Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2016 (vol. 64), issue 6
Is competitiveness in the European Union converging?
Pavlína Balcarová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1835-1842 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061835 
The convergence process has for many decades captured the attention of economists and its importance has especially increased with deepening economic integration. A wide range of indicators is used in the professional literature to establish real and nominal convergence in the European Union, but national competitiveness is usually not among them, despite the fact that national competitiveness has in recent years been an important indicator of economic performance at the national level. Furthermore, converging competitiveness is a necessary precondition for further common development of the European Union. The aim of this contribution is to demonstrate...
Regional Cooperation of the Post-Soviet Countries - Can it Be Influenced by the Structure of the Economy?
Irena Benešová, Luboš Smutka, Lenka Rumánková, Adriana Laputková, Zuzana Novotná
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1843-1856 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061843
In recent decades, economic development has largely been influenced by globalisation of the world economy. Regional cooperation represents a certain alternative for the ongoing globalisation and concerns establishment of geographically larger markets. Through regional integration, countries are better able to react to changes in the external environment and therefore a larger market scale enables better marketing opportunities.The conclusion of this research is the fact that despite significant differences between, for example, GDP per capita or the economic growth, there is still similarity in the business cycle or even GDP creation when private...
R&D investments as Possible Factors of Company's Competitiveness
Nina Bočková, Tomáš Meluzín
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1857-1867 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061857
This article describes the impact of R&D investment to on the economic stability in the Czech electronics industry in the period 2007-2014. Increasing the competitiveness of companies is conditional on the systematic investments, development and stability of companies. Searching for competitive advantage through innovation may be one of the ways of how to obtaining a stab. market position in the industry. The aim of this article was is to determine whether there are relations between changes of economic indicators and the reporting process of research activities for innovative companies in the electronics industry. The research was conducted among...
Modelling the Impact of Fiscal Policy on Non-Oil Gdp in a Resource Rich Country: Evidence from Azerbaijan
Khatai Aliyev, Bruce Dehning, Orkhan Nadirov
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1869-1878 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061869
This paper analyses the impact of public expenditures and tax revenues on non-oil economic growth in Azerbaijan for the period of 2000Q1-2015Q2 by employing OLS, ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, CCR and Granger Causality techniques. Different cointegration methods result in consistent results. In this study, there is strong evidence of significant long-run positive contributions from public expenditures to non-oil sector output. Results also show that tax revenues significantly slow down non-oil economic growth in the long run. Granger Causality analysis finds the existence of a bidirectional short-run association between non-oil GDP and public expenditures, while...
Hungarian Pig Sector: Actual Problems and Prospects for the Future Development
Anna Dunay, Klára Vinkler-Rajcsányi
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1879-1888 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061879
Over the past decades, the Hungarian pig sector has undergone remarkable changes. In the 1980s, the Hungarian pig sector was the main pork product provider of the Eastern bloc, but after the political and economic transition, the sector lost its main markets and the size of pig herds decreased radically. The economic changes have brought negative impacts for all the players of the pork supply chain: the producers have been mostly affected, but slaughterhouses and the processing industry had to face new circumstances as well. The goal of this paper is to review the present situation and the current problems of the Hungarian pig-producing sector and...
The Environmental Effect of Land Use in the Tenure Systems in Ghana
Libor Grega, Emmanuel Kofi Ankomah
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1889-1897 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061889
This paper examines the land tenure system in Ghana and its impact on the environment. The main forms of land tenure systems are explained and the positive and negative impacts of each of these forms on the environment analysed. Specific attention is devoted to deforestation and soil depletion. The complex problems of land acquisition in Ghana, and the inherent insecurity effects on farming, which is considered to be the most important economic activity in the rural areas are examined. The analyses and the result proved that the insecurity of land tenure system has a direct relationship with the environment. Cross-sectional data analyses establishes...
Women Entrepreneurship in Visegrad Region and its Drivers
Marian Holienka, Zuzana Jančovičová, Zuzana Kovačičová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1899-1910 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061899
The aim of our paper is to analyze the quantitative aspects of entrepreneurial activity among female population, and to investigate for drivers of women involvement in early-stage entrepreneurial activities in Visegrad countries (i.e. Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland). We employ Global Entrepreneurship Monitor national and individual level data for four consecutive years 2011-2014 (altogether 16,036 respondents). First, we analyze the main indicators of female entrepreneurial activity, including the inclusivity index, using the descriptive statistics methods. Second, we execute logistic regression analysis and look for the factors related...
Aggressive and Defensive High-Frequency Trading and its Impact on Liquidity of German Stock Market
Juraj Hruška
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1911-1918 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061911
Algorithmic trading and especially high frequency trading is the concern of the current research studies as well as legislative authorities. It is also the subject of criticism mostly from low frequency traders and long-term institutional investors. This is due to several cases of market manipulation and flash crashes in the previous years. Advocates of this trading mechanism claim that it has large positive influence on the market, such as liquidity growth by lowering spreads and others. This paper is focused on testing the relationship between market liquidity of shares traded on Frankfurt Stock Exchange and HFT activity on European stock markets....
The Influence of Package Attributes on Consumer Perception at the Market With Healthy Food
Kamila Ježovičová, Jana Turčínková, Denis Drexler
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1919-1926 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061919
The paper provides findings about how packaging of healthy foods is perceived by consumers. The primary data were collected by eye-tracking using the SMI RED 250. This investigation analyzed 12 healthy products and it was completed by 50 respondents. This method was supplemented with in-depth interviews with the same respondents who participated in the eye-tracking research. A questionnaire survey (n = 261) was also a part of the research. Based on these two methods, real and declared consumer behavior can be recognized and the differences between these behaviors can be identified. The main interest was to determine which package attributes of healthy...
Stock Market Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from the European Union
Veronika Kajurová, Petr Rozmahel
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1927-1936 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061927
The paper examines the causal relation between the stock markets development and economic growth in the EU countries. In particular, the nature and causality direction is investigated. Panel data techniques including cointegration tests, vector error correction models and Granger causality tests were applied to indicate the nature and direction of causality. Long-run effects of the economic growth upon stock market development was detected in the sample of the Euro area member countries. In addition, the short-run mutual relations between growth and stock markets were indicated in that country-sample. In the non-Euro area countries, only short-run...
Quality Label as the Guarantee of Top Quality Agricultural and Food Products Produced in Slovak Republic - a Case Study of Slovak Food Market
Ingrida Košičiarová, Ľudmila Nagyová, Mária Holienčinová, Jana Rybanská
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1937-1950 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061937
The aim of the present paper was to determine the Slovak consumer's opinion about the purchase and quality level of agricultural and food products produced in the Slovak Republic, as well as to determine their knowledge and preference of the National Quality Label "Značka kvality SK". As research methods, there have been used the methods of survey and structured questionnaire consisting of 22 questions. The total number of respondents was 2.808 randomly selected respondents from all over the Slovak Republic. For a deeper analysis of the obtained results, there have been set out nine hypothesis, which have been tested with the use of Pearson's chi-square...
Learning Outcomes of Simulation of Insolvency Proceedings Inspired by the US Mock Trials
Martina Krásnická, Viktor Vojtko, Zdeněk Strnad, Rudolf Hrubý
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1951-1959 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061951
The main aim of this paper is to quantify students' learning outcomes from a pilot project inspired by Mock trials developed in the USA and applied into the Czech system of law education of students of business disciplines. The pilot project involved a simulation of insolvency proceedings where the students played roles of various participants. The learning outcomes were evaluated in accordance to Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives and findings support previous studies on this topic.Our results generally confirm the findings of various studies saying that the teaching of basic concepts and terminology is more effective in the form of lectures...
Access to Health Care and the Out-of-Pocket Burden of the European Elderly
Veronika Krůtilová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1961-1970 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061961
Provision of access to health care is a desirable feature of health care systems. Access to health care is caused to be restricted whether out-of-pocket burden is too high. The paper focuses on the European elderly with restricted access to health care and evaluates their health care burden and determines factors affecting the burden. The data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe from the fifth wave is used. The methods of descriptive and multivariate analysis are applied. A linear regression model with a bootstrapped method is used. The results showed that inequalities in access to health care exist. Unmet need is a critical...
Identification of Factors Associated with Leadership-style Efficiency of Managers
Ladislava Kuchynková
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1971-1979 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061971
The position of a manager is always associated with the need for efficient management of subordinates. Successful managers lead their subordinates efficiently due to the fact that they can properly diagnose competence of subordinates for the desired performance. In this context, it can be assumed that in the case of these managers there are factors that can positively affect their ability to successfully identify the appropriate leadership style. The ambition of this paper is to identify just such factors based on the analysis of data obtained from primary research on a sample of 149 respondents. The analysis included five factors that showed a premise...
The Return-risk Performance of Selected Pension Fund in OECD with Focus on the Czech Pension System
Petr Kupčík, Pavel Gottwald
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1981-1988 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061981
This paper focuses on the measuring and comparing investment performance of pension funds in selected European countries. Comparison of the investment performance of pension funds is determined by means of the Sharpe ratio and the Sortino ratio. We used data of nominal appreciation of pension funds from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands in the period 2005-2013. These countries were selected because they have many common features but Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands were added to the analysis because we wanted to show the differences between a developed and less developed fully funded system. The last...
Intellectual Capital Disclosure at Czech Public Universities in Relation to the Stakeholder Information Need
Kateřina Kuralová, Klára Margarisová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1989-1998 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061989
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and quality of intellectual capital disclosure at Czech public universities in relation to information need of identified stakeholders - students. This research is based on the theoretical framework for voluntary intellectual capital disclosure, the proposed intellectual capital disclosure index, the identification of stakeholders including their information need as well as the content analysis of the universities' annual reports has been applied. The quality of disclosed information on intangible resources in public universities in the Czech Republic is in the middle level. In the highest quality...
Liquidity Forms and Bank Size
Jana Laštůvková
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 1999-2006 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664061999
The article deals with relationship between bank liquidity and variables representing the size of banks - such a total assets, gross volume of loans and clients deposits. For higher complexity, multiple dependent variables are used. The values are calculated based on a specific method of liquidity risk measurement - gross liquidity flows. To determine the possible relations the robust panel regression analysis together with the time series analysis are performed. The differences have been showed not just among different size groups but also among the same size groups in the different banking sectors.
Relational Capital and Open Innovation - in Search of Interdepencies
Regina Lenart-Gansiniec
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2007-2013 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062007
The article raises the matter of open innovation significance, with special stress put in the crowdsourcing concept in the context of relational capital. It is claimed that effective operation of an organization is decided by the ability of development and maintenance of relationships with the environment. It is expressed by various relationships, interdependencies and mutual influences exerted by entities. This becomes a basis for the relational capital, which arises from potential collected and generated from cooperation and resources of all involved parties. Creation and development of relational capital is considerably brought down to creation...
The Effect of Macroeconomic Factors on Stock Prices of Swiss Real Estate Companies
Marie Ligocká, Tomáš Pražák, Daniel Stavárek
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2015-2024 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062015
Stock values of companies listed on stock exchanges could be influenced by many factors. The aim of this article is to examine existence and character of relationship between stock prices of selected Swiss real estate companies and macroeconomic fundamentals (GDP, interest rate, price level). The existence of long-run equilibrium relationship between stock prices and macroeconomic fundamentals is tested with the Johansen cointegration. The short run dynamics between the variables is examined by Vector Error Correction modelling and the Granger causality test. During the period 2005-2014 we revealed a long-run equilibrium for five of the six analyzed...
Testing of Short Sale Hypotheses on the U.S. Market in the Period from 1990 to 2015
Dagmar Linnertová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2025-2038 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062025
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of short sale hypotheses the NYSE and NASDAQ in the period 1990-2015. Short has been regulated in the U.S. market since the 1930s by so-called up-tick rules and other legal acts. The aim of this regulation was to prevent short sellers from adding to the downward momentum when the price of an asset was already experiencing sharp declines. During the 1990s, short sale regulations changed several times. In this paper, panel regression is applied to investigate short sale determinants on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Short seller motivation and the results are compared with those for particular markets and...
Legal Regulations of Production Plans: Are They Unproductive?
Marek Litzman, Martin Machay
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2039-2046 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062039
Legal system forces every economic agent operating on the market to fulfil some amount of duties and it alternates their decision making. This regulation moves the equilibria of each individual subject including firms, which have to adjust their production plans in a way prescribed by the law. We develop a theoretical background of production under the legal regulation and compare alternate equilibria with different degrees of legal regulation, which is described as unproductive in economic literature. The model shows that regulated production plans and all used inputs are still productive but the level of satisfaction within the society is decreased.
Dynamic Planning of Experiments for the Optimisation of Managerial Scheduling
Tomáš Macák, Jan Hron
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2047-2051 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062047
Time management has a crucial role in organizations and also in our personal lives. Managerial scheduling is an important tool for the time management, especially It can serve as a tool for the first phase, of time management - namely for effective planning. This paper focusses on finding the best possible setting for determining significant the best layout for activities according to the criteria of urgency and importance using a modified steepest ascent method, which can be referred as dynamic scheduling. This term indicates the nature of the method; wherein the experimental design space is changed to look for the best conditions for adjustment factors...
Death Rates in the Calorie Model
Martin Machay
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2053-2058 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062053
The Calorie model unifies the Classical demand and the supply in the food market. Hence, solves the major problem of Classical stationary state. It is, hence, formalization of the Classical theory of population. The model does not reflect the imperfections of reality mentioned by Malthus himself. It is the aim of this brief paper to relax some of the strong assumptions of the Calorie model to make it more realistic. As the results show the political economists were correct. The death resulting from malnutrition can occur way sooner than the stationary state itself. Moreover, progressive and retrograde movements can be easily described by the death...
Regional Branding: Building Brand Value
Klára Margarisová, Lucie Vokáčová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2059-2066 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062059
Regional branding is one of several ways to promote rural regions and support development of socially, culturally and environmentally oriented economies in areas that are interesting due to their natural and cultural heritage. The article attempts to review the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of branding as conveyed by leading authors in the marketing field. The aim of this paper is to define brand as a broad complex of variables, which are used in building of its identity as a basis for creating value proposition and the position of a brand. Article briefly describes the most comprehensive labeling system for regional products at the micro-regional...
Cooperative Farming Potential for Establishing Food Security within Rural Bangladesh
Vladimir Milovanovic, Luboš Smutka, Gent Jusufi
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2067-2074 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062067
Cooperative farming led by smallholder farmers might be the future of Bangladesh's agriculture. The paper examines rice-farming surveys from Kurigram Sadar, Bangladesh, and explores the potential of cooperative farming and mechanization. It reveals that a number of informal, community-supported cooperative practices are already in place, although rice farming is still labor intensive and inefficient. The paper argues that mechanization of key activities and institutionalization of cooperative farming may reverse the situation and improve food security. Kurigram Sadar rice farming is relevant to other parts of rural Bangladesh as well, as most of the...
Investigating the Stability of Money Demand in Ghana
Dennis Nchor, Václav Adamec
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2075-2079 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062075
The study examined the demand for broad money and its stability in Ghana. Johansen's cointegration approach reveals that the variables were non stationary and cointegrated, therefore, an error correction model, ECM was used to determine the factors that influence real money aggregate in Ghana from 1990 to 2014. The study estimated the results using two set of variables for real demand for money: M1 and M2+. This was done given the assumption that the demand for money was equal to the supply of money. The results show that, GDP affects the level of demand for money in the long run while the interest rate affects it in the short run. The error correction...
The Shadow Economy of Czech Republic and Tax Evasion: The Currency Demand Approach
Dennis Nchor, Tomáš Konderla
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2081-2086 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062081
This study investigates the shadow economy of Czech Republic and the associated losses in tax revenue. The presence of a shadow economy may not necessarily be bad for the economies in which they prevail but they could cause huge losses to government revenue and could also constitute serious violation of labour regulations. The study uses the Currency Demand Approach. It measures the size of the shadow economy in two stages: a) the econometric estimation of an aggregate money demand equation b) the calculation of the value of the shadow economy through the quantity theory of money. The key variables in the study include: the total currency held outside...
Multilevel Modeling in Exploring Institutional Effects on Performance
Vojtěch Olbrecht
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2087-2094 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062087
The article engages in exploring the differences between standard panel regression model and multilevel panel model while estimating growth models on a sample of European food manufacturing companies for period 2004-2013. The article provides an overview of both approaches, critically identifies their strengths and weaknesses and concludes by recommendation on specifics of usage of each of those. Results of models suggest positive impact of political and legal framework and openness of economy and negative impact of government expenditures and economic conditions on firm performance. Comparison of approaches shows that similar results are obtained,...
Farmers' Markets: Positive Feelings of Instagram Posts
Ladislav Pilař, Tereza Balcarová, Stanislav Rojík
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2095-2100 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062095
With increasing consumer requirements, farmers and vendors see the importance of social media as a marketing tool to engage with consumers. In particular, on a more personal level for reasons of brand management. Instagram is becoming increasingly popular as a marketing communication tool. The aim of this paper is to identify areas that users evaluate in terms of positive feelings in connection with farmers' markets. The results are based on the analysis of the worldwide, and Czech, instagram social network. Instagram posts were identified on the basis of keywords, such as #farmarsketrhy and #farmersmarkets. The results of the study are based on 100,000...
Granger Causality between Stock Market and Macroeconomic Indicators: Evidence from Germany
Tomáš Plíhal
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2101-2108 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062101
The aim of this paper is to investigate informational efficiency of the stock market in Germany. Granger causality between the stock market and the selected macroeconomic variables is investigated by bivariate analysis using Toda-Yamamoto (1995) approach. This study focuses on monthly data from January 1999 to September 2015, and the stock market is represented by blue chip stock market index DAX. Investigated macroeconomic indicators include industrial production, inflation, money supply, interest rate, trade balance and exchange rate. Stock market Granger-causes industrial production and interest rate, and is therefore leading indicator of these...
User Friendly Interaction with Natural Objects in Web Map Applications Based on Object Recognition
David Procházka, Martin Chodúr
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2109-2116 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062109
The maps become a common tool for many users. We can find a wide range of solutions from simple search applications to advanced location intelligence tools. In most cases, aerial or satellite images are used as a background. Above this background, other map layers are presented and used for the actual interaction. Our approach is focused on the mentioned background. Aerial and satellite images comprise a huge amount of objects, but it is virtually impossible to interact with them. This paper proposes a new kind of user interface that allows to interact with these natural objects.
Foreign Direct Investment Stock and Business Cycle Synchronization: the Case of Central European Economies
Marcel Ševela
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2117-2122 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062117
The business cycle synchronization was widely discussed before the last economic crisis and now the interest in this topic revives. The majority of literature about business cycle synchronization evaluates the role of mutual trade and similarities among the economies, while the investment links, mainly foreign direct investment flows and stocks are very often completely ignored or at least marginalized. The paper aims to discuss and then estimate the importance of continually increasing stock of foreign direct investment in synchronization of business cycles. It focuses to selected Central European economies after economic transition and their business...
Optimized Indicators of Technical Analysis on the New York Stock Exchange
Martin Širůček, Karel Šíma
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2123-2131 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062123
The article is focused on the use of technical analysis and it's indicators. The main aim is the evaluation of technical analysis for selected index instruments which are traded on NYSE. The secondary objective is the optimization of indicator's parameters of technical analysis and subsequent comparison of profitability of business strategies based on these optimized parameters. The empirical analysis includes the backtesting of optimized indicators and comparison with the default settings of these indicators. The optimization and backtesting were performed on cyclical stocks, represented by stock index S&P 500 Financial from 11/1/2014 to 10/31/2015.
Forecasting Alcohol Consumption in the Czech Republic
Tereza Slováčková, Naďa Birčiaková, Jana Stávková
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2133-2140 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062133
The paper deals with a forecast of developments in alcohol consumption based on current alcohol consumption per capita (expressed in litres of pure alcohol), and time series extrapolations. Alcohol consumption is to be considered from the vantage point of knowing the specifics of the product and the consequences of its excessive consumption. The predictive methodology makes use of the Box-Jenkins method; the ARIMA model, taking into account the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation process, which is a prerequisite for the successful identification of a time series model; model parameter estimation; appropriate transformations of time series;...
Factors Affecting Development of Rural Areas in the Czech Republic: a Literature Review
Jakub Straka, Marcela Tuzová
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2141-2150 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062141
Rural development is a topic that is frequently discussed, but there is no consensus on how to measure it. Various criteria exist such as economic, social, cultural or environmental, which can be used to assess rural development. Therefore the main question addressed in this paper is to identify what factors and indicators are suitable for scrutinizing development of rural areas under the conditions of the Czech Republic. For this purpose, articles focused on Czech rural regions were analysed. Fourteen most frequently used indicators were identified based on the comprehensive analysis of the selected Czech studies.
The Role of Cultural Activities in Community Development
Baiba Tjarve, Ieva Zemīte
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2151-2160 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062151
Culture has a critical role in transforming localities into more attractive places to work and invest. Cultural activities and facilities significantly affect the development of the physical environment of cities. But what does it all mean for the local residents of the neighbourhoods? How do they feel or participate in cultural activities organized for them?The overall aim of this study has been to evaluate participation effect on the development of Riga's neighbourhoods during the year of The European Capital of Culture.During the research, the authors have used the mixed research methodology. The qualitative analysis of the Riga 2014 programme...
The Heckscher-Ohlin Model and the Performance of Cocoa Products in Nigeria
Nahanga Verter
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2161-2172 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062161
The Heckscher-Ohlin model based on Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage maintains that countries should specialize in the production and exportation of products that they have relative factor endowments. Therefore, Nigeria has taken advantage of its favourable climatic condition to become among the largest producers and exporters of cocoa products in the world. Given that cocoa is also the topmost non-oil export product and earnings in Nigeria, this paper assesses its performance and determines the effects of external factors on production in the country. Nigeria's performance in the global cocoa market has been somewhat below expectations. Using...
Influence of Socio-demographic Characteristics of Consumers on Attitudes Towards Cause Related Marketing
Lucyna Witek
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2173-2182 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062173
It is the objective of this paper to analyse the attitudes of consumers towards CRM in terms of age, sex and education, and also in those of their financial situation. The research was conducted with the application of a direct survey in the period since 1st December, 2015, until 31st January, 2016. For the purpose of the analysis, 390 surveys, which had been completed in a correct way, were accepted. Those were presented to the respondents with the application of the five-point Likert scale in order to determine the degree of the acceptance of every single statement. This study leads to the conclusion that consumers have positive...
Technical Efficiency and Profitability of Services in Banking: an Application of Managerial Decision-Making Matrix
Emília Zimková
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2183-2190 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062183
The paper is a part of an on-going study of the performance assessment of Slovak bank branches. With aim to assess better the performance of the bank branches from different angles, the efficiency-profitability managerial decision-making matrices is used. The efficiency analysis adopts the SBM non-oriented model under the standpoint of production approach. Efficiency scores together with the profit indicators of each bank branch enable to gain a comprehensive picture of network performance. DEA results suggest that there is considerable space for an improvement of the bank branches efficiency. Moreover, between the efficiency and the profitability...
Economic Impacts of Cigarette Taxation Development in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic
Jarmila Zimmermannová, Jan Široký
Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2016, 64(6), 2191-2200 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201664062191
This paper presents the analysis of economic impacts of cigarette taxation development in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in the period corresponding with the membership of both countries in the European Union, precisely from May 2004 until January 2016. After introduction focusing on the issue of cigarette taxation and the overview of the international scientific research in this area, the authors focus on the analysis of cigarette taxation increase in both of the countries. Then the analysis of cigarette taxation impacts on expenses of selected types of households on consumption of tobacco products in the analyzed period is provided, using...