Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

Regulators and policymakers pay an increasing attention to the possible pro-cyclical nature of banks’ behavior in provisioning. Loan-loss provisioning practices of banks are perceived as one of the sources of this procyclicality. The main objective of this study is to provide the evidence on procyclical behavior and capital management of banks through loan-loss provisions in South-Eastern European countries for the period 2004 – 2015. Our results show that loan-loss provisions of banks are procyclical; however, there is no evidence to indicate a relationship between loan-loss provisions and capital management. The findings suggest that a dynamic provisioning system would be beneficial if it is implemented in South-Eastern Europe. The results also show an empirical evidence that loan-loss provisions are not used for income smoothing in banks in South-Eastern Europe.

This article compares the relationship between exports of goods and services of the Czech Republic and the development of economy of Germany, and between exports of goods and services of Slovakia and the development of economy of Germany. Germany is a major trading partner for the Czech Republic and also for Slovakia. Do Czech or Slovak exports influence the German GDP? This paper tries to find reasons for possible differences or similarities between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The article uses the tools of time series econometrics, especially the ADF test, the Engle-Granger co-integration test, the error correction model, and the impulse-response analysis. Achieved results suggest that co-integration relationship between the Czech exports in goods and services and the German GDP exists. This relationship has not been confirmed for the Slovak exports in goods and services. The data used has the character of quarterly time series in the period from 2000Q1 to 2019Q1. EViews software version 9 has been used for the calculations.

In this paper, we propose four measures to calculate the KIBS intensity of trade (i.e., KIBS terms of trade; an importance indicator; an indicator showing the relative KIBS intensity of exports; and an indicator showing the relative importance of KIBS). Finally, we examine the composition of KIBS output imputed to export. The study refers to the EU countries. Calculations are based on a set of input-output tables from the World Input-Output Database for the period 2000 – 2014. Empirical results demonstrate that the EU-15 has a clear and growing advantage over the EU-13 in KIBS direct exports, but when taking into account indirect KIBS trade, the EU-15’s advantage is smaller, with a decreasing trend. Export appeared to be more KIBS-intensive than production for domestic final demand, and computer and information services were the main engine behind the growing KIBS intensity of export. Among the EU countries, Ireland is an outlier.

This study aims to map the occurrence of various unethical business practices in the Slovak business environment, and to examine potential differences in incidence of these practices towards five key company stakeholders. Furthermore, the hypothesized connection between the occurrence of unethical practices and the company size and regional location is analyzed. Data acquired by means of a questionnaire on the sample (n = 1295) stratified according to company size and regional location suggest that compared to the other stakeholders, the group “employees” is significantly less exposed to unethical practices. While the company size and the incidence of unethical practices are connected, with smaller companies being substantially more exposed, the relationship between the regional location and the occurrence of unethical practices was not confirmed.

Cultural intelligence (CQ) includes cultural knowledge, strategy, drive and the resulting behavior of individuals in intercultural situations. In implementing CQ in enterprises, it is essential to focus on mutual understanding and tolerance, and the development of intercultural skills and competences. The paper analyzes the concept of cultural intelligence, and presents a newly developed tool assessing cultural intelligence in a workplace of enterprises in Slovakia. The main objective of the research was to assess the level of the individual facets of cultural intelligence of employees of enterprises in Slovakia, and on the basis of the results, to propose and algorithm of CQ enhancement in enterprises in Slovakia. The research was conducted in a form of a questionnaire on a sample of 236 respondents. Within the research, it has been found out that the level of cultural intelligence in enterprises in Slovakia is low; therefore, the proposed algorithm of CQ enhancement is substantiated.