Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The main aim of this research is to identify how important the strategy and determinants of strategic development and strategic management are for the selected research sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main research methods are selected methods of financial analysis and personal interview with manager-owners of selected SMEs. The research confirmed that not all strategic development determinants are considered among SMEs as equally important. The monitored SMEs consider strategy for business development as important, although only 47% of them have a formulated strategy. Individual functional and corporate strategies and defined areas of strategic management are not considered by SMEs as equally important. The size of the SME has a direct impact on strategy formulation – the bigger the enterprise, the higher the probability that a strategy is formulated. The research also confirmed formulating and implementing a strategy has a positive effect on the economic results of the SME. Keywords: small and medium-sized entrepreneurship, strategy, strategic management, determinants of strategic development, methods of statistical induction JEL Classification: M00, M10, M19

The key issue of the structural policy are the specifics of the respective re-gions which comprise the whole economy. This paper focuses on the possible interlinkages of the regional labour markets of the Czech economy. The analysis rests on the key variables of the search model, which are probability of finding a job, separation rate and labour market tightness. The possible interlinkages are detected via multivariate GARCH models between the particular regional labour market and the whole economy. The results show that by no means can it be expected that there are any stable links between the markets. The interlinkages are many times absent at all and also significant asymmetry with respect to the variable in question arises. The results point to significant structural specificities of the respective regional labour market. Keywords: multivariate GARCH, probability of finding a job, regional analysis, search model, separation rate JEL Classification: E32, J63, J64

This article uses the bootstrap panel Granger causality to analyse the link between the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) in ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The result of cross-sectional dependency and slope homogeneity shows that PPI and CPI vary in different countries. However, the result indicates that PPI influences CPI in the sense of Granger causality in five CEE countries; namely, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The findings support the moderate inflation model in the significant countries, which explain that PPI is a primary contributing factor of CPI. On the other hand, CPI has a significant impact on the PPI only in Hungary. The results are useful for policy makers of these countries to formulate inflation targeting policies with greater attention towards the PPI. Keywords: Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index, rolling window, time-varying causality, bootstrap JEL Classification: C32, E31

We analyse the correlations between the US and German stock markets and study the influences of the US and German business sentiments on the correlations. On the whole, high US business sentiment increases the correlations, while low US business sentiment decreases the correlations. However, the German business sentiment has virtually no influence on the correlations. The correlations are joint positive-type asymmetric, although the asymmetry is not statistically significant. Both the asymmetry in the correlations and the influences of the business sentiments on the correlations had structural breaks caused by the advent of the Euro and the recent financial crisis. Keywords: business sentiment, correlation, asymmetry, structural break JEL Classification: G10

The article focuses on a previously neglected public procurement research field regarding competitive effects on public service contracts. Current studies analysing the competitive effect primarily focus on the examination of public works contracts, or on examining the competitive effect of public procurement as a heterogeneous whole. The subject of this examination is a separate analysis of public service contracts. Below and above-threshold public service contracts awarded in the Czech Republic in 2014 were examined. The results of the examination of its own sample of 790 public contracts in open procedure show that, with each additional tenderer, the average price drops by 3.04%. This finding is in line with the studies that have dealt with the examination of the competitive effect in public procurement for public works contracts. The analysis also indicates a stronger existence of a competitive effect in open procedure types compared to other procedure types. The report also highlights some of the phenomena that may affect the resulting public contract price, where the higher final price does not necessarily mean inefficiency nor overpricing of the public contract (such as the difficulties with the anticipated price for IT service contracts). Keywords: public contracts, public service contracts, competitive effect JEL Classification: H44, H57