Knowledge intensive services in society 4.0

The contribution brings attention to the growing role of knowledge intensive services in the Society 4.0. Faculty of Economics of the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň joined forces with the Institute of Technology and Economics in České Budějovice in the project “Knowledge-intensive services sector adaptation to the conditions of Society 4.0” supported by the programme ÉTA of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. This contribution summarizes the research results of the completed first phase of the project: the development of two studies focused on identification, analysis and evaluation of methods and tools for knowledge intensive services adaptation and catalogue of requirements to competencies and skills to the changing jobs. Those studies were complemented by the questionnaire research among the relevant companies in Plzeň and South Bohemia regions followed by semi-structured interviews with managers of selected companies. The presented findings, observations, recommendations and feedback from business practice form the basis for the second phase of the project, which is focused on creating a methodology for adapting small and medium-sized enterprises in the services sector to the conditions of Society 4.0.

Innovation in small family firms: A qualitative multipla case study

Family firms, accounting globally for the majority of companies, are the backbone of many national and local economies. Despite their importance as both employers and producers/service providers, research on these firms, analyzing their innovative behavior or comparing it with other forms of companies, has often been describing them as more conservative and less risk-raking, generating thus less innovation compared with other types of businesses. The goal of this study was to analyze the scope innovative activities in family owned companies on the basis of an empirical qualitative survey, founded on descriptive multiple-case study analysis of fifteen small, locally operating family owned firms in retail and service-industry, which have successfully survived 5 or more years in business. It used semi structured interviews with family owners and focused on identifying their attitudes to innovation as well as their skills to apply innovations of various types, important for their market competitiveness. The results of the survey, contrary to some earlier findings pointing to family firms ́ conservativeness, showed that these firms, due to their specific organizational culture, rely on innovations substantially, though the main focus of their innovations tends to be on product/technological changes as well as innovations in clients ́ relations.

Work productivity in the sector of knowledge intensive services in relation to work productivity in the manufacturing industry

The manufacturing industry represents the most important part of gross output in the Czech Republic. In the long run, it is necessary for the Czech industry to be competitive. At the same time, it can be assumed that foreign pressure on the Czech manufacturing industry will at least partially transform into pressure on professional and scientific activities. Science and research thus play a key role. The aim of the article is to analyse the impact of work efficiency in the branch of professional, scientific, technical, administrative and support service activities (i.e. sections M and N of the CZ NACE classification of economic activities) on the manufacturing industry (section C). Productivity is measured as gross value added to the labor. The quarterly data of the Czech Statistical Office for the period 1995-2020 are used for the analysis. Time series are processed using a Census X12 filter; all variables are tested using the ADF test in two variants for the presence of a unit root. The testing of the long-term relationship is conducted by means of the Johansen test. The results show that both productivity delays in sector C and sectors M and N have a statistically significant impact on productivity in sector C. However, a positive productivity shock in sector C has a negative impact on current productivity and, conversely, a positive shock in productivity in branch M + N in t-1 is positively reflected in branch C at time t.

Capital structure of COOP group in the Czech Republic

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the capital structure and its determinants in consumer co- operatives in the Czech Republic. Consumer co-operatives are associated in the COOP Group, which is the largest retail network of food stores in the country. This analysis uses quantitative data from the financial statements for the years 2014 to 2018 from the database of information on Czech economic entities Albertina. Financial indicators, regression as well as correlation analysis are all used to analyse the data. This paper reveals that the leverage of the entire group is low, as more than two- thirds of the assets are financed by equity. Internal financing from retained profits is prevalent. From the results of multiple linear regression analysis is apparent that tangibility and total assets turnover both have a positive effect on leverage while liquidity and retained profits negative.