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1

How do SMEs from different countries perceive export impediments depending on their firm-level characteristics? System approach

100%

Civelek M., Krajčík V.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2022

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vol. 13

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issue 1

55-78

EN

Research background: The differences in the legal structures, tax rates, and cultural-linguistic issues of various countries have always been a significant concern for SMEs in their exporting activities and internationalization processes. However, since firm-level characteristics might provide some advantages or disadvantages in their operations, their perceptions of export impediments might vary across size, age, and sector groups. Purpose of the article: This paper investigates the perceptions of export impediments by 408 larger-smaller, older-younger, and manufacturing-nonmanufacturing Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs in a country-based perspective. Methods: The researchers use the random sampling method to create research samples and employ an internet-mediated questionnaire to collect the research data. The researchers use both Independent Sample T-test and ANOVA analyses to find differences between size, age, and sector groups. Findings & value added: While the differences exist between the perceptions of Slovakian larger-smaller and manufacturing-nonmanufacturing SMEs regarding cultural differences, the perceptions of legal and tax-related export impediments by SMEs do not differ depending on their age, size, and sector. This paper contributes to the literature by confirming various perceptions of SMEs in different countries and different characteristics regarding export obstacles and providing an entity-specific and international scope that policymakers and SMEs can benefit from. Awareness of the policymakers regarding the results of this paper that includes differences and similarities in SMEs' perceptions of export barriers might make them have close interactions with SMEs to reduce SMEs' concerns regarding their export risks. On the other hand, SMEs that are aware of the results of this paper can be more interested in having a broader network that includes close relationships not only with intermediary firms, but also with governments to overcome the export impediments.

2

Organizational, local, and global innovativeness of family-owned SMEs depending on firm-individual level characteristics: evidence from the Czech Republic

81%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Fialova V., Folvarčná A.

Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy

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2021

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vol. 16

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issue 1

169-184

EN

Research background: Comparing to larger businesses, SMEs encounter more problems in their operations. Since innovativeness enables SMEs to be more competitive against their rivals, having more innovative activities might make SMEs overcome these issues. Nevertheless, depending on businesses-founders/owners' characteristics, SMEs' innovativeness in organizational, local, and global extents might differ. Purpose of the article: This research explores differences in family-owned SMEs' innovativeness regarding the age of their founders/entrepreneurs, legal form, and succession of these businesses. Methods: The researchers used a questionnaire survey. Data collection process was completed in 2020. The research sample includes 343 family-owned SMEs that operate in Czechia. The normality test result directs the authors to perform an Independent sample T-test to find differences between selected variables. Findings & value added: According to the obtained results, global innovativeness does not differ depending on firms-owners/entrepreneurs' characteristics. However, limited liability firms perform better in local innovativeness than other firms structured in different legal forms. Moreover, the organizational innovativeness of SMEs with successors is greater than firms without successors. While organizational innovativeness does not differ depending on entrepreneurs/founders' age and legal structure of businesses, local innovativeness does not differ depending on entrepreneurs/founders' age and successors' existence in these businesses. The educational level of entrepreneurs/founders, sector, and SMEs' location might be reasons for similarities and differences between SMEs' innovativeness. From the policy perspective, based on the obtained results, the authors suggest creating industrial zones. Furthermore, policymakers' collaborations with other essential players in the market might stimulate innovative attitudes among businesses. This paper's main contribution to the existing literature is to fill the gap regarding organizational, local, and global innovativeness of family-owned SMEs by providing detailed and empirical results about entrepreneurs' and firms' characteristics. Thus, this paper might draw businesses, policymakers, academicians, and international readers' attention concerning family-owned SMEs' innovativeness.

3

The impacts of innovative and competitive abilities of SMEs on their different financial risk concerns: System approach

81%

Civelek M., Krajčík V., Fialova V.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2023

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vol. 14

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issue 1

327-354

EN

Research background: The lack of financial resources of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make them face high financial risk. Their entrepreneurial abilities that belong to Resource-based View (RBV), such as innovativeness and competitiveness, might reduce SMEs' financial risk because those entrepreneurial abilities increase the financial performance of businesses. Purpose of the article: This paper aims to investigate the effects of the innovativeness and competitiveness of SMEs on their financial concerns based on financial risk, including bankruptcy, financial performance, and financial risk management. Methods: The authors use a method of data analysis and synthesis, including advanced knowledge and digital processing of background studies. This paper examines 1221 SMEs from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Those firms are chosen by random sampling method from Cribis and the Budapest Chamber of Commerce databases. Then the researchers directed an online questionnaire to collect the research data from the randomly selected firms. The researchers use Ordinal Logistic Regression Test for analysis purposes. Findings & value added: This paper's results indicate that SMEs' competitiveness does not impact SMEs' bankruptcy prediction, financial performance, or financial risk management. On the other hand, while more innovative SMEs are less likely to face bankruptcy issues than less innovative SMEs, less innovative SMEs indicate better financial performance than their more innovative counterparts. Since this paper focuses on the influences of intangible assets of SMEs (such as characteristics based on RBV and Entrepreneurial Orientation) on their tangible assets (financial performance etc.) and puts emphasis on this fact from an International perspective, this paper makes a significant contribution to the literature. Furthermore, analyzing multiple relationships between SMEs' different entrepreneurial characteristics and various financial risk concerns is another important fact that might draw prospective readers' attention.

4

Entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs' executives in the comparative perspective for Czechia and Turkey

81%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Čech P., Kloudová J.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2019

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vol. 10

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issue 4

773-795

EN

Research background: The executives of SMEs that have higher innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy dynamize the strategic posture of SMEs, thus, those firms can reach better financial and economic conditions. However, existence of many differences among countries, such as cultural values and market conditions, can cause variations in EO of these executives. Therefore, this fact can be one of the reasons why the performance and financial power of SMEs differ in various countries. Purpose of the article: This study aspires to find out the differences in entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of younger and older, female and male, and more and less educated executives of SMEs from various countries. Methods: 1141 Czech and 479 Turkish executives were analyzed separately by the Mann-Whitney U test, to find out the differences in EO. The researcher ran the analyzes by SPSS Statistical Software. Findings & Value added: The results indicate that risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness of the executives differ regarding their gender, while innovativeness, proactiveness and autonomy do not. While there are significant differences between proactiveness, autonomy and innovativeness of older and younger executives, no differences exist in risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness. Regarding educational status, more educated executives perform better in innovativeness, proactiveness and autonomy, while less educated executives have higher propensities in risk taking and competitive aggressiveness. Masculinity, fear of failure, perception of obstacles, motivation of SMEs' executives and location of businesses might be the reasons of these results. By including the survey respondents from different countries and all dimensions of EO into the analyses, this study finds similarities and differences in gender, age and education levels and of SMEs' executives and their EO. This research also suggests some policies for governments and institutions to close the gap between EO of the executives. These facts not only make this research to unique, but also constitute a valuable addition to the literature.

5

Differences in the usage of online marketing and social media tools: evidence from Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs

81%

Civelek M., Gajdka K., Světlík J., Vavrečka V.

Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy

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2020

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vol. 15

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issue 3

537-563

EN

Research background: Because of the rapid improvements in advanced technological tools and widely usage of the Internet among the world, most of SMEs in various countries have become able to apply their marketing activities through online marketing and social media platforms that are less costly for them. Since SMEs encounter many financing constraints, these marketing options might be very beneficial for them to use for their marketing activities. However, socio-economic and cultural factors differ in each corner of the globe. Purpose of the article: This paper aims to investigate international differences between usage of online marketing and social media platforms by SMEs. Methods: The authors of this paper have selected 1156 Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs from Cribis database by employing random sampling method. An online questionnaire was directed by the researchers to have responses from managers and owners of SMEs. To find differences in selected variables, the researchers perform ANOVA analyses with Post-Hoc tests in SPSS statistical program. Findings & Value added: Regarding the size of businesses, Hungarian SMEs in both size categories: micro and small-medium sized, apply social media platforms in their operations more than Czech and Slovakian SMEs. When it comes to marketing activities, some similarities are in existence depending on size and age of SMEs. In detail, propensities of Slovakian and Hungarian older SMEs (that have been operating more than 10 years) and microenterprises to apply online marketing channels are higher than Czech older SMEs and Czech microenterprises. Corresponding to social media usage, Czech and Slovakian SMEs and older enterprises do not differ. But Hungarian SMEs and older Hungarian firms are more prone to apply social media channels than Czech and Slovakian SMEs and older Czech and Slovakian enterprises. This paper is a unique study that makes comparison between some Central European countries? SMEs that are in the Visegrad Group regarding their usage of their online marketing and social media tools. Thus, this paper also fulfills some gap in the marketing literature.

6

Can discounts expand local and digital currency awareness of individuals depending on their characteristics?

81%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Vozňáková I., Krajčík V.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2020

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vol. 11

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issue 2

239-266

EN

Research background: Because of enabling a greater amount of money circulation and addressing the needs of individuals in specific regions, local and digital currencies have become more important for local economic and sustainable development, especially in last decade. However, their awareness by potential users have become one of major constraints to their extensive usage. In this regard, discount have been used to increase the awareness of individuals. Purpose of the article: As discount is used as an effective promotional tool. This study pays regard to this indicator and aims to investigate whether the discount rate is positively associated with local and digital currency awareness of potential users. Moreover, this research also includes job positions and age of the respondents into the analyses due to potential existence of differences in the awareness of people regarding their characteristics. Methods: The research employs a questionnaire survey and acquires data from 407 workers of a local business in Cieszyn Silesia region of the Czech Republic. The researchers run Binary Logistic Regression analyses in IBM SPSS Software to examine the relationship between these specified variables. Findings & Value added: The research substantiates the fact that potential users who demand more discount rates are more likely to be aware of local and digital currencies. Moreover, potential users who work in lower job positions and demand more discounts are more acquainted with these currencies. Although the existence of a relationship between age and local currency awareness is not proved, older people who demand discounts with higher percentages are more informed about digital currencies than younger individuals. Higher elasticity in discount demand, mutual interactions and relations, such as social media and internet usage of potential users, might be the reasons of these results. This study makes significant contributions to the literature by confirming the significance of individuals' ages and occupational statuses in the awareness of local and digital currencies and the positive relationship between their discount propensity and awareness.

7

Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Segment of Micro-Enterprises: Evidence from Czech Republic

81%

Civelek M., Rahman A., Kozubikova L.

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge

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2016

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vol. 4

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issue 1

72-89

EN

The objective of this comprehensive research is to identify and explore the dissimilarities of gender and education level of entrepreneurs and enterprises’ age with regards to entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the segment of micro enterprises. All of the dimensions of EO are included such as innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy for our analysis. The data that we have used for this study, was collected by a structured questionnaire during 2015 in Czech Republic, and consists of 1141 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 740 of them are defined as micro enterprises by using the definition of European Commission. The empirical results of our study indicates a that university educated micro-entrepreneurs are more innovative and autonomous comparing with lower educated micro-entrepreneurs and also younger micro firms are more innovative, risk taker and proactive than the older micro firms. However, our results do not show any significant differences between men and women in relation to the all components of EO. Our result can be explained by having higher percentage of university educated women micro entrepreneurs comparing with their men counterparts and education may have a substitution effect on the gender based differences in the segment of micro firms.

8

Export risk perceptions of SMEs in selected Visegrad countries

81%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Klimeš C., Farana R.

Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy

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2022

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vol. 17

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issue 1

173-190

EN

Research background: Export activities are crucial for SMEs' growth and income since they enable businesses to expand abroad. However, SMEs encounter some export impediments, including legislative, tax-related, and cultural-linguistic differences, which increase their export risk. Moreover, since different legislative, tax-related, and cultural conditions affect SMEs' export activities, SMEs' perceptions regarding export obstacles might also differ. Purpose of the article: This paper aims to determine whether the SMEs' perceptions of export barriers in selected Visegrad countries differ. Methods: The researchers employ a random sampling method to create the research sample and create an Internet-mediated questionnaire to collect the re-search data, including 408 SMEs from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The researchers ran ANOVA analyses with the Gabriel Post Hoc test to find differences between those SMEs. Findings & value added: The results reveal that the perceptions of Czech and Slovak SMEs differ regarding legislative and tax-related export barriers. On the other hand, the perceptions of SMEs from various countries do not differ concerning cultural-linguistic export barriers. Unfortunately, there is a lack of studies comparing the perceptions of SMEs from Visegrad countries regarding legislative, tax-related, and cultural barriers. Thus, evaluating this topic from an international perspective brings novel findings and fills this research gap. Therefore, policymakers, SMEs, governments, public institutions, and academicians might gain benefits from the results of this unique research.

9

How innovativeness of family-owned SMEs differ depending on their characteristics?

71%

Civelek M., Ključnikov A., Fialova V., Folvarčná A., Stoch M.

Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy

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2021

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vol. 16

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issue 2

413-428

EN

Research background: SMEs encounter more survival impediments than larger businesses. Innovativeness is a crucial attribute for smaller firms to overcome these barriers since it positively influences their performance, competitiveness, and capability to operate in the long term. However, depending on firm characteristics, the innovativeness of SMEs might differ. Purpose of the article: This research investigates whether the innovativeness of family-owned SMEs differs depending on their size, sector, area of activity, and succession on the sample of 350 family-owned SMEs that operate in Czechia. Methods: The data collected in the Czech Republic in 2020 through the structured self-administered questionnaire were analyzed using Skewness-Kurtosis and Levene's normality tests and Independent Sample T-test to find the differences in SMEs innovativeness depending on their selected characteristics. Findings & value added: According to the results, SMEs' innovativeness differs depending on their size, industry, and area activity. On the other hand, the analyses confirmed the nonexistence of the differences in SMEs' innovative-ness concerning succession involvement. The region of SMEs' operation, the scope of their activities, and firms' executives' age might be crucial arguments to explain the differences and similarities in these enterprises' innovativeness. Even though the research focuses only on the SMEs located in Czechia, the similarity of the issues all SMEs face when competing with the larger firms worldwide, especially if we take into consideration the countries with a similar level of development and overall institutional business conditions, allows for generalizing our results and might draw readers' attention to this paper. Policymakers, universities, international institutions, and financial institutions might cooperate to create industrial zones, encourage research centers, and provide education and financial support to stimulate SMEs' innovative activities.

10

Financial performance and bankruptcy concerns of SMEs in their export decision

71%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Krajčík V., Novák P., Červinka M.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2022

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vol. 13

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issue 3

867-890

EN

Research background: Due to having lack of financial power and low amount of revenues, most of SMEs' major concerns are bankruptcy and low financial performance. Those issues are risky situations for SMEs when making for their exporting activities. Therefore, depending on their performance and bankruptcy risk, they might more intensively perceive export barriers and this fact might determine their export decisions. Purpose of the article: This paper examines whether financial performance and bankruptcy concerns of SMEs affect their perceptions of export obstacles or not. Methods: This research performs random sampling method and directs an internet-mediated questionnaire to the selected respondents who are the executives of 408 Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs. To examine the influences of firm performance and bankruptcy on the perceptions of export impediments by SMEs, this paper employs Ordinal Logistic Regression Test. Findings & value added: The results show that SMEs having less healthy financial conditions less intensively perceive cultural-linguistic export barriers in comparison with SMEs having better financial performance. Moreover, firm performance is not a predictor variable in the perceptions of export costs, legislative and tax-related barriers by SMEs. On the other hand, while SMEs having more bankruptcy concerns more intensively perceive tax-related and cultural-linguistic barriers, bankruptcy concerns of SMEs do not influence their perceptions of export costs and legislative differences. Although many studies have investigated the impacts of financial conditions of SMEs on their internationalization and exporting decisions, they are isolated with only a market or only with a financial issue. The limited extents of those studies cause a partial investigation of export and financial issues of SMEs and make readers having a narrow perspective in this specific area. By focusing on various export obstacles and financial issues that SMEs face in different markets, this research offers a detailed understanding of SMEs' perceptions regarding their financial conditions and export barriers, from a comprehensive perspective. In this regard, this is the research gap that this paper aims to fill.

11

How do security and benefits instill trustworthiness of a digital local currency?

71%

Ključnikov A., Civelek M., Polách J., Mikoláš Z., Banot M.

Oeconomia Copernicana

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2020

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vol. 11

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issue 3

433-465

EN

Research background: The existence of new technologies and increase in the extensive usage of the internet by individuals, forces governments, local authorities and practitioners to create alternative payment methods such as digital currencies. However, some of the individuals are concerned about trusting these currencies since they negatively perceive their security. Moreover, some people with low income have the willingness to use these currencies in case of receiving some financial benefits. In this regard, security and benefits have been used as tools to increase the trustworthiness of digital currencies. Purpose of the article: The goal of this study is to investigate and to examine the influences of security and benefits of a local digital currency on potential users' trust in this currency. This paper also considers the age and work experience of prospective users and investigate these variables' effects on stated relationships. Methods: This paper is based on a case study that includes 413 respondents who are workers of a large company in Cieszyn Silesia region of the Czech Republic. A questionnaire survey was employed by researchers to determine the perceptions of potential local currency users. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between selected variables. Calculations were made using SPSS Statistics software. Findings & Value added: The results of this paper confirm the positive influences of security and provided benefits on the trust of a digital currency. Regarding characteristics of potential users, perceptions of younger and less experienced users regarding the security and financial benefits are more positive to trust this currency comparing to older and more experienced respondents. Trade freedom of a country, long term orientation and individualistic characteristics of potential users might be reasons for the positive relation-ships between security, benefits and trust in a local digital currency. On the other hand, the income of prospective users, new technology curiosity, and experience of users might be mounting pieces of evidence to explain the differences in the perceptions of potential users regarding security, benefits and trust to a local digital currency. This paper also proposes some policy implementations to users, practitioners, local authorities and governments to make them cope with the security and trust issues of these currencies.

Refine search results

How do SMEs from different countries perceive export impediments depending on their firm-level characteristics? System approach

Organizational, local, and global innovativeness of family-owned SMEs depending on firm-individual level characteristics: evidence from the Czech Republic

The impacts of innovative and competitive abilities of SMEs on their different financial risk concerns: System approach

Entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs' executives in the comparative perspective for Czechia and Turkey

Differences in the usage of online marketing and social media tools: evidence from Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs

Can discounts expand local and digital currency awareness of individuals depending on their characteristics?

Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Segment of Micro-Enterprises: Evidence from Czech Republic

Export risk perceptions of SMEs in selected Visegrad countries

How innovativeness of family-owned SMEs differ depending on their characteristics?

Financial performance and bankruptcy concerns of SMEs in their export decision

How do security and benefits instill trustworthiness of a digital local currency?