Europe after the economic crisis: towards a Political Union
Addrees presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Czech Association for European Studies in Prague (12th and 13th june 2014)
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Addrees presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Czech Association for European Studies in Prague (12th and 13th june 2014)
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Paid annual leave (PAL) is one of the elements of working time regulations. The regulations are implemented at national levels, but core labour standards in this resects are stipulated by the International Labor Organization. The European Union member states are also guided by the relevant directive. Together with the length of the working day and week as well as the number of paid public holidays, the length of annual leave is essential to determine the potential of working time in every economy and the costs of hiring a full-time employee. Under globalization, this may be one of the factors determining business location. From the employees’ point of view, the length of paid annual leave is an important element in maintaining a work-life balance. The article aims to examine the differences in the length of paid annual leave between countries and regions in average terms and depending on tenure, as well as to identify the groups of countries and regions where paid annual leave is relatively longest and shortest. It also proposes how the differences in the PAL length can be explained based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model and legal tradition. The anticipated directions of changes in paid leave regulations are also discussed. Based on the critical analysis of data and information from international organizations, in particular, the World Bank and the International Labor Organization, and existing reference literature, the article provides arguments confirming the thesis that the length of paid annual leave depends on systemic, in particular cultural, factors.
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Current manufacturers do not provide only tangible products to their customers, but also deliver services and integrated solutions in today’s globalized environment. Furthermore,they effort also on implementing ‘smart services’. Smart services allow by connected product service systems to exchange data between their customers and the service providers. Smart services offer many benefits for both manufacturing companies as service providers and as well as for their customers. The aim of this paper is to investigate which benefits of smart services are the most significant for manufacturing companies. To address the research objective, a qualitative multi-case study was conducted among seven Czech electrotechnical SMEs, which have already started with smart service provision. The respondents operate in the same industry,but they provide a wide range of products and services to their customers with varying degrees of smart service orientation. The empirical part of the paper involves in-depth interviews with owners or with experienced senior managers in each case organization. The interviews were done from April 2017 to January 2018. The findings show the most important benefits for small and medium manufacturers and their customers.
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Private equity is medium to long-term finance provided in return for an equity stake in potentially high growth unquoted companies. Private equity is capital that is not listed on a public exchange. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies, or that engage in buyouts of public companies, resulting in the delisting of public equity. Institutional and retail investors provide the capital for private equity, and the capital can be utilized to fund new technology, make acquisitions, expand working capital, and to bolster and solidify a balance sheet. Private equity investment comes primarily from institutional investors and accredited investors, who can dedicate substantial sums of money for extended time periods. In most cases, considerably long holding periods are often required for private equity investments in order to ensure a turnaround for distressed companies or to enable liquidity events such as an initial public offering or a sale to a public company. Thus, the aim of the paper is to compare the usage of the private equity by small and medium-sized enterprises in V4 countries with a focus on the accessibility and preferences. The paper is divided into several parts. The first part is devoted to the literature review of theoretical resources of the private equity term, its distribution and its usage in the region. The second part is dedicated to theoretical definition of private equity issues and concepts which are connected with private equity investments. The paper is focused on the analytical research of issue. A comparative analysis is used to compare the use of the private equity in selected countries. The correlation and regression analyses, which determine factors of influence on country attractiveness for private equity investors, were realized.
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The article deals with the regional features of the influence of investments on thedynamics of the gross regional product in various groups of regions as well as in relation to thecorporate sector of the regional economy under globalization. An assessment system is proposed tosubstantiate the strategic priorities in their development. The role of the investment factor in theformation of the regional economic dynamics is defined. The author of the article is constructing thefactorial regression models that express the statistical dependence between the average annualgrowth rates of investments in fixed assets and the average annual growth rates of the gross regionalproduct by groups of regions of the Russian Federation that differ in the type of urban settlement aswell as demographic and raw material profiles. The method of strategic positioning and comparativeanalysis of regions has been developed in terms of the nature and type of dependence between theaverage annual growth rates of investments in fixed assets and the average annual growth rates ofthe gross regional product in the regional economies, their industrial sector and services. A systemof indicators was proposed in order to carry out a comparative interregional analysis and identifyingthe regional features of the impact of the average annual rate of investment in fixed assets on therelative dynamics of the gross regional product. An economic-mathematical model has beenconstructed on the basis of which the algorithm for determining strategic priorities by groups ofregions has been formulated and tested in regulating the average annual growth rates of the grossregional product in the Russian economy. In the article, the comparative assessments of strategicdevelopment priorities in the study groups of regions were developed and calculated for the mainsectors of the economy and, in general, for the regional economy. The findings can be used for theoptimization of the average annual growth rates of investment in fixed assets by different groups ofRussian regions when solving the problems of forming stable high growth rates of the gross regionalproduct created in general in the Russian economy or its enlarged regional blocks. This article is theconfirmation of the necessity to study the effect of the average annual growth rate of investment infixed assets on the average annual growth rate of the gross regional product.
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Modern "post-industrial" era is distinguished by such rapid global changes andalmost instantaneous copying of products and services that make it meaningless reaching thegoal of long-term retention of a certain market position. Constant perfection of design andservice accompanying provision of products and services, is becoming a condition forsuccessful business development. The strategy ceased to be only a long-term plan and wasformed as the concept of a management process which is characterized by a constantadjustment in the on-line regime. Today, the educational community is also subjected to thesechanges. The need for changes and adaptation to an ever-changing environment poses anumber of new challenges for educational institutions aimed at training specialists with a setof core competencies for the information society. Universities today are doing their best toattract international students. They are mobile young people (there are more than 5 millionpeople in the world), possessing great abilities. The war for talent leads to the rapiddifferentiation of educational institutions. Technological innovations came with a delay ofabout 10 years in the sphere of education. Today, the annual growth of the online educationmarket is 27%, the traditional - 5%. In 2016, more than 50 million people around the worldstudied using the largest online platforms. So the main task of this research work is to definethe influence of some educational global trends on Russian education system (regarding thesetrends as important tools of change management for educational institutions) and assess thereadiness of Russian universities to such influence.
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Following Gandini (2016), this paper strives to prove that knowledge work hasaltered with the incorporation of digital technologies into operations of production andorganization. Influenced by the boost of electronic and social media, a digital and independentknowledge economy focused on a collective, dispersed cultural idea of reputation as usefulnessresulted. Imagining reputation as a type of value is the predominant elucidatory pattern ofknowledge work in the digital epoch. We aim to address these increasing features by elaboratingon the fact that knowledge work has altered as a consequence of the visionary assessment ofinventiveness as a slogan for cutting edge and professional development. We plan to determinethat reputation becomes a particular type of particularized social capital for knowledgeemployees. We use meta-analysis to assess evidence proving that because the social buttonsmanaging social undertakings on digital media platforms deal with and preserve an individual’sfull online activity, determining it with statistics, the reputation of a distinct employee ispublicly observable, concrete, obtainable, and possibly quantifiable. We inspected the Web ofScience and identified 240 papers covering the impact of reputation on the socio-economicinteractions in digital labor markets. We analyzed them carefully and present our conclusions,highlighting that reputation adjusts the professional market of the knowledge economy byfunctioning as a particular kind of capital or positive feature for people in a setting constitutedof networked and recently mediatized social interplay
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Nowadays, an important role in the world is played by Multinational Corporations (MNCs). They hire, produce, and influence the international economy, but also, they exploit, pollute. Their business activities might have a worldwide effect on human lives. The question of the responsibility of MNCs has drawn the attention of many scholars, mainly from the study field labelled “Business and Human Rights”. The present paper does not examine the topic under the same approach. The authors aim at presenting the issue in a broader perspective, exploring the concept of due diligence both in international and corporate law. In this paper, authors strategically use the uniformity of national legislations as a possible and alternative solution to the issue. They are aware of three fundamental factors: 1) the definition of MNCs needs to be as clear as possible, so to avoid any degree of uncertainty; 2) the outsourcing phenomenon interacts with that definition; 3) in case of no possibility to include outsourcing in the definition of MNC, the original question arises in a significant way.
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The authors confront complexness and rigour of EU directives on public procurement vis-à-vis broad wording of international agreements concluded within EU neighbourhood policy. The firs reason for this comparison is ongoing spread of principles of the EU law to the third countries. The second reason is that both rely on the same goals: access to market ad fair environment via transparency because these principles constitute a subtle legal basis for public procurement legislation at all. Finally, these approaches were compared to the approaches employed in recent FTAs – CETA and EUSFTA.
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The global system has been witnessing the emergence of new powers and an increase in geopolitical competition in parallel with the slight decline of the influence of the United States. China has become an economic and then a political and military power with its economic opening policy that started in the 1980s. The focus of this article is to reveal the aim of Beijing’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative, also known as the String of Pearls Strategy, launched to secure energy and trade security, which is one of the pillars ensuring its power. This initiative targets to provide alternate routes to bottlenecks in the Indian Ocean, bypassing states such as the United States and India which are competitors of China.
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The aim of this paper is to show the distribution of net wages in the Republic of Macedonia and whether the great world economic crisis of 2008 has had an impact on the inequality in the distribution of wages. In this paper it is analyzed the level of inequality in the distribution of wages in Macedonia in 2008 as a year when the economic crisis started in the last quarter, in 2012 as the year in which GDP still has had a negative rate of economic growth and in 2014, when the economy maintained positive economic growth. In the three selected years the analysis is based on examination of the inequality in the distribution of the paid net wages. In the paper, the analysis of inequality in the distribution of net wages is based on determining the distribution of frequencies, constructing the Lorenz curve and the Gini index calculation. The results show that there is a quite expressed inequality in the distribution of net wages in Macedonia, whereas the estimated Gini index is 27.98 in 2008, 26.76 in 2012 and 25.88 in 2014. Thus, it should be kept in mind that the inequality in the distribution of total income is higher and in the analyzed period the Gini index is greater than 40. This points the fact that Macedonia has the highest inequality in the distribution of income compared to all EU member states and candidate countries for EU membership.
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Purpose – The aim of the article is to present the problem of energy security as a key element of the economic security of the state. The study presents methods of measuring energy security, and then the study analyzes the dependence on energy imports of the EU countries. A special place was devoted to the Polish economy – in the context of searching for an answer to the question of whether Poland has a chance to achieve independence from the import of energy resources in the coming years. Research method – The article uses the method of descriptive and explanatory research, mainly the analysis of Eurostat data, as well as the cause and effect analysis based on a review of the literature on the subject. Results – Presentation of Poland’s energy security in comparison with other EU countries, paying special attention to (no) dependence on imported energy resources. Originality/value/implications/recommendation – The article presents quantitative and qualitative methods of measuring energy security, and then presents a ranking of the EU countries from the point of view of the index of energy dependence on imports, de facto from Russia. Moreover, the paper indicates forecasts for the Polish economy in the context of its energy security
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The paper analyses several concepts related to translation, i.e., language localization, internationalization, transcreation - widely used by companies trading worldwide as one of the main tools for global business expansion.
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In this study, the effect of international political economic changes and global powers on the failure of economic cooperation and regional integration among the countries bordering the Black Sea is evaluated within the framework of geopolitical models. Rather than being a catalyst that increases the relations between the economies of the region, it is increasing the separation between the countries. Then Black Sea is focused on the political and economic reasons why the Black Sea has become a “black hole” in the global political economy. In addition to the weakness of the basic conditions necessary for the success of regional economic integrations, the fact that the region is a conflict area of global economic and political powers makes the Black Sea a geography that historically separates the Black Sea from not integrating it with the regional and global economy
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Kyrgyzstan, one of the poorest countries of former Soviet republics, became a member of Russian led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in August 2015. With the membership, which was also supported by the majority of the public, it was thought that labor migration to Russia would gain legal status. It is also assumed that the country would attract the foreign investments needed for economic development, and foreign trade would increase in the regional integration process. However, there were also those who regarded the organization as an instrument of Russia’s pursuit of hegemony in the international system. Moreover, they argued that due to the asymmetrical relationship within the Union, it would seriously damage the country’s economy and further increase the dependence on Russia. This study examines the reasons behind Kyrgyzstan’s decision to become a member of the EAEU and evaluates its implications for the past seven years.
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The effects of economic crises have different impacts on all sectors. The results of concerns vary depending on the cause, size, speed of spread, and economic power of countries. Businesses in different sectors are in a difficult situation. Companies take measures to reduce and overcome the crisis's effects with almost minor damage. In this study, the automotive industry and its enterprises are analyzed. In 2008, the financial crisis caused by mortgage loans in the USA and the health crisis that started due to the pandemic that beaning 2020 became globalized. The effects of these crises, which affected all sectors in quickly the automotive industry, are industry gated. The effects of products rising in situations in the European Union are compared. As a result, different effects of globalization and technological innovations are tried to be revealed.
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The modern practices of formation and accumulation of intellectual capital in transnational corporations are summarized. At the current stage of transnational companies' activity, the formation and the most efficient use of intellectual capital is a decisive factor in their long-term competitiveness, sustainable development. Proceeding from the fact that the structure of intellectual capital includes human, structural and organizational capital, we determine the most effective and demonstrative of capital - structural. The structural capital of the corporation includes patent activity and activities, research works, licenses, know-how, etc. The capital itself may be its own, or borrowed from external sources (purchase, lease, free access). The article defines and analyzes the corporate expenses of the R&D in the country as well as the share of corporate expenses from the general ones. The volumes and dynamics of financing of transnational corporations of research and development are analyzed. The existing mechanisms of joint participation of corporations in scientific researches, volumes of trade in the results of intellectual activity are highlighted. Factors contributing to the significant dissemination of international strategic alliances, as a form of increasing the intellectual capital of transnational corporations are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of license agreements of transnational corporations as an advantageous form of technology transfer and the commercialization of intellectual capital are explored. It is substantiated that the formation of intellectual capital of corporations includes a wide range of mechanisms, focused primarily on the formation and provision of structural capital, as the most effective. It is determined that there are two key mechanisms for attracting intellectual capital - the formation of own and attracting from external sources. It is proved that most of transnational corporations use both mechanisms to maximize the efficient accumulation of intellectual capital and its using. Prospects for further research are the justification of the possibilities of using the experience of transnational corporations in national practice.
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Over the past few decades, the international political economy has attained itself particular independence within the wider discipline of international relations step by step. The endeavors to figure out the determiners of the radical changes taking place in the world economy since the early 1970s have placed several special theoretical concepts in the focus of interest which directly associates with the international political economy. The concept of hegemony is one of them. Today, hegemony is one of the most discussed subject matters. Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist intellectual, theoretician and politician who developed the concept of hegemony in the Prison Notebooks. Gramsci's writings made incontrovertible contributions to the understanding of hegemony within the context of Marxist thought and philosophy. However, in the historical process, lots of views and theories have been put forward regarding the concept of hegemony. Thus, the application of the concept in international political economy is widely contested and necessitates disambiguation. From this point of view, we have tried to analyze how the concept was handled by theorists belonging to different schools of thought in the international political economy literature. In all these respects, this article takes its point of departure in the multiplicity of characterizations of the concept of hegemony and fastens on elucidating a certain strand of conceptualising hegemony more closely
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Environmental degradation, such as climate crisis, global warming, etc., is one of the crucial issues for countries. Studies in the literature analyze the convergence in environmental degradation regarding the environmental convergence hypothesis using different indicators such as carbon dioxide emissions, ecological footprint, etc. to identify the differences in environmental quality across countries. This study tests the environmental convergence hypothesis for G-7 countries over the period 1997-2018. To do so, we use greenhouse gas emissions per capita as an indicator of environmental degradation and apply non-linear dynamic factor model developed by Phillips & Sul (2007). According to the results, countries do not converge to a single equilibrium point. However, Phillips & Sul (2007) convergence methodology allow us to identify possible convergence clubs. The club clustering algorithm identifies three convergence clubs, each converging to a different steadystate. Club 1, which converges to higher greenhouse gas emissions per capita level, includes Canada and United States, whereas Club 2 includes Germany and Japan, and Club 3 includes France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The results confirm that the that the environmental convergence hypothesis does not hold for G-7 countries.
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Institutional factors as the determinant of economic processes also shape international trade. Countries’ economic habits of life and their economic decision-making process with their bureaucratic decision-making processes that regulate those habits and processes will influence international trade in all aspects. In this regard, this study’s primary point is on what will be the institutional variables’ impact on international trade. Accountability, political stability, government activities, qualities of regulations, the rule of law, and control of corruption from Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) of the World Bank are selected as these institutional variables. The relationship between these variables that affect economic life and export, which is expressed as openness, rates in national income are studied, specific to MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey), to estimate by utilizing the ARDL method. As a result of the study, our hypothesis that argues that improvements (deteriorations) in governance indicators will affect exports positively (negatively) cannot be confirmed according to our discoveries. Qualities of regulations variable’s long-term parameters are the only ones deemed to fit within the theoretical framework. The study only discovered similar results with some of the studies in the contemporary literature in its current state. When qualities of regulations increase, in other words when economic interventions improve, openness will increase.
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