EVALUATION OF EFFICIENCY IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

The state of Slovak education is influenced by several negative factors. In terms of human capital, we have seen the decline of pupils for demographic reasons and lack of interest in the work of teachers. This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of secondary education on the example of selected secondary schools. The main method of the paper is multicriteria analysis. The subject of research is the efficiency of selected secondary schools. The 10 Business Academies attended by pupils aged 15-19 years and established in the Banská Bystrica and Žilina self-governing regions will be the subject of research. For the analysis we use panel data collected for the school years 2013/2014 - 2017/2018. The contribution of the paper is to create an evaluation of the efficiency of the surveyed schools and to propose solutions for schools that achieved below-average results. The findings may serve as a basis for assessing the efficiency of the Business Academies for comparison with competitors, as well as for the founders of these secondary schools.

THE IMPACT OF THE ADOPTION OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS ON THE FINANCIAL SITUATION AND PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPANY

This paper deals with the evaluation of the impact of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the financial situation and performance of the company. The Slovak Accounting Act allows accounting and reporting under IFRS for two types of entities - explicitly specified by law (e.g. banks, insurance companies, stock exchange); and those that meet specified size criteria. The analyzed company met the size criteria and IFRS has been applying since 2018. The transition from Slovak accounting procedures to IFRS has an impact on the classification of individual items of assets and liabilities, their structure, and the classification of related costs and revenues. The transition to IFRS thus has an impact on the company's financial position and performance. The paper set out two objectives of the research: 1) the transition to IFRS caused an insignificant change in the company's financial indicators; 2) the transition to IFRS caused a significant change in the company's financial indicators. The results of the analysis show changes in the structure of the company's assets and liabilities, the amount of income and expenses, and the less significant impact of the adoption of IFRS on financial indicators.

INNOVATION CLUSTERS AS AN ASSOCIATION MODEL OF THE SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Numerous empirical studies have long been indicated the importance of business infrastructure for economic and regional development. Ensuring long-term economic growth, as well as the creation and development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as key drivers of the development of modern economies, requires a high level of efficiency and flexibility of business infrastructure. In the Western Balkans, the absence of a coherent business infrastructure network is the biggest obstacle to the rapid growth of their economies. For this reason, the activities of the Western Balkan governments in the future should be aimed at developing a network of business infrastructure in order to increase the share of the knowledge and services sector with high added value in the economic structure. This paper aims to point out the role of innovative clusters as a model of associating SMEs in the context of regional development.

RISK DIVERSIFICATION IN ASEAN-5 FINANCIAL MARKETS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC (COVID-19)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the new coronavirus infection as a global pandemic, based on the risk of contagion, and the number of confirmed cases in more than 195 countries. COVID-19 has an intense impact on the global economy, resulting from uncertainty and pessimism, with adverse effects on financial markets. Due to these events, this essay aims to estimate if the portfolio’s diversification is feasible in the financial markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand (ASEAN-5), in the context of the global pandemic (Covid-19), regarding the period of July 1, 2019, to July 22, 2020. To achieve such an analysis, is intended to provide answers for two questions, namely: i) the global pandemic (Covid-19) has accentuated financial integration between the ASEAN-5 markets? ii) If so, can the persistence of returns affect the risk diversification of portfolios? The results obtained suggest that those regional markets present accentuated levels of integration. However, the Singapore's stock market index does not show any level of integration, indicating that the implementation of portfolio’s diversification strategies can be considered; however, the same can no longer be evident for the other ASEAN-5 markets. Additionally, we verified that the ASEAN-5 markets indicate persistence in returns, that is, the presence of accentuated long memories, except for the Singapore market (SGX). These findings show that prices do not fully reflect the information available and that changes in prices are not independent and identically distributed. This situation is found for investors, since some returns can be expected, creating opportunities for arbitrage and abnormal earnings. Corroborating the trendless cross-correlation coefficients (𝜆𝐷𝐶𝐶𝐴), proven evidence coefficients, mostly, suggest the existence of risk transmission between markets. In conclusion, the authors seek that the implementation of an efficient diversification strategy for portfolios requires agreement with the controversial application. These conclusions also open space for the regulators of these regional markets to take measures to ensure better information between these markets and international markets.

85 WORK-LIFE-BALANCE BENEFITS AS BRAIN DRAIN PREVENTION

The contribution of highly qualified employees, not only for multinational companies, is unquestionable. Their eventual departure often has negative economic consequences, and their replacement is usually difficult and expensive. Therefore, it is important to pay increased attention to their stabilization. This article aims to find out which of the work-life balance area benefits are more important for the stabilization of IT employees in an international automotive company (n=154). With the use of the Friedman test, it was found out that the most important benefit is flexible working hours. Based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, the evaluation of the importance of individual benefits was further verified according to basic socio-economic factors (age, gender, length of employment). The right setting of benefits will give a competitive advantage in the search for new talent and at the same time serve as an effective tool against brain drain.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF LEADERS IN CRISIS SITUATIONS

In the modern world, today, due to rapid changes, development of technology, market demands, we can conclude that more than ever there is a danger of various types of crises. In this regard, more than ever before, it is necessary to understand what resources companies need to be more resilient to crises. This paper provides an overview of the theoretical framework, as well as research conducted in the field of emotional intelligence and crisis management. Many studies show that the importance of emotional intelligence of leaders in a crisis is great. Leaders who have a higher level of emotional intelligence possess certain skills that can be crucial to the organization in crisis situations. This paper aims to present the correlation that exists between emotionally intelligent leaders and crisis situations, taking into account several studies conducted in this area. All studies conducted have shown that there is a positive relationship between the emotional intelligence of leaders and crisis management. The conclusion is that examining the impact of the relationship between the emotional intelligence of leaders and the crisis is an exceptional framework that provides an opportunity for human resources to operate within organizations, as management of organizations themselves, seeking and shaping leaders with emotional intelligence skills.

GREEN BONDS REPRESENTING GREEN FINANCE IN EUROPE – BASIC CHARACTERISTICS

This study examines whether there is a negative green bond premium for investors in the secondary European market. To answer this question, the matched pairs method is applied, where the daily i-spreads of green bonds and the interpolated daily i-spreads of similar non-green bonds are compared. The bond sample contains 37 bond couples issued by corporations, financial institutions and governments between November 2019 and April 2020. The findings suggest that there is an average statistically significant negative very small green bond premium. The negative premium could be explained by investors’ preferences for green financial instruments leading to excess demand. The negative green bond premium may also be a compensation for the issuer’s external costs or reflect the internalization of environmental externalities. Further evidence shows that the negative green bond premium varies across industries and is not higher for lower rated investment grade bonds.

EMPLOYEES’ COMMUNICATION DURING COVID-19

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic presents communication challenges for companies as they adjust to a new operating, business and public policy environment. This unprecedented public health crisis affects all stakeholders. The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the importance of strategic internal communication, as many companies had to introduce new working practices and hire or fire staff extremely quickly. An explorative qualitative and qualitative research approach was applied to determine the use of digital communication channels and communication channels during the COVID-19 pandemic by Slovenian employees. The opportunities and challenges that arose during COVID-19 the outbreak of the pandemic are presented. Finally, proposals for organizational communication strategies in times of the pandemic are provided.

POTENTIAL OF ECOTOURISM: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SLOVAKIA AND SERBIA

The demand for nature and ecotourism has been constantly rising last forty years and it will continue to grow. Due to the coronavirus, domestic tourism will increase exponentially, which would enhance ecotourism development. Foreigners and local tourists have become more aware to leave a positive impact on the environment where they travel and where they live. Serbia and Slovakia have a great potential to become attractive ecotourism destinations. Both countries are countries with a similar population number, no access to the sea, but with preserved nature, great gastronomic offer, and the main potential next to the capitals of Bratislava and Belgrade lies in ecotourism. At the same time, domestic ecotourism is a perfect economic activity that promotes sustainability and development. In the less developed regions, ecotourism can bring new employment opportunities and increase demand for local products. Agrotourism and rural tourism are inevitable part of sustainable development in Slovakia and Serbia. Despite of small territories of Slovakia and Serbia, both countries can offer a wide range of sceneries and natural beauties to be explored. This article aims to analyze the potential of ecotourism in the Slovak Republic and Serbia. To achieve the objective results, we’ve surveyed the foreign and local respondents. Our study also analyzes whether marketing strategies and promotion of domestic ecotourism is effective to attract tourists. The obtained results will be evaluated and compared. In the last part, the paper focuses on eco labels that currently exist in Serbia and Slovakia.