The new challenges that will currently affect the existence and sustainability of businesses stem from the dramatic changes that come from the fourth industrial revolution. Based on the concept of intellectual capital management as a resource-based strategic management approach, which leads to the management of structural, human, and relational capital, sustainable human resource management underlines the involvement of partnerships and external relations in learning and personal development processes. Industry 4.0 expects major changes in human resource management and processes such as education. Organizations will benefit from the new knowledge in the near future that will need to be brought into the internal environment of the organization constantly. However, this will require cooperation with the external environment, and the resulting new education opportunities built on cooperation with external partners, organizations, and educational institutions. Innovations as essential factors in adapting to major changes in the environment will be key in all organizational processes, including educational. This paper focuses on comparing highly innovative countries and less innovative countries in Central Europe, analyzing 1482 businesses by looking at differences in attitude towards employee education and individual forms of employee education. The main statistically significant difference is in the strategic approach to employee education and development and the set-up between innovative countries and moderate innovators.

Radical changes resulting from the Fourth Industrial Revolution strongly affect industrialized European countries. In particular, due to the new technologies that are characteristic of Industry 4.0, it will be essential for companies to make the necessary changes and achieve competitiveness through the implementation of these technologies. In order for companies to be able to make radical changes and innovations, they need to secure all the supporting areas in their organization. This research paper is focused on comparison of companies from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the context of readiness for Industry 4.0. This research was part of a research project, while data were collected in the period of 2015–2016. We have analysed companies from selected countries based on 7 areas which are closely interconnected with the business transformation and technology transformation coming from Industry 4.0. The main analysed questions focused on areas such as employee education and training, organizational culture, strategy, or organizational processes, that will be most affected by radical changes in the environment. Research has highlighted the differences between countries as a result of long-standing cultural differences, but at the same time identified the unified influence of the ongoing global debate on the need for technological innovation. With Slovak and Czech companies being below stronger innovators in the maturity of education systems, we strongly advise considering partnering in education which can bring valuable information to businesses that want to take on the wave of innovation.

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Abstract. Culture is a central topic of the behavioural studies of organisation. It has an impact on various business areas and business performance. Our intention is to examine the impact of culture on innovation activities of enterprises. Given the large differences in innovation activities and innovativeness in European countries according to different rankings, it is meaningful to explore possible reasons. In this regard, authors of scientific researches explore many aspects, whereas we have focused on the impact of culture. To go deeper into our research, we conducted an analysis of two cultures from one region. One group is represented by three countries: Germany, Austria and Switzerland (AT, DE, CH, respectively). The other group is represented by the Czech Republic (CZ). By undertaking a large-scale questionnaire survey in 2015-2018, we were able to obtain approximately the same sample for both groups, which allowed us to compare and draw conclusions. Both sample groups contained more than 400 respondents, with the first group having 574 and the second group consisting of 419 respondents. The aim of the research was to analyse the impact of national cultures on business behaviour, especially with regard to innovations. The contribution of this article is a comparative study of the in-depth analysis of cultural relations and innovation activities. The main results presented in this study show that cultural aspects in the examined groups have a strong impact on perceiving business partners as reliable, having trust in benefits of mutual cooperation, presenting positive role models or encouragement to innovation and creativity in education. In particular, willingness to cooperate and less anxiety or fear of know-hows being stolen, which is observed in the group of AT, DE, CH companies, may lead them to their position of strong and excellent innovators. Meanwhile, Czech companies and their behaviour are largely influenced by their historical experiences and only starting to move towards a more open innovation culture, with strategic partnerships being a new trend. Keywords: Organization Culture; National Culture; Culture Dimensions; Innovation; Germany; Austria; Switzerland; the Czech Republic JEL Classification: M14; O31; O32 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V169-05 Папула Я. кандидат економічних наук, доцент, викладач, факультет управління, Університет Коменського, Братислава, Словаччина Кохнова Л. кандидат економічних наук, викладач, факультет управління, Університет Коменського, Братислава, Словаччина Папулова З. кандидат економічних наук, доцент, викладач, факультет управління, Університет Коменського, Братислава, Словаччина Вплив національної культури на інноваційну діяльність підприємств: кейс Німеччини, Австрії, Швейцарії та Чехії Анотація. Культура є центральною темою дослідження поведінки організацій. Вона впливає як на ділову активність, так і на ефективність ведення бізнесу. Мета цього дослідження полягає у вивченні впливу культури на інноваційну діяльність підприємств. Беручи до уваги суттєві ві...

Technological changes that come with industrial revolution have largely affected businesses, as well as society. With the current technological shift and Fourth Industrial Revolution, many questions arise regarding the impacts and effects on current ways businesses operate. This study presents a retrospective analysis and overview of previous industrial revolutions. The aim of the retrospective analysis is to identify common characteristics that may lead to lessons learned for the forthcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution and thus complement the current debate on technological change. All previous industrial revolutions have led to change in business environments and new challenges for managers and owners. The findings show that all previous revolutions have led to increase in the number of service jobs created. The key approach of successful countries during the times of industrial revolution has included education as the source of new skills and knowledge necessary for adaption. Countries that were able to produce high skilled people could not only invent, but also adapt to new technologies sooner than others. Similarly, these approaches included introduction of new managerial practices in order to be able to utilize new technologies and new skilled workers effectively. The research article processes secondary data together with literature review on this topic.