Agricultural Economics, 2005 (vol. 51), issue 2

Some model approaches of natural resources efficiency evaluation

J. Tvrdoň

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):47-50 | DOI: 10.17221/5075-AGRICECON  

The article deals with problems of sustainable development of agriculture from the viewpoint of efficient use of environmental resources. Environmental resources are factors of creation both usual economic goods and stabilization of environment. Analysis proved that classical indicators of economic performance are necessary to be modified by the ecological threshold of economic activities. However its level is not fixed and follows factors introduced in the paper which arose in frame of solution of the Institutional Research Intention MSM 411100013.

Organic agriculture as one of aspects of multifunctional agriculture

I. Brožová

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):51-56 | DOI: 10.17221/5076-AGRICECON  

The incorporation of Czech agrarian sector in the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU means also the application of so called "European Model of Agriculture" which reacts to a basic requirement of socially balanced and sustainable agriculture which contributes to maintenance and an improvement of the European agricultural cultural landscape. In connection with it, a new strategy of agrarian policy was set according to which the orientation of Czech agrarian sector changes in a principal way, which was focused up to now only on the production function and also its other functions become more important, above all in the environmental and social, so...

New possibilities of identifying social capital for its use in sustainable rural development

M. Lošťák

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):57-63 | DOI: 10.17221/5077-AGRICECON  

In relation to sustainable rural development, the paper starts with the question of its conditions. One of them is social acceptance of various projects or programmes. This issue is joined with the co-ordination of human activities. The mechanism facilitating the co-ordination in contemporary societies is related to social capital. Its concept is outlined through the references to the basic literature about the topic. Using content analysis, based on the quantification of the categories created through the analysis of the literature about the topic, the social capital in selected municipalities is investigated. The main aim of the paper, however, is...

Methodological starting points of regional development analyses

L. Svatošová

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):64-68 | DOI: 10.17221/5078-AGRICECON  

When assessing regional development, it is necessary to assess and analyze many indicators describing the regions as to the natural and geographical conditions, economic situation, human potential, social levels, environment and others. The data analyzed represent a multidimensional statistical population, where many variables are observed and relationships among these variables exist or may exist. The paper deals with the possibilities of the multivariate statistical data analysis application.

Fuzzy expert marketing-mix model

S. Aly, I. Vrana

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):69-79 | DOI: 10.17221/5079-AGRICECON  

A marketing-mix setting model is presented. The all four P's are integrated and identified. The model makes strong utilization of relevant experts' knowledge and expertise through a fuzzy-decision-making system tailored to dynamically set the marketing-mix periodically in response to changing business environment. Quantitative, qualitative, uncertain, and vague variables are handled necessary to provide a realistic solution. The proposed model is particularly applicable to changing business environments that are full of such qualitative, stochastic, uncertain, and vague variables as in the case of agricultural business (e.g., agro-food companies, fertilizers...

Spatial data modelling and maximum entropy theory

D. Klimešová, E. Ocelíková

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):80-83 | DOI: 10.17221/5080-AGRICECON  

Spatial data modelling and consequential error estimation of the distribution function are key points of spatial analysis. For many practical problems, it is impossible to hypothesize distribution function firstly and some distribution models, such as Gaussian distribution, may not suit to complicated distribution in practice. The paper shows the possibility of the approach based on the maximum entropy theory that can optimally describe the spatial data distribution and gives the actual error estimation.

Approach to comparing complex software implementation methods

I. Vrana, J. Vrána

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2005, 51(2):84-92 | DOI: 10.17221/5081-AGRICECON  

Some of agriculture-food sector information systems are characterised by a high complexity and a large size. There are often many alternative solutions or technologies (implementation methods) and more then one possible way or approach to an information system design. Individual alternatives could considerably differ by their properties, e.g. costs of design of initial functionality, development and operational costs, run-time costs and technical parameters of the resulting information system (e.g. the access time). Unfortunately, existing metrics for quantification of this task usually do not deliver precise results but a rough estimate depending...