Open Access
Article
SciPap-837
Weight of Topsis Technique Parameter and Its Impact on Assessment of Municipalities in Slovak Republic
by Roman Vavrek
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Local Self-Government, Municipality, Prešov District, Topsis Technique, Multicriteria Evaluation, Indicators Weight
JEL classification: C39, C62, G28, H71, H72
Open Access
Article
SciPap-838
Research and Development in Slovakia, Denmark and Finland From the Perspective of the Strategy Europe 2020
by Michal Tkáč, Emília Duľová Spišáková, Barbora Gontkovičová
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Research, Development, Lisabon Strategy, Strategy Europe 2020, Target
JEL classification: O31, O32
Open Access
Article
SciPap-839
Public Expenditure on Research and Development and Its Relationship With Economic Growth in the Czechia, Denmark and Slovakia
by Irena Szarowská, Dominika Žůrková
Abstract: This article deals with a public support of reseach and development (R&D), as R&D is of a crucial importance in creation of knowledge, products and technologies. Literature offers support for varied relationship between R&D expenditure and economic growth – positive, negative and zero. Therefore, the goal of the article is to verify the relationship between public R&D expenditures and economic growth in the Czechia, Denmark and Slovakia in the period 1995–2013. Empirical evidence is based on data collected from Eurostat database. Johansen cointegration test is applied for analysing the long-term relationship and the Error correction model is added for short-term dynamics. Results of estimations confirmed the positive long-term relationship between Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) and economic growth in Denmark and Slovakia. Anyway, testing public R&D expenditure by sectors of providing verified cointegration for one sector in all countries at least. Concretely, the long-term relationship was proven for all sectors in Denmark, for government, private non-profit and higher education sectors in Slovakia and for government sector in the Czechia.
Keywords: Economic Growth, Research And Development, Cointegration, Long-Term Relationship, Public Support
JEL classification: O38, H25, F63
Open Access
Article
SciPap-840
A Comparison of Efficiency of Hospitals in the Individual Regions of the Czech Republic
by Pavla Staňková, Šárka Papadaki
Abstract: The main goal of this paper is to compare the efficiency of health care in the individual regions of the Czech Republic. Key consideration is given to the efficiency of hospitals for these subjects account for more than half of the health care expenses. The DEA method, precisely the input-oriented CCR, was chosen for the analysis. This method allows for the evaluation of several inputs and outputs. For the purpose of our research, we utilized one output, i.e. the number of hospitalized patients, and on the other hand, we examined several inputs, i.e. the number of beds, operating costs and the number of physicians. The analysis showed that the Královehradecký region is the least efficient and, on the other side of spectrum, there are 4 efficient regions - Karlovarský, Ústecký, Vysočina and Zlínský. The level of efficiency in other regions varies between 79,4 % and the above-mentioned 100%. Looking at the structure and the number of hospitals in the regions, we cannot see any significant correlation so we cannot say that efficiency is correlated to the number or structure of hospitals in any given region.
Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Healthcare, Hospital, Operating Costs
JEL classification: I11, L14, M21
Open Access
Article
SciPap-841
Unfair Competition and Its Impact on the Level of Municipal Expenditure on Waste Management
by Jana Soukopová, Eduard Bakoš
Abstract: The paper deals with the effect of competition on municipal public expenditure. The impact of competition on municipal waste management expenditure is ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the nature of competition in the waste management market and its impact on municipal waste management expenditure in the four regions in the Czech Republic (1962 municipalities) in year 2014. In the past, between years 2008 and 2011, cartel of four companies was proven in the waste management market in the Czech Republic. We suppose that the existence of an unfair competition can lead to higher municipal waste management expenditure. The results confirm our assumption and show that impact of unfair competition is still visible after four years and it could have a notable impact on municipal waste management expenditure.
Keywords: Competition, Waste Management, Municipal Expenditure
JEL classification: H76, C40
Open Access
Article
SciPap-842
The Inequality of Slovak Households' Finances
by Ľubica Sipková, Juraj Sipko
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: NUTS 3, Household Finance, Net Wealth, Theil T Index, Inequality Decomposition, HFCS
JEL classification: D10, D14, D31
Open Access
Article
SciPap-843
“To Formulate a Positive Vision”: A Debate on the Current State of the Global Society From a Political-Economic Perspective
by Marián Sekerák
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Political Economy, Neoliberalism, Capitalism, Degrowth Movement, Economic Democracy, Employee Participation
JEL classification: A10, P16
Open Access
Article
SciPap-844
Evaluation of Profitability Impact on Selection of Financing Sources Under Conditions in Visegrad Group Countries in the Field of Power Engineering
by Petra Růčková
Abstract: The topic of the use of financing sources in business is being dealt with by economists for more than half of century. Searching for suitable combination of own financing sources and debts led to many studies and later theories, which dealt with optimization of capital structure. Focus on power engineering is based on the fact that energy safety of V4 countries is one of priorities of cooperation. The aim of this article is to find out based on reviews of previous studies and elaborated analyses whether achievement of profitability has impact on decision-making as it comes to the use of debt financing and whether the results of the analysis indicates tendency towards dynamic trade off theories of capital structure in the selected countries in the field of energy. Opposite situation is also the subject of interest thus whether higher rate of profitability positively influences the use of debt finances. This article considers the analysis of 417 big and middle-sized companies of V4 group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic). Correlation analysis and panel regression are the main methods being used for testing. Testing is provided by the Eviews programme. Data used in testing were gained from Amadeus database.
Keywords: Profitability, Capital Structure, Correlation Analysis, Debt/Equity Ratio, Dynamic Trade Off Theory, Panel Regression
JEL classification: G30, G32
Open Access
Article
SciPap-845
Planning the Development of Cycling Infrastructure Using Spatial Decision Making Support Methods
by Aleš Ruda, Ludmila Floková
Abstract: Planning the development of cycling infrastructure underlines the importance of suitable and sustainable transportation inside cities. In spite that decision making process implements many statistical tools, proposing new cycle paths is based on both quantitative evaluating and qualitative respecting strategic intent of the city. The main goal of the paper is to extend currently accepted approaches in modelling of cycling infrastructure towards geostatistical analysis. The research documents a comparative study of different interpolation techniques producing raster surfaces for further processing using multicriterial evaluation. To choose an appropriate interpolation method several methods were tested, especially Inverse Distance Weighted, Radial Base Function, Simple Kriging, Ordinary Kriging and Empirical Bayesian Kriging. Besides interpolated data taken from field counting, points of cyclists´ interest have been implemented into the assessment. Considering two strategies (safety and preparedness for cycling infrastructure development) determining weights, two sets of proposals have been also presented. The results were equally reclassified into five classes for possible comparison.
Keywords: Cycle Path, Geostatistical Interpolation, Cyclist Counting, Multicriterial Evaluation, Infrastructure Planning
JEL classification: C15, C88, R41
Open Access
Article
SciPap-846
Assessment of the Effect of Exchange Rate Hedging Costs on the Performance of Collective Investment Funds (Case Study)
by Daniela Pfeiferová, Ivana Kuchařová, Marie Prášilová
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the exchange rate hedging costs at collective investment companies affects the performance of these entities. The evaluation is based on a correlation in time series. Exchange rate risk is related to the position of CZK as the reference currency of the target group (households and institutions), to which investment companies sell their securities. The theoretical part of this paper is based on professional studies in the area of performance measurement and risk elimination in collective investment funds. Data were collected on the development of monthly costs to secure exchange risks and on the performance of mutual funds between April 2012 and April 2015. Correlation in time series was used to assess the relationship between the performance of mutual funds and the cost of exchange rate risk hedging. The statistical methods did not prove dependence between exchange rate hedging costs and the monthly performance of selected mutual funds. Correlation coefficients are low and insignificant, so specific information about the costs of the interest rate risk hedging is currently not necessary. This issue has not been researched adequately so far, thus the results may serve as a base for further scientific research.
Keywords: Performance, Risk, Collective Investment, Currency, Hedging, Investment Companies, Mutual Funds
JEL classification: G32, C20, G11, G23, G24
Open Access
Article
SciPap-847
Risk Management in the Proces of the Czech Republic Security Management
by František Paulus
Abstract: Generally, it is possible to define risk management as coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk. Usually, organizations manage risk by identifying it, analysing it and then evaluating whether the risk should be modified by risk treatment to an acceptable level or whether existing measures are sufficient. Same definition and same processing techniques can be used in the area of state administration. However, while assets of organizations are generally denominated in money character, assets within the state administration have the character of protected interests in lives and health of the population, their property and state property and the environment. Czech Republic has responsible approach to ensuring protected interests and applies a policy of risk management at national and regional levels. Resulting tasks are then deal mainly by the integrated rescue system, crisis management bodies and other bodies with territorial responsibility. This paper deals with application of risk management specified in ISO 31000: 2009 in condition of the Czech Republic, namely at the national level and introduces the concrete results of this application.
Keywords: Risk Management, Risk, Civil Protection, Hazard
JEL classification: Z18, Z19
Open Access
Article
SciPap-848
The Real Estate Market in the Czech Republic
by Josef Novotný, Hana Jezdinová
Abstract: This article deals with the real estate market under the current market conditions in the Czech Republic. The main objective of this article is to verify the stated hypothesis focused on the assessment of its own assets, quality of service and prioritization of some real estate agents, based on previous personal experience of the respondent through the use of a marketing survey. The problem encountered on this market is the lack of professionalism and the use of unfair practices by real estate agents, which leads to the dissatisfaction of clients as well as investors considering investing into the real estate market. Another problem in this area is that several authors divide financial markets into cash, equity, commodity and currency, but many fail to mention the real estate market or real estate assets. Nevertheless, most of the adult population in the Czech Republic has used, uses or is considering to use the real estate market in the future for their personal use. Even though a considerable amount of money is invested into the real estate market by clients and investors, it is not given as much attention as e.g. the stock market, while a number of buyers purchase housing for themselves using a mortgage, which has a maturity of tens of years.
Keywords: Investment, Real Estate Market, Real Estate, Marketing Survey
JEL classification: M31, G10
Open Access
Article
SciPap-849
Differentiation Factors of Housing and Their Changes in the Czech Regions
by Ivana Kraftová, Jitka Šmídová
Abstract: In evaluating the material side of life, housing finds first among the three indicators - housing, income, and job. In the Czech Republic, housing is seen as the primary responsibility of the individual, but the state (region, municipality) is responsible for creating conditions, which enable individuals to fulfill their right to housing. The aim of this paper is to assess the differentiation factors of housing and their changes in the Czech regions in the ten year period, between 2001 and 2011. The differentiation factors are divided into two groups based on size and technical equipment. Their correlation with regional gross domestic product per capita, regional variability and change in relative positions of the sum of the standardized indicator values of the Czech regions are evaluated. It was found that regional differentiation factors of housing do not correlate with the formation of wealth significantly; variability of indicators of housing in the Czech regions decreases over time; while the relative position in most regions in this direction is changing.
Keywords: Housing, NUTS 3, Variability, Size And Equipment Factors, State Housing Policy, Changes In Position
JEL classification: R28
Open Access
Article
SciPap-850
Mobile Number Portablity in the Czech Republic and Its Impact on Market Concentration and Competitive Position of Individual Operators
by Jana Köppelová, Andrea Jindrová
Abstract: The paper deals with the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) and its influence on the Czech telecommunications market in terms of the competitive position of the three major mobile operators in the Czech Republic. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of MNP on the concentration of the mobile services market in the Czech Republic from 2006 to 2012. The analysis of the competitive environment is made based on HHI. In order to calculate the necessary market share of individual companies in the industry, the total number of active SIM cards presented by individual companies was used, which reflects the current situation in the mobile services market. To answer the question of whether the introduction of the MNP had an impact on the competitive environment in the observed sector, the HHI was subsequently recalculated using the same parameters, but the numbers of SIM cards were lowered or increased by the ported numbers. The development of the observed indicator from 2006 to the present was analysed using the basic characteristics of time series and the index analysis.
Keywords: Competition, Telecom Market, Mobile Number Portability, Market Concentration, Index Analysis
JEL classification: D43, D49, L50
Open Access
Article
SciPap-851
Quantification of Risks for Accident Insurance
by Pavla Jindrová, Lucie Kopecká
Abstract: People of all ages are threatened by accident. They have not many options of protection against financial impacts that are caused by accident. Accident insurance is often taking out insurance in the insurance practice. This article is focusing on quantification of risks for accident insurance. There are described possibilities of measuring risks and using of suitable models. There are modelled number and amount of insurance benefit using real data of the Slovak insurance companies. The data of the Slovak insurance companies is selected specifically for the case of death due to accident. Data contain information about the number of insured persons and number of insured events. The insurance companies cannot estimate premium separately for men and women due to EU Regulation. In this article, firstly, the premium is estimated separately for men and women and secondly this estimation is designed for both sexes. There is shown decision of EU affect amount of premium.
Keywords: Quantification, Risk, Binomial/Beta Model, Bayesian Estimation, Maximum Likelihood Estimation
JEL classification: C11, C13, G22
Open Access
Article
SciPap-852
Absorption Capacity of Structural Funds (2007-2013): Typology of Czech Microregions
by Oldřich Hájek, Jiří Novosák, Peter Horváth, Jana Novosáková
Abstract: The intent of this paper was to suggest a typology of Czech microregions based on the demand side of their structural funds (SF) absorption capacity in the programming period 2007-2013. Moreover, the demand side of SF absorption capacity of the so called microregions with concentrated state support was evaluated. Concerning the first intent of this paper, seven clusters of microregions were defined, using a new approach based on the following theoretically substantiated variables for operationalizing the demand side of SF absorption capacity – the number of project applications submitted for financing by SF, the amount of SF requested for one project application, and the share of project applications supported by SF. The relevance of these clusters was shown by the associations between their absorption capacity on the demand side and relative SF allocation. Concerning the second intent of this paper, it was shown that the so called microregions with concentrated state support are less likely to have high absorption capacity on the demand side compared with their not supported counterparts.
Keywords: Czech Republic, Cluster Analysis, Absorption Capacity, Structural Funds
JEL classification: O18, O22, R12, R58
Open Access
Article
SciPap-853
Municipal Bankruptcy in the Czech and Slovak Republic (Case Study)
by Filip Hrůza, Sandra Novotná
Abstract: Municipal sector is an important and integral part of each national public administration structure but sometimes overlooked and neglected. Municipalities perform and execute various tasks and responsibilities according to the residents and its scope differs by each country settings. Financial health of municipalities is thus one of essential questions of their proper functioning and providing public services as well as its own continuous development. Municipal bankruptcy as extreme negative financial situation of municipality is not a new issue but in the Czech and Slovak Republic still underdeveloped and underestimated as well as associated political debate considering introduction of municipal bankruptcy into national legislation. The aim of this paper is to reveal this issue in both countries and identify causes and patterns of financially distressed Czech and Slovak municipalities. In spite of limited research sample this case study of two countries with similar conditions shows some interesting insights and preliminary findings but also questions for further research in this not very developed issue in both countries from the analytical point of view.
Keywords: Municipality, Bankruptcy, Financial Distress, Public Policy, Regulation
JEL classification: M48, R51, H12, H72
Open Access
Article
SciPap-854
Proposal of Methodology for Evaluating the Engagement Factors Importance for Employees in Czech Organizations
by Petra Horváthová, Andrea Čopíková
Abstract: Although the engagement concept has been used in management at least in the past 20 years, the interest of managers, HR specialists and employees about this issue is rising. Many studies proved that only satisfaction and stability, loyalty and devotion do not ensure corresponding relationship between the employees’ performance and business results and therefore it is desirable to concentrate on utilizing various measures that support increasing the level of employees’ engagement that can lead to the increase of employees’ performance and by this increasing the performance of organization. Aim of this paper is to propose methodology for evaluating employees’ engagement level and also introduce possible tools of its improvement in organizations operating in the Czech environment. The method used to fulfill the aim was the modification and addition of already existing engagement model, which, however, does not reflect the specifics of Czech environment and differences of young employees on the labor market. The output of this paper include proposal of new engagement model and framework procedure of engagement research, especially questionnaire that can be used to find out importance of engagement factors for employees in Czech organizations.
Keywords: Performance, Model, Factors, Engagement, Tools
JEL classification: M12
Open Access
Article
SciPap-855
Public Expenditures in Areas of Public Sector: Analysis and Evaluation in EU Countries
by Martina Halásková, Renata Halásková
Abstract: Public sector, representing a significant part of public economy, is considered one of its supporting pillars. The paper utilises financing of public sector (indicator of the percentage of public expenditures in GDP). It deals with the analysis and evaluation of public expenditures in EU countries according to selected COFOG functions, namely social protection, health, education, culture and recreation, in years 2005 and 2014. Also, three important proportions within total public expenditures are observed in terms of their structure. By means of multidimensional scaling, dissimilarities and similarities in the volume of allocated public resources in EU countries are evaluated with respect to COFOG functions (% of GDP in 2005 and 2014). Results showed that Scandinavian countries and France are among the countries with the best evaluation (most similar) with highest public expenditures. Conversely, Baltic states, Cyprus and Romania (most similar) comprise the second group of countries with the lowest public expenditures. These two sets of countries are least similar in the volume as well as structure of allocated public expenditures in the observed areas of public sector.
Keywords: COFOG, EU Countries, Multidimensional Scaling, Public Expenditures, Areas Of Public Sector
JEL classification: H75, H83
Open Access
Article
SciPap-856
Prosperity Primary Agricultural Production of Certain Companies Involved in Organic Farming in Slovakia
by Jana Fiľarská
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Productivity, Agriculture, Beerman Model, Employees, Costs
JEL classification: Q14
