The North or the South? Early medieval ceramics decorated with a zoned ornament – the result of local changes or interregional contacts?

The article underlines the need to re-discuss the prevailing views in archaeological literature on the provenance and transformation stages of completely wheel-turned ceramics decorated with zoned ornament. This class of ceramics was used in the Early Middle Ages (for about 100 years) by communities living in the area of southern Greater Poland and the north-eastern part of Lower Silesia. The previous ideas suggesting a close relationship between zoned ceramics and vessels produced in northern Bohemia are reconsidered, with the internal diversity of zoned ceramics being pointed out. We argue that inspiration in ceramics manufacturing came not only from the south (Bohemia), but also from the north (Pomerania) and the west (the middle Elbe region), and that there were also changes that appeared independently of these impulses in the ceramics production of small, native communities.

Students Preferences in Teaching Methods of Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurial education (EE) has recently become popular at universities of economics almost all over the world. Various teaching methods play a very important role in the development of the future entrepreneurs. Therefore, in order for a student to become a successful entrepreneur, it is important to find the most effective tool for the teachers to support entrepreneurship education and find the ideal connection between the needs of the students and the right choice of a teaching method. There is a large gap between the needs of the business environment and university studies of this area. The research is based on 214 questionnaires, which were filled in by the students of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice in 2018-2019. The aim of the paper is to find and analyse the preferences of teaching methods for students of management based on the following criteria: gender, faculty, degree of study. The students expected to be taught by active methods, e.g. experts lectures and business simulators. Differences in the use of teaching methods were the most evident among students from different faculties.

From F2F to ERT: University Students’ Perception of Remote Learning During the First COVID-19 Lockdown

In the spring of 2020, the University of South Bohemia was one of the innumerable higher education institutions which was obliged to move its instruction online in order to comply with the COVID-19 regulations. This article explores the evaluation of emergency remote teaching (ERT) measures taken by the English department from the perspective of its students. It presents and discusses findings gathered from a questionnaire completed by 99 respondents. The questionnaire centres around four areas of interest: satisfaction with ERT, comparison of face-to-face (F2F) vs. online learning experiences, perceived stress level during ERT, and acquisition of skills. The results show how students responded to the emergency procedures and which factors they considered essential in terms of satisfaction and stress. Furthermore, they reveal thought-provoking insights on aspects such as integrating elements of online teaching into F2F instruction, developing various skills in lockdown, and motivation for learning. Our findings are analysed in terms of aspects and factors which are viewed as efficient or inefficient by students in a time of crisis. Thus, this research may contribute not only to better preparedness should circumstances requiring ERT return, but also to a more complex re-evaluation of instructional approach at university level.

Project-based Learning Approach to Marketing Competencies Development

Due to the requirements for matching the needs of employers with the job applicants’ skills, companies increasingly tend to use a key competency-based approach to select new marketers. The aim of this paper is to determine if the project-based learning method has helped developing economic university students’ key competencies that are essential in the marketing related jobs. For testing and developing such key competencies, the method of project-based learning have been implemented into the Marketing communication course at the Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in Czech Republic. Results show that innovated course had a positive effect especially on the development of abilities to work effectively in team, assessing and analysing information or work independently.

Hiring Graduates for Marketing – Advantages, Disadvantages and Competency Requirements

The selection of suitable employees is becoming more and more demanding because of the increasing number of job applicants that want to get into a marketing career. The aim of this contribution is to find out which marketing competencies a competent graduate of economics should possess to be attractive for marketing related jobs in SMEs in the Region of South Bohemia, as well as to identify the positives and negatives of hiring such graduates. Based on data obtained from 93 SMEs with their own marketing department, the desired competent graduate for marketing related jobs can be described as a communicative and creative individual with the ability to analyse information. The main advantages of hiring graduates include creativity, the ability to work with modern technologies and/or enthusiasm for learning. On the other hand, a lack of experience and/or the longer training time are the main disadvantages of hiring fresh graduates for marketing-related jobs.

Strategy for family business succession in the South Bohemia Region

This paper is focused on a specific area of strategic support of the family business units within a context of regional development strategy. It reacts on one of the main issues the family businesses are facing with – handling the process of family business handover (the business succession process). The aim of the paper is to draft the key strategic tasks for the South Bohemia Region authority for facilitating and sustaining the business succession process at the family business units. The research framework covers the main stages of strategic planning cycle. Thus, it provides an understandable and comprehensive guideline for regional authority how to enhance the business succession process by a set of strategic tasks. The tasks are classified into the following four priority areas: (I) Information Gathering & Monitoring, (II) Planning & Implementation, (III) Cooperation & Coordination, (IV) Support & Facilitation.

Influence and Intensity of Exogenous Factors on the Development and Stability of Rural Areas

This contribution focuses on the issue of the influence and intensity of exogenous factors on the development and stability of rural areas. The results are presented at two levels. The first reflects the monitoring of the influence of external factors on the external environment of companies, i.e. those factors which they have limited possibilities to influence, and how to eliminate the potential negative impacts thereof. The second provides information on the results and evaluation of four basic parameters in the field of knowledge skills, namely contenders, competition, coordination and cooperation. The evaluation of the goals set are based on the results of a questionnaire survey, supplemented by controlled interviews with business managers and the managements of local action groups (LAGs) in the Region of South Bohemia. The created database is analysed using the method of content analysis and the simultaneous use of statistical methods. The main outputs of the solution determine the significance and strength of the external environment on companies, which is mostly influenced by competitors, suppliers, customers and business partners. In contrast, universities and research institutes do not have a significant impact on the business environment. Similar results apply to LAGs, where in most cases the LAGs cooperate with each other and are not considered competitors, thereby also reporting good cooperation with towns, micro-regions and the regional authorities of South Bohemia. In contrast, LAGs reported none or poor cooperation with the National Network of LAGs and ministries.

Streamlining possibility of transport-supply logistics when using chosen Operations Research techniques

The subject of this article is to model and streamline processes in the area of the transport-supply logistics in a specific enterprise. The topic of the manuscript was implemented in a particular enterprise with the residence in the city of České Budějovice (South Bohemia region). The aim of the article is to step by step analyze the current state of the supply logistics of the specific subject and propose appropriate measures contributing to optimize the entire process using selected techniques of the Operations Research. By applying the methods of multi-criteria decision analysis (such as Weighted Sum Approach and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), the most attractive option is chosen; i.e. the optimal supplier for the implementation of the transport-supply process that will enhance the effectiveness of specific logistics activities in the operation being examined. The conclusion in detail discusses individual contributions in terms of the suggested ways of modeling and improving the current state with respect to supply processes in the selected enterprise.