Th e paper focuses on determining the key factors that infl uence the competitiveness of rural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic. Rural SMEs play an important part in sustainable rural development, post-transformation processes, as well as in the integrated development of formal and informal rural institutions in the Czech economy. Th e research design is based on a questionnaire survey conducted with a sample of 1144 randomly selected Czech rural SMEs. Th ere was applied a one-way error model expressed either by the fi xed eff ects (FE) model and the random eff ect (RE) model with the error term consisting of two components: a time-invariant component and a remainder component that is assumed to be uncorrelated over time. It was also attempted to rule out the individual location eff ects in the econometric model by using the location variables (location dummies).Th e results also show that the success of the rural SMEs in the Czech Republic is mostly related to its manager and enterprise characteristics. Th e most signifi cant determinants of rural enterprise's competitiveness are location within a region with competitive situation, the enterprise size, the enterprise age, and the fact whether the enterprise has some form of innovation. Th e results might have signifi cant implications for both academics and stakeholders and can be used as a basis for the targeted rural enterprise policies in the Czech Republic and in the post-transitional Eastern and Central Europe.
Agriculture ensures the physical existence of the population and it creates a fund of basic foodstuffs. in addition, it produces non-food commodities as well as being a region forming and political element. it fulfils the function of an internal political stabilising factor and it is a requirement for an overall, balanced, development. The article puts into context: global agriculture; agricultural production within the expanded EU, which is developing under the conditions of the integrated common Agricultural Policy. it also draws attention to the current trends characteristic of agriculture within the EU. Emphasis is also put on how the common Agricultural Policy (cAP) is perceived, as well as its consequences for the agrarian production and the position of the EU in the international trade of agricultural products.
Th e food market is created by the farmers, whose importance arises from their production of the raw materials from which food is made. Th ese products are processed and supplied to the retail chains, where they are off ered to the end consumers. Th e food market is further regulated, and in a certain sense limited, by the EU organs, as well as by the domestic agricultural policies, by the means of a whole host of directives, norms and regulations. Th e aim of this article is to defi ne the individual organs on the food market in the CR, to evaluate their work in the food chain from the production of the primary raw materials to their distribution to the end consumer. Th e article will also present the selected regulatory factors of the market in the context of the EU agricultural policy.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were global and led to an economic decline in most countries of the EU. The development and values of economic indicators varied from country to country and showed significant regional differences. The study evaluates the coverage of selected economic indicators in the Member States of the EU in the period 2010–2020. The analytical part is based on empirical statistical data. As a methodological procedure for testing the convergence of the EU, we compared the results of the coefficient of variation of GDP per capita in PPP and the unemployment rate. The findings of this study confirm the predicted development trends. The pandemic has reversed major convergence trends. Divergence within the EU was affected by a lower decline in GDP in the developed countries of the EU. The tendencies of social disparities in the unemployment rate were different from the development of the coefficient of variation of GDP per capita. The first year of the pandemic marked a decline in disparities between the countries of the EU. For future research, we recommend monitoring the development of convergence in the next pandemic period.
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