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At the time of increasing globalization and homogenization of the global markets, the development of information infrastructure technology and world market becomes accessible not only to large multinational companies but also for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This has resulted in increasing competition in the domestic market which domestic firms have to face. Therefore the process of internationalization of business is a step that allows businesses performing their activities in the domestic market to enter foreign markets and to exploit the opportunities and potential which these markets offer. The paper is focused on the draft of the method for quantification of the factors, which determine the success of the SMEs in foreign markets. In the proposed method the multidimensional assessment of indicators of success of SMEs in foreign markets are used, ie. not only the proportion of sales from exports is observed, but also the profitability of international activities in an absolute and in a relative rate. Other indicators of success are the satisfaction of the company management with international activities and the success of achieving defined targets for business activities in foreign markets. Evaluation is made up of both the objective and the subjective indicators of success. Among the objective indicators of success is included the intensity of international activities of SMEs, which is detected as the sum of revenues generated from international activities in relation to total sales company, the profitability of international activities, (ie. whether the foreign activities are profitable or not), and the relative profitability of international activities, where it is ascertained whether the foreign activities generate higher profit than the activities at the domestic market. The next subjective indicator of success is the success of objectives - it was found how many objectives related to operations in foreign markets has been achieved. Another indicator is the subjective satisfaction of the company management with existing activities on foreign markets. Overall performance on foreign markets of the company is quantified using an assessment of objective and subjective indicators of success. Using the defined evaluation it will be possible to determine which of the SMEs are more and which are less successful in foreign markets. Finally, this evaluation will be used for future research aimed at identifying characteristics affecting the success of SMEs in the foreign markets.

The paper deals with evaluating the success of small and medium-sized companies in internationalization process. The process of internationalization is defined in the literature in a many ways; there is a countless variety of different approaches and models of internationalization process of firms. Like all processes in the firm also the internationalization process is accompanied by risks. For risk management it is important to know what the key factors of success are in the international arena. In this article is presented a simple evaluation model that could be used by SMEs to determine not only how strong are they compared to competitors, but also at what level are their key success factors in the process of internationalization. The aim was to find a simple method to help small and medium enterprises to assess their situation in the field of internationalization and to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses in this area. Proposed simple evaluation model has the graphic output from which it can be seen in which areas the company is doing well in internationalization process and in what areas is doing badly - then there is room for further improvement. Creating the model it was essential to divide the various factors into several groups and further evaluation to determine the range by which SMEs can quantify the level of success in internationalization process. Before the model was constructed it was necessary to collect data among small and mid-sized firms, and to process the outputs of the survey. After confirmation or to rejection of the certain hypotheses key success factors of SMEs in the internationalization process were selected and these factors were then aggregated into 4 groups. The model was then applied to data obtained from a survey of 40 SMEs and in the paper there are presented specific examples of graphical output of the model for the best and worst rated company. Authors are aware that the model is simple and has its limits, there is the need of much more work and the authors foresee further modifications of this model.

Internationalization can be crucial to the long-term success of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the increased globalization. The objective of this paper is determination of the specifics internationalization process of SMEs, presentation various aspects of internationalization process of SMEs and explain this issue - why do some SMEs involve in this process gradually and on the other side why do some SMEs operate in remote areas immediately after founding.

The paper presents theoretical resources for determination of spatial areas of hypermarkets. Czech literature doesn't provide a comprehensive summery of this problem and therefore the authors of the paper have decided to present models, which may be applied when determining the spatial areas of hypermarkets in the area of Brno-city.

The objective of the paper is to evaluate the price development of the chosen commodities in plant production in Slovakia and to focus on the factors influencing the increase or decrease in the price of commodities on the domestic and foreign markets. In 2008 the prices of the products in a year-on-year plant production increased by 1.6 %. The price of the plant products, including fruits and vegetables recorded the biggest increase since January 2008 until October 2008. The biggest increase in prices was recorded in June (increase of 52.7%). The high prices of oil plants and legume were one of the causes in a year-on-year price increase (oil plants increase by 23.3% and legume -15.7%). Price development on the domestic market of cereals and oil plants was influenced in the first three terms by growing stock-exchange value and the high demand from the side of foreign buyers connected with the increasing production of biofuels. On the other hand, in the last term of the year 2008, there can be seen the rapid decrease of the prices of cereals and oil plants because of the high production and the development of the world prices. The prices of fruits, evaluated in 2004-2008, recorded the biggest increase in January and February 2008 (in January 2008 - increase by 22.1% and February 2008 - increase by 23.2%). Prices of vegetables slightly grew in the monitored period. The biggest increase was recorded in December 2006 and in January and February 2007 (more than 15%).

The paper deals with the analysis of the situation in a sector of small and middle-sized businesses (SMEs) in the Czech Republic, above all the analysis of SMEs in trade. Small and middle-sized businesses are considered to be the base of national economics EU countries. In the Czech Republic 992 132 SMEs was registered in the end of 2004 and in this time there were 1 899 thousands of people employed in SMEs. Small and middle-sized enterprises have 99.85% share in all registered businesses in the Czech Republic in 2004. The outputs of SMEs have increased 13.9% from 2003 to 2004. Small and middle-sized businesses are key subjects in trade; there is a big competition of retail chains. SMEs can use some of development programs and supports, but there aren't any specific supports or programs for SMEs in trade.