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: First part of the paper assesses the physical-geographical locality factors of the agricultural production in the district of Nitra. Agricultural production in a typical high production region has been analysed (structure of the enterprises legal forms, focus of production, number of employees). The second part examines the types of the most important agricultural enterprises according to the selected economic indicators such as economic efficiency, labour productivity and relative employment. These indicators are the best ones to express the economic power of agricultural entities and farming efficiency.

Organizational capabilities are recognized in the resource-based view strategy literature as one of the primary source of competitive advantage. This article reviews models to analyse organizational capabilities to provide framework for wider adoption of the concept of organizational capabilities both by researchers and practitioners.

The paper examines the factors that lead farmers to participate in c the contract farming in the Peninsular Malaysia. The primary data was collected through a survey using a questionnaire on the total of two hundred and eight farmers from various states in Malaysia. The study utilizes the stratified sampling method. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The survey identified forty-one contract farmers. Factor analysis was carried out to identify the factors that lead farmers to participate in the contract farming. Based on the analysis, five factors were identified as the reasons for contracting, namely, market stability, and access to marketing information and technology, transfer of technology to improve farming practices, access to inputs and indirect benefit. Contract farming or contract arrangements can be a valuable source of an additional income and knowledge that can be employed to enhance the productivity of the entire farming enterprise.

Latin America has very good conditions for microfinance; the macroeconomic growth which Latin America had shown in the recent years created favourable conditions for the microfinance institutions' favorable conditions and its development. Profitability of the microfinance sector presents an attractive market for the financial institutions which already have a have strong position in the market. The purpose of this work is to focus on the current situation and performance of the microfinance sector while identifying some of the reasons that affect the microfinance institutions in this region. The work also provides a view on the microfinance industry development to get a better description of the sector. The microfinance institutions are earning an undeniable importance in the process of the regional development and represent an important factor in the alleviation of poverty and insecurity for large segments of the population. The work is based on information from relevant sources that allow us to identify the current status of microfinance in Latin America, especially in these times when the crisis affects also the region's economic dynamism.

Demographic development of human society is influenced by economic and political changes. The demographic development of most EU countries, including the Czech Republic, is characterized by the change of the age structure, the increase in the share of the third biological generation and thereby by aging of the population. These changes do not proceed with the same intensity in all countries; there are differences in the development, both among the EU countries and also the regional ones in the frame of the country. The paper presents an evaluation of the demographic development in the EU countries and further in the particular CR regions. The aim is to judge the regional differentiation of this development and to find an analogy of the EU countries.

The rules of the European Union suppose the value added tax as the only general excise tax. The need for harmonization of this tax in the existing EU member states is obvious, but the results in this field are not entirely convincing. Also the provision of services is a problematic field among others in the implementation of value added tax. It is essential to examine the issue of the value added tax, in this case, both the possibilities of the use of the self assessment system of the value added tax by the recipient of the service compared to the accounting of service including the value added tax by a provider of this service, even if the provider of service from the EU member state shall have a permanent establishment in other member state of the customer, but this establishment is not involved in the provision of the service, as well as the inclusion of services within the so-called extended guarantee to the taxable or exempt fulfilment, when the subject provides the technical support and the assistance to its customers, such as in the case of failures of agricultural machinery, which the provider had supplied to a subject in other member state. On the basis of empirical research, it is needed to assess the results of the harmonization efforts, to identify and recommend the direction in which the European Union should take in this field. The comparison of the individual European Union countries is important here. Value added tax is, regarding its features, still an unsurpassed excise tax, even if it has some weaknesses. The technique of the selection of this tax enables to discover the paid tax at all stages of treatment and it is very appropriate, due to its features for the use in international trade. It is therefore necessary to ensure the sufficient clarity, lucidity and equal conditions for players from the European Union on the basis of the development and adaptation of the rules of the value added tax set at the European Union level within each European Union country.

The article describes the concentration process, structural changes and competitiveness in the German agri-food sector over the last decade. This descriptive analysis aims to outline the developments at the individual stages of the food chain and to identify the challenges the sector will face in the upcoming years. The study is based mainly on the data published by the German Statistical Office and the ZMP1, and the evaluation of the primary and secondary literature sources. The data shows that small and medium-sized enterprises were sustainable alongside the large ones and have played an important role in the German agriculture and food processing sectors in the recent years. Various business strategies can be expected to make the coexistence of small and large-scale enterprises also possible in the future.

The paper analyzes the diversification into non-agricultural activities in the Slovak agriculture. It describes the diversification activities according to the Farm Structure Survey. In 2007, every third farm performed other gainful activities. The paper analyzes the public expenditures paid to the diversification in the pre-integration and post-integration period and reveals the covering of the beneficiaries in the past and new programming period. The conclusion presents the attitudes and opinions of the Diversification Measure beneficiaries connected with the evaluation of the implementing means and other aspects joined with the implementation of diversification activities within the sectoral programme documents.

The common currency Euro is considered one of the biggest achievements of the European political and economic integration. However, it is necessary to stress that Euro was always first and foremost a political feat. Economists by and large pointed out that the EU - even in its 1992 reincarnation - is not an optimum common currency area (OCA). But politicians and some economists hoped that the existence of Euro itself may accelerate the processes toward the OCA. However, this did not happen and the divergence processes inside the Eurozone accelerated after 1999. Today, the Eurozone stands near the crossroad - where some countries may be increasingly tempted to leave.

The article deals with the analysis of food market on the level of consumer prices structure, through the identification of margins in the selected food verticals and through the analysis of consumer behaviour associated with changes in prices and income of population. The article also discusses the factors which may affect the current growing trend in prices of food in the SR and worldwide and subsequently, the reduction of gap between the Slovak and the EU prices.

The paper focuses on the problematic issues of tourism, namely on the area of relationships among travel and tourist agencies and their clients. It analyses the current situation and defines key problems that emerge from the insufficient legislative adjustments in the area of tourism entrepreneurship regulated by the Act 159/1999 of the Collection that concerns some conditions of tourism business, as well as by the amendment of this law from year 2006. The ambiguous interpretation of the law concerning the conditions of entrepreneurship in tourism area and other facts that emerge from this, such as the rise of asymmetrical information, untransparency of the market as well as the insufficient protection of the consumer-client of travel agencies - all these issues represent key problems of the contemporary practice that this paper intends to react to and it also aims to suggest a potential solution to them. The theory of strategic alliances and the theory of signalling behaviour are used as a methodological basis for solving the problems mentioned above.

The aim of this paper is to show some empirical evidence of the sustainability and decision making in dairy production in Turkey. The main material of the study was obtained from the data collected by the survey conducted in the villages in Merkez, Manavgat and Serik districts of the Antalya province. Within the context of the research, 75 farmers were interviewed in the 2007 production season. The research results indicate that the households are the most important decision maker in terms of farming decisions. 56.3% of the farmers in the small farms, 61.5% of the farmers in the medium-size farms and 41.2% of the farmers in the large farm noted that they could quit dairy production activity if they received a fixed salary.

The paper addresses the LEADER approach in the Czech Republic. Using documentary research and content analysis of the appropriate documents and the Local Action Groups information sheets, the paper firstly outlines the evolution of the LEADER approach in the Czech Republic (the paper points out the difference in understanding LEADER in the EU /focusing on capacity building and the use of intangible forms of capital/ and in the Czech Republic EU /focusing on investments/). The paper also analyses the participation of farmers and the farming related actors in the LEADER approach (approx. 30% of local action groups are composed by those actors, however, they mostly do not aim /similarly like non-farming actors/ at developing partnership but want to achieve the investments into production; that is why the Czech local action groups are rather quasi-partnerships; it is also reflected in a very low number of strategies aiming at the "adding value to local products" which is the closest to farmers /but it is the less opted theme: only 6% of projects/). The paper ends with the analysis of projects implemented under the LEADER scheme where the farmers participate. It shows that more than the integrated strategies, the Czech local action groups prefer the strategies of the multi-sector type. The paper also points out that the publicly available information about the activities of the local action groups is not sufficient, although the groups are funded from the public budgets. This fact makes the analysis more difficult as for the scientific merit but also contradicts the principles of democratic governance.

The management of changes, innovations, knowledge and human resources of a company are among the crucial factors having an impact on the performance of the company. An organizational change is one of the first conditions for the successful increase in the company's performance if the system approach to the management of changes is observed. A company or its management, if it wants to be successful and to increase the company performance, must strive to change the processes, values and thinking of people, bring new innovative ideas into business and to verify them in the everyday practice. All corporate potential must be used for high-quality innovations that bring profit in the end. If the knowledge management is implemented, the corporate knowledge can be used more efficiently. Management of human resources and work performance ranks among the most-demanding management spheres, having an impact on the overall corporate performance.

The level and structure of cigarettes taxation are considered to be very discussed field in these days by the effect of preference trends of taxation of consumption at the expense of direct taxation, stressing the health risks of consumers of tobacco products, externalities caused by this consumption and by the effect of existence of distortions in the market with the tobacco products in the EU states. It is possible to achieve various aims in the field of fiscal and agricultural policies of state, consumption of cigarettes, protection of national market and in the other field by the regulation of excise duty imposed on cigarettes in the EU states. The question is, in frame of excise duty imposed on cigarettes in the EU member state, whether this tax should be imposed through specific rate, ad valorem rate, or by their combination. The choice between these options depends on the laid down aims of tax policy in each EU member states.

Global trends in world economy intervene into each sector of national economy. In the article, we focused on the dairy industry. The research was oriented at the national market of dairy products with the goal to assess the current situation on the market with these commodities. According to the acquired data, we compiled an overview of the current situation in the market and we pointed out the direction that should be followed by producers. The implementation of information systems is a necessary requirement to increase competitiveness in accordance with the specifics of dairy production.

This paper pays attention to and analyses two of the economic impacts of the BSE occurrence in the Czech Republic, namely the financial compensations to the farmers whose herds had been affected and the costs of animal killing and carcass disposal in the rendering plant. Between February 2001 and the end of June 2008, a total of 1 263 749 cows were examined and 28 cases of the BSE were detected. Consequently, 4 022 cows in cohorts were killed and their carcasses were safely disposed of. The farmers whose herds had been affected were provided compensations for the losses suffered. The total of the compensations in this period reached CZK 198,413 thousand. Of these, 83.3% (CZK 164.9 million) were compensations for the value of the killed animals, 9.7% (CZK 19.2 million) for the related costs, i.e., killing, safe disposal of carcasses and the examination for the BSE, and 6.9% (CZK 13.5 million) for the losses due to non-materialised production. The average costs per 1 BSE-positive animal were CZK 7.08 million and the average costs per 1 cohort animal were CZK 49 331. In the rendering plant responsible for killing the infected and cohort animals and safely disposing of their carcasses, the total of 2 221 tons of raw material was processed between March 2003 and February 2008, and this cost CZK 9 315 thousand. The fact that there were only two cases of the BSE in 2007 and none in 2008 suggests a trend towards the disease eradication, which is in agreement with the situation in the other EU countries.

The article discusses economic development of Slovak agriculture in the period after the accession of Slovakia to the EU and after adopting the CAP. It evaluates agriculture as a whole and its contribution to the national economy, as well as the economic performance of the individual legal forms of business and production sectors. The results achieved by agriculture in 2004-2007 suggest that the income within the sector (except of 2005) has improved also due to the inflow of the EU subsidies. On the other hand, despite the growing aid the production output is shrinking, wages stagnate and the employment is falling. This suggests that the CAP should be changed after 2013, especially as regards the ways of subsidy payments. Economics of the individual products are largely affected by input prices, realisation prices, as well as by the volume of direct subsidies, namely in the plant production - the subsidies for crops grown on arable land, and in animal production - the subsidies per 1 Big Cattle Unit.

The paper analyses and compares the EU direct payments in the conditions of the Slovak Republic during the monitored period 2004-2006. The 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (hereafter CAP) introduces a considerable simplification of the EU producers' support and a general improvement of the market orientation of agriculture. The Slovak Republic has temporarily adopted the system of the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) which is used in the old member states. The Slovak Republic can use this system until the end of the year 2010. The amount of the direct payments in 2004 was 53.1% of the EU average. The prediction for 2007 was 70% of the EU average, provided that the state co-finances 30%.

The paper presents the results of the research focused on crisis management, which is based on the process of change management by the author-formulated methodology of the creation, implementation and changes of business strategies and requirements for their improvement due to the incidence of a turbulent management environment and other essential factors. The main factors of crisis and methods of their analysis are formulated. Thereinafter, the strategies of solving crisis situations are formulated. The company Bioveta, Inc. is analysed in detail. The research has proved that companies with modern management need a well-made and working system of crisis management due to their complexity and risks.

The paper presents the results of simulations for the Bruntál district as a remote rural area and Ostrava as an adjacent urban centre, based on the Computable General Equilibrium model. The model assesses spatial impacts of various agricultural policy and other economic conditions on the regional development of the study areas. The model utilizes a regional Social Accounting Matrix with economic inter-linkages between the rural-urban localities in the study areas. Four agricultural policy scenarios are assessed. All scenarios have negative impacts on the economy of the Bruntál district. Nevertheless, the scenario based on the switch of funds from the Pillar 1 to the Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy and on the degressive modulation of direct payments shows to be the most significant for the agricultural sector and the overall economy of the district.

One of the measures of the Sectoral Operational Programme Agriculture and Rural Development is focused on the diversification of agricultural activities. The analysis of the measure showed the greatest interest in financial support among the subjects aimed at agritourism and rural tourism. The field of tourism dominates also among the number of the approved projects. The share of other diversification activities is very low. The analysis of other profitable activities in the Farm Structure Census and Farm Structure Survey by the type of activities shows that the total number of agricultural enterprises with other profitable activities decreased in 2005 compared to 2001 and 2003. The total amount of agricultural enterprises with other profitable activities in the Slovak Republic reached 3 219 in 2001, 4 465 in 2003, and 2 066 enterprises in 2005. In 2005, the number of the enterprises increased in the field of craft industry, wood processing, fishery, generating energy from renewable resources and contracted work.

The aim of the paper is to present a developed spreadsheet tool for the formulation of a daily dairy cow ration. It is constructed on the basis of two linked sub-models developed on the MS Excel platform. It merges the common linear programming model and the weighted-goal programming model with a penalty function. The first sub-model is included in the tool to make an estimate of the least-cost magnitude that might be expected. The obtained result is entered into the second sub-model as the goal that should be met as closely as possible. The tool was tested at two different values of preferential weights for dairy cows with a 25 kg daily milk yield. The results obtained confirm the benefits of the applied approach. In contrast to the common linear program tools, which terminate at formulation of the least-cost ration, our tool provides more efficient rations (in both economic and nutritive terms) by fine-tuning the nutritive goals and by allowing for harmless deviations from these goals by application of penalty functions.

The southern area of the province of Alicante (Spain) embraces the regions Vega Baja del Segura (The Low Valley of The Segura River) and Bajo Vinalopó (Low Vinalopó) in the Valencian Community. Although both regions have a growing residential, touristy and industrial potential, agriculture is still an important activity here. In this study, a characterization of agricultural land distribution in the southern regions of Alicante is carried out, regarding the main crops where the most important current problems are irrigation water shortage and low harvest prices. Incomes received by farmers according to the level of harvest prices and the evolution of these prices in the last two years are studied. Besides, prices have been noticed to keep stable at the best. The evolution of land for different uses, mainly industrial, is also estimated. The competition for land and water use with other sectors has significantly increased the amount of land for these uses and what is more, it is still on increase.

The article starts with the theoretical definitions of various concepts (rural space, endogenous approach to the rural development, the actor operating in the particular locality for its development). Concerning the know-how of the rural/local actor, the information acquired also through extension service takes important position there. The methodological approach explains the use of sociological methods and techniques employed in research in two localities. This is continued by the analysis of the data gathered. The conclusions of the paper evaluate the knowledge from the group interviews and discuss the necessity of establishing an "institute" the task of which would be to provide and roof the extension service and the sufficient information level for the local, often rural actors. These actors then would use such information/extension service not only for a more efficient development of their localities, but also for a higher valorisation of their efforts in the "animation" of the rural localities.

The paper identifies and analyses the main factors which influenced the wine demand. The average annual wine consumption per capita is the basic factor of the wine demand. The average annual wine consumption, one of the wine demand factors, grew between 2003 and 2007 from 16.3 l to 18.5 l per capita. Following this trend, we can expect the average annual wine consumption 19.0 l per capita in year 2010. A positive feature of this development is also the fact, that there grows the demand after the quality wines. At the same time, there grows also the consumption of the lower quality, cheap wines packed in boxes or PET bottles. A continuously growing tendency can be also noticed in the red-wine consumption. This change of consumer preferences has significantly influenced the growth of the share of the red varieties in the new-planted vineyards. However, there are critical factors in the development of the demand for wine demand here. Specifically, it is the daily feasible ration of alcohol in wine and other alcoholic drinks, especially beer that we can treat as the substitute of wine. The average annual beer consumption moves about 160 l per capita in the Czech Republic. The continuously growing tendency of wine consumption is reduced by the lower price of beer too, because beer is the cheapest alcoholic drink in the Czech Republic. The taste and preferences of consumers have been changing, that means, that the consumers are the ones who decide about the wine quality, and not producers. That is why this paper includes the partial results of the research oriented on the habits and behaviour of consumers in the wine market in the Czech Republic. It is concentrated on the wine sellers opinions on demand development in the wine market.

The profit/loss of agricultural holdings in the LFA is decreased due to worse conditions of climate and production. This disadvantage should be compensated by the "compensatory payments" in the LFA that should support the continuous using of agricultural land and preserving the rural region. The prepared delimitation of the LFA should be created according to the analyses of the possible impacts and the proper evaluation of the current state as its impacts will significantly influence the competitiveness of agricultural holdings. This paper summarises the results of the economic indicators analysis of agricultural holdings in the Czech Republic in the LFA and out of the LFA and the influence of subsidies on the profit/loss.

This paper addresses (ex ante) the issue of the potential impact of the modulation of direct payments on a sector and regional scale in the Czech Republic. The ultimate version of the compulsory modulation measure adopted under the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) assumes the reduction of direct payments if the total individual claim exceeds 5 thousand € or 300 thousand € level. The Czech agricultural sector will be impacted by this measure substantially, given the large scale farming enterprises. In 2013, the total farmers' direct payments will be cut by more than 10% (€ 91 million). Moreover, there are regional differences in farm structures (the average farm size and the extent of collectivization) which will bring about various effects of policies in the heterogeneous regions. The analysis further shows that the regions that are least affected are at the same time more environmental sensitive and are mostly situated in the mountainous or sub-mountainous parts of the country or more urban areas than the average. Hence the effect of the modulation, from a purely environmental perspective, may not contradict the objectives of other environmental policies. That is to say the regions that need support the most will be reduced the least. However, the picture is less obvious in the regional economies where more rural regions (potentially more vulnerable with socio-economic problems) tend to be more affected.