Search

This paper investigates the transport policy development and characteristics of the Austrian passenger transport sector from the 1950s onwards. The analysed performance indicators deal with the three most prevalent modes of transport (cars, trains and airplanes) and are linked to independent decision-making units (passengers) and their motives (price, quality and time to destination) as well as to goals and decisions involved in government policies. In this theoretical framework, we identified three developmental phases, using an interdisciplinary approach to assess the development of three variables of interest (number of car, air and train passengers). In the long term, transport policy aimed to solve the rigidity and lack of vision in train transport and the extensive use of cars. Air transport was a steadily growing segment in a close and positive relationship with trains, which is in line with the transport political orientation towards Vienna Airport and train connections to the capital city. The post-war phase (1945–1970) was characterised by enormous growth in the number of cars, an upswing in air transport and stagnant train transport. The second phase (1970–1994) was defined by a progressive liberalisation of rail transport and a plan to balance the growth rates of car, train and airplane performance variables. Finally, in the 1995–2019 phase, the growth in train transport increased; however, this growth remained far below the growth rates of air and car performance variables. Transport policy achievements and shortcomings for future research are suggested.

A sample of 18 papers and 32 data sets revealed 210,404 firm level observations about European firms making decisions about innovation. A total of 66,965 observations describe activities of innovators between 1986 and 2008. This paper used a basic literature review to assess properties of innovation among quite rare full CDM (Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse) papers. This study compared results from two systems of estimation and showed that both international and regional comparisons are rather problematic because of different definitions of innovation variables and data set representativeness. On average, a typical firm that engaged in innovation was a large firm competing in international markets in the sample of firms with 20+ employees. Smaller firms, however, invested more in research and development (R&D) and no linear relationship was found for output characteristics. Cooperation on R&D projects increased overall innovation intensity. There is strong evidence that public funding had an ambiguous effect on R&D spending and no additional effect on innovation output on average. This output measured by sales from innovated goods and services was on average in a positive relationship with labour productivity; however, a detailed view suggested this effect was present only in product innovation. In this paper, it is shown that results of innovation studies cannot be compared or used in research without deeper analysis of the data sample (micro companies, industries, active firms, entrants etc.), dependent variable (innovator, R&D expenditures, sales, productivity, new product, new service etc.) and the baseline company that is defined by independent variables.

Innovative activities of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas and in Czech economy are relatively unexplored areas. Socioeconomic and environmental contributions of SMEs activities can be gained not only by means of ecological innovative activities of rural SMEs. Rural areas are also a suitable localization strategy for obtaining public money from subsidies, as there is no great direct competition and lower costs. SMEs economic contributions are irreplaceable both for urban and rural areas. Socioeconomic impact of ecological innovations for urban and rural areas is connected with the advantages of circular economy, such as reduced energy consumption, less pollution and waste, and well-organized product recycling options after use. The hypotheses are focused on the localization of businesses into rural areas, size of enterprises introducing innovations in the market, and ecological product and processes innovations. Estimation is based on 4 innovation phases as in the case of the general innovation business process. The 2014 data set is provided by the Czech Statistical Office contains the Community Innovation Survey. The results for 2014 indicate that localization does not affect the first phases of the innovation process, and that the innovative activities increase the costs of the R&D activities.

The analysis aims at the different innovation activities of foreign-owned enterprises in the Czech economy. Data comes from the Czech Community Innovation Surveys of 2010, 2012, and 2014. This paper evaluates new-to-the-market innovation activities at the firm level. The analyzed sample consists of observations about innovators and companies that did not engage in new-to-the-market innovation activities in the last three years. This paper explores the relationship between public support and innovation activities of multinationals. The first results suggest public support (local government funds, national government funds, EU funds, EU Framework, and Horizon funds) is not always statistically significant in terms of R&D expenditures in comparison to unsupported firms. The additional contribution of public support for innovation output is again not always statistically significant. Results suggest that local government funds (grant projects) are beneficial for foreign-owned new-to-the-market innovators. Those local government funds are contributing both to innovation input (R&D expenditures) and innovation output (sales of innovated goods and services). Other public support variables indicate a crowding-out effect of private R&D&I investment. Globalization tendencies are supported by governments and future research should aim at a more complex analysis of multinationals’ behavior in this area.

Eight Czech CIS waves between 2001-2014 were analyzed. An adjusted (incomplete) CDM model was used to estimate effects of characteristics of firms (firm size, government funding, market orientation, or foreign ownership) on the innovation process (decision to innovate, R&D intensity, sales from innovated goods). Public support had a very limited or even negative effect on innovation inputs and outputs. This analysis suggests that there is no relationship between R&D expenditures and sales of innovated goods. The coefficients are quite similar for new-to-the-market innovators and new-to-the-enterprise innovators. The orientation of the world market is a highly important factor of new-to-the-market innovators. The ability to capture sales of innovated goods is higher for smaller firms, but only for the new-to-the-firm innovators. The analysis also showed differences between innovators in service sector and manufacturing sector. Cooperation is a positive factor of innovation intensity in the manufacturing sector; however on average, there is zero effect of cooperation in the service sector. World market orientation is a key factor of service companies.

The entry focuses on the issue of strategic importance of human resource (HR) management. The questionnaire survey was aimed at companies from the Region of South Bohemia. The approach to personnel agenda was analysed, as well as the connections to the branches in which the tested businesses were active, the size of the company, the education level of their HR officers, and their company level investments in human capital. A high level of heterogeneity in the data was found and no statistical differences were found in tested hypotheses. However, it was discovered that if the HR department employees have tertiary education, it is a sign of a higher standard and competence level of the department. The higher level of competency and HR planning independence was found in the service sector. This supports the claim that a vast variety of skills is needed in order to provide agenda of life-long learning and professional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cliometrics as a method is a part of the so-called New Economic History as well as the Global History. Cliometrics was created in the United States of America at the Purdue University. Stanley Reiter, Robert William Fogel, Douglass Cecil North, Lance Davis, Alfred Conrad, and John Meyer are amongst the most influential representatives of cliometrics. The following study examines cliometrics as a method of economic history and compares it to the traditional (European) method of historical research -- the historical perspective method. As a part of the study, cliometrics is compared to other research perspectives of liberal arts or social sciences that are based on calculations and quantitative data. The study also discusses the criticism that describes cliometrics as a purely ahistorical research method and presents its own interpretation of the term "applied cliometrics," as well as its meaning, its advantages, and the expandability of this method in the current economy history discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]