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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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Using Competitive Technical Intelligence Patent Search Methods to Uncover Automotive Industry Trends

Author(s): Zdeněk Molnár,Jan Černý / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Patent information is widely known as a valuable source for Competitive Technical Intelligence (CTI) focused on competitor activity analysis in the technological field. Moreover, patent classification schemes provide us with a unique possibility to discover industry trend directions and key players in a particular field. This paper aims to describe the importance and use of a patent classification for CTI purposes directed towards the automotive industry. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have used the Global Patent Index bibliographic database to present search syntaxes with International Patent Classification codes to uncover the key players and trends in the automotive industry focused on forms of protection against, or prevention of injuries to drivers, passengers or pedestrians in the event of accidents or other traffic hazards.Findings: The patent classification plays an important role in narrowing down a specific patent search for Competitive Technical Intelligence purposes. It also specifies the innovation directions for a particular technology. The results of this paper show the ten main innovative companies in the field of road safety between the years 2014 and 2016 based on the searches, and indicate that Toyota is the leader in vehicle safety innovation in this period. We have also determined the ten main product invention categories, and that occupant safety arrangements or fittings lead current industry trends.Research/practical implications: The paper represents implications for CTI advanced search methods and activities leading to innovation. The search process can be applied in other technology fields.Originality/value: This paper proposes a method for effectively using patent information for CTI purposes focused on the automotive industry.

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Technology and Knowledge Transfer as Third Mission Activities at the Slovak Universities

Author(s): Danka Moravčíková,Štefan Rehák,Martina Hanová,Libor Vozár / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: This paper deals with issue of the impact and relationship between universities and regions. The authors identify the third role and related tasks for academic education and research in context of the regional development. They describe and compare the activities and contribution of the Slovak universities in the field of knowledge and technology transfer. The study discusses also the specific problems of cooperation between universities and regions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports selected results of a survey carried out for The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic within the project “Strengthening the Impact of Higher Education in the Regions”. Two thirds of universities in Slovakia participated in the questionnaire survey. Qualitative information was obtained from eight focus group interviews with representatives of regional authorities, employers, academic representatives and NGOs representatives from four aggregated regions (Bratislava, West, Middle and East Slovakia).Findings: This paper offers an empirical picture of initiatives connected with universities’ concern about the needs of the future employers, support of entrepreneurial activities and innovative entrepreneurship in the region. The authors point to the fact that in developed countries, firms pull the new research results from universities, while in Slovakia there is rather a push effect when universities attempt to push their research results into reality of commercial firms. They mention that the dividing line between applied research and innovations are not at all clear and also point to weaknesses in the activity of universities concerning intellectual property rights protection.Research/practical implications: The authors provide case studies of four Slovak regions highlighting the opportunities, barriers and challenges in surveyed issues. They formulate also concrete policy recommendations. Presented information and findings need further examination through a broader analysis, but they also emphasize the importance of better understanding and explanation of the third mission of universities in the Slovak context. Originality/value: The paper represents a specific approach of studying third mission activities of universities and contributes to discussion of transferring the academic knowledge and technologies by empirical outlining these activities.

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Wine Marketing: The Case of Micro and Small Wine Companies in the Czech Republic

Author(s): Anastasia Murínová / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Wine marketing is one of the main reasons of survival and development of micro and small wine companies, that have own rules and advantages which allow to stay in that upcoming craft. Micro and small companies is a major part of wine business in the Czech Republic. The purpose is to understand the specifics of wine marketing perception and find out which marketing tools most affect the success of the wine company within the framework of case study.Design/methodology/approach: A brief comprehensive review of recent scientific literature and articles published predominantly in marketing oriented journals was carried out followed by a qualitative case study. The concerning research part has the form of a case study. There a survey was conducted, namely the face-to-face structured interviews, which belongs to the verbal form of questioning methods commonly employed in qualitative research. Open-ended questions were used in this study that is approach of grounded theory. The qualitative content analysis was carried out for analysing obtained data. Findings: The research determines generalized understanding of wine marketing in the Czech Republic within micro and small wine companies from the theoretical and practical view. The most important and useful marketing tools were detected and confirmed by respondents’ quotations in the framework of case study. This study shows that respondents basically understand the definition of "wine marketing" in narrow image as a mean of promotion. The main purposes and influence of wine marketing on the business success were discovered within the framework of conducted case study.Research/practical implications: This study focuses on a creation of framework for further research for application wine marketing principals within the context of micro and small companies located in the South Moravian region in the Czech Republic. Results of the study are useful for both theorists and practitioners. Conclusions and that grounding can be as a platform for the development of further in-depth theoretical model of wine marketing. Representatives of the wine business might be interested in conducting a comparative analysis of the activity and the possible use of a well-functioning marketing tools. Originality/value: This paper reflects the perception of selected wine marketing of wine business representatives in the South Moravia region in the Czech Republic. The admitted practical applications of wine marketing tools are equally beneficial.

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Environmental Responsibility in Marketing Activities of Companies

Author(s): Zdenka Musová,Hussam Musa / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: Current negative course of events in the environment influences the activities of companies, as well as the behaviour of consumers. Companies are forced to take these trends into account also in the marketing activities. Consumers also treat the environment with higher responsibility. The behaviour of companies and consumers is closely connected. Consumers, while they are making purchase decisions, react to various stimuli from the external environment, including marketing stimuli of companies. In that context, the aim is to define the environmental marketing and examine consumer perception of it with an emphasis on particular tools of marketing mix. Design/methodology/approach: Secondary data analysis is supplemented by selected results of the preliminary questionnaire survey from March 2016, through which we determined whether the environmental efforts of companies have a sense of consumers and whether consumers are adequately responding to them. Structured questionnaire was designed to elicit responses about the effects of various environmental marketing tools on consumer purchase behaviour and it´s perception from 420 respondents from the Slovak Republic.Findings: The selected outcomes of the preliminary questionnaire survey focused on examination of consumers´ environmental behaviour and reactions to environmental initiatives of companies are presented. We found out that the environmental awareness of our respondents is low. They recognize environmental activities of companies only partially and they rarely take them into consideration when making buying decisions. This reality may seem discouraging for the environmentally oriented companies and may lead to less responsible behaviour of them in the field of environmental protection. Research/practical implications: Rising concerns about our planet´s future mobilize all market participants towards active protection as well as the removal of existing damage. Responsible marketing managers, who assess all their decisions with respect to the environmental impact, are no exception. We summarize the basic recommendations for companies focused on improvement of their behaviour concerning creation of an environmental marketing mix respecting needs and desires of the developing segment of environmentally responsible consumers. The achieved results will be the basis for a more detailed examination of the issues for the subsequent representative research.Originality/value: The results of our survey confirmed that responsibility for solving current long-run environmental problems must be taken not only by the companies but also by consumers themselves. If behaviour of both partners is responsible, the relationship will be beneficial for both market participants. This paper fulfils a need for advancing knowledge on implementation of environmental responsibility in marketing activities and provides a practical framework for responsible and environmentally-friendly (marketing) managers.

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Early and Fast Internationalisation of High-tech Start-up Firms

Author(s): Michael Neubert,Augustinus (Stijn) van der Krogt / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Purpose: This paper analyses the research problem of the significance of early and fast internationalisation and how and why high-tech start-up firms (HSFs) from small and open economies (SMOPECs) differ in their internationalisation speed. For this purpose, the paper samples Switzerland as a developed economy and Paraguay as an emerging economy. This paper is based on the conceptual framework of the ‘born global firm’ (BGF) theory and the reviewed and updated Uppsala internationalisation process model.Design/methodology/approach: The research questions will be answered using a comparative multiple case study research design. Data will be collected through multiple sources of evidence, including semi-structured, in-depth, individual face-to-face interviews with subject-matter experts (SMEs), field notes, corporate brochures, business plans and reviews, culminating in a reflection of the data collected. After drawing a random sample from a database of Swiss and Paraguayan HSFs, some typical cases are selected. The Swiss (Paraguayan) sub-sample comprises 20 (12) SMEs who are CxOs, owners and founders. These people have expertise and knowledge as entrepreneurs and managers in technology management as well as fundraising.Findings: The results of the research reveal that the speed of internalisation is influenced by factors such as the skills of an entrepreneur and the management team, their international networking and learning skills, the business model and the pricing strategies of the HSF, market selection, the market entry mode, the successful implementation of a structured market-development process, uniqueness of the technology and the product portfolio, availability of market opportunities and the size of the home market. Furthermore, the results show significant differences between HSFs from developed and emerging SMOPECs concerning the importance of these factors for early and fast internationalisation.Research/practical implications: The implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified. The outcomes will support policy makers, educators, investors as well as founders and managers to identify the respective key success factors for successful internationalisation and provide the required resources, including capital, processes and know-how. Future research can analyse the effect of location in cross-national studies with additional emerging and developed SMOPECs.Originality/value: The findings of this qualitative multiple case study research project contribute to the field of research on international entrepreneurship because they will help researchers to better understand the significance of early and fast internationalisation and how and why HSFs from emerging and developed SMOPECs differ in their speed of internationalisation. In addition, the findings contribute to managerial practice because they will help managers and founders of HSFs from emerging and developed SMOPECs to develop new foreign markets earlier and faster.

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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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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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