Economic Performance and Competitiveness Indicators: The Case of African Economies

This paper presents a statistical analysis of the relationship between economic performance and competitiveness indicators to address the question of the extent to which competitiveness indicators provideuseful information when assessing economic performance. The analysis was performed on various examples of African economies. The possible relationships between economic performance and competitiveness indicators were examined by extending a basic relationship between economic performance per capita and investment by competitiveness indicators. The models were estimated by means of an Arellano-Bond estimator. The authors detected many statistically significant relationships between economic performance and competitiveness indicators in the cases of both the whole sample and specifically middle-income economies. However, in the case of low-income economies there are no discernible relationships between economic performance and the information included in the competitiveness indicators. The paper contributes to the analysis of the economic performance of African economies, for which the empirical evaluation of possible links between economic performance and competitiveness indicators is altogether missing

Changes in the rate of investments in the Czech and Slovak Republics and in high-tech manufacturing industry of both countries

Competitiveness of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic is affected by the use of resources that are available. Neither country has a large area, nor raw-material potential and only a reasonable tourist attraction. Competitive advantage is a need to be built on other sources. The starting point for the economy and most companies is to find a position in customer-supplier chain, which provides high added value. Macroeconomic competitiveness can be based on quantitative factors (low material and labor costs) or qualitative factors. Qualitatively based competitive advantage must be continuously supported by investments, therefore it is often related to a relatively high investment rate. Years 2008 – 2010 are and will be associated with the effects of the global economic crisis, which has the consequence of reducing expenditures. Companies reduce costs, particularly where it was possible, significant and did not have an immediate impact. Capital expenditures were thus one of the first items restrained. This article aims to analyze the situation in the economy, which is both very important for the competitiveness of the Czech and Slovak Republics and very sensitive to the need for continuous inflow of investment. The chosen branch is the high tech manufacturing industry. This paper analyzes the status and development in high-tech manufacturing in years 2008 – 2010 and provides spatial and trend comparison (development is compared in the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and the EU-27 average). Indicators compared in the article are relative measures, in order to keep comparability correct. Article also compares different developments of companies depending on the type of ownership (domestic or foreign owner) and size of the company (small, medium, large). Article seeks to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in needs and assessing of companies, so that they can eventually be purposefully supported in order to get a direct impact on economic growth

The Change of firms´ performance in condition of crisis and the firms´adaptation to the changed market conditions

Economic crisis represents an important challange for the business sphere of the Czech Republic. For firms it is an objective cause of restructuring and streamlining business processes and of boosting adaptability to changes. The aim of the primary research realized within the research purpose New theory of economy and organizations´ management and their adaptation processes is to partly follow the impact of economic crisis on enterprises´ efficiency. The aim of this paper is to analyze current situation in the Czech industrial enterprises from the managers´ point of view. The paper deals with the competitiveness by comparison with their competitors in the particular field. The key focus is placed on the summary of industrial sector response to current economic conditions and on the expectations of firms.Ekonomická krize, Economic crisis, primární výzkum, konkurenceschopnost, competitiveness, Primary research

Analysis of Non-Financial Corporations Based on National Accounts

The paper focuses on the analysis of the particular sectors of non-financial corporations based on mainly yearly national accounts. We explain some of the aggregates of the national accounts but the focus of the paper is placed on the application of standard tools of financial analysis on the data from national accounts. Regarding the length of the paper, we do not present the full scope of the analysis. The analysis centers especially on the development in the last years when the Czech economy was hit by economic recession.Recese, Recession, Národní účty, Nefinanční firmy, National accounts, Non-Financial Corporations

Innovative Activities and Competitiveness in Manufacturing Industry Firms - the Results of the Primary Research

In this paper the results of the primary research into business sphere in manufacturing industry are discussed. For our analysis we used questionnaire survey - the results of the primary research reflect firms´competitiveness and innovative activities from the managers´point of view. The article deals with the competitiveness by comparison with their competitors in the particular field. To evaluate firms´attitude to innovative activities, we choose these factors: conditions for innovative activities, types of innovative activities, financial sources and barriers to implementation of innovations as seen by firms. Our conclusions from the primary research are following: the competitive advantage of the Czech economy is based on low cost and relatively qualified labor force and energetically and input demanding production, but this advantage is just temporarily adequate; the expenditures of firms on innovative activities are low and firms still do not regard innovative activites as important for competitiveness.Typy inovací, výzkum a vývoj, bariéry zavádění inovací, primární výzkum

The Competitiveness of the Processing Industrial Firms - the Comparison of the Results of the Primary Research and the Goals of the National Reform Programme

This article deals with the results of primary research of Czech business sphere. The authors compare and evaluate the opinions of the managers of business sphere on their competitive position and analyze the influence of chosen factors on their competitiveness.primary research, competitiveness, processing industry

Theory and Praxis of New Economy in the Czech Republic

This article in the first part deals with the basic characteristics of new (knowledge) economy. In the second part this article is focused on definition of competitiveness and two basic types of competitive advantage and on the evaluation of competitivness of the Czech Republic in the international comparison.