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The paper focuses on the smart city concept implementation in the Czech Republic during 2007-2013. The aim is to deliver a closer look at the implementation of the concept in the conditions of the selected Czech municipalities by means of decoding the investments from the EU Cohesion policy. The municipalities represent small sized cities that have so far been on the periphery of interest in smart city debate as they are neither metropolises nor do they fit the newer concept of smart village. The analysed projects are divided into six smart city dimensions, the authors then explore investment intensity in relation to city size and its future commitment to become a smart city by means of having a formalized strategy. The results show that Czech municipalities invested into all smart city dimensions and infrastructure related projects prevailed. The larger the city the more intensive investment activity confirming the relation between size and absorption capacity. The divisive dimension that sets apart future smart cities is the investment into smart economy measures which were implemented in cities that later officially undertake the commitment of smartness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate how the economic prosperity of regions affects the polarization of political representation, and thus of society. It examines whether economically prosperous regions, represented by economic well-being, show lower political polarisation, and whether regions with lower levels of economic prosperity are more likely to elect polarised and extreme political representatives. The paper focuses on the period from the establishment of the Czech Republic in 1993, to the last elections in 2021 in the NUTS 3 regions of the Czech Republic. Evidence was provided through a determination of the effect of economic well-being, defined by three indicators, i.e., gross domestic product per capita, unemployment, and disposable income per capita, on the development of a created political polarisation index. This index is based on the left-right ideological party division combined with election results for the Chambers of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic of regional districts. Sociodemographic indicators of the development of the individual regions were used as control variables. These include the average population, share of the universityeducated population, age indicators, population density of a given region, voter turnout in a specific election year, and various positions in the institutional setting of the Czech Republic. The most significant components of economic wellbeing that influence the development of polarisation are the growth of disposable income and unemployment. This is demonstrated through a quantitative economic analysis of the panel dataset using the least squares with fixed effects method that uses time-fixed and region-fixed effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Account receivables constitute a significant portion of current assets, and the issue of receivables management is studied from many aspects and in many different contexts and levels. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the use of the prudence principle in the account's receivables area in Czech companies. This research paper aims to evaluate the view of enterprises whether they are willing to make impairment of receivables, what types of impairment they prefer, and how they assess the impairment of receivables. The research was done through a questionnaire survey. We received a total of 185 completed questionnaires. The research was done in 2019 in enterprises from the Czech Republic. Our results show that the enterprises make the impairment of receivables regardless of their sector. The impairment of receivables is more preferred in medium-sized and large enterprises. The medium-sized and large enterprises prefer a combination of tax and non-tax impairment of receivables. At the same time, the medium-sized and large enterprises more appreciate the impairment of receivables as a percentage of the value of particular receivable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effect of income of tourists, tourism price, trade openness and international outbound tourists in tourism origin countries on the tourism demand to the Czech Republic as well as to South Moravia Tourist Region of the Czech Republic from tourists coming from thirteen different countries is analysed. This paper applies panel co-integration analysis through a common correlation effect model (CCE). According to the obtained estimation results, income and trade openness have a significant positive influence on international arrivals to the Czech Republic, while for tourism price the results indicate that it has a negative influence on inflows, as expected. The effect of international outbound tourists on tourism demand in the Czech Republic is negative, against expectations, but it is not statistically significant. For tourism demand in the SMT region, income has a significant positive influence on international arrivals to the South Moravia tourist region, as it regards relative price, the negative sign of the coefficient is the same as the expected one. The effects of trade openness and international outbound tourists on tourism demand in the SMT region have expected positive signs but they are not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on corporate capital structure from the point of view of specific financial sources. These specific sources consist of liabilities provided by the entities closely connected to company itself such as subsidiaries, parent companies, or individual owners. The conducted research compares financing insolvent enterprises with financing companies without any existential difficulties. Specific sources can be distinguished according to their maturity and kind of providers how they are classified in balance sheets. The comparison is made on financial statements extracted from the prepaid corporate database Albertina. The obtained data sample consists of companies that belong to three industry branches specified according to CZ-NACE classification as CZ-NACE 25, CZ-NACE 28, and CZ-NACE F. Relative frequencies show which enterprises finance more by these specific sources and which kinds of sources are used more frequently. Ratio analysis presented by descriptive statistics expresses corporate capital structure and manifests the importance of these sources on financing. Gained results confirm if the insolvent entities tend to finance more through specific sources than their healthy counterparts. These findings could have serious consequences for insolvency proceedings and their results such as creditors' satisfaction level, assets monetization tempo. It is evident that it may influence business competitiveness, economic results and overall entrepreneurial stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the European banking sector fee and commission income, with a special emphasis on the Czech Republic, in the 2007-2018 period. During this time span, net interest income was declining due to low nominal growth and a long period of low interest rates. We contribute to the literature when comparing the magnitude of fee income across the EU banking sectors. We come to the following key findings. First, we conclude that there is no single optimal fee income strategy. Second, we argue that Czech banks are not abnormally dependent on fee income and their outstanding profitability is rather connected with sound risk management as well as with sufficient liquidity and capital buffers. Third, we find that in the EU, fee income share followed an increasing trend after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis which might be connected with an effort to maintain desired profitability in a low interest rate environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current thinking, human capital is referred to as a driver of national economies. It encompasses all of the knowledge, talents, skills, abilities, experience, intelligence, and training of a country's workforce. National governments are fully aware of this, and they are seeking to stimulate human capital and encourage its development. A number of studies have shown that public investment for developing human capital is claimed to be the highest performing investment for achieving better economic performance. The aim of this paper is to verify whether government investment in areas that develop human capital can indeed aid its development in the Czech Republic. Using the least squares method, the paper studies whether the Human Development Index showed correlation to individual types of government expenditure between 1995 and 2018. The analysis revealed that in the Czech Republic, spending on recreation, culture, and religion had the largest influence on developing human capital for the period under review. Expenditure on education and health, which most studies cite as the main tools for cultivating human capital, placed only third or fourth regarding their contribution to developing human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main goals at the European level is that healthcare systems must be accessible but at the same time cost-effective and sustainable in the long term. The implementation of eHealth is one way to contribute to this goal. The presented paper is focused on the evaluation of the usage of eHealth tools in medical clinics in the Czech Republic. eHealth development is an important tool of health policy in the Czech Republic and an important goal of Czech health care reforms, as it has the potential to improve the availability of healthcare and to increase its quality and effectiveness. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the use of eHealth tools adopted in primary care medical clinics according to the type of provided healthcare and according to the NUTS 3 regions in the Czech Republic. The evaluation is performed by application of the multicriteria decision-making methods. The research results indicate that the usage of eHealth tools in medical clinics vary significantly depending on the type of healthcare provided and also in individual NUTS 3 regions. It was found that the eHealth tools are used to the greatest extent in gynecological clinics and to a lesser extent in dentist clinics. Based on the comparison of the eHealth Index, the ranking of the regions in the Czech Republic was determined from the most successful to the least successful in terms of the use of eHealth tools in medical clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybridity phenomenon has received increasing attention in the scientific literature worldwide. However, this is largely western literature, which is not perfectly suited to the transitional context of Central and Eastern Europe, respecting its specific features. The lack of relevant research on hybridity in the post-communist countries shows a considerable research gap that strongly indicates the need for deeper insight. The paper contributes to the conversation by rethinking hybridity in the context of transitional economies. The typical hybrid organizations, combining a market orientation with a social mission, are social enterprises. The discourse on social enterprise is quite different across countries, including across (post-)transitional economies. The Czech Republic is a CEE country still lacking legislative regulation on social entrepreneurship. The paper provides a comprehensive picture of the driving forces, challenges, and opportunities for social entrepreneurship in the specific historical, socio-economic, legislative, and political conditions of the Czech Republic. The main results presented in the paper show key historical events explicitly influencing social entrepreneurship and its current state based on up-to-date data, enabling the assessment of current trends in research on hybridity in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the increasing importance of waste management and the question of its efficiency is a broadly discussed topic, both on the theoretical and practical level. The present paper provides the results of a comprehensive analysis of the competitiveness of the environment with regard to waste management in the Czech Republic, Olomouc Region, while focusing on its effects on municipal waste management expenditure. The main goal of the paper is to examine and evaluate the impact of the competitiveness of the environment on cost-effectiveness of municipal waste management expenditure by using the Herfindahl -Hirschman Index (HHI) and a competition index of our own design. We compare expenditure per capita for several municipality size groups. Moreover, the data have also been analysed separately for the each of the five districts of the Olomouc Region in order to identify whether there are any significant differences among the districts within the region. The analysed period covers 5 years - from 2010 to 2014 - and the sample consists of all 399 municipalities of the Olomouc Region. The HHI results confirm that the competitive environment has a significant impact on municipal expenditure, but our competition index results show impact of competition as ambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of FDI along with domestic physical investment and human capital on the regional income, and their role in the regional income convergence within the Czech economy over the periods from 1998-99 to 2013-14. The paper considers 14 regions of the Czech Republic and uses panel fixed effect regression and dynamic panel growth framework for the empirical analysis. The result finds that the role of physical capital formation and FDI along with the human capital are crucial for the regional disparity in income in the Czech Republic. There is also evidence of the convergence of per capita income at the speed of 7.8 per cent among the regions by conditioning physical investment and human capital along with FDI. This paper suggests that regional disparity in income can be reduced by the equitable allocation of investment and FDI, and equal development of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connection between fiscal decentralization and regional disparities is usually explained in two different manners. Fiscal decentralization might enhance the economic growth and optimal public good provision (and by this way might reduce regional disparities) or it can contribute to the deepening of differences among poor and rich regions. However, there is a wide empirical research of this connection in the economic literature. Despite it, in Czech and Slovak related research, there is an absence of such a literature. This paper focuses on revealing the character of relationship between fiscal decentralization and regional disparities in Czechia and Slovakia on both NUTS2 and NUTS3 levels. Regional disparities increase within both countries. Additionally, estimations results are about supporting the undesirable effect of fiscal decentralization. Statistical significant positive relationship between expenditure and revenue decentralization and regional disparities is observed in both countries, while this relationship using the measurement of tax decentralization is significant and negative only in the case of Slovakia. Unfortunately, even if the inverse estimated relationship support the hypothesis about reduction of regional disparities by tax decentralization, analysis of input data shows the trend toward decreasing the tax decentralization. It contributes to higher regional disparities, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on understanding “risk-based thinking” and “context of the organization” in the process approach according to the requirements of the updated norm, ISO 9001: 2015 Quality Management Systems – Requirements. These new trends should increase the effectivity of the quality management system, should improve company results, and should prevent negative effects of processes. This article explains how to understand the context of the organization in order to make correct strategic decisions. The author describes the integration procedure of risk-based thinking into several organizations in the Czech Republic. This article can support organizations in the implementation of the best practice of new requirements of ISO 9001: 2015. This paper is focused on several production organisations from the different industrial area in the Czech Republic. This research is based on the up to date research data of world´s databases. The author used the qualitative method in the form a structured interview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In connection with their earlier contributions, addressing the issue of systemic approach to implementing management audit with regard to small and medium-sized enterprises, the authors intend to further pursue their effort and interest in this specific area of research with the following paper. Its main objectives are to introduce own comprehensive concept, which involves the use of a systemic approach and is expressed in the form of a specific model of "Systemic approach to management audit", and to propose both standardized and purposeful procedures related to such audit. In order to develop the concept, a questionnaire survey was conducted among a number of managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, along with structured interviews with auditors carrying out management audits in their professional practice as well. Based on their research, the authors found that the examined enterprises tend to perform management audits only on rare occasions and without using any systemic approach or particular procedures. This is mainly due to an absence of time schedules or lists of individual activities that are required in the audits according to a precisely and previously specified order, as suggested in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the paper was to conduct an analysis of the selected qualitative and quantitative aspects of the labour market and the potential ability of the young generation to adapt to the new conditions of their prospective employment. The primary data were obtained in the form of a questionnaire survey. The total of 2,817 respondents were contacted via email containing a research hyperlink. The respondents were secondary school students studying in the Czech Republic. The obtained data were collected in Excel and further processed by statistical methods, the Pearson test using χ quadrate. The option of choosing several occupations was evaluated by means of the so-called professional specialisation index. Secondary data were used to determine the development of trends on the Czech labour market in the current conditions of the Industry 4.0 onset. The respondents most often chose occupations in the fields of technology, industry and construction out of the eleven occupational areas offered. More than a quarter of respondents chose their preferred profession in this area. This is a positive finding in terms of the focus of the economy on Industry 4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social entrepreneurship is characterised by a high degree of innovation and creativity. The topic of social entrepreneurship is currently often discussed and it is one of the trends of contemporary social economy in the CR. The Czech Republic is one of the countries that start discovering the benefits of social business, especially at the regional level. Experience from abroad clearly identifies the positive impacts of social entrepreneurship on the national economy. Social enterprises are one of the major stakeholders in the labour market employing socially disadvantaged people. This paper aims to identify the main barriers to the activities of social enterprises. To identify those barriers, use was made of a questionnaire survey in social businesses. Based on the results of the survey it was identified that the current main barriers include the non-existence of the social entrepreneurship act, insufficient definition of criteria for social enterprises and inadequate inter-departmental coordination. Potential future challenges appear to be legislative and systematic state financial support and preparation of the environment for social activities within the framework of regional cooperation including the establishment of social incubators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal sector is an important and integral part of each national public administration structure but sometimes overlooked and neglected. Municipalities perform and execute various tasks and responsibilities according to the residents and its scope differs by each country settings. Financial health of municipalities is thus one of essential questions of their proper functioning and providing public services as well as its own continuous development. Municipal bankruptcy as extreme negative financial situation of municipality is not a new issue but in the Czech and Slovak Republic still underdeveloped and underestimated as well as associated political debate considering introduction of municipal bankruptcy into national legislation. The aim of this paper is to reveal this issue in both countries and identify causes and patterns of financially distressed Czech and Slovak municipalities. In spite of limited research sample this case study of two countries with similar conditions shows some interesting insights and preliminary findings but also questions for further research in this not very developed issue in both countries from the analytical point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to compare the cost management approaches in the public and private sectors, with an emphasis on the public sector. The data was collected in 2017 and 2018 in the Czech Republic. The main results showed that most respondents do not use Activity Based Costing and that there are no statistically significant differences between the public and private sector. Both public and private sectors, if keeping records of management accounting, charge costs in such a way so as to be able to determine the total costs of their activities at any time. Not even the fact that an organization uses public funds increases the chance of the given organization to look for the information about its full costs. Most of the respondents in both groups make important financial decisions based on knowledge of full costs of their activities. The research thus has not proved that the public sector subjects would have a different approach to finding out about full costs than the private sector units. [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]

The aim of the paper is to present significant factors of strategic management in the sector of small and medium-sized companies. Within the set goal, we quantify the weight of selected strategic management factors and compare trends in the Czech and Slovak Republics. An empirical research was carried out in 2020. In the Czech Republic, we obtained data from 454 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and in Slovakia from 368 enterprises belonging to the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises. We used chi-square and Z-score to process the data. The basic conclusion of the research is that even though SMEs perceive the importance of strategic management in the enterprise very strongly, strategic management is not adequately implemented in the everyday life of the enterprise. Entrepreneurs in both countries are not too convinced that quality strategic management enhances the competitive ability of the enterprise. About half of the companies are involved in regular strategic management. There are statistically significant differences according to the size and age of the enterprise, or according to the education of entrepreneurs. Larger companies and more educated entrepreneurs better understand the importance of strategic aspects and the need for their application in corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to analyse the influence of monetary aggregate M3 on inflation in the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Israel between the years 2000 and 2017. The central banks in selected countries have not been able to fulfill their stated goal of achieving price stability. During the period under review, the selected central banks chose foreign exchange intervention as an instrument of unconventional monetary policy to achieve the set inflation target. The analysis of monetary policy in the selected countries will be determined by the long-term relationships between the M3 monetary aggregate and the inflation. Selected indicators were analyzed on quarterly data in the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Israel using the Engle - Granger cointegration test. We have found, based on the tests performed, that monetary policy in the monitored countries was not quite effective in the years 2000- 2017 because we did not confirm in our empirical analyzes the long-term relationship between the monetary aggregate M3 in relation to inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the influence of several personal factors on customer loyalty, which is one of the main tools of the company's competitiveness. The aim of the article is to find out whether there is a relationship between selected personality and demographic characteristics and customer loyalty. The research was conducted on a sample of 1530 customers (final consumers) from 102 food industry companies in the Czech Republic. The research was conducted using a cross-comparison method with relevant statistical tests. Research results show that customer loyalty is related to the demographic characteristics examined (especially gender, income and education) and some personality traits (especially the approach to buying cheap things and optimism). Research shows that women are more loyal than men, then optimists and people who are not so rich that they can buy cheap things. On the contrary, with increasing income and education loyalty is rather falling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is motivated by real investment decision making for which uncertainty is so typical. The uncertainty can be represented by an unstable development of some characteristics of the investment instruments, or vague investor's preferences. Moreover, the investment decision is usually made based on several criteria. To evaluate the investment instruments in a satisfactory manner, or namely to select suitable investment instrument(s), all mentioned aspects should be considered. For this purpose, a complex support tool is proposed in this paper. This fuzzy multiple criteria evaluation method uses triangular fuzzy numbers to express the element of uncertainty. It accepts a linguistically expressed importance of criteria which is very comfortable for a decision maker (investor). Linguistic terms are also transformed to the triangular fuzzy numbers based on the specified fuzzy scale. Using the concept of fuzzy sets (fuzzy numbers) provides a necessary quantification of the elements of uncertainty. The proposed method can select 'the best' alternative (i.e. investment instrument), to make a full ranking as well. All benefits of this fuzzy evaluation approach are illustratively demonstrated on a selected real investment decision making problem on the capital market with open unit trusts that are increasing in popularity within the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the moment when Milton Friedman introduced a natural rate of unemployment into economic theory, this indicator has been one of the most important quantities in macroeconomics. However, in contrast to other key macroeconomic indicators, the natural rate of unemployment is very difficult to be accurately quantified. The following paper suggests a simple mathematic model, on whose base the natural rate of unemployment can be determined. This model was used to set the natural rate of unemployment in the Czech Republic and its development over time period of the last 23 years based on the Macroeconomic Forecast by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and compared with Okun s Law. When calculating the natural rate of unemployment the suggested model eliminates the differences resulting from different utilization of production capacities and the changing rate of economic activity of population in the course of time. As all other models, this model also works with certain simplified assumptions; however, its advantage is the possibility of gradual implementation of more and more difficult parameters of real economy as new variables. Nevertheless, even in its basic form, the model provides good results, which coincide with theoretic basis and monitored facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing interest in applying lean in healthcare. Healthcare services around the world have adopted industrial engineering methods and process improvement methodologies from the manufacturing sector, known as lean production. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the existing literature on lean healthcare and to publish basic results of survey focused on Czech medical staffs knowledge of lean healthcare philosophy. Focus of this article is not to detail lean principles and concepts. The article explores challenges and opportunities faced by organizations that intend incorporating lean management principles and presents the specific context of the healthcare industry. Though there seems to exist an agreement about the potential of lean healthcare, it remains a challenge for academics and practisioners to evaluate lean healthcare under a more critical perspective. This paper aims to describe how the lean healthcare philosophy has being applied and to asses how trends and methods of approach in lean healthcare have evolved over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic literature offers many examples of firms which have achieved significant improvement via lean management implementation. These firms usually apply well-defined lean tools. The impact of its implementation is well established in the literature, which means they can use it as a guidebook. The essence of lean management is the creation of a culture that encourages learning and thus continuous process improvement through simplifying and standardizing the way work is performed and systematically attacking problems as they occur. This paper is divided into two parts. The first part summarizes available relevant materials about lean healthcare and its methods, applications, results (academic or practitioner literature, case studies, etc.) and creates a complex study of this very current topic. The second part introduces the results of a survey focused on medical staffs' knowledge of lean methods which was carried out in 2013 in various Czech medical facilities. Both parts point out the ergonomic principles in lean healthcare and its benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business prosperity is most often mentioned regarding economic results (for instance profit, sales, sales growth, brand value growth, high demand for products). One of the factors that can be used today in rival competitive struggles is design. The very perception of the role of design as an opportunity is an essential prerequisite for increasing business prosperity. It is, therefore, logical to look at who is the creator of quality design in companies. Companies can solve this problem internally or hire a designer. The question is, which of the variants increases businesses prosperity. The aim of the paper is to clarify this relationship, i.e. whether a company's cooperation with the designer brings business prosperity. Secondly, the strong belief among companies in the Czech Republic that the cooperation with the designer is very expensive is considered. For interpreting results basic statistics indicators and tests of hypotheses (p-value) were used. Results from tests confirmed that most companies that collaborate with a designer believe that design helps to achieve business prosperity. The results also indicate that reluctance to cooperate with a designer because it is too expensive is not confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Czech Republic, there is a trend nowadays in supporting families caring for a child vulnerable due to disability. A network of services offering support to these families is growing. Causes of this fact can be found at three different levels, on the child and family side, but also at the support system. Concept of a life quality, and it's various dimensions for this target group, have been neglected until recently. Present time, however, introduces significant changes in an approach to this issue and the concept of life quality in general is getting to the fore within the interagency scope and the social policy. In this particular case it presents a complex construct comprising many subunits. We can look at them from a variety of perspectives and operate with them in many different ways. This paper solves a view at this concept unusually at the background of the specific activities of Early Care Centre in Pardubice. For the paper processing qualitative research strategies have been used – description of organization's material and quantitative survey (evaluation questionnaire for the year 2012). Particular aim of this paper is to describe activities of Early Care Centre in Pardubice which affect the concept of life quality of families with child (early age) vulnerable due to disability. Results analysis of the evaluation survey which is aimed to identify some of quality indicators of service provided in 2012 also at the Centre for Early Intervention in Pardubice and comparison with the material of the National Centre of social services transformation support - A system of services for children and young people with disabilities and their families (Bačáková, 2013). Results evaluate the life quality concept for families with children in early age with the endangered development due to disability from the position of the family, support and assistance provider and support and assistance evaluator. The conclusion summarizes the problem formulation, problem analysis and discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper at the theoretical level deals with approaches to standardization of social services in the Czech Republic in terms of quality and quantity. This paper, based on the theoretical starting points of standardization of social services, aims to provide an empirical view of the standardization of selected social care services in the Czech Republic. The empirical part of the paper is more dedicated to the application of standards in quantitative terms at the selected social care services in regions of the Czech Republic. Between the years 2007 and 2012 there was made analysis on the examples of social care services of the availability of residential, outpatient and terrain character in regions of the Czech Republic. Based on analysis the availability of social care services in regions of the Czech Republic was compared with recommended standards. By means of method of multidimensional scaling between the years 2007 and 2012 was carried out comparison of similarities or differences in regions of the Czech Republic according to the structure of availability by selected social care services. The results of the comparison of the Czech Republic regions showed that, the largest regions (Central Bohemian Region, Moravian - Silesian Region, South Moravian Region) and the smallest regions (Liberec Region and Karlovy Vary Region) are the least similar to their representation by selected social care services (residential, outpatient and terrain character). And the least similar regions according to the structure of the availability by selected social care services are Usti Region and the City of Prague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present concept of British authors T. Jeffs and M. Smith that highlights the importance of citizenship education in youth clubs. The paper describes the theoretical basis of this concept, furthermore its specific conception of youth work, which is focused on citizenship education, which aims to strengthen social capital of civic communities. The scientific aim of this paper is to bring the findings of Smith and Jeffs on positive impact of informal methods and methods of social work with communities in the field of youth work. The paper describes some characteristics of Jeffs's and Smith's methods of community work and informal education methods, which are commonly used in the field of citizenship education in youth clubs. The strength of the social capital of the Czech society is weakening. In this situation Jeffs's and Smith's concept of citizenship education can be inspiring for Czech youth work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the influence of selected groups of factors on the efficiency of the agricultural sector represented by the Czech Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SME). The database Amadeus was used as the primary data source. The group of data gained from the database Amadeus covers the period of years between 2005 and 2014. The group of analyzed subjects consists of more than 2000 SME agricultural companies located in the Czech Republic. The econometric models were used for identification of relationships between groups of potentially relevant factors and the efficiency. The analyzed efficiency level is represented in the econometric models by the variables EBIT and EBITDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technology gap is one of key determinants of spillovers. This paper aims to quantify the size of the technology gap between foreign direct investments, which received investment incentives and business environment in six regions of the Czech Republic in time series of 2002-2014. The development of regional technology gap was determined by using the Shift-share analysis method - decomposition of the region's technological level into productivity, employment, and a combination of both of the effects. The main data source was the statistics issued decisions of investment incentives published by the agency CzechInvest; annual reports of foreign companies; data of the Czech Statistical Office and the OECD. The established indicator tracks the difference between the technological advancement of foreign firms and a regional business environment. The higher the value of this indicator than in other regions is, the higher the potential for technological growth the region has than regions compared. The magnitude of the value is given by the technological level of foreign companies and their share in regional employment. The best position takes the Pilsen region, which has the highest potential for spillovers in terms of the technology gap. On the contrary, the worst position has the Carlsbad region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful achievement of strategic goals requires an effective performance management system, i.e. determining the appropriate indicators measuring the rate of goal achievement. These indicators are known as key performance indicators or value drivers according to the principles of value-based management. Performance is monitored by both financial and non-financial indicators. In order to gain further insight into the topic, this paper presents the results of research identifying the non-financial factors that affect the performance of mechanical engineering enterprises in the Czech Republic. The data were obtained from a questionnaire survey of the enterprises' senior management. The results of the survey were evaluated on the basis of response rate. The evaluation also included a comparison of the managers' opinions and the performance of their enterprises - measured by return on equity. The results of the analyses show that the factors most detrimental to enterprise performance include the incompetence of responsible employees and the disregard of the customers' requirements. Factors most frequently shown to increase the value of the enterprise are the product quality, product innovation and flexibility in meeting customers' requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to compare the efficiency of health care in the individual regions of the Czech Republic. Key consideration is given to the efficiency of hospitals for these subjects account for more than half of the health care expenses. The DEA method, precisely the input-oriented CCR, was chosen for the analysis. This method allows for the evaluation of several inputs and outputs. For the purpose of our research, we utilized one output, i.e. the number of hospitalized patients, and on the other hand, we examined several inputs, i.e. the number of beds, operating costs and the number of physicians. The analysis showed that the Královehradecký region is the least efficient and, on the other side of spectrum, there are 4 efficient regions - Karlovarský, Ústecký, Vysočina and Zlínský. The level of efficiency in other regions varies between 79,4% and the above-mentioned 100%. Looking at the structure and the number of hospitals in the regions, we cannot see any significant correlation so we cannot say that efficiency is correlated to the number or structure of hospitals in any given region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern 21st century makes developed countries introduce advanced IT technologies, such as smart solutions, which penetrate into the public administration environment and are used by municipalities to improve the life of citizens. Modern programs for developing and implementing “smart city” solutions are focused primarily on the interests and needs of the population. As a result, this trend directly affects the development of tourism by improving the quality of tourist services. The purpose of the study is to offer a conceptual model for creating “smart cities” in Czechia based on smart specialization in the tourism industry by introducing modern technologies and innovations, which will result in bettering the quality of tourism services, increasing the number of tourists and improving the image of the city as a tourist destination. The methodological approach to this study is a systematic literature review. The authors identify which “smart cities” are effective, efficient, productive, sustainable and unsustainable, and the difference between effective and productive “smart cities”. The creation of “smart cities” in Czechia on the basis of smart specialization in the tourism industry is substantiated. It is noted that the size of the city and the number of its inhabitants do not affect the creation of a “smart city”. Increasing the tourist attractiveness of Czech cities will enable cities of any size to become “smart”. The authors have determined which components of the developed conceptual model will affect its effectiveness. The findings indicate that the impact of new technologies, thanks to the advanced implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) applications, play a crucial role in data collecting and sharing for the “smart cities” development. The article mentions examples of successful implementation of the concept in the Czech cities of Prague, Hradec Králové and Brno. In general, a “smart city” of Czechia can make the tourism industry more accessible and efficient for both tourists and locals, ensure the sustainability of tourism in the city and increase its competitiveness in the tourism market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many democracies across the world are experiencing issues with declining voter turnout, and the Czech Republic is not exempt to this trend. Over the past 30 years, turnout has decreased in this country by almost 20 percentage points. The aim of this research is to identify the determinants that mobilize (or demobilize) citizens to vote in the context of the Czech political environment and to describe the relationships between them. Specifically, we focus on the mobilizing effect of political engagement, mainstream and alternative media, and citizen satisfaction in various aspects of life. The research is based on the responses of a representative sample of respondents (N = 807) and uses structural equation modelling to analyse the responses. Our results show that of all the determinants examined, turnout is particularly influenced by citizens' political engagement. Surprisingly, consumption of mainstream and alternative media content, and citizen satisfaction are not shown to mobilize citizens to vote. However, these determinants have been shown to be significantly related to political engagement and it can be suggested that political engagement is a mediating variable. Thus, we show that it is appropriate to pay attention not only to the direct effects of individual determinants on turnout when examining the determinants of turnout, but also to examine decision-making processes in a broader context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to examine marketing strategy of sample of chosen big companies in the Czech Republic, whether they use information about its corporate tax payments in their public relations in order to get more customer favour. As the research tool was chosen case study consisting of twenty companies awarded as top contributors to public budget in form of corporate tax in the Czech Republic by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. Their official websites, press releases and social networks were explored to find out, if they used in any way this award in their public relations. Results show that companies don't consider this award beneficial for public relations. Possible reason for not publishing the tax award could be that large companies don't want any publicity connected with tax topic at all and don't see any advantages of publishing the award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of social media is expanding, and so is the interaction between towns and residents. Municipalities in the Czech Republic rely heavily on Facebook as a direct communication medium with citizens. The main goal of this research is to assess the drivers of municipal social media engagement with citizens. To do so, we looked at 183 official Facebook sites of Czech municipalities with extended powers. We applied the first generational statistical techniques, specifically the correlation and regression analyses in delving into the nexus between the citizenry engagement on local government issues via facebook toward onward local government development. Our results indicated that indeed most local governments have a Facebook page with little activity and large municipalities dominated most social media activity. The study found out that Facebook activity, interactivity and mood are the factors driving citizen engagement on municipality social media pages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job security for most working population is crucial in ensuring living standards. The main goal of this article is to find out, based on the analysis of employment, unemployment, vacancies, and wages in various job categories in the Czech Republic between 2015 and 2022, which job groups are most prone to job insecurity and job loss. Data from the Information System on Average Earnings (ISPV) and MLSA portal were used to analyse the structure of job seekers and job vacancies and to establish employment and wages. Data were processed using descriptive statistical methods. An evaluation of the variance was performed among the selected variables. A t-test was used to measure differences in job security between the observed employment categories. The results show that higher-skilled worker requirements characterize the best job classes regarding job security and wages. On the other hand, the unstable job categories with high unemployment rates and low wage rates were support and unqualified jobs and service and sales jobs. A final important finding is that firms are creating jobs with low educational requirements, which may indicate stagnation in future job innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet is a key venue for business conduct in the 21st century and the address on it, the domain name, has a potential to satisfy a myriad of functions and to become a valuable intangible asset. Domain names are not only vital for business conduct regarding practically all types of goods and services, but they themselves can become commodities to be marketed. A research, meta-analysis and critical comparative re-assessment of the already published data was confronted with information extracted from a unique target questionnaire survey completed by a homogenous poll of respondents from the Czech Republic with a superior knowledge about the intellectual property and with a potential to be domain name adviser or even registrant. The principal objective was to assess the understanding and perception of domain names by such a homogenous group, based on their answers to questions targeting five critical hypotheses. The outcome was highly surprising and with an extremely low level of reconciliability. Plainly, intellectual property specialists from the Czech Republic fully endorse the importance of domain names and recognize their in rem regime, but they are incapable to identify domain names with the highest potential and to calculate their price. The asymmetry of information by Czech specialists in this arena is not sustainably acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 changed consumer purchasing behaviour and brand perception. Regional brands were denied their traditional availability and communication channels due to lockdowns. This raises the question whether regional brands are even relevant for consumers and companies in 2021? The aim of the article is thus to find out what the consumer regional brand awareness is, what are perceived regional brand characteristics/benefits, and what are regional brand customers characteristics. The sample used is 1050 respondents from the Czech Republic. The method used is an online survey. The results are compared, where available, with results from 2014 and 2018 to illustrate the trends. Three research questions were formulated based on the three parts of article aim. Main findings include: the regional brand awareness is rising over the researched period to 73 % prompted awareness; main characteristics include region support, traditional production, high quality, and uniqueness; most favourable customer segments are age groups 46-55 and 56-65, with secondary and tertiary education, and income of 30 000 CZK and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study builds on the original research of contracting and outsourcing in the Czech public sector and assesses them from a comprehensive perspective. The aim of this study is to contribute to the recent discussion about contracting/outsourcing in public sector and its results. The research goal is to analyse the results of contracting and outsourcing in the Czech Republic. Following research questions are set: "Does contracting/outsourcing in public sector in the Czech Republic bring efficiency gains?" and "If not, why contracting/outsourcing services in the public sector in the Czech Republic does not bring efficiency gains?". To answer the research questions two alternatives of services provision, namely internalisation and contracting, were evaluated. The three criteria, 1) expenditure on the provision of the service per citizen/employee, 2) the expenditure per performance indicator and 3) the quality of services evaluated on the basis of citizen/employee satisfaction as consumers of services were used in evaluation. To evaluate the efficiency of contracting services in the public sector was used the method of multi -criteria evaluation for selected samples - the method of the best values of criteria. It is not possible to come to the final conclusion about higher efficiency of internal versus external production. However, what can be clearly and un-doubtfully documented is the fact that depending on the concrete case the more efficient solutions differ. The core factor of the limited success of contracting and outsourcing is the quality of contract management, which represents critical problem in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to identify and quantify significant social factors that determine the quality of the business environment (QBE) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The case study was carried out through a questionnaire that was completed by 641 SMEs. To evaluate the questionnaire multiple linear regression models (MLRs) were applied. The results of the case study showed that the social factor, such as the family environment, has the greatest impact on the QBE in Slovakia. In the Czech Republic, the most important social factors are society, politicians, entrepreneurs and role models. Also, the influence of the media and communication environment is perceived by entrepreneurs as an important determining factor of QBE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the executives of SMEs have a crucial part in decision and strategy making processes, their entrepreneurial attitudes related with Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), might enable them to perform better in achieving their firms' targets, growth and success. In this sense, this research purposes to determine and compare EO of executives of SMEs from various countries by concentrating their gender, age and education. To achieve this goal, the researchers separately collected data from 1620 executives of Czech and Turkish SMEs and Mann-Whitney U test was performed to make analyses for this study. The findings corroborate that Czech executives are more proactive and aggressive in competition than Turkish executives while Turkish executives are more autonomous. Except differences between younger Czech and Turkish executives, risk taking behaviours do not change among the executives. Lastly, Turkish male and older executives take more innovative actions than their Czech counterparts. The reasons for these findings might be clarified with cultural differences, market structure, level of corruption, propensity to apply patents, public spending on childcare and assertive behaviours of executives. Some policy implementations for policy makers and other organizations are also offered by the researchers to eliminate differences in EO of the executives and SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is threefold: to open an academic debate in the area of public ethics and integrity in the Czech Republic, to briefly explain an effective framework inspired by the OECD work on public governance, anti-corruption initiatives and the most recent integrity strategy which underpins the governance of globalisation, and to present main features of the current situation in the Czech public administration from the ethics perspective. Public integrity aligning shared values, principles and ethical norms for upholding the public interest over private interests in the public sector is considered essential to the economic and social well-being of individuals and societies. The current situation in the Czech public administration is illustrated using results of an empirical research conducted within a research project aiming at developing a comprehensive training programme on ethics and integrity for civil servants and officials of self-administration. A survey among the civil servants and employees of self-administration is at the core of this research. Findings are interpreted in the context of the OECD integrity system and represent a basis for the design of tailor-made ethics courses and training tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic prerequisite for the presented research was research of scientific databases. This theoretical basis is for primary two-level research. The first level consists of quality research for which important companies in the Czech Republic were selected, presenting applied personnel marketing. The result was 13 attributes which HR staff view as the way to conduct personnel marketing. The resulting attributes were the basis for quantitative research. For uncovering of potential latent attributes the results were subjected to factor analysis. The result of the research is a targeted overview of how companies perceive personnel marketing as well as how they use it. Research has been carried out in the Czech Republic, but the results are applicable globally, because all enterprises in survey have a parent company in the EU, USA, Japan or China, and apply their corporate culture. The results of the research are applicable both in the theoretical area where they moved to the examined issues forward and in the practical area where they may serve for better work with human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to evaluate the Programme of Social Crime Prevention, a central government program funded in the Czech Republic since 1995, in the defence sector. Employing correlation analysis, author scrutinizes relationships among extent of military criminality in the All-Volunteer Force, qualities of military labour force, and amount of money spent on the programme after 2005 when compulsory military service was abolished. The evaluation proved that taxpayer money is allocated to the programme with no relationship to development of criminality. The extent of criminality is decreasing only as a consequence of ageing of military labour force. The programme met its aim when compulsory military service was in force. At that time, military power relied on immature young men rotating in one year cycle and not performing their duties willingly. However, this past situation is still supported by bodies of the Parliament responsible for the military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business environment is the one of the most important cause of successful business. The important role plays macroeconomic and financial environment and entrepreneur’s perceptions of them. The aim of the article is to evaluate and compare the perception of business environment and its impact on entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic and in the Slovak Republic. The article deals with the results of the empirical questionnaire survey, which was completed in 2018 in the Czech Republic. The research works with 641 valid answers. Research focused on small and medium-sized enterprises, as they are a major catalyst for the economic growth of individual economies. Two main research questions were set to compare the perception of macroeconomic environment and financial environment and its impact on business in selected countries. Another 4 research questions were formulated in relation to compare two main research questions in relation to selected factors (length of the business and entrepreneur’s education). In process of solving the formulated research questions tables, descriptive characteristics and Person coefficient of contingency were used. Despite the fact that the macroeconomic environment in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is comparable, perceptions of the business environment differ in several aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the issue of the influence of the gender segregation of graduates on finding employment on the example of the University of Economics and Management. The aim of this article is to evaluate the influence of the higher education on the role of gender within selected factors influencing employment of graduates on the labour market on the example of the University of Economics and Management. The areas of the influence of employability of graduates have been analysed using the characteristics of a position level, persistence in a studied branch, perception of a financial reward as adequate and holding a position, for which the higher education is required. The theoretical frame of the article is made of a literary search based on an analysis of scientific articles and publications dealing with the influence of gender on employment of graduates and factors influencing it. The primary research was conducted as a questionnaire survey among graduates of the University of Economics and Management from the previous 5 years. We received back 206 questionnaires from the total of 805 graduates. The results show that, although the number of higher educated women is increasing, their position on the labour market is still different compared to men. The higher education does not lead to the elimination of the gender differences on the labour market and within the working environment. These differences show in a type of employment, working positions and also wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is the determination of the gaps of efficiency of 33 city libraries using decomposition of technical efficiency to pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The first model estimates the technical efficiency of city libraries from the perspective of the traditional mix of inputs and outputs that are applied in the DEA models; the inputs are represented by the so-called production and technological resources, and the output is represented by the actual demand given by the number of customers. The second model estimates the technical efficiency of operating conditions of selected city libraries against the actual number of visitors, whilst it is based on the assumption that a city library shall have an appropriate space, optimal access in the form of operating time, and optimal number of places for studying. The results depend on the input or output orientation of models and on the expected returns to scale. As the key gaps of efficiency, the models marked - non-topical and large library collection, number of readers and visitors, and also unutilized spaces of city libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]