EU cohesion policy and the role of the regions : investigating the influence of structural funds in the new member states

This paper undertakes a critical assessment of the influence of the EU Cohesion policy on regionalisation and the role of regional institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. It addresses questions that are central to ongoing theoretical debates about the role of the region in the new member states. Have the powers and resources of the regions been strengthened by their involvement in EU support programmes? Are regions increasingly involved in integrated 'bottom-up' responses to regional development challenges? The paper offers a fresh perspective on these issues, with a cross-national analysis of practical experience in the postenlargement period and a detailed assessment of the technical, variable, and complex reality of working with EU Structural Funds. A distinctive approach of the analysis is to disaggregate the stages of Structural Funds programme management and delivery, thereby highlighting the varied nature of regional involvement in Structural Funds. Ultimately, the paper questions the notion that Structural Funds build regional structures and competence, and lead to 'stronger regions'. Instead, it is argued that there is no guarantee that the Structural Funds will necessarily promote regionalisation in Central and Eastern Europe, at least in the short to medium terms

Comparative life cycle assessment of current and future electricity generation systems in the Czech Republic and Poland

Purpose The purpose of the study was to perform a comparative life cycle assessment of current and future electricity generation systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. The paper also outlines the main sources of environmental impact for the different impact categories for the electricity generation technologies analyzed. The analyses covered the years 2000-2050, and were conducted within the framework of the international programme Interreg V-A Czech Republic-Poland, Microprojects Fund 2014-2020 in the Euroregion Silesia. Methods Environmental assessment was done using the life cycle assessment (LCA) and ReCiPe Midpoint and Endpoint methods, which allowed the presentation of different categories of environmental impact and damage. The LCA was based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, using SimaPro 8.2.3 software with the Ecoinvent 3.2 database. The analyses cover both the current electricity production structures in the Czech Republic and Poland, and the projected energy production. Results and discussion The LCA analyses performed for the energy systems under consideration in the Czech Republic and Poland enabled a comparative analysis of current and forecast energy systems in these countries, as well as identification of the main sources of environmental impact. Comparative analysis of the LCA results showed that current and future electricity generation systems in Poland caused higher environmental impact there, than in the Czech Republic. Conclusions The assessment of the life cycle of electricity sources showed that the main determinant of the negative impact on the environment of energy systems in both Poland and the Czech Republic was the consumption of solid fuels, and in particular, the consumption of lignite. It is important to highlight that this is the first attempt of a comparative LCA of electricity production in the Czech Republic and Poland. This is also the first approach that contains analyses of the life cycle assessment of both present and future energy systems. The economic assessment and eco-efficiency of current and future electricity generation systems in European Union countries will be addressed in future research.Web of Science23112177216

Changes In Competitiveness Among The Visegrad Countries After Accession To The European Union: A Comparative Analysis Based On A Generalized Double Diamond Model

National competitiveness is a buzzword that awakens much interest and controversy. In its broadest perspective, it is seen as a modern way of describing the development efforts of nations in the times of globalization (Reinert 2001, p. 23-42). This means that forces driving the changes in the global economy: liberalization of international trade, booming investment by multinational enterprises and development of regional integration groupings, need to be included into the competitiveness model. Well-known and commonly used approach to national competitiveness: Porter’s diamond of competitive advantage does not however capture this international context. By concentrating solely on the elements of the domestic environment, the model does not show the complicated international linkages that have shaped the competitiveness of many countries. Especially in the case of small, open ‘catching-up’ economies, assessing national competitiveness solely on the basis of the potential of domestic companies, based on local conditions, does not fully reflect their developmental context, which is also driven by the complex networks of international interdependencies. Building upon the generalized double diamond model developed by Moon et al. (2000), this paper explores the extent to which economic relations with international partners and the activities oftransnational corporations affect the competitiveness of the Visegrad Group countries, and how this relationship has been changing in the post-accession period. To answer the research problem posed, Eurostat and Global Competitiveness Report data have been gathered to assess the competitiveness variables on both the domestic/national and international levels. It has been shown that integration within the global economy constitutes an essential element of competitiveness for each of the analysed countries.Międzynarodowa konkurencyjność gospodarki narodowej to zagadnienie, które wybudza wiele kontrowersji. W najszerszej perspektywie: to „współczesne” ujęcie fundamentalnych problemów rozwoju gospodarczego, osadzone w realiach globalizacji (Reinert, 2001, s. 23-42). Oznacza to, że siły napedzające rozwój gospodarki globalnej: liberalizacja handlu międzynarodowego, działalność inwestycyjna korporacji transnarodowych oraz zacieśnianie współpracy gospodarczej w ramach regionalnych ugrupowań integracyjnych, powinny zostać uwzględnione w modelu konkurencyjności. Jedno z najpopularniejszych wielowymiarowych ujęć: diament przewag konkurencyjnych Portera skupia się na źródłach konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstw w ramach poszczególnych gałęzi przemysłu. Poprzez podnoszenie stopnia zaawansowania technologicznego firm, poprawia się produktywność czynników wytwórczych, co w efekcie przyczynia się do rozwoju gospodarczego i wzrostu standardu życia ludności. Pomimo popularności tego ujęcia, nie znajduje ono zastosowania dla wszystkich krajów. Szczególnie w przypadku małych, doganiających gospodarek otwartych, których rozwój jest w dużej mierze uzależniony od efektywnej integracji w ramach międzynarodowego podziału pracy, spojrzenie na źródła konkurencyjności jedynie przez pryzmat warunków wewnętrznych jest niekompletne. Bazując na uogólnionym modelu podwójnego diamentu przewag konkurencyjnych Moona (2000), w niniejszym artykule, podjęto próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie: w jak dużym stopniu powiązania gospodarcze z partnerami międzynarodowymi oraz działalność korporacji transnarodowych wpływały na kształtowanie przewagi konkurencyjnej firm z krajów grupy Wyszehradzkiej oraz jak rola ta zmieniała się w przypadku każdego z tych państw w okresie poakcesyjnym. W celu udzielenia odpowiedzi na to pytanie badawcze, zgromadzono dane z baz Eurostat oraz wskaźniki Global Competitiveness Report aby oszacować zmienne na poziomie krajowym i międzynarodowym. Wyniki przeprowadzonej analizy potwierdzają, że integracja w ramach gospodarki globalnej to ważny element konkurencyjności każdego z krajów grupy Wyszehradzkiej

Knowledge based entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic and Hungary: results from 4 case studies

This paper describes knowledge based entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic and Hungary, in particular the growth and development process of 4 firms are studied: Dekonta, an environmental services firm, Et netera, an IT services firm, both operating in Czech Republic, along with a data recovery firm, Kurt, and a biopharmaceutical firm, Solvo, both operating in Hungary. The objectives of the case studies are to illustrate experiences of knowledge based entrepreneurship within a transition environment in terms of their different growth and development paths. By carrying out in depth case studies using semi structured interviews with the founders, top management teams, core employees and key stakeholders in industrial associations I am able to explain the growth process of entrepreneurial knowledge based ventures. I assume an ecological view of the firm and examine the role of internal, strategic, network and external factors in this development process. I propose that the relative importance of these factors evolve over time from start up to maturity. Moreover, I anticipate that there will be complementarities between these factors in the spirit of Milgrom and Roberts (1995) and Von Tunzelmann (2003). This approach should help us better understand the complex nature of entrepreneurship. The key contributions of these case studies are the application of an ecological conceptual framework to the development of knowledge based firms in Central and Eastern Europe, and so the viability of this model is tested within the transition environment. I follow the recommendations by Ireland et al. (2005) and introduce a temporal element in order to analyse the shift in importance of the factors impacting on firm development and growth, thus hoping to deal with some of the criticisms on existing entrepreneurial research

Regional policy in the Central and East European countries prior to the eastward enlargement of the EU, with special focus on regional policy developments in East Germany

The contribution investigates the status and the problems of establishing regional policies in selected CEE countries %28Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary%29 in the preliminary stages of accession to EU. According to the rules of the European structural funds the European financial means can only be used, if the CEE applicants have their own regional policy which must be compatible to the regulations of the EU structural funds. The European Commission still criticises in its progress reports a number of deficits with respect to the formation of the regional policies in the applicant countries. From the Commission’s viewpoint the deficits are seen particularly within the administrative area. The contribution deals itself not only with the administrative aspects, but above all with the conceptional arrangements of the regional policies in the applicant countries. It is investigated, how the CEE countries handle the area designation, whether there exists a regional policy strategy and what kind of strategy (growth vs. equalisation) will be preferred and whether there have been designed policy instruments being suitable to implement the regional policy strategy and what types of instruments are designated to be used. The outlined questions have played an important role since the beginning of the 90''''s also in Germany, when the new German Länder were integrated into the German and European regional policy. Therefore the East German experiences of developing a regional policy which corresponds to the existing regional problems are also included into the contribution. The contribution is based on the analysis of literature and documents about the regional policy in CEE countries and in the new German Länder as well as of documents of the EU, in which the regional policy of CEE applicant countries is analysed and evaluated.

Regional Development in Transitional Economies after 1989: Reformation or Deformation?

The article deals with dichotomic character of contemporary regional development in transitional economies. It is shown the main problem of spatial development in transitional economies consists in sharp discordance between inadequately distributed and distorted system macrostructures inherited from socialist period and vogue neo-endogenous paradigm of regional development that is currently widely applied in both developed and transitional countries. The roots of this unfavourable state can be traced back to the history and hence the evolution of regional developmental conceptions that formed wider context of contemporary spatial developments in transitional economies will be discussed too. The case study that focuses on the Czech Republic brings ample evidence about above mentioned tensions.transitional economies, advanced economies, system macrostructures, neo-endogenous approach to regional development, regional development

Entering the Union : European accession and capacity-building priorities

The authors examine the impact of trade facilitation on bilateral trade flows. They examine trade facilitation and capacity-building priorities in 12 countries in the Europe and Central Asia region-eight of the current members of the European Union: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia,and Slovenia, and three candidate members: Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. The results suggest that behind-the-border factors play an important role in determining bilateral trade flows (controlling for the effects of tariffs, development levels, distance, and regional characteristics of exporters and importers, among other factors). The development of new data sets to expand work related to trade facilitation, including strengthening the empirical work explored here, is a key priority without which intelligent policy and priorities cannot be made. The authors'analysis is based on data from the World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2001-2002, World Competitiveness Yearbook 2000, and Kaufmann, Kraay, and Zoido-Lobaton (2002). The results indicate that more gains in exports than in imports are expected should the values of three out of the four indicators (port efficiency, regulatory regimes, and information technology infrastructure) of the new and candidate member countries improve halfway to the EU15 average. These countries would expect large trade gains as well as improvements in trade balances as their integration into the EU continues. For example, the greatest absolute trade gains-$49 billion and$62 billion respectively-could be expected if their port efficiency and information technology infrastructure reach half the average level of the EU, and 70 percent of trade gains are associated with export expansion.Economic Theory&Research,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy,Transport and Trade Logistics,Common Carriers Industry

MNE’s Regional Location Choice - A Comparative Perspective on East Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland

The focus of this article is the empirical identification of factors influencing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in transition economies on a regional level (NUTS 2). The analysis is designed as benchmark between three neighboring post-communist regions, i.e. East Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. Their different transition paths have not only resulted in economic differences. We can also observe today that the importance of pull factors for FDI varies significantly across the regions. This analysis shows that in comparison with Poland and the Czech Republic, East Germany’s major benefit is its purchasing power, its geographical proximity to West European markets, and its modern infrastructure. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that intra-industry linkages such as specialization and agglomeration economies are relevant factors for the location decision of foreign investors. This result can help to explain the regional divergence of FDI streams in transition economies.multinational enterprises, international business, regional economic activity: growth, development, and changes, discrete choice

The Effects of Transition and Political Instability On Foreign Direct Investment Inflows: Central Europe and the Balkans

This paper examines the effect of transition and of political instability on FDI flows to the transition economies of Central Europe, the Baltics and the Balkans. We find that FDI to transition economies unaffected by conflict and political instability exceed those that would be expected for comparable West European countries. Success with stabilization and reform tends to increase FDI inflows. In the case of Balkan counties, conflict and instability have reduced FDI inflows below what one would expect for comparable West European countries, and reform and stabilization failures have further reduced FDI to the region. Thus the economic costs of instability in the Balkans have been quite high.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40115/3/wp729.pd