The Perception of Governmental Support in The Context of Competitiveness of SMEs in the Czech Republic

Whether or not an entrepreneur develops the enterprise successfully and increases competitiveness depends on many factors. All businesses, however, are inherently connected with the business environment which significantly influences their performance. In this regard, the state is among the most important factors. It also performs many other roles through which it may be either helpful or harmful in the eyes of a business owner, e.g. it determines the legislative framework of entrepreneurship, sets conditions for starting a business and regulates competition. The way the role of the state is perceived by small and medium-sized enterprises was researched in 2015 as a part of a project at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. The research analysed data from 1,141 respondents from all regions of the Czech Republic and included, among others, the question of the state’s role in the business environment. The presented paper covers three selected areas of the state’s influence on the business environment: creating favourable conditions for the business environment, governmental financial support of entrepreneurs, and administrative burden on entrepreneurs. These areas were also examined with the emphasis on the analysis of differences between the perception of entrepreneurs from different industries and entrepreneurs with different sizes of their businesses. It was revealed that entrepreneurs were very critical to the state’s role in the business environment; in particular, 60% of respondents disagree with the fact that the state creates favourable conditions for business in the Czech Republic. It was proved that the line of business of enterprises correlates with perception of the state’s role within the business environment. The research into perception of a governmental financial support was proved to be dependent on a company size which may signal the support of certain company sizes and influencing their competitiveness

Design as a Condition for Prosperity in Czech Businesses - A Comparative Study

The purpose of the paper is to comprehensively review the sources of design management, business prosperity and competitiveness. The study shows the current situation in Czech businesses. Furthermore, this paper also attempts to analyze and identify the awareness of companies concerning the relation to design as a condition for business prosperity. The primary aim of the research is to investigate design as a condition of prosperity in Czech businesses. A comprehensive review of the extant literature and journals identified several sources of design approach and various definitions of business prosperity. The research consists of two main parts. Firstly, a method of smart internet questionnaires designed by the author was used. After that, the data were analyzed using mosaic plot and elementary statistics calculations, and seeking mutual dependence, followed by a comparative method. Finally, the findings were processed by comparative study that aims to compare the years 2012 and 2014. The results of the research offer interesting findings. This paper identifies several interesting aspects regarding design within Czech companies, including the mindset of management (the insight gap of Czech businesses regarding design in their business)

Підходи до управління інноваціями: гейміфікація калькулятора цінності дизайну

Мета цієї статті полягає в використанні графічної моделі DVCG як інноваційного концепту в управлінні бізнесом. Дизайн є конкретною формою складної інновації, яка впливає на всі аспекти управління організацією. Проте сутність дизайну є неоднозначною, і важко повністю впровадити концепцію дизайну у практичну сферу. З огляду на це складно знайти критерії для визначення його вартості. У цій статті розглядається проблема встановлення причинно-наслідкового зв'язку між цінністю дизайну та користувацьким досвідом. Взаємодія цих двох змінних впливає на важливість дизайну в організаціях та може бути використана для кількісної оцінки його значення. На основі результатів існуючих досліджень визначено, що дизайн – це термін, який має багато значень, що ускладнює уніфікацію процесу його повного кількісного оцінювання. Більшість відповідних досліджень сконцентрована на сфері користувацького досвіду та корисності для клієнта, тоді як інші – зосереджені на цінність дизайну, яке не може бути безпосередньо виміряне, а, наприклад, через моделювання системної динаміки. Такий підхід, тобто використання моделі системної динаміки для визначення значення дизайну, ще відсутній в досліджуваній літературі. Основним методом дослідження для визначення цінності дизайну є експериментальний метод, який підтримується іншими методами такими як: моделюванням та структурованим опитуванням. Вхідні дані для моделі, які відображають думки керівників компанії щодо дизайну, отримано за допомогою настільної гри, яка надає привабливий та легкий для розуміння інтерфейс для учасників дослідження. Цінність дизайну визначено за допомогою зразкового випадкового дослідження, яке містить ключові змінні згідно з бізнес-моделлю компанії. Цінність дизайну розраховано на основі показника ефективність цінності дизайну протягом шести років діяльності стартап-компанії. Цей показник експериментально перевірено в моделі з однаковою структурою та різними сценаріями щодо включення зміни дизайну у економічний розвиток компанії. Внесок статті в науку та практику полягає в тому, щоб надати експериментально підтверджені докази для визначення областей, де потрібні інвестиції в дизайн для отримання максимальної ефективності в управлінні компанією.Design is a specific form of complex innovation that affects all areas of an organization's management. However, the essence of design is vague, and it is difficult to fully grasp the concept of design. Therefore, it is difficult to find criteria for determining its value. The problem of establishing a causal relationship between design value and user experience is addressed in this paper. The relationship between these two variables affects the importance of design in organizations and can be used to quantify the value of design. Indeed, based on the results of existing research, it is known that this term has many meanings, and it is necessary to reject the possibility of its total quantification. Much of the related research has focused on the area of user experience and customer value, while other related research has focused on design value, which cannot be measured directly but rather, for example, through system dynamic modelling. This approach, i.e., the use of a system dynamic model to determine the value of design, is still missing in the research literature. The main research method for determining the value of design is the experimental method, supported by other research methods: modelling and structured questioning. Inputs to the model, which represent the opinions of the company's managers on the design, are obtained through a board game that provides an attractive and easy-to-understand user interface for the research participants. The value of design is determined by using a sample case study that contains key variables according to the company's business model. The value of the design is calculated based on the indicator "design cost-effectiveness" over six years of the start-up company's business. The indicator is experimentally verified in a model with an identical structure and different scenarios concerning the involvement of design change in the economic development of the firm. This paper aims to use the gamified DVCG model as an innovative concept in business management through a case study. The contribution of the paper to science and practice is to provide experimentally validated evidence to help identify the areas where design investments are needed to make the most sense for the economics and management of the organization

Mass transfer development over large rectangular wall region governed by secondary flows

International audienc

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF SMES

Social media (SM) are one of the marketing tools growing in importance with increasing digitalisation. Companies use marketing to increase interest in their services or reach new customers. Therefore, SM can help companies access a new international market. The aim of this paper is to determine the impact of SM as a marketing strategy tool to gain a new market in the process of internationalisation of SMEs in the countries of Visegrad Four. The paper also evaluates differences in SM approaches according to the selected factors. To obtain relevant data, Tomas Bata University in Zlín organised empirical research in 2019-2020. The online form of the questionnaire was distributed among randomly selected SMEs. In total, 1,585 managers’ responses were analysed. The t-test was performed to compare means and the chisquare test was used to assess differences between variables. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 23 software. A statistically significant difference was found in the perception of the impact of SM on business performance. No statistically significant differences were shown in the case of SM use and the relation to internationalisation

A revisit of the electro-diffusional theory for the wall shear stress measurements

This article intends to revisit the electro-diffusional theory for the wall shear stress measurement from mass transfer probes of rectangular shape by considering the existence of two components of the wall shear rate (i.e., axial and transversal). General analytical formulas for the effective transfer length and the dimensionless mass transport coefficient were derived as a function of only two parameters: a dimensionless angle of the flow direction, relative to the leading edge of the probe, and the aspect ratio between the width and the length of the strip probe. The correctness of the analytical relations for arbitrary flow direction and the aspect ratio was confirmed by numerical solutions of the transport equation in the convective-diffusive regime. It has also been proved that the differences between the Lévêque solution and the general analytical formula exhibit a significant deviation for a specific range of parameters. In the case of the three-dimensional boundary layers, in addition to the magnitude of the wall shear stress, the direction of the fluid flow in the vicinity of the probe's surface is of paramount importance. Accordingly, a measurement methodology is proposed using two strip probes with different aspect ratios. The resulting equations required to quantify the magnitude of the wall shear rate vector and the dimensionless angle are also derived