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Startups Role in National Industry 4.0 Implementation

Author(s): Felipe Martinez,Ivana Svobodová,Miroslav Lorenc / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The research explores the current strategic role of startups in the industry 4.0 (i4.0) implementation at national level. The paper aims to determine the representativeness of startups in governmental strategies for i4.0 implementation.Design/methodology/approach: The research reviews strategic governmental documents dedicated to i4.0 implementation. It identifies keywords to determine the startup concept appearance frequency within these documents. The data analysis provides information to argue the governmental strategic importance of startups for i4.0 implementation.Findings: The paper provides insights about the importance of startups within the governmental strategy for i4.0 implementation. The government supports the general development of startups. However, the i4.0 strategic documents lack to contain startups role.Research/practical implications: The paper indicates the importance of startups inclusion in formal strategic government documentation. The paper is reference for future researches at V4 countries and Germany.Originality/value: Startups are important element in the i4.0 development. This paper contributes to identify the formal inclusion of the element in the government strategies.

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South Moravian SME´s Performance in Relation to Maturity of Leadership: Results of a Quantitative Research Study

Author(s): Lukáš Mazánek,Jan Pekárek,Josef Veselý / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The paper aims to clarify the ability of South Moravian SME managers to perform leadership skills. SME´s need to know how to influence affective organizational commitment, defined as a voluntary attachment to the organization, using methods that are cost effective. Application of adequate leadership practice is one of the major factors of success in small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK and Europe. Lack of leadership is cited as a cause of failure in companies and risk to the national and regional economy as well.Design/methodology/approach: We surveyed 112 manufacturing companies to obtain 77 questionnaire responds from South Moravian small manufacturing companies’ CEOs and filtered the total of 48 valid SME´s respondents. The total of 22 questions, mapped 4 groups of interest in the field of setting vision, enthusiasm, motivation, trust, talent, creativity and knowledge level perception of company CEO. Every question was rated from 1 – 5, when as higher value than higher perception of leadership was assumed. Questions were voluntarily possible to add with a short note explaining the value.Findings: It was found, that there are two major clusters of companies. These with low to average leadership performance (with L approximately 70% of less) and these with high performance (with L more than 70%). Minimal performance was 9.1%, maximal performance was 98,2%. Only 6 of selected companies performed more than 80%. Nevertheless 5 of them showing low score (>3) in the same subquestion focused at whether leaders inspire others to dreaming about “what if”.Research/practical implications: Seven best-performing companies are very strong in evaluated leadership facets. In the future research pursue then explanation of the factors, which differs identified two clusters of companies, what differs those average from the best. We are going to conduct in depth interviews with CEO´s of these best performing companies, and we expect, that the results will lead to better understanding how to enhance level of leadership perception. Concurrently applicable advices will be formulated, to enhance companies, having average leadership performance. Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to understand current leadership performance in South Moravian SME´s. Leadership perception was analysed and described in 4 groups of interest (vision, enthusiasm, motivation and talent).

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Challenges in Promoting Migrant Entrepreneurship: First Empirical Evidence from Germany

Author(s): Hartmut–Heinrich Meyer,Anna Pilková / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Migrants are known for their high affinity to entrepreneurship and record for substantial entrepreneurial activities in Germany. These activities are supported by various push factors of the labour market. Migrant entrepreneurship is also known for a high risk of failure because this group has problems meeting financial standards in Germany as well as to develop a market strategy in a highly competitive environment. The main goal of this paper is to present first empirical evidence of the entrepreneurial activities by prospective migrant entrepreneurs and their specific needs to promote migrant entrepreneurship in sophisticated economies.Design/methodology/approach: The research is exploratory in nature in order to understand the challenges in promoting migrant entrepreneurship. By employing the GEM research model to analyse entrepreneurial activities and models of social migration/integration, the research aims to define specific variables migrants face while entering sophisticated markets. The data for the analysis has been generated in Germany by studying migration statistics provided by the German Office for Migrations, as well as 20 in-depth interviews of migrants, including an analysis of their social background by their CV.Findings: This paper provides the first insights into the expectations and motivation of migrants towards entrepreneurship. It particular, the research shows quite clearly the development migrants have to undergo within a short period of time in order to change from a survival-oriented economy, characterized by an unreliable economic environment, to an innovation-driven economy. The major challenges for migrants is to build up the required managerial competencies in order to develop a market strategy and to meet the financial standards in Germany. The analysis of the interviews showed quite clearly that the potential migrant entrepreneurs are underestimating these entrepreneurial requirements. Research/practical implications: The results of the paper show a strong need for early entrepreneurial education. Thereby there is a need to develop entrepreneurial training and consultancy programs for better knowledge transfer, based on the migrant’s entrepreneurial environment. Moreover, the paper also gives some insights into the migration policy to reduce push factors towards a necessity driven entrepreneurial motivation. The required entrepreneurial training should take place within the welcome and arrival stages of the integration process in order to avoid future business failure. Here one perceives responsibility by policy makers and authorities involved in the integration process to provide the necessary resources.Originality/value: The paper allows the first insights into migration entrepreneurship. On the basis of the research model, as well as a newly created understanding of the survival orientated economy, this paper gives an understanding of the need to change the attitude of prospective entrepreneurs when entering entrepreneurship. The main added value of this paper needs to be seen as giving new insights into the entrepreneurial process of migrants as well as their entrepreneurial personality.

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The Innovation Centers Development in the Regional Context of Russia

Author(s): Ekaterina Panarina / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: According to the ranking by global competitiveness benchmarking study (WEF Competitiveness Report, 2017), Russia has the 43rd index of the competitiveness out of 142 countries compared by 67th place at 2012. We can explain it with different reasons but primarily it is a result of strengthened fundamentals, including the quality and quantity of education, training programs, and innovation capacity. In this article we consider the innovation to be the major factor that keeps countries to sustain their competitiveness that is a strategic goal for any economy including the Russian economy as well. Design/methodology/approach: Design approach for the research is based on benchmarking data and case studies analysis, as well as on author´s research activities and practical experience. The sample was chosen from research institutions (national research universities) and innovation centers as well as enterprises in different industries.Findings: There are a few forms of innovation ecosystem were considered that could become a moderator for evolving innovations and sustainable economic growth. Those are integrated distributed centres of competences at enterprise level, innovative business regional clusters (hubs), high skills centres of competences at universities, business-universities joint alliance. The concept of innovation development and the findings of this article defiantly make practical impact and resonance that get to be discussed and resulted in actions of regional and national administrations. Research/practical implications: The outcomes and implications proposed in the article related to functioning of Centres of Competence and Innovation Centres are very important for practice, and for keeping and increasing the positive dynamics of economic development cycle. The establishment of the Innovation Centres of different forms has to become a national idea of the sustainable economic growth. It has to be included to the strategic plans of the government for the better future.

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Innovative Development for Northern Regions: Russian Case

Author(s): Svetlana Panikarova,Maxim Vlasov / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: According to the ranking by global competitiveness benchmarking study (WEF Competitiveness Report, 2017), Russia has the 43rd index of the competitiveness out of 142 countries compared by 67th place at 2012. We can explain it with different reasons but primarily it is a result of strengthened fundamentals, including the quality and quantity of education, training programs, and innovation capacity. In this article we consider the innovation to be the major factor that keeps countries to sustain their competitiveness that is a strategic goal for any economy including the Russian economy as well. Design/methodology/approach: Design approach for the research is based on benchmarking data and case studies analysis, as well as on author´s research activities and practical experience. The sample was chosen from research institutions (national research universities) and innovation centers as well as enterprises in different industries.Findings: There are a few forms of innovation ecosystem were considered that could become a moderator for evolving innovations and sustainable economic growth. Those are integrated distributed centres of competences at enterprise level, innovative business regional clusters (hubs), high skills centres of competences at universities, business-universities joint alliance. The concept of innovation development and the findings of this article defiantly make practical impact and resonance that get to be discussed and resulted in actions of regional and national administrations. Research/practical implications: The outcomes and implications proposed in the article related to functioning of Centres of Competence and Innovation Centres are very important for practice, and for keeping and increasing the positive dynamics of economic development cycle. The establishment of the Innovation Centres of different forms has to become a national idea of the sustainable economic growth. It has to be included to the strategic plans of the government for the better future.Purpose: The aim of the research is an analysis of innovation environment of the northern regions and using it as the basis for identifying factors hindering innovation activities of the northern regions, as well as formulating ways of speeding up innovation development of the northern regions of Russia.Design/methodology/approach: Мethodological basis of the research is built on the algorithm of the knowledge index evaluation suggested by the World Bank; innovation development rating of the Russian Federation regions compiled by the Russian Academy of Public Economy and state service of the Government of the Russian Federation; Higher School of Economics, National Association of Innovations and Information Technology Development. Comparative evaluation of the level of innovation activity development in the northern regions of Russia was conducted, challenging points in the innovation development of the northern regions were identified, recommendations on improving efficacy of innovation activities of the norther regions of Russia.Findings: Authors conducted analysis of northern regions innovation environment in order to evaluate context for creation and development of innovation activities. Knowledge index for northern regions was calculated on the basis of knowledge index evaluation algorithm suggested by the World Bank. Knowledge index evaluation allows for subdividing northern regions into four groups. In general, this method allows for identifying those Russian Federation regions that are most capable of creating, accepting and disseminating knowledge, that is possessing innovation potential. Research/practical implications: The authors identified main regional policy trends in the field of innovation development stimulation: 1. Implementing additional financial mechanisms of target industrial company support.2. Forming new mechanisms of innovation projects financing.3. Implementing major infrastructure projects aimed at uniting major enterprises, small businesses, research institutions and higher education institutions. 4. Creating institutional support for innovation policy.5. Development of informational, expert – consulting and educational infrastructure for innovation activities.Originality/value: Comparative evaluation of the level of innovation activity development in the northern regions of Russia was conducted, challenging points in the innovation development of the northern regions were identified, recommendations on improving efficacy of innovation activities of the norther regions of Russia.

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CSR and Tax Planning: Case Study of Football Club

Author(s): Igor Perechuda,Assidi Soufiene / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Based on a review of recent literature, this paper presents the association between tax planning and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Four dimensions of CSR were applied for this study: managerial, economic, social, and environmental. The study verifies the relation between CSR and tax planning in the aforementioned dimensions. Design/Methodology/Approach: Research is based on the case studies of the Legia Warszawa Football Club Limited Company — one of the best Polish football clubs — during the period between 2011 and 2014 and the Legia Warszawa Football Academy Foundation during the same period. The football club was chosen due to strong relations between sports and CSR. The case study is based on a comparative dynamical and structural analysis of financial data. The fundamental for the case study was the review of previous literature and legal analysis.Findings: This study shows how the company is committed to both social responsibility and tax planning. The case study confirms that CSR was performed in four dimensions. The confirmation was provided, described and analysed based on the business model of the chosen entity. Furthermore, it is possible to observe that performance of CSR is noticed mainly in the managerial and economic dimensions.Research/practical implications: Due to the CSR activities performed and planned by the foundation, the company gained a wide range of benefits. Positive effects of CSR management and tax planning in the current case can be seen mainly due to the use of legal opportunities.Originality/Value: The study proposes how the business model of the football club and foundation can achieve their common goals. It presents how economically important the cooperation between the foundation, which materializes the CSR activities, and the football club, a profit-making company, can be. The study also describes how it is possible to observe the relation between CSR and tax planning in case of the sports club.

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Regional Aspects of Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Slovakia: GEM Evidence

Author(s): Anna Pilková,Juraj Mikuš,Marian Holienka / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Entrepreneurship is an important phenomenon and a promising key to economic growth and job creation especially for underrepresented groups, not only on aggregate level but also in the regional context. However, a comprehensive picture on its inclusivity across Slovak regions is still missing. The main aim of our paper is to analyze regional differences of inclusive entrepreneurship in Slovakia with special focus on women, youth and seniors in relation to regional macroeconomic characteristics and attitudes towards entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach: Our analysis is built on data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). We have created a pooled sample from Slovak individual-level data from years 2011 to 2016, comprising of 12,010 adult population individuals. For each year, the sample is representative for gender, age and regional distribution. Eight NUTS3 level regions are considered in our study. To group regions according to patterns of their entrepreneurship inclusivity and analyze them in the context of economic and cultural attributes, we employ a cluster analysis followed by respective methods of descriptive analysis and data visualization.Findings: The level of inclusive entrepreneurship varies across Slovakian regions. Women are most intensely involved in Bratislava region, while inclusivity of both seniors and youth is the highest in Trencin region. Our findings confirmed that economic power goes hand in hand with increased opportunity perception, high entrepreneurial self-confidence, the lowest fear of failure, but also not positive social attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This environment particularly encourages female into entrepreneurship, but at the same time it is not able to outweigh inhibitors of seniors´ and youth inclusivity. On contrary, youth and seniors’ entrepreneurship inclusivity is higher in regions with lower economic power.Research/practical implications: Based on our findings, we develop recommendations for policy makers how to shape entrepreneurship support policies and actions in regions to best fit the specifics of the inclusivity, considering females, youth and seniors. We identify the most underrepresented and vulnerable groups, and, where necessary, stress the main implications for further inquiry.Originality/value: Our paper creates an original value by providing a unique insight on inclusivity of entrepreneurial activities thanks to breaking down the GEM-based analysis of female, youth and senior entrepreneurship to regional levels, and linking it to economic and cultural dimensions. To our knowledge, there is no previous analysis built on unique, representative and robust data from all regions of the country.

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The Role of Organizational Culture in the Process Reorientation of the Company

Author(s): Natalia Potoczek,Anna Ujwary-Gil / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: This paper discusses and investigates the role of the organizational culture in the process reorientation of the organization. Seeing that a special role in the formation of the process culture is attributed to the supplementary processes in the field of Human Resource Management (HRM), this paper focuses on the role of HR-processes that deliver value to all employees in the organization. According to the authors, the designing of HR-processes cannot differ from standards of designing the business processes. The perspective of dynamics of the organizational culture and its importance in process management is regarded as the key aspect of the discussion.Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on case studies of Polish companies. The study used analysis of company documents and descriptions of internal processes. The paper describes examples of two Polish companies: Poczta Polska S.A. and Azoty S.A.; being organized according to processes, including HR-processes, their activity contributed to the effective restructuring in the first case and to strong expansion and development in the second one. To identify the elements of process culture that shows the development of a process culture, among others, the results of the research done on process culture by von Brocke and Sinnl (2011) were used.Findings: The empirical insights show that the basis for the formation of the process organization culture is the creation of an internal mechanism that provides systemic support of the development of culture promoting the values that bind employees together in the performance of their mutual tasks. The transparent architecture of processes, roles and relationships between processes allow members of the organization to act more efficiently, even if their organization is territorially dispersed. Finally, it can be concluded that the process-oriented culture can support any organized, collective and goal-oriented action.Research/practical implications: The paper includes implications for the development of a strong corporate culture supporting organizational roles and process structure. Process orientation should promote greater flexibility in the organization and quickly adapt changes in the environment and in particular to customer expectations.Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study how as the process reorientation of the company may be supported by organizational culture.

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Effective, but Inefficient? Public Support Granted to Social Enterprises for Employment

Author(s): Oto Potulka / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Social entrepreneurship accounts for an important share of employment in the European labour market. Social enterprises, however, are mainly funded by public budgets. In view of this, it important to evaluate the impact that government-funded social enterprise projects have on individuals’ employment opportunities and how effective and efficient such support is from a public finance perspective.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the data of 307 individuals who received EU-funded support in the Czech Republic between January 2009 and June 2015 and a control group of the same size, we estimated the effect that this support had on the employability of the funded individuals. To perform this task, we used a propensity score matching approach.Findings: We conclude that the EU-funding of social entrepreneurship is an effective tool for facilitating employment. The estimated impact that the funding has on these individuals is a 7.8% increase in the likelihood that they will continue to be employed once the funding has ceased. We also confirm positive effects on the employment of the groups threatened by exclusion. Here, women benefited with an estimated 11.6% increase in employment, and people older than 40 years of age with an estimated 14.7% increase in employment. On the other hand, the efficiency of the financial support is not high, since the timespan needed for the payback time is more than 13 years.Research/practical implications: Our study sheds light on effectiveness and efficiency of public support. It helps to target public funding to areas where the effects are the highest.Originality/value: The added value of our research is in its application of unique individual data. Moreover, evaluation culture in social enterprise is developing. Our study adds to the knowledge on how to evaluate impacts of social enterprises in countries with developing social enterprise culture as those in the Central and Eastern Europe.

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Innovation Strategy and Access to Capital in SME and Large Companies – Evidence from Survey

Author(s): Katarzyna Prędkiewicz / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The aim of the papers is to check whether there is a relation between company’s declared attitude towards innovation (innovation strategy) and declared problems with access to capital. The analysis takes into account the size of companies. The author intent also to compare the results with parallel conducted studies, when other (more objective) proxy for innovation was employed. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a survey that covers more than 400 companies operating in Poland in 5 industries. The survey is based on self-assessment approach. The companies in the survey had to indicate their attitude towards innovation (neutral, occasional, pro-innovative) and answer to a question whether a lack of capital was a serious problem hampering the company development indicating on the Lickert-scale from 1 to 5. Chi-squared test, Welch’s t-test and ordered logit model were employed to test hypotheses. Findings: Generally, SME reported higher difficulties with access to capital than large firms. There is also a difference in innovation strategy – SME indicated mainly “occasional strategy”, whereas large companies “pro-innovative”. It was proved that there is relation between innovation strategy and financial constraints. The firms that are moderate innovators are financially constrained, however for strong innovators with pro-innovative strategy it was not confirmed. Research/practical implications: Research have practical implication. Firstly, SME are still in worse position compared to large enterprises in area of access to different source of capital, however this “funding gap” is not so severe, as could be expected. It means that tools which may help improve access to capital for smaller companies as preferential loans, special grants are still justified. Secondly, moderate innovators are exposed to additional difficulties in raising funds successfully, what also confirms the validity of use dedicated tools as subsidy by authorities, regardless the company size. Originality/value: The studies are based on own survey, interviews with owners, managers, financial managers or R&D managers. Examined companies are in their later stage of development (growth, stability) whereas most of the research focus on access to capital for very young, innovative start-ups companies. The finding shows that also older companies suffer from asymmetry of information, especially the innovative ones.

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Trends and Problems of Investment in Intellectual Capital in Russian Economy

Author(s): Irina Prosvirina,Aleksey Ivanov,Galina Ostapenko / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: In this article, we reveal trends reflecting the direction of investment in Russian economy after crisis in 2008. The aim of the article is to identify investment features that are associated with investment in intellectual capital, technology and innovations. Design/methodology/approach: Theoretical basis of the article is the concept of intellectual capital as well as the global tendency to increase investment in intellectual capital which was confirmed by previous researches. Hypothesis of the study is that in Russian economy this tendency has very particular features, namely: investments in intellectual capital grow at a smaller pace than investments in fixed assets. To prove this hypothesis, we have analysed a large amount of statistical data on the structure and dynamics of investments in 2008–2014 on different levels: Russian economy, regions, industries and companies. We have used comparative, structural and dynamic analysis methods. Findings: We have found the contradiction between investments growth rate in fixed assets and in intellectual capital in Russian economy. We have also shown that this imbalance continues to grow. In our opinion, the reason of such macroeconomic disproportion is the realization of the corresponding investment policy at company level. A number of institutional features of the Russian economy lead to this situation.Research/practical implications: Identifying the features of investments in intellectual capital and explanation of their reasons allow to suggest the practical solutions of this problem of Russian economy development. Our research also allows formulating a number of questions that needs further investigation. Originality/value: In this article, we have discovered one of the main features of Russian companies’ investment policy: investments in intellectual capital grow at a smaller pace than investments in fixed assets. This explains the cause of many economy development problems in Russia, first of all, the low production efficiency and the weak integration of innovations.

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Assessment of the Innovation Factors Impact on Economic Growth in Russian Regions

Author(s): Svetlana Rastvortseva / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The aim of the research is to test hypothesis that ensuring economic growth innovation is important for regions with higher level of development and it is less significant in explaining growth in other regions. Public and private R&D expenditure is very highly concentrated in a small number of leading regions: those closer to the productive frontier. Regions outside these high-technology cores tend to depend on less R&D-intensive forms of innovation and on technology transfer.Design/methodology/approach: We have identified the following factors that are relevant for the regional growth: human capital, infrastructure, labour market, innovation, agglomeration and connectivity, productivity. As the innovation factor, we use number of patents, internal expenditures on R&D, expenditures on technological innovations, the number of staff engaged in R&D, the volume of innovative goods, works and services, innovative activity of organizations. Innovation can have a positive impact on long-term growth. The data has been collected in 83 Russian regions for 2005-2015. We use a power-mode regression model with constant elasticity.Findings: Not all innovative factors have a positive effect on the regional economic growth. The inclusion of such factors as employment rate; internal expenditures on R&D; the number of staff engaged in R&D; the innovative goods, works and services; innovative activity of organizations; density of GDP is surplus. The analysis showed that they are not statistically significant. Partly we can explain it as the more successful regions develop due to conjuncture factors, and science and technology are not the reason for economic growth. Our hypothesis has not been confirmed.Research/practical implications: In the case when the influence of the conjuncture factors on regional economic growth is great, it is difficult to assess the significance of innovation. The division of regions into groups according to the level of per capita GRP allows us to identify significant factors of innovation for growth. From the point of view of practical application, we see that the regions below average level of per capita GDP need the development of innovation. Such institutional factors as governance, leadership, capacity should consider an active role of innovation and work force. Originality/value: On the example of the Russian regions we have shown that ensuring economic growth innovation is important for regions with below average level of development and it is less significant in explaining of growth in other regions.

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Innovative Industry Sectors in World Economic Centers

Author(s): Piotr Raźniak,Sławomir Dorocki,Anna Winiarczyk-Raźniak / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the geographic distribution of key corporate headquarters’ locations – and changes therein – for innovative sector corporations. The paper attempts to identify innovative sectors in world economic centers throughout the world and discuss contemporary processes affecting changes in their hierarchy.Design/methodology/approach: The analysis in the paper uses data obtained from the “Forbes Global 2000” list of corporations aggregated at the level of major metropolitan areas home to major corporate headquarters. The “innovativeness index for cities” is based on the financial potential index for innovative sector companies (acronym: FPIS), which is calculated using selected economic and financial data such as return on assets, return on sales, and company market value. In addition, the index is also based on the number of corporate headquarters per city. Findings: Therefore, in spite of globalization and relocation of production, the largest revenue growth is still recorded by companies headquartered in the United States, which is particularly evident in the case of San Jose. A significant decrease of the importance of the innovative sector was recorded by the Japanese World Economic Centers, and especially that of Tokyo. In Asia, a few newer innovation centers such as Hong Kong, Bangalore, and New Delhi have emerged in the last few years, while several U.S. cities have declined substantially in terms of their role in the innovative sector.Research/practical implications: The analysis of the impact of innovative sectors on the development of world economic centers will show their importance in the generation of the command and control function of cities in the event of economic crisis.Originality/value: The issue of the command and control function of cities created by corporations headquarters their international conectivities are point of interest for several years. The new concept is, the idea of World Economic Center where the city has strong command and control function, even in the main industry sector economic crisis. This study shows the impact of innovative sector to the world economic center cities power.

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The Economic Consequences of Students Inflow for Local Enterprises

Author(s): Diana Rokita-Poskart / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The aim of the article is to present the mechanism via which educational migration related to undertaking higher education can influence on local good and service market, labour market and entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach: The economic consequences of student inflow have been shown for one of the academic cities in Poland – Opole which has one of the highest student-to-inhabitant ratios and approx. 90% of students are internal educational migrants. The analysis has been based on the results of empirical research conducted among educational migrants of all universities in Opole selected based on quota sampling. The complementary to the presented data were the correlation analysis and the result of the research conducted in 2016 among the local enterprises which concern their opinion about the impact of incoming students on their companies. Findings: The results and estimates presented in this study shows that educational migrations related to tertiary education may create substantial economic benefits for the academic city. This study paid particular attention to benefits for local market of goods and services, the local labour and thanks that mechanism on local enterprises in an academic city.Research/practical implications: The results of the research and the estimates can be used by local authorities of academic city for awareness of the importance of students’ inflow for local economy. The diagnosis can be used in design scenarios for improving the demographic and economic situation of the academic city. Originality/value: The impact of the inflow of student of local economy of academic city, especially their economic consequences for the area of the internal inflow are a research problem almost absent in the scientific discourse

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Critical Evaluation of Czech Municipal Spending Predictive Models

Author(s): Pavel Rousek / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The aim of the paper is detailed knowledge of factors that affect the volume and structure of municipal expenditures, based on research of budgetary expenditures of 6258 Czech municipalities. The sustainability of the public sector is not yet widely discussed in the professional public. As the Gutherie & Farneti (2008) study shows, the first area has been voluntary reporting in Australia.Design/methodology/approach: The sample used for basic results are 6258 Czech municipalities and their budgets. The data sources are three systems of Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic – ARIS, ÚFIS, and MONITOR. The analyzed predictive model assumes constant grow rate. The analysis is based on the generated time series of the municipal budgets.Findings: Some factors have a greater impact on public budget size; the impact of other factors is primarily structural. Analyzed predictive model with constant growth rate doesn’t allow a satisfactory estimation of future values. General predictions based on this model could be used in the economic growth; it is not applicable in times of economic crisis. This issue could be fixed by adding more parameters of the prediction like GDP.Research/practical implications: The entire thematic framework is illustrated by case studies, which are based on 3 municipal budgets. Attention is paid especially to big cities with the largest budgets, municipalities with financial problems (bad practice) and municipalities with healthy financing (best practice).Originality/value: Several theoretical publications are dedicated to this area. However, there are almost no studies on real data. For example, Ochrana and Pavel deal with an analogical issue in Czech conditions. This is the opportunity for future cooperation.

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Life Cycle Assessment – A Tool for Evaluating the Level of Technological Eco-innovation

Author(s): Magdalena Rybaczewska-Błażejowska / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The intention of this article is to propose, examine and discuss an alternative approach for measuring the level of technological eco-innovation of enterprises, based on the methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA).Design/methodology/approach: The main objective of this research is to verify a new methodology for measuring the level of technological eco-innovation of enterprises, based on LCA. The method of LCA that is conventionally applied to assess potential environmental impacts of individual goods or processes is translated into the evaluation of a whole company. In consequence, taking into account a production structure and manufactured products, results of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and the origin of impacts, an environmental profile of an enterprise is created. It has the form of matrix (MATLCA ). Findings: A manufacturing company, representing the pulp and paper sector, was covered by the LCA analysis. The environmental profile of the paper mill, located in Poland, was calculated using specialised software SimaPro 8.1 and the ReCiPe method. It proved that the analysed enterprise has the most damaging effect on the environment in the following impact categories: freshwater eco-toxicity, marine eco-toxicity and natural land transformation. They result from the graphic paper, exactly materials (cellulose) used, and the process of graphic paper production, exactly energy (electricity, thermal energy and natural gas) consumption. Consequently, to be more technologically eco-innovative, first of all, the paper mill needs to move towards more energy-efficient technologies.Research/practical implications: The research proved high applicability of the proposed methodology for evaluating the level of technological eco-innovation of enterprises. Due to its universality, the method can be used both at micro level by individual enterprises and at macro level by policy makers to make a benchmark analysis of technological eco-innovation.Originality/value: This is a fully original study that proposes a new approach for quantitative description of the level of technological eco-innovation.

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The Role of the Academic Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Building Entrepreneurial and Innovation Potential. Conclusions from Chosen Polish Universities

Author(s): Anna Sęk / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: In the second decade of the 21st century societies and economies have visibly concentrated around entrepreneurship and innovation. Academic entrepreneurship emerged as one of the ecosystems supporting these trends. However, scientific research dedicated to entrepreneurship education does not seem to be extensive enough. The present study shall have its contribution by trying to analyse the role and measure the effectiveness of academic entrepreneurship and its institutions in the process of building socio-economic potential in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation given the local context.Design/methodology/approach: The study conducted in March 2017 was designed to verify whether the activity of particular entities within the academic entrepreneurship ecosystem promotes entrepreneurial and pro-innovation behaviours among students. The qualitative part of the study was based on structured in-depth interviews with academic teachers of business and non-business universities. The quantitative sample was obtained with the use of a standardized questionnaire directed to students from several Polish universities. The data were complemented by a documentary analysis of reports and statistics related to the subject.Findings: The gathered data have shown that Polish students from the selected universities have some interest in entrepreneurial and pro-innovative activity, but level of their entrepreneurial knowledge is not satisfactory. The obtained data suggest some mismatch between the relatively complex and quickly evolving academic entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region and the level of profits it shall bring to its potential beneficiaries.Research/practical implications: The study tries to draw practical conclusions from how the functioning of the academic entrepreneurship ecosystem translates into particular behaviours and attitudes. The recommendations of the paper shall be useful to regional educational and economic policies in terms of cooperation between education, science and business. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the overall discussion over building entrepreneurial and innovation potential in the society by way of cooperation between universities and businesses. Relatively new and constantly changing ecosystem of academic entrepreneurship is still quite disorganised and unregulated. The study attempts not only to explain and categorize it but also to measure the actual quality of entrepreneurship education. A concise assessment of the academic entrepreneurship ecosystem is provided based on the analysis of its chosen entities within selected Polish universities.

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Corporate Social Responsibility from the Perspective of Companies Providing Express Courier Services in the Czech Republic

Author(s): Dana Sommerauerová,Tomáš Kučera,Jaroslava Hyršlová / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been lately an extensively discussed topic. CSR has influence on how customers see companies. This concept is important not only for customers, but also for other stakeholders such as are the following: investors, employees, the general public, media, the state and other. With the development of e-commerce social responsibility issues become more and more important for companies providing express courier services. The aim of this paper is to present and to compare approaches taken by the selected companies providing express courier services in the Czech Republic territory to CSR issues.Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical background of this paper is based on foreign and domestic literature. Information published by the selected companies on their individual web pages is used in this paper. The focus of attention is approaches of the above-mentioned companies to CSR regarding their economic, environmental and social aspects and impacts. Research methods used for data analysis included content analysis and comparative analysis of publicly available information.Findings: This paper focuses on presenting the individual approaches of the selected companies to CSR. These individual approaches are compared on the basis of economic aspects, environmental aspects and social aspects and on the basis of those impacts that get the biggest attention from the individual selected companies.Research/practical implications: This paper summarizes publicly available information about the individual selected companies’ approaches to CSR. This collected information is analysed and compared with regard to important economic, environmental and social aspects and impacts of these companies. Programs that are implemented by the individual selected express courier services companies in accord with CSR are the subject of the research interest.Originality/value: This paper summarizes and compares approaches of the selected companies providing express courier services in the Czech Republic territory to CSR issues. The experience gained in this research contributes to extending the knowledge in the area of CSR with regard to this type of companies that are becoming increasingly important thanks to growing significance of e-commerce.

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Sustainabilty Information from Swedish Tourism Companies – What, Where and for Whom?

Author(s): Anna Sörensson / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Within the tourism industry, there is a considerable focus on sustainable tourism. One way for tourism service providers to address these issues and present their sustainability work is through annual reports, sustainability reports and homepages. Sustainability report is a way for tourism companies to be more legitimate and accountable toward their stakeholders. The research objective, with this study, was to investigate and analyze Swedish tourism service providers’ sustainability information. What kind of sustainability information is presented? Where is the sustainability information presented and for whom?Design/methodology/approach: The data for this study was collected mainly during December 2015-February 2016. The research design was constructed as a qualitative explorative study on tourism companies and how they present their work with sustainability (economic, social and environmental) for their stakeholders. Data was collected from 50 different tourism companies in Sweden from their annual reports, sustainability reports and their home pages. They are large-sized tourism companies with a yearly turnover between 5-50 million euros.Findings: The result shows that what they present is often focused on social or environmental sustainability (not both dimensions). The tourism service providers are all presenting economic sustainability since they must do an annual report yearly. Another conclusion is that they do not use sustainability report as their communication channel to show accountability and legitimacy to their stakeholders. Home pages are used mostly for presenting their sustainability work despite that there are large differences between how much information from the companies. The stakeholders seem to be mainly the customers.Research/practical implications: It still seems like that many tourism companies do not see the benefits in sustainable tourism. If tourism companies want to be legitimate and accountable concerning sustainability they have the possibility to present more information about their sustainable information to stakeholders and conduct even more efforts on sustainability issues in their everyday business life. It would be interesting to make interviews to gain more insight in what they want to communicate to their stakeholders concerning their sustainability work. It would also be interesting to compare with other countries and culture concerning tourist companies’ sustainability work and their communication to stakeholders.Originality/value: The main value of this paper is that the study focuses on large sized tourism companies that must present a sustainability report from 2017. The European Union has decided to make it mandatory for large sized companies to present sustainability reports in 2017 and this study is therefore interesting since it shows their sustainability work before this law is implemented.

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Strategic Management of Open Innovation in the Service Sector

Author(s): Miroslav Špaček / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to design R & D strategy which is based on Open Innovation. Open innovation and open business models are believed to be powerful tools which enable companies to have competitive edge over competitors. Even if open access to innovation is becoming more popular within the innovation community, there are neither formalized guidelines nor “best practices” which would illustrate feasibility of this approach. Shortages of both scientific research and practical experience in this field are considered the gap which is filled out by this paper. The paper aims at providing guidance to practical application of these approaches.Design/methodology/approach: Case Study approach as well as ethnographic research were chosen as appropriate research methods. Case study deals with strategic management of open innovation in the company operating in service sector, specifically in ICT sector. The service sector is a suitable choice for OI adoption because there is a lower demand to protect IP. To achieve the goals, the analysis of current company foothold was performed by means of contextual interview. The target group were top and middle managers and company specialists who were engaged in processes improvement and corporate strategy elaboration. Findings: The findings revealed that the company in question suffered from suboptimum innovation performance. The rectification of shortcomings was rendered through Open innovation approach which was preferably executed on a strategic level. Structured process how to grasp Open innovation approach to be viable and functional from strategic point of view is proposed.Research/practical implications: The paper identifies main shortcomings in innovation performance and offers remedial actions. Moreover, the paper makes an induction to the elaboration and implementation of R & D strategy based on Open innovation. It also indicates the way which future research of Open innovation should focused on.Originality/value: Since the term Open innovation was coined by Henry Chesbrough in 2003, this concept is still under exploration. The main contribution of this paper consists in deepening applied research of Open innovation and providing clear practical guidance for the development of R & D strategy which involves attributes of Open innovation.

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