THE RISKS IDENTIFIED BY SLOVAK AND POLISH SME IN THE CONTEXT OF CLUSTER COOPERATION.

Changes in the economic development of countries in recent decades have been influenced by processes that have modified the methods and forms of business. While in the past, the emphasis was putting on the size of the company, now the connection of the company to the various forms of network cooperation is growing. One of these forms is cluster cooperation, where the major position the small and medium sized enterprises have. Their decisions if they join the cluster cooperation depend mainly on the various risks that influence this type of cooperation. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the selected categories of risks that affect SMEs in the context of cluster cooperation. The perception of these factors by Polish and Slovak entrepreneurs was evaluated in the framework of the questionnaire survey. The results are evaluated by using quantitative tools of statistics (percentage, average values, Chi- Square test). The results show that the most important risks are from categories of business and market risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]