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The cost structure of business entities has been changing in the span of time. Costs associated with intangible assets such as software, patents, licenses, copyrights and goodwill became an important item of costs in the recent days. The paper is focused on the evaluation of the share of intangible assets in total assets and the costs associated with intangible assets in business companies operating in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the Czech Republic. The analyzed sample of companies represents two groups of business entities: entities preparing financial statements in accordance with IFRS and the entities preparing financial statement according to the Czech Accounting legislation (CAL). The sample covers period after the mandatory implementation of IFRS for listed companies - starting in 2005 and ending in 2015. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of intangible assets reporting methodology using criteria as the share of this category in assets of companies, its structure and its changes over time and to identify possible reasons for this situation. The analysis revealed that there is an increasing tendency in volume of IAs in companies listed in Prague Stock Exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with issues of national mergers carried out in the year 2015 and 2016. The development of the mergers is characterized by the fact that it is a multidisciplinary areas (tax, accounting and legal), in practice the most widespread method is Mergers through consolidation. The analysis is therefore focused just on this type of merger. It examines the development of mergers carried out in the Czech Republic as well as globally. In the global perspective,is processed the number of mergers and acquisitions, and the trends in company transformations are monitored. For the Czech Republic is analyzed the number of mergers, number of merging companies, including their legal form, the number of registered mergers by individual Regional Courts, the date of entries, determination of the appointed date of merger and date of completion of merger project. Consequently are presented features typical of the implementation of national mergers. The paper also examines the relationship between the number of mergers and GDP and PX index from 2002 to 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to investigate relationships between selected macroeconomic variables – interest rate, price level, money supply and real GDP – in the Czech Republic in order to find out definite implications of its interactions and give recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. Two implemented vector autoregression models with different lag length reached slightly different conclusions. VAR(1) suggests that three pairs of Granger causality exist, in particular between price level and interest rate, between real GDP and interest rate and between real GDP and price level. VAR(2) uncovered two more pairs of Granger causality between money supply and interest rate and between money supply and price level. Despite better prediction power of VAR(2) in case of money supply, low correlation coefficient comprising variable money supply raises doubts about the factual existence of causality between money supply and other variables. However, both models allow forecasting the direction of change in case of variables interest rate and real GDP with the same success rate nearly 82 %. Both VARs also agreed that interest rate could be changed by change of price level and that interest rate could be changed by change of real GDP. These conclusions represent potential recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. For the purpose of further research, exchange rate variable will be included in the model instead of interest rate, because effect of interest rate turned out to be limited in times of weakened state of Czech economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of numerous debates around Russia's dependence on crude oil and the necessity to diversify the Russian economy, the present paper investigates how closely federal budget revenues, structure of export basket and GDP growth in Russia are tied up with crude oil prices (POIL) on the one hand and the real effective exchange rate of ruble (REER) on the other. The study covers the period from 2000:Q1 till 2014:Q4 and employs index analysis along with vector error correction model (VECM) based on Johansen co-integration technique. The calculated REER revealed its significant appreciation, that together with a high share of mineral products in total Russian exports points to Dutch disease presence. The constructed econometric models revealed the existence of long-run relationships among the analyzed indicators. Post-estimation tests proved the validity of the VECMs. According to the obtained results, in order to stimulate "non-oil" exports monetary authorities should depreciate national currency, whilst fiscal burden should be mild towards "non oil" producers. However, the observed dynamics of macroeconomic indicators points to the fact that the Russian economy is still substantially influenced by POIL and this influence is much more stronger than it is exerted by fiscal and monetary regulators. It allows us to conclude that crude oil will continue to play, at least in foreseeable future, a dominant role in further development of the Russian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with issues of national mergers carried out in the year 2015 and 2016. The development of the mergers is characterized by the fact that it is a multidisciplinary areas (tax, accounting and legal), in practice the most widespread method is Mergers through consolidation. The analysis is therefore focused just on this type of merger. It examines the development of mergers carried out in the Czech Republic as well as globally. In the global perspective,is processed the number of mergers and acquisitions, and the trends in company transformations are monitored. For the Czech Republic is analyzed the number of mergers, number of merging companies, including their legal form, the number of registered mergers by individual Regional Courts, the date of entries, determination of the appointed date of merger and date of completion of merger project. Consequently are presented features typical of the implementation of national mergers. The paper also examines the relationship between the number of mergers and GDP and PX index from 2002 to 2016.

The cost structure of business entities has been changing in the span of time. Costs associated with intangible assets such as software, patents, licenses, copyrights and goodwill became an important item of costs in the recent days. The paper is focused on the evaluation of the share of intangible assets in total assets and the costs associated with intangible assets in business companies operating in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the Czech Republic. The analyzed sample of companies represents two groups of business entities: entities preparing financial statements in accordance with IFRS and the entities preparing financial statement according to the Czech Accounting legislation (CAL). The sample covers period after the mandatory implementation of IFRS for listed companies - starting in 2005 and ending in 2015. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of intangible assets reporting methodology using criteria as the share of this category in assets of companies, its structure and its changes over time and to identify possible reasons for this situation. The analysis revealed that there is an increasing tendency in volume of IAs in companies listed in Prague Stock Exchange.

A method of managing working capital significantly affects the performance of enterprises. It is be possible to assume that this influence might vary with the sector and economic cycle. The paper presents an empirical research which aims to identify individual links between working capital and companys sales. The results indicate a relatively strong positive correlation of these variables or their individual components. Findings complement the gap in the literature written by both Czech and abroad authors since the issue is not widely discussed. The research presented in this paper was carried out on medium-sized enterprises located in the Czech Republic and dealing with the manufacture of machinery and other equipment.

Differences in quality of life and in the conditions for life between regions are affected by many factors that can be described by many partial indicators. The paper has in principle been aimed at quantification and a complex assessment of the positions of districts as seen from the viewpoint of a composite indicator. The composite indicator was designed and computed based on a wide spectrum of partial indicators describing regional disparities in the conditions for life of CR population. Computations were done based on data from the CR districts as administered according to the 2010 state of territorial distribution of the Republic. Various ways of design of composite indicators bring along plenty of discussion. A design of one dimensionless aggregated indicator always is based on an intuitive approach of the researcher and it brings about a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages. The main positive property is considered to be the chance of a fast and clear comparison of the areas under study. The disadvantages of the aggregated expression of quality of life as based on one only indicator arise from the great simplification of reality and the omission of differences between partial facts under study. The conclusions of the paper will be aimed at the design of a composite measure to be employed in complex analysis of the quality of life key indicators’ mutual interactions. The conclusions’ presentation will be done using cartographic maps offering a suitable device for visual overview of the disparities discovered.

Financing by means of private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) offers businesses the resources required to finance their future growth and bring prospective business plans and innovative ideas to reality. This form of financing is relatively new and even though it offers clear advantages it is not frequently used in the Czech Republic and other European countries in the CEE region. This paper addresses current and very relevant issues related to this form of financing. The purpose of this research is to identify opportunities and limitations for this type of financing based on benchmarking analysis. This analysis observes the development of PE/VC financing in the Czech Republic and compares it with several other countries in the CEE region. This paper discusses several factors that influence the development of PE/VC financing. Several conclusions can be drawn from this research. The Czech Republic is in 10th place in the utilization of venture capital from the selected 22 countries covered in this research. The time frame for this research is between 2004 and 2010. After thorough analysis of development and conditions in other countries a list of recommended changes that have proven positive impact on the whole economy is formulated. The relatively low level of utilization of the venture capital in the Czech Republic may be due to several things for example by a lack of knowledge of this form of financing and the inability of the management to formulate a business plan that is interesting for the PE/VC investor. The managers are often afraid of the administrative complexity and also the investor expects relatively high profitability of the investment. Another possible limitation is that the public issuing of stocks is used rarely in the Czech Republic. Another cause for the low level of utilization is the absence of public and institutional support for this form of financing. Venture capital has clear and measurable positive impacts on the whole economy and it is therefore important to support and research the use of this method of financing.

Private consumption represents an important component of aggregate demand, i.e. private consumption becomes a significant aspect of GDP determination. The objective of this paper is to examine private consumption in terms of a potential short-run influence of advertising on private consumption as one of the factors that determine consumption. GDP (disposable personal income), interest rates, but also advertising may be considered as important factors that can accelerate the development or change the direction of development of private consumption. A debate on effects of these factors is carried on in the paper. Determinants of advertising expenses as well as potential influence of advertising on private consumption will be studied. This general theme will be specified under conditions of American economy and examined during a period of almost 80 years (1929–2008). The GLS method of estimation with application of Cochrane-Orcutt regression is used. Despite of lower statistical significance the model indicates that advertising expenses variable is not an important variable of private consumption at aggregate level on the contrary to disposable personal income and private savings.

The paper deals with analysis of the macroeconomic associations of trade development and its position in Czech Republic as one of the national economy branch. The development of main macroeconomic indicators for period of 1998–2004 is completed and then it follows up with progress of the trade structures and trade chains. In that frame the given indicators (number of registered and active business units in trade, turnover and number of employees) are monitoring according to Economic Subjects Register (provided by Czech Statistical Office) and Classification of Economic Activities in the European Union. On the basis of research of consulting and research institutions the overview and turnover comparison for TOP 10 trade firms for period of 2000–2004 is carried out. Inseparable part of the paper is analysis of the Czech Republic foreign trade results. In this field the export, import and trade balance are discussing on the one hand in general and on the other hand in territorial and commodity structures.

In this article, there is explored the dependence of economic performance and economic growth on income inequality expressed by Gini coefficient and S80/S20 ratio. Analysis is based on data collected upon EU countries in years 2007, 2012 and 2017. Cluster analysis points out to heterogeneity of EU countries in observed characteristics and enables creation of three groups of countries: post-socialistic, southern and northern. Regression analysis, which takes into account groups of countries, was used to assess and illustrate the dependence. The results show that income inequality has a negative impact on the country's GDP per capita, and its impact on economic growth differs for particular groups of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to investigate relationships between selected macroeconomic variables – interest rate, price level, money supply and real GDP – in the Czech Republic in order to find out definite implications of its interactions and give recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. Two implemented vector autoregression models with different lag length reached slightly different conclusions. VAR(1) suggests that three pairs of Granger causality exist, in particular between price level and interest rate, between real GDP and interest rate and between real GDP and price level. VAR(2) uncovered two more pairs of Granger causality between money supply and interest rate and between money supply and price level. Despite better prediction power of VAR(2) in case of money supply, low correlation coefficient comprising variable money supply raises doubts about the factual existence of causality between money supply and other variables. However, both models allow forecasting the direction of change in case of variables interest rate and real GDP with the same success rate nearly 82 %. Both VARs also agreed that interest rate could be changed by change of price level and that interest rate could be changed by change of real GDP. These conclusions represent potential recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. For the purpose of further research, exchange rate variable will be included in the model instead of interest rate, because effect of interest rate turned out to be limited in times of weakened state of Czech economy.

In the light of numerous debates around Russia’s dependence on crude oil and the necessity to diversify the Russian economy, the present paper investigates how closely federal budget revenues, structure of export basket and GDP growth in Russia are tied up with crude oil prices (POIL) on the one hand and the real effective exchange rate of ruble (REER) on the other. The study covers the period from 2000:Q1 till 2014:Q4 and employs index analysis along with vector error correction model (VECM) based on Johansen co‑integration technique. The calculated REER revealed its significant appreciation, that together with a high share of mineral products in total Russian exports points to Dutch disease presence. The constructed econometric models revealed the existence of long‑run relationships among the analyzed indicators. Post‑estimation tests proved the validity of the VECMs. According to the obtained results, in order to stimulate “non‑oil” exports monetary authorities should depreciate national currency, whilst fiscal burden should be mild towards “non oil” producers. However, the observed dynamics of macroeconomic indicators points to the fact that the Russian economy is still substantially influenced by POIL and this influence is much more stronger than it is exerted by fiscal and monetary regulators. It allows us to conclude that crude oil will continue to play, at least in foreseeable future, a dominant role in further development of the Russian economy.

The aim of the article is to describe the broader context and to verify the relationship of consumer preferences with the income situation of the population in selected regions of the world.This paper deals with the development of consumer preferences in case of pork meat commodity, through verification of relationship between consumption of pork meat and GDP per capita in selected regions (countries) of the world. Very strong relationship of dependency between the level of GDP / per capita and Consumption of animal protein / per capita has been proven through numerous scientific studies. There are also investigated the specifics, conditions and assumptions for the global market of the given commodity in the regional aspects. Consumer preferences (of investigated commodity) in the world are various due to many different factors. The current societal demand is characterized by a number of requirements for the organizations involved in the pork meat commodity chain. In the past has been considered as the most important measure to produce a cheap and safe food. Nowadays these requirements are extended on other important factors such as sustainable production, animal welfare, ethical procedures, etc. The largest extension of these requirements is typical mainly for the European markets. This creates a considerable upward pressure on costs of European businesses, which is one of the sources of their declining competitiveness in the global markets.

The paper examines the development of economies in the sub-Saharan region. It aims to identify particular development trends specific to the region. That means identifying changes which have occurred in the past five decades in following areas: development of the GDP value ​​and structure, growth in the value of foreign trade, demographic growth, and changes in the value of GDP per capita. The results of the analysis show very constrained economic power of sub-Saharan region. Not only weak economy of the region but also a significant population growth is a problem. Increasing production and trade does not contribute effectively to elimination of high level of poverty and malnutrition which remains a long-term problem of the sub-Saharan region. In real terms, the GDP per capita was growing by less than 1 % in the period 1961–2010. Sub-Saharan region is highly dependent on cooperation with other world regions in its effort to increase economic growth and to improve the economic situation of own population. The GDP growth is thus very sensitive to GDP development in Europe and North America. Concerning the foreign trade, development of sub-Saharan trade is dependent on regions of the Southern and Eastern Asia, and Europe.

Africa belongs to the poorest regions of the world. This statement may be applied especially to its sub-Saharan part. The paper analyses some basic structural characteristics related to the economic development of sub-Saharan region. The article reveals existing differences between countries and regions of sub-Saharan Africa and analyses key problems which influence economic development of individual states. An emphasis is placed on analysing an unsuitable GDP structure and on external economic relations which affect this structure. Results of an investigation show that the GDP of sub-Saharan countries is to a large extend generated by the primary sector of their economies, which is dominant in the total GDP value and its position is continuously strengthening due to a high dynamics of its growth. Having regard to the external environment, there can be stated that the foreign trade has contributed to the GDP growth of the whole region only to a limited degree (this does not apply to all countries seen as individuals). The integration process in sub-Saharan Africa may be characterized as questionable. Many integration groupings are operating in the region, but their influence on economic growth is limited due a low potential for mutual cooperation based on specialisation and use of comparative advantages. The economies of sub-Saharan countries are very sensitive to changes in their external economic environment. In this regard, there is important to highlight the very strong sensitivity of the GDP in the sub-Saharan region in relation to the World GDP (mainly to European and US GDP because both regions belong to the most important trading partners of Africa as a whole).