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The paper describes the level and the relative inequality of households' finances by absolute and relative measures. The quantitative analysis covers eight NUTS III regions of the Slovak republic and compares relative inequality of the financial situation according to various subgroups of households. The analysis procedure uses the official individual data of the second wave of the Eurosystem's Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), which collects household-level data in the year 2014. At the beginning, the paper describes microdata and the methodology. Based on quantitative analysis mainly using quantile methods, what follows is a numerical and graphical comparison of statistical measures of households' net wealth, total real assets and total liabilities of subgroups of Slovak households. Our study is focused mostly on concentration measurement and provides an inequality analysis of households' finances with decomposition of Theil T measure of the components of households' finances according to region, level of household's reference person's education and household types based on HFCS microdata of the Slovak Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the method of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) which is increasingly drawn to evaluate the social impacts of programs or projects in nonprofit or public sector. SROI helps to understand the „social value" generated by these activities and compares it with „the costs". The conceptual framework of SROI is based on similar principles as CBA (cost-benefit analysis). It tries to quantify and monetise the social value into financial values, which result in an SROI coefficient. The most important phase of implementation of SROI is the application of „Theory of change". It has to enable the understanding of the impacts of the analysed activities on the stakeholders. The paper is focused on the theoretical routes of SROI, there are described the main features of the method and also discussed its limitations. In the second part of the paper is introduced the case study - SROI Analysis of the community cultural centre in Košice. This case study is the first application of SROI analysis in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to present the possibilities of using economic impact analysis on regional level with use of regional multipliers. The main limitation of economic impact analysis use on regional level is unavailability of regional multiplier in most of the EU countries. This article presents the possibility of the regional I-O table's derivation using local quotients. Different types of local quotients are critically analysed within the article with aim to find most suitable for derivation of regional I-O matrix in Slovakia. With the use of Flegg´s local quotient (FLQ) the derivation of selected regional I-O matrixes is described. The next part of the paper describes full set of regional multipliers which can be derived from regional I-O matrix and presents results for several sectors in Košice region. The last part of the paper discuss some special peculiarity of regional multipliers use in economic impact analysis and presents results of estimated regional multiplies for selected economic sectors in five Slovak regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the impact of agglomeration economies on the regional employment growth in the knowledge intensive services (KIS) in Slovakia over the period 1998 to 2014 by estimating spatial econometric models. Assuming that knowledge spillovers and externalities are stronger between industries with shared knowledge bases and complementarities, we analyse the role of different forms of sectoral variety at the district level in Slovakia. Results indicate that localization economies has a generally negative impact on the employment growth in the KIS sector, however the results show a strong evidence of the beneficial effect of related variety, while no role is played by unrelated variety. When looking at knowledge spillover between KIS and manufacturing, the KIS industry is affected by related variety in manufacturing industry, while no evidence of externalities is found from the tertiary sectors to manufacturing. The results question the merits of interventions promoting regional specialisation and emphasise that diversity into the related industries should be one of the policy issue areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the comparison of the financial health of regional capitols in Slovakia. The theoretical part of the paper offers insight into the current understanding of the financial health of cities. The main focus is on differences in the understanding of this concept and the definition of basic financial indicators to be used to evaluate the financial health of cities. Subsequently, the selected 13 financial indicators that we used in creating their own comprehensive indicator of financial health. It is calculated separately for the regional capitols of Slovakia in the years 2011-2014. In this paper we present the outcome of the main causes of the financial health of the regional capitol. Designed a comprehensive indicator is then compared with the results of indicator Institute Ineko who engages in assessing the financial health of all cities in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the labour market is in a good shape in many EU's counties. After the financial crisis, due to repeatedly start of economies of individual countries, there has started to raise also an employment rate. However, the employment of the marginalized groups still remains a problem for many countries, including Slovakia. Due to this fact, there should strengthen the respective measures, in order to improve the conditions of vulnerable groups of people in the open labour market. In particular, we see the targeted measures as incentives for employers in order to increase their "willingness" to employ disadvantaged jobseekers. This paper discuss about the increased attention to the disabled people and the possibilities of their participation in the open labour market. The aim of this article is to assess the impact of tax- oriented instruments that could improve, currently not very favourable, the position of disabled people in the open labour market in Slovakia. The proposed tax and other contributions instruments could also be applicable to other vulnerable groups of the population who need to be more competitive because of their disadvantage position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 January 2015, Germany joined twenty one Member States of the European Union, which have statutory national minimum wage. The minimum wage is 8.50 EUR per hour. The Minimum Wage Act applies to all employees and across all industry sectors. The minimum wage requirement also applies to Germany-based employees of companies whose domicile is outside of the country. The Minimum Wage Act applies to employees working in Germany, even if the employment relationship is not subject to German law. Thus, the legislation is relevant to Slovak companies that send their employees to Germany. By implementing the German minimum wage regulations, new expenses arise for employers, such as administrative, reporting, archival, as well as those related to the translation of documents into German. Moreover, co-responsibility for the payment of the minimum wage of freight forwarders and hauliers is worth noting. The paper addresses the issue of practical implementation of the new German minimum wage regulations in transport undertakings. Methods of observation and description of problems related to the remuneration of employees as well as the implementation of the German minimum wage regulations are employed. Additional general methods used to achieve the purpose of the paper are analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction. Interview and questionnaire were used in the research. Both online and printed versions of the questionnaire were available. 76 respondents participated in the study, out of which 70 were employees and 6 employers. An example situation is used to demonstrate increasing costs in relation to the introduction of minimum wage in the form of higher labour costs. The main contribution of the paper is to explain the current wage policies in the Slovak transport undertakings in relation to the German Minimum Wage Amendment Act affective as of 1 January 2015. In addition, the authors attempt to identify problems as seen by employers as well as their solutions being in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of this paper is to present the possibilities of participation of young people at the local level. Paper comes from the low participation rate of people in the Czech society. It deals with a specific group of young people in city Bilina. The group was created in the context of cross-border project, similar group works in city Chemnitz in Saxony. Both groups of young people try to respond to problems in their city. These are problems which were identified by the group members. To solve the problems they use of actions implemented especially in public space. Their goal is to attract large numbers of people to collaborate. Methods of investigation were unstructured interview with young people - members of the group "We are not in need" and participating observation during events. Scientific aim is to identify factors that impede and facilitate the participation of young people at local level. Findings are the opportunities for participation of young people in local level. The group has identified several problem areas in the city. From all problem areas selected young people those which assumed achieve visible results in real time. The group realized music festivals, theatrical performances for seniors, action "cleaning of the city" and the various activities for younger children. With regard the possibilities of participation young people positively evaluates support from outside, the opportunity to meet with a similar group from Germany and composition of the group. Negatively evaluates they conduct of the part of Bilina city public to their group and limited options for traveling to Germany. Conclusion use models of community work for characterize of functioning the group of young people. Paper brings also several topics for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequalities are reflected in all areas of socio-economic life. They are visible for example in areas such as employment and working conditions, education, housing but also health. Health of the population is affected by several determinants, which include income. In this paper, we focus on income inequality and health and examine the relationship between income and health. The purpose of this paper is to take measure the eligibility provided that the company with inequitable income distribution has worse health outcomes. We use the methods of observation and description of socio-economic phenomena and processes using deduction to formulate some conclusions. We use statistical software IBM Statistics and we examine the relationship between defined variables - the Gini coefficient and life expectancy. Basic general research methods, that we use to fulfill the intention of article, are: comparison, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and other empirical methods. The aim of this paper is to consider the postulate that the European Union countries with higher income inequalities have poorer health outcomes. Among several experts there is no consensus on the relationship between income and health. Some state that income inequality makes a difference in health, others note that income inequality itself can not affect the health of inhabitants. We believe that there is the effect of income inequality on health, but not a decisive factor in health inequalities. On the other hand, health may affect the economic (income) inequality by means of the impact on the labor market and education. When examining the relationship between income and health, we do not forget other factors, including macro factors such as macro-economic development and micro factors such as the individual's behavior towards his health and his individual income. Whether or not there is a link between income inequality and health, it requires inequalities solution across a range of economic and social fields: from distribution through the tax and social protection systems to income and property policies, a stronger public services and the strengthening of equal opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shaping the knowledge society has become a priority for all the educational policies in member countries of the European Union. Within it, it is a specific quality of life based on people's ability to create value intangible nature, which may take the form of ideas, inventions or solutions of socio-economic character. A knowledge worker becomes the core workforce of the company. This worker works in a team, cooperates with individual members as well as with the group, develops ideas and actively shares knowledge. The way he works considerably varies as well as tools he uses at work. Our purpose is to identify the future competency model for new qualified workforce, which could be applicable for the educational policy, concretely for innovation of the educational and job standards In this paper we apply the theoretical analysis aimed at identifying the knowledge worker specifying the set of professional competencies in frame of 4 partial models, which are: personal competence, individual competence, social competence and societal competence. Through primary analysis we obtained information about preferences of his abilities, needed for changes in the educational system. The aim of this paper is to identify the basic characteristics of the knowledge worker and propose the competency model focusing on the personal, individual, social, and societal competence with its verification and proposal for improving the education standard. The result or our paper present suggest of the competency model of the knowledge worker, which would allow his definition on macro and micro level as well as identification new impulses for the educational policy. Fulfilment of the objective relates to the demanding requirements for qualified workforce in the knowledge society, from which is expected to more specialized knowledge, skills and work habits that would facilitate and promote mobility on the national and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the attitudes towards the elderly among health sciences students. As the demographic data suggest, it is an issue caused mainly by year-to-year increasing number of the seniors and the need for geriatric care. The main objective of this paper was to identify respondents' relationship to the seniors. The targets were to analyze respondents' views on the life of today's seniors in the society, where they see advantages and disadvantages of old age, and whether they think that educational institutions dedicated to this issue devote enough time to this problem. The survey included 142 questionnaires completed by the students of health sciences in the Pardubice region. The resulting data were evaluated with the help of chi-square test for independence (significance level 0.05) and relative frequency [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to identify the current pension reform's ability to contribute to long-term sustainability of the Czech pension account. Using analytical method the paper describes the so-called small and large pension reforms and discusses their macroeconomic impacts. The paper concludes that the impact of the reforms is ambiguous. The small reform should have a positive effect on the long-term financial sustainability of the pension account mostly due to the number of parametrical changes of the pay-as-you-go pension pillar. On the contrary, the large reform implementing a funded pillar of the social insurance appears to have a negative effect mostly due to an expectable uneven participation of different income groups and its negligible impact on the majority of the population. However, the negative impact caused by the social insurance payments income shortfall should still be viable and it should not amount to a high percentage [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports about the most significant document that was prepared in the environment of social work over the past three decades. First, the authors provide information about creation and content of this document, then they point to the impact of the document on the discussion about current challenges and future direction of social work. The paper also propose a new definition of social work which is expected to be formally adopted at the joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development to be held in Melbourne in July 2014 and explains the link between the Global Agenda and the new definition of social work. The authors meditate further on why this document remains almost unknown for the Czech and Slovak social workers, consider the potential of the Global Agenda document and discuss it from the perspective of the profession identity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to find out the degree of financial dependence of local and regional self-government from the state in Slovakia in years 2005-2016. Financial dependency will be analyzed for eight regional capital cities (local level) and eight self-governing regions (regional level). This type of research conveys a number of important results, it also provides the scope for analyzing and comparing the partial results of individual self-governing units and their average rates over a twelve-year period. Here is also an option to monitor the value development of the financial dependency of regional and local self-government budgets for the years 2005-2016. In the processing of this issue, we arose from a modified formula for calculation the financial independence. We determined the dependence of a selected sample of territorial self-governments on foreign/transfer revenues. They cannot directly affect the amount of these revenues. We have clearly presented the results in the tables and the graph on the basis of the analysis, comparison and synthesis of the obtained information. In the end, we have summarized the knowledge about the financial dependence of the territorial self-government in Slovakia in the time period under review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market economy, capital mobility and heterogeneity of the tax system currently creates strong pressure on investors in determining the location of investment. The countries are attracting the foreign investors to increase their competitiveness and attractiveness of tax. The aim of this paper is to assess tax competitiveness of new and old member states in regards macroeconomic situation. Submitted contribution deals with the issue of tax competition between the new and old EU Member States through the economically transparent and effective categorization of the EU countries with regard to the predetermined segmentation criteria using hierarchical Ward's method of clustering. The final group of these multidimensional objects with characteristic features were compared to each other and subjected to economic verification and quantification of the impact of selected macroeconomic indicators to the overall amount of tax revenues from the view of the tax competitiveness. Quantification was carried out by means of regression analysis, the random and fixed effect models were used (pooling, fixed effects and random effects model). The analysis confirmed that the differences are particularly important in the level of nominal and effective corporate taxation between the old and new EU Member States. The gross domestic product, employment and foreign direct investment showed the biggest impact on the tax revenues(strongcorrelation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient use of funds is the current challenge for operators both private and public sectors. In Slovakia the management of municipalities is governed only by law, that the main and only criterion considers the indebtedness of the village. The goal of the paper is to offer an alternative view of the legal assessment of the economic communities in the form of a comprehensive assessment of management of the municipality. Post characterizes TOPSIS technique as a suitable alternative for a comprehensive assessment of the management of municipalities in 2014, and this technique is applied to a set of villages in the Prešov Region (663) at two levels - at the same and adapted monitored indicators. Within the article the best management of municipalities according to selected criteria is ranked. The results of applications are further statistical examined to identify the impact of the indicators, as well as identification of observed correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly changing global economic environment provokes new challenges for scholars as well as politicians throughout the world. Many of them criticize currently dominant capitalist system, the so-called Washington Consensus and its inherently neoliberal nature. In this paper I directly respond to the recently opened Czech debate on this system's future development. Therefore, two possible "positive visions" are presented as viable, neutral and potentially well-functioning alternatives: the employee participation and the movement of sustainable de-growth. These visions are incorporated into the framework of the so-called social economy. In the case of employee participation, sometimes labelled as economic democracy, four concepts are presented: the German, the Slovak one and two American ones. Widespread degrowth movement is represented by measures such as the taxation of global banking transactions, decentralization of financial institutions, restrictions on tax havens, fair trade, cooperative business, support of local currencies, reducing emissions and the introduction of an unconditional basic income. Some of these proposals are promoted in the current Catholic social teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In preparation for the broader topic structure of logistics processes was research done. The dissertation describes the design of parameters of the logistic processes structure in a manufacturing company. Structure of logistic processes in a manufacturing company means the logistic processes and their relationships in a manufacturing company. The research for the dissertation was mixed one (quantitative and half-structured qualitative research) and was conducted in 70 manufacturing enterprises in the Czech Republic. The research was conducted in South and Pilsen region in May 2013. The research focused on finding the relationship of certain characteristics of the company (and its production) on the one hand and decision for centralized structure for managing logistics processes in the company on the second hand. One of the research questions was, if the choice of an independent central logistics department in a manufacturing company is in relation with emphasis on reliability, speed or cost. The aim of this paper is to present some results of this research. The result is: the decision for centralized structure for managing logistics processes in the company tends to be related to the effort of high reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper on "Social Issue - philosophical, political and legal reflection" we present the theoretical basis of social policy and its impact in solving social issues. We are focusing on the issue of interdependence of the social policy and law and on the application dimension of law. We identify the highlighted issue from the position of the historical and logical methods, in which we analyze the causes of birth (of the social issues) in the past, and their "positive heritage" inspiring current social scientific activities dealing with the social issues. Application of historical and logical method creates a space for comparative approach in which is logically justifies the priority or weaknesses in solving the social issues in the past and today. The aim of the highlighted issues is to point out the productive approach to its reflection, which consists in an organic bridging of the philosophical, political and legal knowledge gained by the analyzing of a limited range of social issues determined by us. Important is the recognition of the need for a functional bridge for the theoretical reflections (Philosophy and Policy) with legal practical and application approaches. Point to the fact that the law may not always be consistent with the fundamental principles of social policy: social justice, solidarity, as well as the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms. Highlighted (interdisciplinary) approach to the defining issue appears to us productive, in particular with regard to the complexity of the phenomenon of "Social Issue". So-called partial approach from the point of view of philosophy, political and law, solves our issue only partially. Mentioned partiality is losing the isolation, as we have joined the partial knowledge into the organic unit with the method of syntesis (and therefore "social issues" are reflected in a unity of the philosophy, politics and law). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Plan for the Creation of Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 2010-2014 points to, among the other things, the lack of a systematic solution to the conditions for the tertiary education of students with disabilities. Although numerous activities have been in place and operations at the University of Pardubice, this problems is still an issue. Therefore, this contribution paper focuses on the systemic model of socio-educational policies aimed to support students with special educational needs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors of this paper address the issue of regional disparities existing not only within the Slovak Republic but also within different countries worldwide. The present study attempts to analyse the main causes and effects of regional disparities. The authors selected two regions for the research, the Trenčín region and the Prešov region. The most distinctive characteristic of the former region is a low level of unemployment in the long-term, well-developed and functioning infrastructure as well as a multitude of industries. The latter region is characteristic for its high level of unemployment, higher proportion of minorities, less developed infrastructure, and prevailing trading activities and industrial production. When examining regional inequalities, the authors analyse indicators of economic and social development such as unemployment rate, average wages, disposable income, number of people on welfare, at-risk-of-poverty rate, migration, crime rate, etc. In general terms, western regions are believed to be richer than eastern regions. The authors try to determine correctness of this belief and identify differences in the regions under consideration. In addition, they try to compare and explain both the data collected and the position of both regions within the Slovak Republic. Moreover, they attempt to highlight the strengths of both regions, they draw attention to weaknesses and propose the ways of eliminating disparities. The interest in regional development and regional policy in Slovakia has increased significantly recently. The reason may be seen in increasing regional disparities and possible drawing of financial resources for regional development. Apart from the on-going process of eliminating disparities, reducing tensions between regions is imperative [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of growth in scientific publication increases every year. Ethical integrity is essential to writing and publication. Important ethical concerns to consider while writing a manuscript include etiquette, fraudulent publication, plagiarism, duplicate publication, authorship, and potential for conflict of interest. Strategies have been developed to prevent or detect ethical violations, and use of these strategies will enhance ethical integrity when preparing a manuscript for publication. This paper deals with ethical concerns of publishing [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special methods are used for modelling of extreme values. The aim of this article is application of the two most commonly used methods and demonstration of the use of these modelling for the insurance practice. These are the block maxima method and the peaks over threshold method. These methods are applied to real data of insured losses due to natural catastrophes. The analysed data were published by reinsurance company Swiss Re on their website. Data from 2014-2016, when 218 catastrophic events occurred due to natural influences, are used. According to the reinsurance company Swiss Re the event is classified as a catastrophic event, if the loss exceeds at least one of the limit of which relates to economic losses, the insured losses or limits on the number of casualties. The financial stability of insurance and reinsurance undertakings is affected by insured extreme losses. Therefore, the knowledge of probabilistic models of these extreme values is important. Based on the estimated parameters of these models, it is possible to estimate the amount of future insured losses due to natural catastrophic events. This information is important for the risk management of insurance and reinsurance undertakings to set and update premiums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of the capping the retirement age in Slovakia will have negative impacts on the sustainability of the Slovak PAYG scheme. This has led us to the analyze whether the current generations will pass the financial burden onto next generations. Method of generational accounts allows us to estimate imbalance between various generations. We modified generational accounts into the generational pension subaccounts to analyse the imbalance between generations within the Slovak PAYG scheme. We also added education as a new parameter into generational pension subaccounts. Using this approach, we can estimate how much each ageeducational cohort pays into PAYG scheme and how much each age-educational cohort could receive in the form of pensions from PAYG scheme. Applying microsimulation model using stochastic moving block bootstrapping techniques and generational pension subaccounts, we estimate redistributional impacts of capping age at 64 years. We have shown, that capping the retirement age at 64 will leads to an increase in paid benefits from PAYG scheme, which will have negative impacts to the future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is thematically focused on the issue of transparent performance of self-government, especially in the context of public's position within the institute of the right to information. The aim of the article will be to evaluate the extent of provided information in selected municipalities in the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, to compare the legislation and practice and to specify differences. The research will focus on constitutional-legal and theoretical background and analysis of the rules of procedure of local councils in Bratislava, Košice and Prague. We will supplement the research with selected criteria - publishing and making audiovisual recordings or other recordings. General methods (analysis, synthesis, logical abstraction, induction and deduction), statistical methods and comparison will be used. The article is formally structured into the standard parts, the formulation of the issue is focused on theoretic-legal aspects, direct democracy, the right to information and especially the provision of information by selected self-governments. We found some shortcomings (municipalities not complying with legal obligations), the worst is Košice, the better condition is in Bratislava and the best situation is in Prague. The most serious mistakes are the absence of a website, unpublished rules of procedure or relevant records of meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on social policies and social work.

The importance of cities in the economic system of the country is unquestionable. They group and attract a large number of economic actors and allow them to realize intense economic interactions between them. To offer long-term benefits for inhabitants and entrepreneurs and remain attractive for them, cities need to develop continuously. Ensuring the development of the city means to create and acquire resources to increase its capacity and use of the available potential. This article deals with the financial capacity of Slovak cities, which reflects their ability to ensure their development. The financial capacity of Slovak cities was investigated in time period 2009 -2014. Investigated were all 138 Slovak cities and they were divided into three size groups: small cities with population up to 20 000 inhabitants, medium-sized cities with population between 20 001 and 50 000 inhabitants and large cities over 50 001 inhabitants. The evaluation of financial capacity was realized on six indicators: current account balance, capital account balance, total debt, debt service, immediate liquidity and net worth. The comparison of the calculated values of each group showed that the highest amount of resources allocate to their development the group of largest cities. On the other hand, that group has also the highest debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation and human capital play a crucial role in the economic development. Universities are one the main institutions influencing level of these factors, so states or other public institutions has spent substantial funds on their functioning. Due to political need to spend funds efficiently and effectively, for the last years previous, mainly trust based, funding regimes has been partially replaced by new ways of financing - performance based financing. These new forms have their own advantages and weaknesses, but they are used short time to be able to evaluate their longer term impacts. However, we could see how these forms change the distribution of funding. In this article, we empirically looked at different types of universities funding and compare how this funding affects different universities in case of Slovakia. We show that the different schemes lead to quite different allocations. More than type of funding is important how the criteria for funding are set up and how different sources are complementary to the needs of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern growth theories consider human capital as an important factor of economic growth. Cities play an important role in the production and concentration of human capital play. On their territories are located educational institutions such as universities or colleges that provide opportunities for economic actors to increase their education. They also create a space for the emergence and rapid spread of spill overs that spread inside and also outside of their territories. This article aims to examine the role of human capital in local economic growth in Slovak Republic. All 79 Slovak districts were examined and the observed time period was between the years of 2001 and 2015. For discovering the influence of the factor of human capital on the local economic growth a regression analysis was used. The main result is that the selected factor of human capital (represented by the growth index of inhabitants with tertiary education) had a positive and statistically significant influence on the economic growth of Slovakia's districts (represented by the growth index of wages). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, research, development and innovation is one of five areas that form the basis of the strategy Europe 2020. One of the basic indicators of evaluation of the R&D level in country is an indicator reflecting the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D in the country's GDP. This indicator is used to monitor the achievement of the objective of the strategy, which is the EU to increase spending on R&D in 2020 to 3% of GDP. Therefore, the article deals with the issue of R&D in selected countries formulated in the strategy Europe 2020 in terms of the amount of expenditure incurred the above activities, the structure of expenditure to the GDP of countries and other partial indicators, which indicate differences in the R&D areas between analyzed and compared countries. Part of the contribution will predict the expected development of the indicator expressing the share of expenditure on R&D in GDP of countries in order to determine whether the targets set for each country are achievable by 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture, as the most important human activity, is one of the sustainable uses and land management. Over the past decade, traditional agriculture started its organic farming. Production of business in the land without the use of chemicals is helpful in maintaining and restoring natural resources. Slovak agriculture has a long tradition and due to the fact that the majority of the population worked mainly in the sector. In Slovakia, the businesses started to work on organic farming early 90s. Under the influence of foreign companies supplying cheap and surplus food products and disappearance of most agricultural cooperatives in Slovakia, Slovak decreased agricultural production and thus revenue companies. Part of the agricultural company, is the accession of Slovakia to the European Union, undertook to manage the land in order to be adopted in accordance with the requirements of environmental protection. With the entry of Slovakia into the EU, companies can apply for assistance in the form of subsidies, grants or other assistance in the form of contributions from the funds of the Slovak Republic or the EU. Despite the support of SR or EU companies need to reassess their economic activities and use of selected methods appropriately and prevent possible financial bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium enterprises (SME) represent an essential part of an economic system as they positively influence important macroeconomic data. The aim of this article is to define significant determinants of quality of business environment of SME in the Czech Republic and to quantify differences between selected social groups of entrepreneurs. We compare entrepreneurial opinions dividing them by gender, education, age and their companies' size. The data was obtained through own research of business environment. Only 24% of respondents stated they did not experience corruption and cronyism in their entrepreneurial activities. We discovered statistically significant differences in entrepreneurs' opinions according to their gender, education and their companies' size. As much as 71% of respondents opined that the media do not inform sufficiently about the importance of entrepreneurship for society. Moreover, entrepreneurs evaluate the commercial banks' attitude to their financing with caution. As for the intensity of business risks, 62% of businessmen declared it has increased after the crisis of 2008. We also found out statistically significant differences in the perception of business risks by various types of entrepreneurs dividing them by education, their companies' size and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a model of crisis manager competencies. It was created in cooperation with the owners of small businesses. Based on brainwriting the competencies required for a crisis manager were generated. Decision-making method AHP was used for competencies decomposition into two levels. On the first level three groups were placed. The are called managerial competence, interpersonal and technical. At the second level, these groups were further decomposed, e.g. on competencies like leadership, strategic thinking, time management, financial management, resilience, independence in solving problems, team work etc. The respondents performed quantitative pairwise comparisons by Saaty's method. Respondents evaluated competencies at both levels. After evaluating Saaty's matrices modified on the basis of comprehensive results of all respondents the competency model of crisis manager was created. The authors do not claim the permanence of presented model and also accept the possibility of derogation of the competencies required for the function of a crisis manager for large enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interregional migration in the Czech Republic is not so massive in comparison with other states (the USA, Germany). The Czech citizens are not used to migrate for work. But we can notice that the number of moved people has been increasing in the last ten years. It is also caused by the increasing differences between regions. The aim of the article is determined whether interregional migration in the Czech Republic is related with the economic level of the region. Although the decision to move is the individual decision of each person, it is influence by phenomena from economic, social and cultural life and they affect the final decision. The article deals with the determinants of interregional migration in the Czech Republic. It is based on the findings of migration theories that were formed during 20th century. It defines the main causes of human migration and examines their impact in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile and clothing industry are two from the industries, which are affected by globalization processes extremely. In terms of historical development, these industries of the sectors of light industry belong to the major pillars of the Czech economy. The article focuses on assessing the impact of globalization on the economic security of the textile and clothing industry of the Czech Republic and the economic security of the regions where enterprises of mentioned industries operate, namely in the period of globalization. It shows that economic security of industry has absolute and relative dimensions, which are reflected on economic security of regions subsequently. To assess of the economic security are selected performance indicators (sales) and employment, the attention is paid to the period 1975-2012, with particular emphasis on the period 1995-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyze the competitiveness of the Slovak Republic expressed by the Global Competitiveness Index and compare its value with Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was chosen as a basis of comparison because of the similarity of its economy with the Slovak Republic. This article describes the methodology for assessing the competitiveness of countries according to the World Economic Forum. This article also describes pillars of competitiveness, which consist of the key factors affecting the competitiveness of any country. Classification of countries assessed into three main groups according to the sophistication of the economy can detect those factors that affect the level of competitiveness of the selected country the most. By analysis of the various pillars is also possible to recognize problematic factors, i.e. those pillars characterized by low values in the long period, which need attention. The article describes the most problematic areas of competitiveness of the Slovak Republic. These include mainly the low quality of public institutions, a significant level of corruption in the country and as another problematic factor is considered a low innovation activity of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]