The macroeconomic context of investments in the field of machine tools in the Czech Republic

The article focuses on the macroeconomic analysis of production, export, import and investment in machine tools in the Czech Republic in the context of the initiative of Industry 4.0. Machine tools (MT) are among traditional industries in the Czech Republic and the industry has an innovative and growth potential. However, the economic crisis may disrupt or modify this trend. The article focuses on the analysis of correlations between GDP growth and production of MT, MT exports and investments in MT in the Czech Republic after the accession to the European Union in 2004 during the economic crisis of 2009 and the post-crisis development until 2014. The results show that production and exports are directly related to fluctuations in GDP and the economic cycle, but domestic investment in machine tools did not show this dependence. It is necessary to capture new trends to increase the competitiveness of the MT industry. The course of recovery of Czech economy after the economic crisis of 2009 indicates signals of qualitative changes in the traditional field of machine tool production. Comparing the years 2013 and 2014, it shows that export MT (SITC 731) fell in 2014, although the total exports from the Czech Republic to Europe and to the world grew significantly

Implementation of R & D results and INDUSTRY 4.0 influenced by selected macroeconomic indicators

Successful timing of INDUSTRY 4.0 projects in businesses can be disrupted by the coming of a recession. The authors assume a close link between INDUSTRY 4.0 and research and development (R & D) projects. R & D projects are statistically internationally monitored and have a significant impact on European Union economic policies. This article explores the impact of the two economic recessions in 2009 and 2012-2013 on the number of R & D entities and human resources involved in R & D in the Czech Republic. The method of multivariate statistics with dummy variables was used. Research has shown that different sectors (business sector, government sector, higher education sector, and non-profit sector) show a different development of the number of R & D entities in times of economic crisis. The research findings indicate that current European Union grant support, tax relief, and other specific factors appear to be more important for the development of R & D projects in the Czech Republic than the effects of economic recession. In terms of longer time horizons, however, the effects of the business cycle cannot be ignored. In order to predict economic development, enterprises and other subjects can use leading macroeconomic indicators. © 2019 by the authors.Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/001, RO/2018/08

Enterprise Knowledge Sharing

Kniha je zaměřena na problematiku sdílení best practices firem a prezentuje výsledky projektu OP RLZ s názvem Pracujeme chytřeji.The book is focused on the best practice sharing among SMEs in the Czech Republic and presents the results of the OP RLZ project We Work Smarter

Free knowledge transfer

Tomas Bata University in Zlín Czech Republic managed to win a project named "We Work Smarter" within the framework of the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). The project supports the free knowledge transfer among SMEs and e-learning environment helps to bring up and enforce innovative approaches and methods in Human Resource Development (HRD) in the Czech small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to create a "learning environment" and to implement the concept of lifelong learning. The research has shown that employees prefer case studies from the firm environment with a short video that shows the particular problem of the firm and its solution (best practice). The project team succeeded in making 100 video case studies and collecting more than 700 structured Cards of best practices from SMEs. The best practices of many different firms as a kind of free knowledge can be collected and organised in the form of a knowledge base. The results of the project entitle the author to make the research conclusions presented in this article and focused on the problem of sharing free knowledge of enterprises in a competitive environment. © Common Ground, Jena Švarcová, All Rights Reserved

SMEs' Sharing of relevant best practice

This paper reports the results of the research project "We Work Smarter" being conducted in the Czech Republic which deals with the priorities for HRD in SMEs and the process of collecting of relevant best practice and its subsequent transfer. SMEs seek either to develop new knowledge themselves or more likely to transfer, adapt and implement new knowledge from outside sources to increase competitiveness. Tomas Bata University in ZlĂ­n Czech Republic research tested both the willingness of the Czech SMEs to share their best practice and the preferences of employees to implement new knowledge gained through access to relevant best practice in two forms - short video case study or structured Card that shows the particular problem of the firm and her successful solving the problem. The project team succeeded in making 100 video case studies and collecting almost 900 structured Cards of best practice from SMEs. The results of the project entitle the author to make the research conclusions presented in this paper and focused on the problem of sharing free knowledge of SMEs in a competitive environment. © Common Ground, Jena Švarcová, All Rights Reserved

Macroeconomic consequences of contemporary career planning of university students in the Czech Republic

Having at least 40 percent of 30- to 34-year-olds completing third-level education is one of the five main targets for the EU in 2020. The Czech Republic has set a national aim of 32 percent, taking into account the different situations and circumstances that prevail in the Republic. Fifteen years ago, this indicator was at a mere 13.7 percent for the country, and the aim of 32 percent is indicative of a very important social change. The target indicator does not monitor the specialization of graduates and implicitly assumes that graduates will reproduce the structure of the economy. This paper examines the question of whether university students want to follow in their parents' steps regarding the job they had. The primary research survey data were obtained from two groups of respondents from Tomas Bata University in Zlín (387 in 2013 and 327 in 2014). The results show that only a small portion of students is considering a similar job as their parents had. It causes many problems for companies in the Czech Republic, having lacked mainly technically oriented university graduates in recent years. This paper analyses the causes and searches for the impact of these trends from a macroeconomic perspective. © Common Ground, Jena Švarcová, All Rights Reserved

Promoting knowledge transfer to Czech SMEs: the role of human resource development in increasing absorptive capacity

Článek uvádí první výsledky výzkumného projektu, který byl zaměřen na priority rozvoje lidských zdrojů v malých a středních firmách, aby umožnil manažerům identifikovat, transferovat a zavádět nové znalosti, získané z externích zdrojů. Studie identifikuje významné rozdíly mezi prioritami vymezenými manažery a preferencemi zaměstnanců. Závěry ukazují, že firmy by měly při řízení transferu znalostí zohledňovat nejen vlastní cíle, ale i jak motivační faktory svých zaměstnancůThis paper reports the initial results of a research project which investigates the priorities for HRD in SMEs to enable managers to identify, transfer, assess and implement new knowledge gained through access to external sources. The study identifies significant differences between HRD priorities identified by management and the preferences of employees and potential employees in the form of undergraduate business students. The conclusions indicate that firms should consider the importance of both their own and employees? motivational factors in managing knowledge transfer mechanisms

Educational aspirations and educational mobility of high schools students in the Czech republic

The issue of educational aspirations and educational mobility of young people in the Czech Republic is a hot topic, because due to demographic changes numerically weak classes come to high schools. Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Faculty of Management and Economics, solves research focused on comparing the professional ambitions of students at secondary schools with the current structure of the labor market, and educational aspirations of students in secondary schools compared to the actual educational attainment of their parents. This study examines a representative sample of 854 respondents from all types of secondary schools from 75 cities of the Czech Republic. The results show that the average educational aspirations of respondents are bachelor’s degree. The average variance in educational aspirations of selected ccupations equaled the value of 1.2646, which may be indicative of fairly significant ambivalence in terms of educational aspirations. There were only 42 students with zero variance, and only 82 student with relatively little variance (less than 0.4). Also vocational focus of students is small – on average, students chose 4.7 professions („definitely yes“), 15 professions („rather yes“ and „definitely yes“). When designing the online questionnaire and doing the analysis of the data the classification of occupations from A. Roe was used. While Roe argues that most people choose a profession from one of eight groups of occupation, respondents chose on average from 5.3 work groups („rather yes“ and „definitely yes“). With regard to educational mobility, it can be stated that the results showed the increase in intergenerational educational aspirations, and from this perspective, the educational structure appears not to be conserved. Significant lack of clarity of direction in aspirations of students in the labor market requires submitting the issue further explorations with the need for detailed description and explanation