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The financial structure of enterprises is constantly a subject of research of many academics. Despite the fact that many scientific studies deal with this area of financial management, the research is mostly focused on industrial companies. In our opinion, there is a wide scope for research into the segment of agricultural enterprises and their financial structure, as well. The aim of the paper is, therefore, to analyse the direction and intensity of action of the selected internal corporate factors and external factors of the macro-environment on the financial structure of Czech and Slovak agricultural enterprises and to identify differences in the action of these factors between the Czech and Slovak companies. The methods of multiple regression and correlation analysis have been used as the main research methods. The achieved results pointed at the fact that in addition to the internal corporate factors, the external factors of the macro-environment were also statistically highly significant for certain groups of agricultural enterprises. The paper also points to some diff erences in the direction and intensity of action of the chosen factors on the examined level of debt -- the total indebtedness and the credit indebtedness of the studied agricultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents a wider research aimed at the examination of innovative approaches to management and their impact on the competitiveness and success of companies in a globalised world economy. Its main objective is to evaluate perceived importance of these approaches with emphasis on soft factors in agribusiness companies in Slovakia in terms of methods and tools used in the implementation of individual management functions, as well as in terms of the frequency of their applications, and their impact on the efficiency of these companies. However, a research gap has been identified in the existing literature on primary agribusiness companies. To improve their position, farmers should not only passively respond to many external factors that are of course important in this sector but should also be proactive and innovative in their management methods and practices. A questionnaire research has been conducted in agribusiness companies in Slovakia. The obtained results highlight the significance of hard factors in the utilisation of management tools. Moreover, soft factors have positively affected economic results. Innovativeness has been identified in leadership functions, where a significant link has been found between the transformation style of leadership and the importance of soft factors in transformational management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines a systematic interrelationship between the world oil and agricultural commodity prices, taking the role of the USD and the perceived global market risks into consideration for the period from January 1990 to June 2013. The authors initially determine the significant cross-sectional dependence in a large balanced panel framework for 27 commodity prices, and then apply the second generation panel unit root (PUR) tests. Findings from the PUR tests clearly suggest that there is a strong unit root in agricultural commodity prices. In addition, the empirical findings from the fixed effects panel data, panel co-integration analysis, the Panel-Wald Causality tests, and the common correlated effects mean group estimations strongly show that the world oil price and the weak USD have positive impacts on almost all agricultural commodity prices. There are also retained the adjuvant effects of the escalatory perceived global market risk upon most agricultural commodity prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous attempts to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, the average number of barriers in the agricultural sector, particularly in the palm oil sector, is rising. Non-tariff effects are subjective, which makes them challenging to quantify. A new palm oil trade restrictiveness index that considers each trade barrier imposed on palm oil exports, such as tariff and non-tariff measures, is necessary to facilitate the sector's exports. Hence, this study aims to calculate the trade restrictiveness index (TRI) of palm oil and analyse its impact on Malaysia's and Indonesia's palm oil exports. This study uses a gravity model with Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation to analyse the impact of trade barriers on world palm oil export for a sample of 59 major palm oil importing countries from 2009 to 2019. The study revealed that each importing country imposes different restrictions on Malaysia and Indonesia. The TRI showed a negative and significant relationship influencing palm oil exports in the case of Malaysia, while a positive and significant relationship for Indonesia. The policy implications of this study suggest that policymakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia should take proactive steps to comply with every criterion demanded by the importing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Th e goal of the paper was to define recommendations of a suitable business strategy for SMEs in the area of primary agricultural production. First, the external environment was analysed to define suitable recommendations for the industry, and also to discover opportunities and threats through fi tting strategic analyses, that aff ect the aforementioned businesses. Secondly, it was necessary to get familiar with the internal environment and functioning of specific businesses in the industry (namely those that operate in the Western region of Prostějov at the foot of the Drahanska Highlands) and to evaluate their efficiency to define their strengths and weaknesses. Th e paper demonstrates that there is a wide range of means that can be taken advantage of when defining fi tting strategies for agricultural businesses, e.g. the Porter's Five Forces Model, the IFE and the IE Matrix, the SWOT Matrix as well as the general strategies by Ansoff. Among the most important recommendations for increasing the competitiveness of SMEs in the agricultural industry, there belong: taking advantage of all the suitable agricultural subsidies, taking advantage of accredited agricultural advisors, making sure that the legal requirements of governmental bodies are met, increasing revenues for arable farming (through a good quality seed stock, chemicals and fertilizers, the foundation of suitable storage facilities in order to postpone the sales of the grain after the harvest season), creating sales cooperatives/associations to balance the competing force of buyers, rejuvenating the workforce, solidifying the ownership structure in the businesses, entrepreneurial diversification (electrical energy production), increasing quality in animal farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a time of a constant change, a company with high-quality, talented employees not only has an advantage in the competitive environment but it is also a more attractive proposition for the potential employees. It is also a 'great place to work' for the existing employees. The article therefore focuses on the approaches to implementing the strategic talent management which are taken by the agricultural and forestry companies. The paper investigates the position taken regarding the talent management in theory. It is based on the aims of a primary survey, the purpose of which was to develop a deeper understanding of the supporting theoretical concepts underpinning the company approaches to talent. The objective of the work is to identify the main components of the strategic talent management based on the primary survey of companies operating in agriculture and forestry. Th is is accomplished by evaluating the data obtained from the primary analysis of the methods and approaches used on 101 farms and other agricultural companies. The data comes from the manager surveys for which a single manager represented the given company. The mono-dimensional and multi-dimensional statistics were used to evaluate the data. The results indicate that in 62% of the companies examined are familiar with the principles of the talent management and that the talent management forms part of the mission of the company (48%). A deeper analysis is used to further examine the differences in the approach of the companies included in the study. The paper contains an in depth discussion of the concept of the strategic talent management, as well as identifying the main processes connected with it. Moreover, the paper presents new research findings by defining and validating the main attributes of the strategic talent management (TM); additionally the gap between the awareness of the top management of the talent management concept and its use in practice is found and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses disparity in the performance of farms in the EU countries and identifies their causes. The individual countries are ranked in the paper according to the long-term average of the amount of their agricultural produce per unit of area into seven segments, and the relation between the input of fixed assets, intermediate consumption, labour force, levels of animals, and other aspects are identified for the creation of agricultural production. In terms of its performance, the Slovak agriculture ranks in the last but one seventh segment and in comparison with the advanced countries, it shows a low input of fixed assets, intermediate product, livestock units, but also a lower volume of the provided subsidies than the advanced countries. The Slovak agriculture does not make use of its competitive advantages, which involve mainly the size of businesses, the economies of scale, and the productivity of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of a broader study which aims to investigate the success factors of agricultural enterprises. It attempts to present the partial results of a questionnaire survey whose goal was to determine the quality of HRM (Human Resource Management) departments in basic agricultural enterprises. Studies focusing on the HRM of basic agricultural enterprises have been published in many countries. In the Slovak Republic, experts and academics from the Slovak University of Technology in Nitra, and the Slovak Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics have arrived at perceptive conclusions on the current state of human capital in the agri-food sector and have proposed innovative directions for further development. Surprisingly, however, academia still fails to perceive HR management as a partner in an enterprise, rather than simply a service unit in the organisational structure of the agricultural enterprise. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of the role of HRM departments is missing and this paper aims to fill that gap. Th e methodology of research is based on Ulrich's model of the mixed roles of HR departments (2009), which is used as a framework to determine the quality levels of role performance, defined by the model, of HRM departments. Th e survey sample consists of 70 basic agricultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the estimation and analysis of the average age and the age structure of machinery and equipment in agriculture. The development of the average age of machinery and equipment could be used as an indicator of the modernisation process and the picture of investment support in the industry. For the purposes of the analysis, the official model of the perpetual inventory method is transformed into the Markov chain model. The analysis shows significant differences in the institutional sectors. The average age of machinery and the age distribution depicts the situation in agriculture and it indicates the lower competitiveness of small farmers. The paper contains the prognosis of development of the average age of machinery and equipment in the case of permanent investment on the level of the current year. The international comparison shows that the average age of machinery and equipment in the Czech Republic is close to the level of developed countries. However, the estimated development shows a decreasing average age of the machinery and equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an analysis of the last two decades Russian agricultural sector development. The main objective of the paper is to highlight the main changes which occurred. The paper is also identifying the role of agriculture in the Russian economy and society development. On the basis of the results coming from the paper, it is possible to characterize the Russian agriculture as follows. After a significant decline in the early 90s and the long process of transformation, the Russian economy including agricultural sector is starting to recover and it is stabilizing. The slowdown of the Russian agricultural performance was stopped (the millstone is the year 2000). At present, the Russian agrarian sector is under the process of recovery especially because of the massive state support (market protection and subsidies coming into agriculture). Agriculture is an important part of the Russian economy. Russia is characterized by large areas of agricultural land, one third of its population lives in the rural areas. The Russian Federation produces many of agricultural products and foodstuffs. However, the country is not self-sufficient in many products. The highest level of the import dependence is observed for meat, vegetables and fruits. Primary products dominate in the structure of Russian exports. Food and agricultural products amount for about only 2% of the Russian total export. The share of agricultural products in the Russian import is more significant and it amounts to 14%. However, in 2000s, there is a significant growth of the foreign trade turnover due to the expansion of both imports and exports. Currently, Russia is seeking not only to achieve a high level of self-sufficiency in basic agricultural products, but also it is trying to be a significant driver in the area of the international trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole concept of the biogas industry is an ongoing issue particularly because of its differences from the original purpose and the criticism about causing too many externalities. Its high costs and low efficiency compared to the traditional cheaper sources belong to the main problems. This issue is serious especially currently - at the times of a slow economic growth when a switch to renewable energy sources means yet another harm to the competitiveness of the EU producers as it increases their production costs. Another weak point is that the silage maize as the most common input material for the anaerobic digestion leads to the displacement of the food crops production and it is considered to be also a contributor to the food price increase. Biogas plants also compete for input with the livestock production that ends up in the biogas plants instead of e.g. feeding cows. The aim of the paper is to investigate the long-run relationship between the biogas industry and the agricultural sector in Germany - a leader in the technology with the most developed biogas sector among the European Union member states. The econometric analysis based on the Vector Correction Model confirms the stated assumptions and concludes that the production of biogas via the anaerobic digestion has a significant impact on agriculture in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural land is an important natural resource and the wealth of each country; in addition it is one of the main production factors, especially for the agricultural businessmen. That is a reason that state law makers adopt the legal regulations which are able to protect this unique natural resource and prefer using the land mainly for the agricultural purposes. The Slovak law makers have followed also such objectives by adoption of the Law No. 140/2014 Coll. on the acquisition of ownership of agricultural land and amending and supplementing certain laws. The paper analyses the economic and legal impacts of this law on the agricultural market in Slovakia with the regard to the presented land protection as the objective of the new legal regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relative technical efficiency of the agricultural sector in the European Union (EU) using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) during the period 2007-2011. The authors investigated efficiency using both the input and output-oriented models with the assumption of a variable return to scale. They looked for causes of inefficiency and made recommendations for inefficient agricultural sectors. The results show that, in average, the EU agricultural sectors performed efficiently, as evidenced by the relatively high value of the average input and output efficiency. The efficiency of the EU agricultural sectors had changed over the past few years, and in both models the efficiency has generally decreased over time. As the main source of inefficiency was labelled the input "total utilised agricultural area" and as the strength with a positive impact on efficiency, there was labelled the "crop output." By calculating the optimal values for the input and output variables for inefficient agricultural sectors, it has been found that for the efficient production of a given quantity of outputs, it was necessary to reduce the value of the in put "total labour" in average by 6.18%, the "total utilised agricultural area" in average by 14.45% and the "total assets" in average by 5.93%. In case of the output-oriented model for efficient use of a given quantity of inputs, the agricultural sectors should produce up to 111.85% of their crop output and 113.41% of their animal output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business Intelligence (BI) can assist in agricultural enterprises to strengthen their production potential and technical efficiency due to its effective support to the managerial, analytical, planning, and decision-making activities of managers and specialists. However, the state of the BI in the Czech Republic is not still completely understood. In this context, this paper aims at the evaluation of the current state of the art of the BI among small Czech farms. The focus of the re search was put on the evaluation of both the state of the BI, and the relevant business information systems and software for agriculture. There was a survey among 135 agricultural entrepreneurs from various regions in the Czech Republic. The survey results are presented by the descriptive statistics and frequency tables. There is an examination of the relationship between the agricultural enterprise structure and the use of the BI. Dependencies among the examined characteristics were sought by the means of the analysis of qualitative variables. With 95% probability, it could be claimed that the type of production, the size of farmed land, the number of employees and the level of financial subsidies have no signifi cant impact on using the BI, the expert and analytical systems in agricultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For at least 25 years, processes involving structural changes have been growing more and more intense in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, with these processes including a decline in the number of small farms. The main aim of this paper is to present the mechanisms involved in, as well as barriers to and costs preventing the exit of farms from agriculture, including those that make it difficult to transfer production resources which are being released to other companies. This research takes the form of an overview and is based on the output of new institutional economics, and on transaction cost and rent-seeking theories in particular. The most frequent difficulties encountered in the process of exit from farming include low profitability of production and the shortage of capital among potential buyers, while the lack of sellers' financial resources and the necessity of incurring expenses related to preparing and finalising the sale of resources held by them (the actual transaction costs related to closing down farms) are frequently overlooked. The most important barriers preventing the complete liquidation of farms are the inherent transaction costs categorised as expenses, as well as the emotional costs and costs of alternatives, which are difficult to evaluate and estimate. The following notions are particularly helpful in explaining barriers to exit from farming: the concept of transaction costs and rent-seeking theory, which are both a part of the stream of thought of new institutional economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the disparity in the performance of the agriculture and food industry sectors in EU countries during the period from 2002 to 2013, and identifies significant differences between countries as well as the dynamics of change. The individual countries are clustered according to the long-term average of the World Bank collection of development indicators such as agricultural raw materials exports, agricultural raw materials imports, crop production index, food production index, livestock production index, cereal yield, agriculture value added and agriculture value added per worker. The analysis reveals convergence in the given period and identifies significant differences in the indicator of agriculture value added per worker at the end of the analysed period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims at the evaluation and comparison of the structure of costs linked to the milk production in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The paper focuses on the potential of the cost controlling in agricultural production. The analysis is based on data from the comparable sample surveys of costs and yields of agricultural commodities carried out by the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information, Prague, and the Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, Bratislava, in the period 2007-2012. The authors apply the contribution margin calculation and the gross margin calculation. Using target costing, the upper limits of variable and fixed costs are set to reach the break-even point. One of the main finding is that the average costs per litre of milk are by 15.3% higher in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic. It is caused by a significantly lower milk yield in Slovakia. Cost controlling based on the knowledge about the structure of the average costs of milk production can help farmers to better manage their business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary regional economics sees clusters as geographically close groups of companies and other connecting organizations that work together while they also mutually compete. Despite the fact that the naturally born clusters exist for centuries and their formation is driven primarily by market factors, there has been prevailing in the recent decades a positive view of the controlled and driven development of clusters in developed countries. Organized clusters are being called the cluster initiative. In recent years, there was a relatively rapid development of cluster initiatives also in the territory of the Visegrad countries due to the national programs and subsidies from the EU structural funds. This paper reacts to the situation. The aim of the paper is to identify clusters currently existing in the tourism, agriculture and food sector in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and to analyze their regional dispersion, structure and activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of the agricultural sector prior to 1989 in Slovakia, such as in most countries of the Central and Eastern Europe, was affected by the collectivization realized on the principle of the central planning. The main objective became the quantity, while quality and efficiency had only a secondary importance. Entering into a new market environment after 1990 meant for agricultural enterprises complicated structural, economic and social changes. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the economic performance of agricultural entities depending on their legal form in Slovakia. We assume that the legal form or the way of organizing and management of processes within the agricultural enterprises has an impact on the economic performance of the agricultural subjects. The analysis confirmed the assumptions. On the basis of the testing results, it was found that business companies show a higher rate of economic success measured by the selected economic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is dealing with an issue of subsidies granted to agricultural enterprises arising from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The aim of the paper is to quantify the effects of the individual subsidies that were used by agricultural enterprises according to their profits, losses and revenues. The size structure of agricultural enterprises in the Czech Republic is taken into account for more detailed measures of the subsidy impact. The article uses key data such as financial statements of agricultural enterprises and subsidies that were received by companies over the years 2007-2011. The analysis was performed by using the fixed effect model. An evaluation of current economic situation of these enterprises including the structure of drawn subsidies was carried out before the analysis. Different impacts of subsidies on the company's management have been proved. The subsidies influence the medium and large enterprises significantly and positively. A negative impact of subsidies was observed on profits and revenues of small businesses. Detailed results are described in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant number of studies have been conducted on the determinants of cash holding levels for different corporates. However, no such study has been witnessed so far on the agricultural enterprises. In this study, we examine the determinants of the cash-holding levels for the Indian agrarian enterprises during 1995-2016 period. With the help of weighted least-squares (WLS) regression analysis, we find evidence that the Indian agro-enterprises with greater lucrative opportunities tend to hold less cash. On the other side, we found that large agro-enterprises tend to hold some other mode of liquid assets rather than cash. The firms with higher capital expenditure and distributing profits as a dividend were shown to hold more cash. In our analysis, we find supportive evidence of the static trade-off theory of cash holding. In general, transaction motives and precautionary motives also play an important role in explaining the determinants of cash holding levels for Indian agrarian enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific contribution builds on the previous scientific studies analysing the determinants of productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities and extends the knowledge of the spatial econometrics area at the NUTS IV level (at the district level) for the reporting period. The paper aimed to assess the development of productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities in the reporting period based on the synthetic evaluation of the selected economic indicators by the methods of cluster analysis, and so to create a spatial map according to the regional differentiation at the NUTS IV level. On the basis of the completed analysis, we can conclude that the natural and climatic conditions have a dominant influence on the achievable productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities in ensuring the sustainability of the economic performance of agriculture in different regions of Slovakia. On the basis of conducting the analysis, there were clearly defined two relatively coherent areas in Slovakia (at the district level), which are characterized by differences in the achieved production indicators and allow the regional differentiation of Slovakia into districts with more and less prosperous agricultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture, more than any other sector, is a provider of temporary jobs. The main aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of the temporary contract in agriculture on the probability of remaining employed in this sector. There is used a discrete-time competing risks duration model with two sub-samples, consisting of seasonal contracts and fixed-term contracts. The results show that while the probability of a worker finding a job increases with the number of temporary jobs already amassed in his or her career, this probability decreases with the number of interruptions in employment. There is also shown the effect of time dependence on the transition probabilities. Whether the temporary contract is seasonal or not, the risks of exiting towards non-employment are greatest for the shortest contracts, but the prospects for finding a job do improve thereafter. In the specific case of the fixed-term contract, the chances of converting this to a permanent contract are greater at the legal limit. Finally, the most highly qualified workers are those who leave the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, the risks of exiting are relatively low: agricultural jobs require a specific capital which is difficult to transfer to other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture represents a significant part of the national economy. It secures production of food and influences many related processing industries. Although the volume of agricultural production and its proportion in the gross domestic product has been decreasing, there is a huge interest in increasing the performance of agriculture companies. One of the ways to enhance the company performance, to gain new markets or to achieve cost savings is a merger. Mergers are not very usual in the field of agriculture currently -- their proportion in the total number of mergers in the Czech Republic in 2001-2013 was 3.07%. The aim of this paper is to analyse mergers in the field of agriculture. The analysis focuses on the consequences of mergers from the perspective of changes in the financial position and the company performance in the year before the merger and three years after the merger. h e analysis proved that the company size (measured by the balance sheet total) decreased as a consequence of mergers and their performance increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the implementation of innovations and quality improvements into operations of mainly small and medium-sized enterprises and family farms in the Czech Republic. The aim is to improve the competitiveness of production in internal, European, and global markets, as well as in the context of optimising the settings and recommendations for new subsidies within the Common Agricultural Policy for the forthcoming programming period. The dependence of the use of various forms of innovation in relation to financial crises was investigated, as well as the general (proactive vs. reactive) attitude to innovation, and also mutual operation with Local Action Groups (LAGs) as another source of support. Due to the structure of the obtained data, a general linear model (GLM) was used for the evaluation. Using the methods of advanced statistical testing, the two most important aspects of the implementation of innovations in agriculture enterprises were identified from the obtained data. These two key aspects are: cooperation with the LAG and the use of consultants for processing project applications. Thus, other factors, the size of the farm, the existence of financial problems and the length of farming are not statistically significant. This contribution is intended to help public administration bodies that have a power to set the support conditions for the Rural Development Programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to examine the influence of strategic leadership and environmental uncertainty on supply chain (SC) risk in the agribusiness industry. The notion of SC risk refers to supply risk, delivery risk, and manufacturing process risk, and it is argued that these risks are an outcome of environmental uncertainty. This study postulates that strategic leadership mitigates the detrimental effect of environmental uncertainty on SC risk. On the basis of data collected from 227 agribusiness-related firms, the analysis was performed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings suggest that environmental uncertainty has a direct influence on each dimension of SC risk. In addition to that, a high level of strategic leadership mitigates the impact of environmental uncertainty on supply risk and delivery risk. However, the data did not support moderation for manufacturing process risks. Findings imply that firms operating in highly uncertain environments are more prone to risks; however, high levels of strategic leadership help manage uncertainties and mitigate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the evaluation sub-measures of the "Cooperation for development of new products, processes and technologies, respectively the innovation in the food industry". It is a sub-measure under the Rural Development Plan (I. 1.3.2). The rating refers to the current programming period, but it was made in the context of a preparation of the new programming for 2014-2020. Strengthening of the cooperation and efficiency factors accelerating the innovation processes in food can act as a tool to gain competitive advantage for the future. It was based on the on- line survey on innovation in food companies, which are mainly in addition of supporting the product and process innovation demonstrating the effectiveness of the promotion of energy-reducing effects, increasing productivity and improving systems of logistics and distribution. This survey is indicative only. Therefore, the survey was completed as an analysis of the approved and paid projects on the measure and interview. The support enables the participating businesses to reduce debts; it shows, however, a need of the simplification and shortening of the administration of request, especially by small enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the last decade, significant changes have occurred in the trade flows of agri-food products of the Southeastern European countries (SEE) due to adjustment to international market. Namely, as all countries of the SEE strive to be full members of the EU; market opportunities have been changing, primarily because of the reduced barriers on trade with the EU, as well as with the regional countries. In order to investigate the effects of the liberalization process of the agri-food sector of the SEE countries on their export, as well as the total foreign trade, a gravity model based on panel data in the period 2005-2015 has been estimated. According to the results, liberalization of the market in the SEE countries, as a consequence of the EU enlargement process, as well as regional integrations, had positive effects on the total foreign trade of agri-food products. Despite the positive liberalization effects on the agri-food trade, all SEE countries have a lower level of competitiveness than the EU countries, so an organized access to products which possess comparative advantages will be an important condition for the achievement of their particular positions at the international market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial district theory has brought to the development economics the opportunity to interpret the economic change through places, where it actually is formed, as a result of the join action of the local and extra-local social, economic and institutional forces. This paper sets out to discuss the contribution that the industrial district theory can make to the debate on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems in the age of globalisation. To this end, the first part of the paper analyses the contribution of the industrial district approach in the relationship between industry and territory; the second part studies the evolution of the concept of the agri-food system and the main determinants of the spatial dynamics in modern agri food systems. This paper supports that the industrial district theory can shed a new light on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems, and can offer an alternative to the mainstream approach. In using the local community as a unit of analysis, the ID theory gives a key role to human agents of production and their knowledge and the agri-food system can be seen as 'a global network of places', each place being specialized in a different component of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelationships among the variables of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of agrarian management, innovative work behaviour (IWB) of employees, knowledge-based dynamic capabilities (KBDC) and innovative performance (IP) of agrarian enterprises. We analysed not only direct effects but also the possibilities of mediating these effects to increase the overall effect on IP. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from managers of agribusinesses in Slovakia (175 respondents). We used the partial least squares structural equation modelling method and the appropriate software to test the theoretical research model and the proposed hypotheses to examine the relationships among the individual selected constructs in more depth. The findings point to the existence of a statistically significant relationship between EO and IP, which, however, is weaker than the overall effect of the involvement of mediation variables. Each mediation variable (IWB and KBDC) increases the overall effect separately, but their joint mediation action is of the greatest importance, when full mediation takes place. The strength of the relationship between the two main variables is also influenced by the size of the agrarian enterprise such that being larger has a negative moderation effect. Significant differences were also identified in the legal forms of business in favour of companies over agricultural co-operatives (ACs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research article's primary aim was to provide a comprehensive and systematic view of a new dimension of logistics in the form of logistics innovations in agricultural enterprises in Slovakia. The intention thereof was to define and then analyse selected logistics innovations in agricultural enterprises. The research object was formed by 95 agricultural enterprises in Slovakia. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. MS Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics 20 were used to process the data in the questionnaire. The univariate descriptive statistics and multivariate descriptive statistics were used to interpret the data. The research results were tested and evaluated by means of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Medium-sized agricultural enterprises in Slovakia represented the largest segment (68%) of the study. The agricultural enterprises mostly understand the use of smart technologies as an innovation in logistics (mean = 4.43). The results of the research showed that the analysed agricultural enterprises intend to innovate mainly the production logistics (mean = 3.20). Out of the logistics processes, the agricultural enterprises want to innovate mostly the inventory management (mean = 4.55). Lean logistics is the most frequently implemented logistics innovation in agricultural enterprises (mean = 3.64). The hypothesis testing has proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between the utilisation of lean logistics and production logistics innovation. In addition, it was proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between the utilisation of radio frequency identification (RFID) and the logistics process innovation -- inventory management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic documents are considered the basic tools for managing and coordinating any company's development, setting the basic development directions and goals that the company wants to achieve and the ways to achieve them. It is always necessary to reconcile the diverse interests of interest groups in relation to the development of a given enterprise to make efficient use of resources and opportunities, as far as possible without conflicts. The classification, meaning, and contents of companies' strategic documents are most often based on their established practice. The article's main goal is to identify the level of implementation of a group of implemented strategic documents aimed at increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of agricultural enterprises in the Czech Republic. The data, which were subjected to factor analysis, were obtained via a questionnaire survey from 70 agricultural enterprises in the Czech Republic. The results part contains also results from qualitative research (focus group, n = 7). The results showed that agricultural enterprises implement groups of so-called conservative strategies and competence development strategies. Most of the surveyed agricultural enterprises have a formulated innovation strategy, while 56% of enterprises do not have an implemented environmental strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change scenarios suggest that long periods without rainfall will occur in the future often causing instability of the agricultural products market. The aim of the research was to build a model describing the amount of precipitation and droughts for forecasting crop yields in the future. In this study, the authors analysed a non-standard mixture of gamma and one point distributions as the model of rainfall. On the basis of the rainfall data, one can estimate the parameters of the distribution. The parameter estimators were constructed using the method of the maximum likelihood. The obtained rainfall data allow confirming the hypothesis of the adequacy of the proposed rainfall models. Long series of droughts allow one to determine the probabilities of adverse phenomena in agriculture. Based on the model, the yields of barley in the years 2030 and 2050 were forecasted which can be used for the assessment of other crops productivity. The results obtained with this approach can be used to predict decreases in agricultural production caused by the prospective rainfall shortages. Th is will enable decision makers to shape effective agricultural policies in order to learn how to balance the food supplies and demands through an appropriate management of the stored raw food materials and the import/export policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at the overview of the main approaches of state support implemented by developed and developing countries and the assessment of their distorting influences on the trade with agricultural commodities. The current state of state support is analyzed on the examples of EU-27, the USA and Japan. The experiences of developing countries are summarized on the examples of China, Russia and the CIS countries. State support tools are grouped according to the WTO classification. The alternative classification is implemented in order to compare the distorting effects caused by the state support. The EPACIS model is implemented to analyze the effects of trade liberalization for the distribution of agricultural commodities and trade policies in developing countries. The model is adjusted in order to assess the effects of state support for the production and trade with agricultural commodities in developing countries, recently accessed the WTO (the case of Russia). Imitation calculations allow formulating policies for the developing agricultural markets depending on the degrees of their sensitivity to foreign trade regulations and domestic support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the management of agricultural businesses that operate in low-production conditions known as the LFA (Less Favoured Areas). Under these conditions, there are more than half of farms -- legal entities. The past analyses have suggested that these farms are gaining more support funds, but objectively their costs are higher. The disparity is reflected in almost half of the loss-making farms, with worse results achieved more by agricultural cooperatives than by business companies. In the terms of the measures implemented in the rural development plan, the LFA farms apply multifunctional production structures. Slovak farms operating in the LFA conditions in the EU do not achieve the performance of the average LFA farms in the EU-25; however, they neither receive the amount of supports received by these farms in the Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the application of Game Theory with Perfect Information to an agricultural economics problem. The goal of this analysis is demonstrating the possibility of obtaining an equilibrium point, as proposed by Nash, in the case of an agricultural company that is considered together with its three sub-units in developing a game with perfect information. Production results in terms of several crops will be considered in this game, together with the necessary parameters to implement different linear programming problems. In the game with perfect information with the hierarchical structure established between the four considered players (a management center and three production units), a Nash equilibrium point is reached, since once the strategies of the rest of the players are known, if any of them would use a strategy different to the one proposed, their earnings would be less than the ones obtained by using the proposed strategies. When the four linear programming problems are solved, a particular case of equilibrium point is reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the development of the value, commodity and territorial structure and competitiveness of agricultural trade of the countries of the Visegrad Group in 1993-2008. Over the years, there has been a sharp increase not only to the volume, but also to the value of the traded agricultural products. The territorial structure of both exports and imports has narrowed to a decisive extent, primarily to the trade with the countries of the EU27. The commodity structure of agricultural trade has adapted very strongly both to the world and especially to the European market and it has furthermore reacted to the changes in the structure of the individual national markets. In the course of the years, the commodity structure has profiled so that there has been a limitation of aggregation with a strong comparative advantage on the market of the EU countries in relation to the aggregations that did not held this advantage. The analysis that has been performed indicates that the process of the accession to the EU has been reflected positively in the results of agricultural trade especially in the case of Poland. In the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the entry into the EU likewise has not led to a worsening of the results in the area of agricultural trade. Only in the case of Hungary, one does find serious structural problems after the entry into the EU in the case of agricultural trade. It can be assumed that these problems can be attributed for the most part to the Hungary's current economic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the analysis of the use of modern trends in the logistics of agricultural enterprises in Slovakia in order to achieve a competitive advantage and to ensure the improvement of the course of business activities. The research was carried out in 67 agricultural enterprises on the territory of Slovakia. The following methods of data collection were used: Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing, Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing. When interpreting the results of research, descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing were used. Pearson's chi-squared test, Pearson's contingency coefficient and Tschuprow's coefficient were applied as statistical tests. The result of the analysis is the need for digitisation and transfer of Big Data that will lead to better decisions, resulting in higher operational efficiency, cost reduction, risk reduction, flexibility, efficiency, and clarity of logistic processes. Agricultural enterprises in Slovakia will have to accept Industry 4.0. The results of the research revealed that 71.6% of agricultural enterprises strongly agrees with the usage of logistic technology. Price has a strong influence, as an important factor, on the implementation of a new trend in logistics in case of 80.6% agricultural enterprises. 29.8% of respondents accept logistic trends but do not have the funds to implement them in their enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyses the correlations among different economies of selected EU-12 member states based on comparison of agricultural economics variances, namely the output value of the agricultural industry, productivity of input, agricultural gross value added, subsidies on production, agricultural labour input and agricultural income per annual working unit in the period of 2010-2016, based on the Special Program for Social Sciences, as statistical methods. The EU-12 achieved a higher increase in productivity of input, output value of agricultural industry, agricultural gross valued added, as well as agricultural income per agricultural annual working unit compared to the average results of EU-28 for 2010-2016. The output value of agricultural industry and agricultural gross value added per intermediate consumption decreased by 1.35% and by 3.3%, but the factor income - net value added at factor cost - per annual working unit increased by 21%, because of the subsidies on production increased by 3.4% for 2010-2016. In EU-28, the factor income per annual working unit increased, but most of this income was for developing agricultural production technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European agriculture is widely shaped under the compelling effects of international migration, both economic (labour) immigration and the refugee crisis. This complex endeavour could lead to significant spillover effects also upon the agricultural sectors in neighbouring locations, with different overall economic performances for migrant receiving countries. The research is thus set to assess the outcomes of the European agriculture under the impact of economic and humanitarian migration, focusing on the results achieved by ten EU Member States (most targeted by migrants), during 2000-2016. A balanced panel comprising a complex set of indicators was configured in order to provide accurate credentials for the methodological endeavour that consists of spatial analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). Estimations show that the agricultural sector will be mainly shaped by economic immigration and less by the humanitarian flows. Major effects are induced through the value added by the agricultural sector, increases in exports of basic foods and agricultural raw materials (spatial analysis). However, a fail to properly manage the EU labour mobility for the following years could lead to a negative downturn on agricultural productivity (SEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan released in May 2016, the soil quality of 666 666.7 ha of agricultural soil requires remediation before 2020. Despite the survey on the environmental quality of soil in China released in 2014, detailed data on current pollutant concentrations remain unavailable. To date, reports on soil environmental quality on the national scale are few. The current research aimed to gain a detailed understanding of soil pollution in China through literature study and data analysis. Data for eight potentially toxic elements (i.e., arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb)) and two organic pollutants (i.e., hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs)) were collected from 367 areas involving 163 prefecture-level cities. Principal component analysis and clustering analysis were conducted to understand the relationships among pollutants. Results indicated that organic pollution was less severe than inorganic pollution. In terms of land-use types, garden soil showed the heaviest pollution, followed by arable land and woodland. Regarding geographic distribution, the south central and southwest areas displayed heavy pollution. Principal component and clustering analyses revealed that As, Hg, HCH, and DDTs were mainly contributed by anthropogenic sources; Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn were primarily caused by natural background; and Cd and Pb were contributed by both sources. The soil pollution status varied among land-use types and geographic areas. The implementation of proper remediation strategies requires detailed investigations on soil environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic farming has become a topic that receives an increasing academic as well as popular attention. This study examines the financial differences between the organic and conventional farmers, as well as their income volatility. Based on the Student's t-test, the regression analysis and the matched-pair investigation on a sample of Czech 291 organic and 4045 conventional farmers over the period 2009-2013, the study indicates that the organic agricultural companies outperform the conventional companies in the terms of profitability. However, their asset turnover is considerably lower. No evidence of different income volatility has been found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complexity in the management and variability of environmental factors in the agricultural, environmental and food industries has brought about the demand for developing robust methods that allow multiple variables to operate with compound dependencies and are inert to changing situation conditions (e.g. changing the agrarian policy of the state). Therefore, new attempts are being made to cope with these problems (i.e. complexity in control and the instability of initial conditions). There is one solution based on interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches; these methods were chosen for our case study on the agribusiness sector, where we use economic variables in the transformed form. Th is transformation allowed us to determine the optimal parameter settings (regarding factor instability) and the potential for regulating agribusiness activities using the corporate cybernetic diagrams. Estimations of the position and variability of the input values of the factors were carried out using a random vector. The practical experiment was conducted on the Agro-farm Krasna as a case study, thereby making it easy to repeat the designed procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing importance and relevance of ICT in business increases the dependence of business entities on ICTs, to which the managers of agricultural enterprises need to pay the necessary attention. The penetration of ICTs also affects the companies that do business in the area of agriculture. High quality and accessible information today has a strategic economic and social importance for the management of this sector; therefore, the use of ICTs by the company managers is becoming an essential part of their daily lives. In their work, the managers of agricultural enterprises most often use a personal computer. The intensity of the laptop use is increasing and thanks to the mobility and connectivity, smartphones are also getting ahead. The use of these devices closely involves operating and application software. The most popular operating system is Windows. In terms of applications, the managers most often use the most popular package MS Office. The research involves an analysis of the intensity of the ICT use by managers wiThemphasis on agricultural enterprises in the Slovak Republic. The scientific article presents the results of an implemented survey focusing on the intensity of the ICT use by managers and the verification of the hypothesis of a significant influence of a manager's job position on the intensity of the ICT use in the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the agricultural industry, many brokers exploit the benefits between farmers and customers and decrease the farmers' income. As the technology has developed, the internet has become the best advertising medium for many industries. In light of this, this study based on the Google Earth has designed an on-line Agricultural Products Navigation System operated by mobile devices which can easily exclude brokers, and build the bridge between farmers and customers in order to increase the farmers income and customer benefits. Moreover, based on the IS success model of DeLone and McLean, by using the qualitative methodology, it is expected that this model will be able to provide system developers with the knowledge to improve the success of their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector je characterized by the fact that there is a high level of risk. It was always this case, but in the last years, there is a tendency of the increasing of the risk. The ability of early detection and effective management of the risks is an integral part of the strategic management of every agricultural organization. The paper presents the procedure and outcomes of the questionnaire survey aimed at the occurrence of the risk factors and approaches to the risk management in the enterprises of the primary agricultural production in Slovakia. The survey is focused on the individual character of the risk. The results of the survey point out the fact, that Slovakian farmers perceive the price risk, production or income risk as the most important risk factors, and the diversification as a most important strategy of the risk management. The most significant positive correlations were found between the land size and the perception of the price risk importance, between the number of years in office and the perception of the price risk importance. Concerning the production or income risk, the significant positive correlation was found in the legal form of business. As the most important, there was evaluated the risk perceived by the self-employed farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the study was to analyse changes in the work profitability in the agricultural sector in the Czech Republic and Poland in the post-accession period. The study used the Economic Accounts for Agriculture, which enabled the analysis of the economic situation in agriculture according to the uniform standards. The study was based on a system of work profitability indexes and factor analysis. The research proved that during the post-accession period (2004-2014), in the average work profitability in agriculture increased in the real terms by 6.69% per annum in the Czech Republic and by 5.66% per annum in Poland. As results from the factor analysis, favourable changes in the work profitability in the agricultural sector in the Czech Republic were chiefly caused by an increase in subsidies, a higher productivity and depreciation costs. On the other hand, the increased productivity and subsidies were the main causes of favourable changes in the work profitability in the agricultural sector in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the country and industry specific determinants of the horizontal and vertical intra-industry agri-food trade between the Baltic Countries and the European Union in 1999-2013. Results obtained by the GMM panel model estimations suggest that distance is negatively related to IIT, implying that geographical distance is an obstacle for intra-industry agri-food trade. Moreover, factor endowments are ambiguously related to IIT as land is found to be negatively, while labour and machinery to be positively related to both sides of the IIT. Results also show that product differentiation fosters two way trade of the quality-differentiated goods as a positive relationship exists between the agricultural employment and IIT. As to productivity, all model runs show a negative relationship for HIIT but positive for VIIT, implying that low-quality product exports dominate the agri-food trade of the Baltic Countries. Furthermore, FDI was also found to have a negative relationship with IIT, suggesting that foreign capital does not foster IIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique was applied to investigate the degree of efficiency and efficiency change of prefecture-level cities in the North-East China from 2000 to 2012. Mean pure technical efficiency in a DEA model with the number of agriculture was 0.79, indicating that there is a big potential for a more efficient input utilization in agricultural productivity. Decomposition results of the Malmquist index indicated that the average productivity (MALM) growth at 8.0 percent annually over the entire period in the North-East China and the major source of growth was the technical change. In order to stimulate the productivity growth, more attention should be paid to improving the production efficiency. Polices should be enacted to increase the technical investment in agriculture, to enhance the rural education and research in agriculture which may help farmers to improve the agricultural efficiency and productivity. Given the limitations of the Statistical Yearbook data, some field investigation may carry out in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm investments in the European Union are supported by the governmental programmes. The evaluation of this programme is challenged through the voluntary participation and heterogeneous observation units. Therefore, we combine the Matching Method with the Difference-in-Difference estimation in order to overcome these problems and to estimate the impact of supported farm-investment activities on the economic performance of the Austrian farm holdings. In particular, we detect an increase in production, land renting and capital borrowing. Furthermore, a shift from the non-farm to farm activities, but with no statistically significant impact on the total income is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]