Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and increasing environmental issues provokes changes in consumers’ and stakeholders’ behavior. Thus, stakeholders try to invest in green companies and projects; consumers prefer to buy eco-friendly products instead of traditional ones; and consumers and investors refuse to deal with unfair green companies. In this case, the companies should quickly adapt their strategy corresponding to the new trend of transformation from overconsumption to green consumption. This process leads to increasing the frequency of using greenwashing as an unfair marketing instrument to promote the company’s green achievements. Such companies’ behavior leads to a decrease in trust in the company’s green brand from the green investors. Thus, the aim of the study is to check the impact of greenwashing on companies’ green brand. For that purpose, the partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-PM), content analysis and Fishbourne methods were used. The dataset for analysis was obtained from the companies’ websites and financial and non-financial reports. The objects of analysis were Ukrainian large industrial companies, which work not only in the local market but also in the international one. The findings proved that a one point increase in greenwashing leads to a 0.56 point decline in the company’s green brand with a load factor of 0.78. The most significant variable (loading factor 0.34) influencing greenwashing was the information at official websites masking the company’s real economic goals. Thus, a recommendation for companies is to eliminate greenwashing through the publishing of detailed official reports of the companies’ green policy and achievements.

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Bankruptcy prediction is always a topical issue. The activities of all business entities are directly or indirectly affected by various external and internal factors that may influence a company in insolvency and lead to bankruptcy. It is important to find a suitable tool to assess the future development of any company in the market. The objective of this paper is to create a model for predicting potential bankruptcy of companies using suitable classification methods, namely Support Vector Machine and artificial neural networks, and to evaluate the results of the methods used. The data (balance sheets and profit and loss accounts) of industrial companies operating in the Czech Republic for the last 5 marketing years were used. For the application of classification methods, TIBCO’s Statistica software, version 13, is used. In total, 6 models were created and subsequently compared with each other, while the most successful one applicable in practice is the model determined by the neural structure 2.MLP 22-9-2. The model of Support Vector Machine shows a relatively high accuracy, but it is not applicable in the structure of correct classifications.

Research background: Covid-19 has affected the global economy and has had an inevitable impact on capital markets. In the week of February 24?28, 2020, stock markets crashed. The index FTSE 100 decreased 13%, while the indices DJIA and S&P 500 fell 11?12%, the biggest drop since the 2007?2008 financial and economic crisis. It is therefore of interest to test the random walk hypothesis in developed capital markets, European and also non-European, in order to understand the different predictabilities between them. Purpose of the article: The aim is to analyze capital market efficiency, in its weak form, through the stock market indices of Belgium (index BEL 20), France (index CAC 40), Germany (index DAX 30), USA (index DOW JONES), Greece (index FTSE Athex 20), Spain (index IBEX 35), Ireland (index ISEQ), Portugal (index PSI 20) and China (index SSE) for the period from December 2019 to May 2020. Methods: Panel unit root tests of Breitung (2000), Levin et al. (2002) and Hadri (2002) were used to assess the time series stationarity. The test of Clemente et al. (1998) is used to detect structural breaks. The tests for the random walk hypothesis follows the variance ratio methodology proposed by Lo and MacKinlay (1988). Findings & Value added: In general, we found mixed confirmation about the EMH (efficient market hypothesis). Taking into account the conclusions of the rank variance test, the random walk hypothesis was rejected in the case of stock indices: Dow Jones, SSE and PSI 20, partially rejected in the case indices: BEL 20, CAC 40, FTSTE Athex 20 and DEX 30, but accepted for indices: IBEX 35 and ISEQ. The results also show that prices do not fully reflect the information available and that changes in prices are not independent and identically distributed. This situation has consequences for investors, since some returns can be expected, creating opportunities for arbitrage and for abnormal returns, contrary to the assumptions of random walk and information efficiency.

Research background: SMEs represent an integral part of the economy environment in a majority of the countries all over the world. They signify the most efficient, progressive, and important part of the advanced economies. The long-term effort of the EU countries, as well as other advanced economies is to create quality and stable conditions for their development in order to be able to respond to all the possible changes in the business environment that is being changed to more and more comprehensive in the recent time. Purpose of the article: The objective of the contribution is to examine administrative and legislative obstacles to SMEs business in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and the quantification of the differences in perceiving legislative and administrative obstacles to business by entrepreneurs in both countries. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted within SMEs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2019. The research sample included 641 SMEs, 312 from the Czech Republic and 329 from Slovakia. We focused on 5 dimensions related to legislative and administrative obstacles to SMEs business within which selected statements were examined. Contingency tables were used to analyze the ratios of the examined variables. Findings & Value added: The differences detected in both countries in the respondents´ perception and assessment are evidence of the changes in the business environment of both countries, giving rise to the questions about the extent to which the legislative and administrative obstacles, as well as the obstacles related to law enforcement and bureaucracy are acceptable and by which groups of entrepreneurs. The results of the research provide valuable findings for the creators of regional and national policies, and represent a valuable basis for the creation of the concepts focused on the SMEs´ development in both countries.  The results of the study also support the implementation of follow-up research in this area that will reveal other determinants affecting the development of SMEs. They also create a valuable platform for the construction of national and international benchmarking indicators in this area and the implementation of comparative analyses. This will also support the methodological area necessary for a creation of high-quality concepts and strategies.