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Despite the attention being paid to the environmental and social dimension of sustainability of Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the literature, little empirical research has focused on economic sustainability considering the HEI as an entity depending on financial funds provided by students, research, strategic partners, effective and efficient financial management. The conducted empirical survey deals with the link between the performance of HEI (number of students and the research productivity) and its economic sustainability measured as the average share of government subsidy. Furthermore, based on the 4678 students´ questionnaires, the paper explores the perception of the quality of study and the capabilities of graduates of public HEIs in Slovakia. The authors have used Multivariate Tests of Significance to evaluate the influence of above-mentioned variables on the economic sustainability of HEIs. Based on the results it can be concluded the HEIs´ economic sustainability is directly determined by the number of enrolled students and research productivity, while the effect of the quality of study and the capabilities of graduates was not confirmed. Many HEI funding systems are based on the number of enrolled students. The funding system in Slovakia is one of them. Therefore, the results (even if drawing from the specific context) are widely applicable. The study theoretically contributes to the sustainability of HEI by proposing a general and a specific conceptual model of sustainability in HEI. Some HEI funding systems based on the number of enrolled students are planning to base their funding system on capabilities of graduates and their employability (e.g. Slovakia). This fact even highlights the real-life importance of our study. Research results also tell that the quality of study and the capabilities of graduates are perceived differently at the altered types of HEI. Several HEIs were identified and therefore, HEIs need to adopt different strategies to satisfy diverse stakeholders’ expectations.

The main purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of financial prudence (FIN) on social influence and environmental satisfaction in the sustainable consumption (SC) behavioural model from a cross-market intergenerational perspective in the context of COVID-19. Surprisingly, we discovered that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, significant differences emerge between the Chinese and European markets in the four factors (social influence, SC behaviour, environmental satisfaction, and FIN). Unpredictably, Generation X in the European market and Generation Y in the Chinese market had the highest FIN during the pandemic. Another substantial contribution is that, during the epidemic, the influence of social interaction promotes SC behaviour and social influence motivates users to implement SC behaviours by enhancing environmental satisfaction. However, differences arise in the moderating effect of FIN. In China, the moderating effect occurs in the relationship between social influence and SC behaviour, whereas, in Europe, it reflects in the relationship between social influence and environmental satisfaction.

Research background:Towards the end of the previous century the issue of management of diversity in organisations gained a prominent place in both academic and societal debates. For any multicultural country, such as the United States or Great Britain, the issue of diversity is not new. However, diversity has not been as frequently researched in the countries of the Visegrad region: the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.Purpose of the article:Using the data about 278 business organizations in Slovakia, we focus on the background of the implementation of diversity management from the point of view of factors having a direct influence on this process. We evaluate the influence of the legal form (as an expression of the number of owners and the ability to quickly adopt a new concept) of the business organisation, the size (number of employees) of the business organisation, the share of the foreign capital in the ownership structure of the organisations, the sector of economy the organization operates in, its performance and the existence of HR unit in the organizational structure.Methods:To evaluate the influence of the selected factors linear modelling was used.Findings & Value added:The study theoretically contributes to human resource management, talent management and organizational behaviour theories, and offers several policy implications for decision makers. Specifically, it deals with the relationship between the implementation of the diversity management selected organizations` characteristics.

Consumers have started looking for non-traditional types of beer with a specific taste and aroma usually offered by craft breweries. These breweries are characterized by brewing various beer specialties from special types of hops and yeasts. They differ from industrial breweries by brewing technology, production volume and the duration of the beer production process. This paper evaluates the development of beer consumption and describes consumer preferences with an emphasis on craft beer in the Slovak Republic. We analyzed the development of beer consumption per capita in Slovakia in the period from 2010 to 2019. For collecting data related to consumer behavior, we used a questionnaire which was realized on the sample of 281 respondents. We examined dependencies between places of beer consumption, factors affecting beer purchasing, consumer preferences with emphasis on craft beer consumption and selected demographic characteristics using different statistical methods. Domestic and foreign craft beer from small breweries is more preferred by men and by consumers living in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants. It is most popular among respondents in the age category from 26 to 40 years. Usually, the price of craft beer is higher than the price of beer produced by industrial breweries. We assume that consumers from 26 to 40 years old are the most economically active and therefore they can afford to consume more expensive beer. Due to changes in consumer preferences and lifestyles, we anticipate an increasing interest in the consumption of craft beer. Changing consumer habits can generate new opportunities in the beer market and initiate to production of innovative products.

The research productivity of economics departments and tenure-track staff (associate and full professors) in Slovakia is analyzed based on journal publications and citations extracted from the SSCI...

Recent changes of the environment and in the society have altered consumers’ preferences and brought new concerns among local communities regarding environmental protection and organizations responsibility, the adoption of environmentally friendly strategies, as well as offering more sustainable products. Consumers tend to select retailers based on their focus on environmental friendly products and on various “green” strategies regarding waste disposal, package recycling, etc. This study aims to highlight Romanian and Slovak consumers’ attitudes towards purchasing of goods from retailers that strive a clear focus on environmental responsibility and environmental friendly practices in apparel, footwear and sportswear retail. By means of a quantitative research based on a questionnaire administered to consumers of international retail chains with operations in both countries, the authors highlight differences in their perceptions and attitudes for buying green apparel, footwear and sportswear. Whereas Millennials and Gen Xers consumers in Romania and Slovakia believe that international apparel, footwear and sportswear retailers are less concerned about environmentally responsible behavior and the need of selling green products, Baby Boomers are more sensitive to such aspects and carefully select retailers according to their green strategy. This research provides specific findings about attitudes of different consumers’ generations within two emerging European countries (Romania, Slovakia).

This paper investigates whether entrepreneurial education (EE) contributes to the entrepreneurial intentions (EI) of university students in the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland a...

This paper explores the geography of microbreweries in three countries in Central Europe: the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. Each has a long, turbulent, and different history of brewing, but in the twenty-first century all of them have experienced the change in this market caused by the so-called craft beer revolution. First, in an exhaustive literature review, we present the reasons for the craft beer proliferation in the world and characterize the beer market in these three countries. We also identify the factors that might lead to the location and clustering of craft breweries. Second, we empirically test where the microbreweries tend to locate and what the driving forces are in the clustering patterns in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, using spatial statistical models (LISA and spatial lag) and data from Eurostat and collected by the authors. Our findings suggest that craft brewers cluster in Central Europe, for reasons related to income and general well-being, the education level, economic activity and creativity, the age of the population, and the distance from cities.

Nowadays, all sources in the reproduction process are easily substituted, thus the most important factors in reaching a competitive advantage are human resources. Talent management is the process oriented to enrich higher the ability of employers to increase their quality and productivity. Globalization has changed the structure of the companies in Slovakia, depending on the size of the company. This paper compares how the size of the company influences the main phases of the talent management process (strategy, identification, assessment, development, retaining). A scaled questionnaire was applied as a tool for data collection in 381 companies operating business in Slovakia. Questionnaire reliability was verified by Cronbach&rsquo, s alpha. To verify the existence of statistically significant differences between individual groups of respondents, ANOVA was used. We found that the main differences between small and large companies were identified in the phases of talent identification and talent development. In bigger companies, management is more focused on HR plans that include talent identification and acquisition and have more possibilities to develop talented individuals. On the other side we could see that small companies were more successful in the process of retaining the talents. Talented people in small companies are more loyal to the employers and stay in the company for longer periods than talented individuals in large companies.

With increasing internationalisation of business, diversity management has emerged as an important issue, even in traditionally non- diversified companies. This research seeks to examine the effect of size, legal form and share of the foreign capital in the ownership structure of the organisation on the implementation of diversity management. An empirical survey was carried out that examined the state of the implementation of diversity management in the Slovak Republic. Using non-parametric statistical methods and post-hoc testing by data analysis, the research survey revealed that the evaluated factors significantly influenced the attitudes of respondents towards the diversity management implementation. The respondents working in large business organisations generally perceive the diversity management concept more positively when compared with respondents working in smaller organisations. The respondents working in business organisations where the share of foreign capital in the ownership structure exceeds 80% are more positively inclined towards the implementation of diversity management. The legal form of the business organisation does not influence the attitudes of the respondents in any significant way. We recommend domestic business organisations and SMEs focus on the diversity issues, especially on supporting the diversified work teams. This can preferably be done by diversity training, using formalised HRM procedures and mentoring initiatives. Diversity management is not solely a domain of subsidiaries and large business organisations. The organisations are able to benefit from diversity management regardless of their size and country of origin.

The objective of this chapter is to evaluate how globalization of the Slovak economy, economic growth, inflow of FDI in brewing industry, affected not only the structure of the standard beer market but also the expansion of craft brewing. In particular, we evaluate how the interplay between the developments of standardized and globalized traditional beer industry, income growth resulting in increasing demand for beer diversity, and development and dissemination of craft brewing technology and know-how, changing lifestyles and expansion of entrepreneurship as well as government policies affected the growth of craft breweries. A survey was performed among craft breweries. A structured interview was used as a tool of data collection. There were 20 owners of craft breweries in Slovakia interviewed (out of total number of 51). The survey was focused on factors affecting demand for craft beer, the impact of traditional beer market characterized by homogenous products on demand for differentiated craft beer in Slovakia, types of beers produced by craft breweries, motivation behind starting the craft brewery, factors influencing the supply of craft beer, availability of inputs, know-how for craft beer production, regulation of craft beer production, government support for craft beer production, and vertical and horizontal cooperation in micro-brewing. Results show availability and better prices of technologies and inputs for brewing beer, know-how and EU subsidies have a positive impact on the supply side, while higher incomes, increasing demand for product diversity, and changing lifestyles had a strong positive impact on the demand side. On the other hand, there are some barriers for expansion also. The major ones are bureaucracy, lack of qualified brewers and taxation policy.

The paper deals with comparison of organic and conventional agriculture from two points of view. Firstly the managerial point of view examing number of employees and the personal costs per hectare. Secondly, the owners' point of view examing profitability of organic farming. Both views result from the specifics of organic farming. Organic production usually generates higher employment, higher personal cost and results in lower yields. We evaluated differences between organic and conventional agriculture in Slovakia over period of years 2009-2012 on a sample of more than 1050 farms in each year. The share of organic farms was 15%. Using t-test as evaluation method we found no significant differences from the managerial point of view (measured by employees per hectare and personal costs per hectare). From the owner' s point of view (measured by return on costs, return on equity and total assets per hectare) we conclude that the subsidies successfully compensate the lower revenues of organic farms (there was no significant difference in ROE and ROC). Our results are based on the sample of organic farms with Average utilised area of 850 hectares which reflects the farm structure in Slovakia. We can conclude that large organic farms do not support employment in rural areas and generate comparable profit when compared to conventional farms.

The Necessity of Implementation of Diversity Management Caused by the Actual Development of Cross-border Labour Mobility in EU The article refers to the problemacy of international labour mobility seen as a response to many changes in political as well as in economical and social development in Europe in the last decade. In the first part of the article there is a short summary of the mentioned development in the area of immigration and labour mobility in Europe. The second part of the article deals with diversity in general and with managing of diversity in particular, there are some practical examples of possible problems as well. The last part of the article offers some suggestions for successful implementation of diversity management in enterprises.

Despite the growing attention being paid to talent management in the literature, little empirical research has been conducted on applying talent management in various organisations, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, our empirical survey examines talent management practices from the perspective of different sized enterprises in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The findings are based on data collection from 174 enterprises in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Overall, the survey indicates that talent management is not of primary concern to most organisations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These findings are not particularly surprising, as talent management is not a key issue for most organisations, particularly SMEs. Nevertheless, we argue that talent management is a crucial challenge for all organisations aiming to enhance their competitive advantages. This study’s major findings prove that enterprise size is a relevant determinant of approaches to talent management and its practice within the enterprises. Several important differences between SMEs and large organisations were found. First, SMEs adopt a more exclusive approach to talent than do large firms, where an inclusive approach dominates. Furthermore, SMEs’ strategic approach to talent management is limited, with most adopting an ad hoc approach to talent management practices. Thus, the shift towards holistic and strategic approaches to talent management constitutes one of the most important challenges for those organisations. The research survey raises a number of important issues that should be considered by enterprises when they engage in talent management. The survey has added to our understanding of the talent management implementation in different types of enterprises.

In this paper we estimate systematic risk of the Slovak unquoted agricultural farms – agricultural cooperatives and companies, in the period of 2009-2012. An alternative Markowitz portfolio theory approach was applied. As a measure of the systematic risk, we used return on equity (ROE). Based on the dataset of 996 farms over years 2009-2012, the Slovak farm average ROE reached 0.048% and systematic risk 3%. The Slovak agricultural farms displayed low profitability. The average ROE was higher and systematic risk indicator was lower for agricultural companies than for agricultural production cooperatives. Thus the agricultural companies could be more attractive for investors.

The paper deals with the implementation of diversity management in the Czech and Slovak organizations. The aim of the research was to find out how the concept of diversity management is accepted and applied in the Czech and Slovak companies. The scale questionnaire of the author's own construction was used for data collection. The questionnaire contained apart from the introductory classification items 25 items divided into three thematic areas: the field of inclusion and justice, the field of diversity management implementation and the field of benefits resulting from implementing diversity management. The statistically significant differences and dependencies that emerged among items in the questionnaire were examined by Kruskal-Wallis test and other statistical methods. The research survey revealed that respondents’ answers were significantly affected by factors such as the seat of the company and the working position of the respondent. The respondents from the Slovak Republic generally perceive issue of diversity management more positively compared with respondents from the Czech Republic. Also the managers perceive issue of diversity management more positively compared with employees. The research survey identified partially the existing state of implementing the concept of diversity management in organizations in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

This paper examines the impact of the legal form of agricultural fi rms on the benefi t to their owners for a panel of Slovak agricultural fi rms. We use return on equity (ROE) as a measure of the benefi t to owners. Using the repeated measures ANOV A technique, we fi nd that the legal form of a fi rm is a relevant determinant of the benefi t to owners. We conclude that from the point of view of ROE the legal form ‘company’ is preferable over ‘cooperative’.