development and the Europe-building role of cross-border cooperation in the Czech-Polish borderland. The article envisages re-bordering processes also in the Czech-Polish borderland, but with important exceptions in the regions with a high level of cross-border integration, mainly in the Euroregion Těšínské Slezsko/Śląsk Cieszyński. The paper also calls for the elaboration of the guidelines for possible repeated (Schengen) border closures and proposes modifications of the INTERREG microprojects schemes, to keep them attractive also in times of expected cuts in public finances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The business climate development and the stage of innovation systems' transformation are very similar in many Central and Eastern European countries, making it necessary to study these specific economies. These economies are at a different level of transformation, and their governments are trying to support the development of a knowledge-based economy, the creation of innovation systems, and collaboration among different types of entities. These governments need feedback in the form of research into the impacts of public funding on innovation activities through the influence of basic research and cooperation-based resources in individual countries. Purpose of the article: This paper focuses on the examination of (i) the influence of national and European subsidies on innovation performance in manufacturing firms in the Czech Republic and (ii) impacts of knowledge-and cooperation-based resources on innovation activities in Czech manufacturing. Methods: The latest available data from the Community Innovation Survey was used for analyses realized by different regression models. The proposed research models were gradually created to verify the influence of pro-innovation factors (expenditures on in-house and external R&D and on the acquisition of external tangible and intangible sources, cooperation with different partners and innovation) and public (national and/or European) funding of firms' innovation performance within the Czech manufacturing industry. Findings and value added: The results have showed that there is a need to focus on direct and indirect effects of selected innovation determinants; we have also identified the crucial role of cooperation (specifically with government, public, or private research institutes) as a mediating variable within innovation processes. The results have also evidenced that public funding affects the efficiency of knowledge-and cooperation-based resources and amplifies the impact on firms' innovation performance differently. Whereas subsidies from national budgets do not significantly influence the innovation performance of Czech manufacturing firms, European subsidies, on the other hand, significantly increase firms' innovation performance. A long-term contribution of this paper is the significant completion of the theory of policy implications that may be applicable in a broad international context beyond the borders of the Czech Republic. This study significantly contributes to the ongoing discussion about (i) the significance of public financial subsidies from both national and European funds and (ii) the effects of cooperation and R&D on firms' innovation performance within "catching-up" in Central and Eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many manufacturers provide a lot of accompanying services to their products. However, not all of them supply smart services, because the move towards these is not easy, especially for SMEs, which often struggle with a lack of money, insufficient digital technologies or unskilled employees. The aim of this paper is to find out if smart service provision depends on cooperation flexibility, innovation flexibility, innovation performance and business performance in SMEs. To fulfil the research aim, quantitative research was carried out among 112 Czech electrotechnical SMEs. The findings show that the higher the rating companies give to working with external customers, the less chance they have of providing smart services. Thus, SMEs who value cooperation flexibility with external customers as less important are more likely to provide smart services. The higher rating companies give to product innovation flexibility, the higher the chance for providing smart services. Thus, we can expect companies who value product innovation flexibility more highly to more likely deliver smart services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-municipal cooperation is not solely about the cooperation of two or more municipalities. Professional networking or another kind of membership or cooperation could be also positive incentives for strengthening municipal cooperation. Czech Republic belongs to countries where there is not only one national professional association of municipalities with regional structures and this could offer the questions about their influence on inter-municipal cooperation. In this paper we use data from a full sample of Czech municipalities to reveal the role of variables including professional networking activity, regional structures and financial conditions on the existence or development of municipal cooperation. The results of regression analyses provide indistinct explanations. Membership in one national association increases the probability that the municipality will begin or sustain membership in a voluntary association of municipalities (VAM), while membership in another association tends to decrease the probability for engagement in VAM. Since the distribution of municipalities in the territory is not uniform, and individual municipalities have different socio-demographic and territorial characters, we decided to explore the basic characteristics of the municipality such as non-financial and financial indicators. Further, for small municipalities, we were not able to verify the hypothesis that they would be more likely to cooperate due to lack of resources or more adverse financial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of public and private employment-service agencies in contracting-out for employment case management under principal-agency relation to understand young third-country immigrants' transition to work in Czechia, Poland, and Hungary. Existing research pointed to contracting-out as a major trend in public-service reforms when the government (principal) hires private employment agencies (agents) to perform service delivery, but overall the control of standards and the accountability to the public remains with the authority. Although the principal-agency relation shows human beings as rational and opportunist in corporate governance, there is still little research in CEE countries explaining the role of public and private employment agencies under principal-agency relation in contracting-out for case management to understand young third-country immigrants' transition to work. Based on a qualitative cross-national case-oriented research approach with fewer-country comparison, documents and scholastic texts are collected and analyzed by means of a document and content analysis technique to fill in this gap. The findings show that open information, regulation, and monitoring administrative devices are a major perceived influence in principal-agency relational governance with a lack of cooperation that may impair the quality and service when looking at issues such as employment-related transition of young third-country immigrants and socio-economically disadvantaged groups in a contracting-out setting. The study demonstrated certain decentralized new public administration governance similarities but dissimilarities from the country's institutional context. The outcome points to regulatory administrative devices to target agencies' behavior and young vulnerable people's need for paid work. This is relevant to performance monitoring in contemporary fluid society targeting benefits and scarce resources that may not only constrain ethnic minorities' upward mobility, but the economy and the social cohesion process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The legislative amendment to the external differentiation of prisons in the Czech Republic since 2017 mostly stems from the need to create a modern penitentiary rehabilitation of persons serving prison sentences. The fundamental aim is to ensure those conditions that contribute to the resocialisation of said persons and lower the risk of recidivism. What is emphasised in the context of this amendment is the greater significance of the multidisciplinary teams that work with prisoners as well as social work in prisons. The aim of this paper is thus to highlight the aspect of the importance of social work as a suitable, modern tool used by specialists, i.e. the social workers who become agents of aid or support for persons serving sentences. Our research was conducted using the qualitative method. It specifically comprised five interviews with social workers in the pre-release unit in prisons across the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeanization affects policies in much of Europe, but has uneven impacts in different regions. The aim of this paper is to causally explain how and why actors reacted to the European Union (EU) policy. We tested the presence of social learning and coercion mechanisms and how their operation was conditioned by policy capacities (contextual factors). Europeanization is traced through integrated territorial investment (ITI) implementation, a new EU Cohesion Policy tool. The Ostrava Metropolitan Region case study in Czechia revealed that national-level actors had responded dominantly to ITI by social learning and local actors with coercion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bohemian Forest represents the most extensive continuous forest landscape in central Europe. Two neighbouring national parks (NP), the Bavarian Forest NP in Germany and the Šumava NP in Czechia, protecting the most valuable part of this area have been recognized as an important site for monitoring of effect of climate change on central European biodiversity and ecosystem structure. For long time, a hydrological monitoring program in the Große Ohe headwater catchment and complex monitoring of glacial lakes recently recovering from acidification were flagships of long-term transboundary research in the Bohemian Forest. Recently published results of biodiversity research in the Bavarian Forest NP and experiences with monitoring of mires in the Šumava NP supported a necessity of multidisciplinary and transboundary research. To improve the cooperation of both national parks, optimize methodologies, and coordinate research activities in the region a new Interreg project No. 26 "Silva Gabreta Monitoring - Implementation of transboundary monitoring of biodiversity and water regime" was jointly prepared. The aims and monitoring methodologies of three main project activities are presented in this paper: (i) monitoring of forest biodiversity, (ii) monitoring of mires, and (iii) monitoring of aquatic ecosystems. In addition, we briefly present several supplementary project activities and tasks, such as modelling of mesoclimatic conditions, monitoring of effect of deicing salt, project conference and common database. As well as sampling design, methods and strategies, and brief overview of the preliminary results are mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard economic price theory of working with efficient source allocation is being confronted with a series of empirical findings of asymmetric price responses. The objective of the research was to examine whether the distribution of prices within the dairy chain in the Czech Republic was fair and whether farmers progressed in a collective approach to strengthen their position in the supply chain. We used the pre-cointegration and cointegration approach to test for asymmetry in the transmission of farm milk prices throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, we measured the development of market concentration by means of the Herfindahl-Hirschman index and discussed the background of the figures with producer organisation representatives. The results proved there were asymmetric price transmissions. In response, farmers consolidated and concentrated their milk sales. The concentration should not yet be understood as a goal but as a means to the next steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article aims to elucidate management and economic divergences between Poland and the Czech Republic, providing valuable insights for Central European policymakers and entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: The research employs literature analysis, tabular comparisons, and surveys conducted in both countries. Findings: Parallels exist in governance and policy alignment, while disparities are evident in economic development and sectoral priorities. These findings offer a nuanced understanding of shared traits and distinct differences shaping the business landscapes and economic paths of these Central European nations. Research limitations/implications: The research has limitations, such as its specific timeframe and omitted variables. It underscores the importance of comparative analysis for comprehending unique and common features in both economies. Practical implications: Practical implications extend to policymakers, managers, and entrepreneurs in Poland and the Czech Republic, providing insights for informed decisionmaking and collaboration. Understanding both similarities and differences enables stakeholders to leverage strengths and address specific challenges, promoting growth and cooperation within the Central European region. Social implications: The study suggests potential enhanced collaboration and mutual understanding between the societies of Poland and the Czech Republic, facilitated by aligned management strategies and economic policies. These insights may foster a shared sense of identity and purpose in the Central European region, contributing to social cohesion and mutual growth. Originality/value: This research's uniqueness lies in its comparative analysis of management strategies and economic prospects between Poland and the Czech Republic, an underexplored area in existing literature. Its value extends to both academic discourse and practical applications, offering distinct insights to drive collaboration and development within the Central European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech Republic does not have a substantial source of surface water within its territorial catchment areas. Czech surface water is essentially divided and transported into the three seas in the European continent. This unchanging reality must permanently influence the Czech Republic's water policy and principles of land use. Under new climatic conditions, water management must, among other things, consider wider international cooperation on water management within the European Union countries and agricultural land management. The aim of this paper is to characterize changes in water use and international solutions to water management issues that all are essential both for water management and the preservation of basic living conditions. The short-term failure of management solutions not only will increase the risk of water scarcity within the Czech Republic during the 21 st century but at the same time may, in certain situations, cause many problems in water management and subsequently in the agricultural sector in the form of surface water and groundwater deficiency and restrictions on the cultivation of traditional agricultural crops. The topic is further elaborated based on analysis, synthesis methods, expert reflection and literary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1990s, several adjacent pairs of communes on the Bavarian borders with the Czech Republic and Austria have been identified as Cross-Border Central Places (CBCP). So far, the significance of CBCP as an innovative amendment of central place theory and long-established example of cross-border spatial planning remains virtually unstudied. This article analyses different versions of the Bavarian federal development plan and introduces CBCP as a planning instrument originally aimed at the realization of functional complementarities. By studying the concept's various redefinitions over the last two decades, I review CBCP as a strategic facilitator of cross-border cooperation at a local level. Empirical results from a focus group with mayors from all Bavarian and Czech municipalities representing a CBCP are provided. They indicate that the instrument's practical significance is limited by a rather domestic implementation, lacking local resources and an insufficient coordination across different scales of interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Central European football hooliganism from the comparative perspective of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, and characterizes the nature of, and responses to, football hooliganism in the post-communist period. It argues that the less repressive and more preventive nature of football anti-hooligan policies is a direct result of Europeanization and internationalization. These processes impacted domestic legislative frameworks concerning the EU acquis as well as football hooliganism, allowed for creation of new domestic bodies, and influenced the states toward innovative agendas and cooperation frameworks. The regional analysis is warranted due to the shared communist legacy of the Visegrád Group (V4), filling the research gap that exists on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the state of social farming in Czechia, which is obviously in its infancy. The main barriers to development are the character of Czech agriculture, which is radically based on large-scale production and deliveries to large customers, insufficient cooperation of individual ministries and too narrow conception of the problem as care farming. At the same time, we can expect increasing demand for this type of management in the future. Some ideas for improving the situation are presented, the most important of which is the recognition of social farming by the public administration and the creation of a legal framework for its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this year of the hundredth anniversary of Dutch Studies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, cooperation is more important than ever. Declining numbers of students make the small departments even more vulnerable. The platform for Dutch Studies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, ONETS, is therefore active on different levels of cooperation, e. g. curriculum, guest lectures, projects and research and cultural activities. Several examples will demonstrate how this cooperation is being implemented within the organizational structure of ONETS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although private or community initiatives for biodiversity conservation (such as land trusts) have a strong tradition in many countries, rigorous evidence of recently evolved movements in post-socialist countries is missing. This study describes the evolution of Czech land trust movement and analyses their representatives' motivation for engagement in biodiversity conservation. It also investigates the intensity of interaction among public and land trust conservation efforts. For this purpose, we identified localities in which the territory managed by Czech land trusts overlaps with small-scale public nature reserves managed by regional governments. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews with representatives of all NGOs and regional officials in-charge. Our qualitative analysis revealed that some regional biodiversity conservation officials see land trusts as partners, but others are rather indifferent to, or uninformed about, their activities. Additionally, land trust representatives see themselves as complementing the public effort: their main motivation for engagement is to facilitate biodiversity conservation in addition to the public provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the problems that SMEs are facing in the long run is lack of external information to assess opportunities and threats in their business environment. This is due to specific management system of SMEs, where management levels are merged, as stated in the article, and management often focuses only on addressing current issues and fails to adequately respond to changes in the business environment. One way of acquiring relevant information about the external environment is mutual information sharing in the context of SMEs cooperation or in cooperation with a large company. The conducted empirical research mapped the levels of management in one of the distribution networks in Czech Republic and focused on defining the areas that need information support, determining their significance from the point of view of participating companies, and their willingness to provide information. Outcomes have shown the need for external information for SMEs, but information sharing between SMEs focuses only on some areas - customerrelated information and information about existing competitors is preferred. From the viewpoint of the manufacturing company, it was found that the information provided by distributors helped to supplement data available to management of the company. So far, the issue of information sharing has been largely addressed at the supply chain level, so this empirical research of the entire sector of competing firms is unique and, stemming from Porter's Five Forces analysis and frequency analysis, brings in new information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the third country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, friendship and companionship have been the fundamental characteristics of Sino-Romania relations in the past 70 years. However, this good tendency of the relations between the two countries has subtly changed in the past decade, especially fading from other Central and Eastern Europe countries received more attention from China and even considered China's top partners in this region. Local cooperation is the unique feature of cooperation under "16+1 cooperation" framework and makes up the asymmetry of market sizes between two sides, providing another perspective for examining relations and exchanges between countries. Compared with the Czech Republic, whose population size and gross domestic product are close to Romania, it further highlights the lagging characteristics of local cooperation between China and Romania. In order to strengthen local cooperation and then comprehensively promote Sino-Romania relations and "16+1 cooperation", it is necessary to promote Romania to host the "16+1" local leaders meeting as soon as possible, fully make synergy between "16+1" local cooperation and the Romanian regional development strategy, continue to support Romania to establish much more new cooperation mechanism or platform under the framework of "16+1 Cooperation", set up and select a fixed partner city to advance local cooperation as an example, construct a multinational cooperation platform within the framework of Belt and Road Initiative, and strengthen people-to-people bond and cultural exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation between higher education institutions and external entities is a prerequisite for the success of all economic entities and society as a whole in any knowledge-based economy. The aim of the study was to identify, analyze and evaluate the benefits of, and factors limiting, cooperation between higher education institutions and external entities, and identify measures that would contribute to the development of this cooperation from the perspective of managers of public, state and private higher education institutions carrying out activities in the Czech Republic. The study shows that higher education managers consider the contribution to the development of knowledge and experience of students, academics and researchers to be the most important benefit of cooperation. From their point of view, the most significant limiting factors are the limited time availability of faculty/staff, insufficient financial resources and the administrative demands of cooperation. The development of cooperation would be most enhanced by financial support from national public sources or the EU, or through the use of contacts with graduates working for external entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arrangements to cooperate on innovation facilitate access to external sources of knowledge. By using panel data derived from the five waves of Community Innovation Survey in the Czech Republic, we examine whether firms engage in these arrangements persistently or rather revert to other behaviour. Econometric estimates of dynamic random effects and multivariate probit models provide strong support to the thesis of persistence, particularly of linkages with the university sector and suppliers. The results are robust to the initial conditions problem and serial correlation in idiosyncratic errors. Government programmes initiating cooperation on innovation therefore have the potential to induce durable changes in the innovative behaviour of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]