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The paper focuses on the evaluation of the contemporary situation of two economic sectors in the frame of the European Union, namely the wholesale and retail of agricultural and food products. For these industries, the structural profile with the indicators of turnover, value added and employment was elaborated. Hereafter the costs, productivity and profitability indicators ranking of the top 5 Member States were compared to the EU-25 averages. After a 3.1% increase in the turnover index in 2000, the evolution of sales for the agricultural wholesaling sector recorded a series of small increases and decreases in the turnover, ranging from - 0.6% in 2002 to 1.5% in 2004. Between 2000 and 2005, the agricultural wholesaling sector generally recorded a slower rate of expansion for turnover than the wholesale trade average. The specialised in-store food retailing sector generated EUR 120.4 billion of turnover in 2003. The wealth creation of the specialised in-store food retailing was valued at EUR 23.8 billion; equivalent to 6.5% of the retail trade and repair total, while this activity employed 1.4 million persons, some 9.0% of the retail trade and repair workforce. Half (49.9%) of the turnover in the specialised in-store food retailing sector in the EU was generated by enterprises selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish or bakery products.

The article describes the competitiveness of Slovak agricultural and food products after the accession of the Slovak Republic into the EU. The analysis has shown that even despite the increased subsidization and full liberalisation of trade, the competitiveness of our products still needs to develop. The main reason behind this is the poor efficiency of production and the lack of innovation activities. Most agricultural commodities are profitable only because of subsidies. Processing industry is the main contributor to the worsening deficit of trade balance. Specific commodities with good sales potential in the EU market include cereals, malt, wheat flour, dairy products, live cattle and sheep meat.

The goal of the research was to identify how important was the distance between the milk producer and the milk processor in their decision of which dairy plant would do the processing. The study should indicate if the advantage of a lower price offered by the distant milk producer would be eliminated or preserved by the transport costs. In the study, the cost of various lengths of milk collection routes in Central Europe has been examined. The difference in cost, whether a short or long journey was travelled, was compared to the range of raw milk prices within the chosen territories in Central Europe. The results proved that the milk collection costs in Europe enable rather long journeys, from the producer to the processor, to be made. In three of the four examined regions, the usual collection route of 200 km followed by an additional journey of 400 km enabled the preservation of the milk price advantage gained due to this journey. The feasibility of long collection journeys would reduce the impact of the success of local processors on the economics of the surrounding milk producers and vice-versa and could play an important role in the movement of raw milk in Europe in the ongoing concentration and liberalization process of milk production in the EU.

The article aims at the description and assessment of strategic options for companies which have necessary resources to take the advantage of the current economic downturn. The theoretical framework is based on two predominant approaches to competitive advantage and the practical implications for actions to be adopted are derived from the recommendations published recently by the leading consulting firms. While quick fixes ensuring a short-term survival (mostly financially based cost-saving measures) are an essential first step, a longer-term success lies in the effective adoption of the scenario-planning techniques, active competitors intelligence and a proactive attitude to restructuring through a combination of mergers, acquisitions and divestment decisions.

The paper builds on the resource-based approach to the firm and develops it further towards the knowledge-based approach by exploring the importance of knowledge in a modern firm. Various concepts explaining characteristics of knowledge are compared and contrasted in order to contribute to the current strategic management thinking and to stimulate adoption of the concepts of knowledge management in modern businesses. The paper draws from the literature review made within the project Information and Knowledge Support for Strategic Management financed by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

Sustainable development in regarded as the issue and method of solution of a number of global problems, which origined namely in relation to dynamic industrial development and the prominent growth of world population. Sustainable development is, above all, the concept closely related to human attitudes and values. The contribution presents the definition of sustainable development, its modern concept, sustainable development dimensions.

Using a file of economic indicators of a sample of selected agricultural enterprises, their economic results have been evaluated according to their production and climatic conditions, production orientation and the system of management since 1996. The long-term tendencies of economic results and the influencing factors shall be defined according to this analysis. The authors aim to assess the influence of external conditions on management of agricultural enterprises and how the economic result can be influenced. Next, the authors aim to analyse the influence of the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU. In 2005 the agricultural enterprises suffered a decrease in their profit compared with 2004, followed by a decrease of the profit rate. The decrease in the number of labour force and at the same time the increase of labour productivity shows a long-term tendency. Subsidies in agriculture have also been increasing in the long-term perspective. There was the first significant increase in 2004. Subsidies are one of the most important factors influencing the economics of agricultural enterprises and the dependence of their earnings on subsidies is increasing.

The agricultural production in less favoured areas (LFA) should, first of all, fulfil the non-production goals, as is the nature and environment protection and job opportunities generation. These goals could be achieved within the conditions of sustainable agricultural production systems. This paper is aimed on the analysis of how the companies operating in marginal conditions realize commercial principles and targets specified for the LFA conditions. The obtained knowledge indicates that the managers of majority of the companies do not respect the recommendations and persist in the intensive production in spite of the unfavourable conditions.

The objective of this paper is the analysis of the macroeconomic aspects of regional development in the Slovak Republic. Regional development is a much frequented topic recently. In the pre-accession period, Slovak regions had the opportunity of benefiting from the pre-accession funds and competing for finances through projects and strategies. The EU support did not stop with the accession, it continues with the increasing intensity and variability at present. The real challenge is how efficiently is this support used and if it goes to the destinations where it is most needed. For the purposes of the identification of regional development tendencies, we have tried to analyze the selected macroeconomic characteristics for Slovak regions at the NUTS III level. We analyze the following indicators: GDP per capita, labor productivity, foreign direct investment, so that we can explore the situation of living standards in the regions and the determinants. We use the cluster analysis approach in order to specify and identify the regions with similar development characteristics. Based on our findings, we make some recommendations on the support and development strategies for Slovak regions.

The power function was used to show the dependence of gross, final and sold output on the gross value of total fixed assets and on the ratios of this value to the productivity of these three production categories. Further elaboration included the characteristics of variable features. The system of independent variables employed in the study allowed for the estimation of both extensive and intensive utilisation of fixed assets in Polish agriculture from 2002-2005. The study showed the diminishing impact of the productivity of fixed assets and the decreasing productive efficiency of Polish agriculture from 2002-2005. This situation was caused by the relative stability in the generic structure of fixed assets and by a slow average annual rate of increase in new fixed assets (8.74%).

The submitted paper analyses the development of food industry in the Czech Republic in 2000-2006, its position (in 2006) and development trends of main economic indicators compared to the development of manufacturing industry. In comparison with the dynamic development of Czech manufacturing industry, key position of food industry has decreased. The monitored food sector has heterogeneous structure with regard to branches. In connection with these differences, development trends of separate branches are fluctuating but labour productivity of the food sector as a total has markedly accelerated.

The article presents the evaluation of multifunctionality of Czech agriculture and its individual farm categories in the period of 2003-2005. It compares the situation before and after the EU accession. The assessment is based on the set of indicators for the three elementary axes of multifunctionality: economic efficiency, relations to environment and relations to rural development. Applying the presented method of multi-criterion evaluation and during the period of 2003-2005 on average, the highest level of multifunctionality is found in the category of farms of physical persons with 101-300 ha (score 174) and the lowest level in the category of collective farms - cooperatives and joint stock companies (score about 115). However, compared with the pre-accession period, the collective farms show the highest growth of the score (by 17%) after the EU accession.

This paper analyses the impact of the LFA payments on farms economic results on the basis of the Farm Accountancy Data Network in the Czech Republic. Firstly, the approaches are compared to the structure of farms based on the LFA type. Secondly, the share of the LFA payments on economic results of farms is evaluated. The evaluation considers the LFA type, share of grassland, size of the eligible area of farms. Basic economic indicators are being monitored, such as Gross Farm Income, Farm Net Value Added, Family Farm Income, current subsidies, of which in particular the LFA payments. The share of the LFA payments in economic results of agricultural holdings is compared. As a result of the analysis, the winners and losers of the current system were defined.

The dynamics and forming of European agriculture are determined by many considerably heterogenous and complicated processes and trends which influence mutually and moreover they work in a different way in developed and developing countries. An attention will be paid to basic global trends, the role of the Common Agricultural Policy, the influence of agrarian markets, the promotion of multifunctional agriculture etc.

The article is focused on the importance of using the variant calculation methods in the management of companies' performance under the conditions of multifunctional agriculture. It mentions the difference between the calculations formed for the needs of valuating the production in the financial statements and the managerial calculations. Attention is paid to overhead costs in agriculture, their development is depicted with tables and graphs. The development of overhead costs during the time period of 1997-2006 is presented in crop production and outputs of wheat and rapeseed, in livestock production in Slovakia and in the outputs of cattle (6-24 months) and pigs (1-12 months). The fastidiousness of market environment of the globalized economies requires a gradual transformation from the classical calculation system into the managerial calculation system, which provides a multidimensional insight into the product as well as the market. The sequence of establishing the variant calculation methods is also introduced together with the reasons of under-valuating calculations in the managerial practice.

Zemspol, Dešná, Ltd is a large corporation engaged in various aspects of agriculture in the Czech Republic, including agricultural production, the assembly, maintenance and repair of agricultural machinery, the production of feed stuffs and feed mixtures,special agricultural services demanding special entitlement, business related matters and accounting. This paper focuses on agricultural production. The farm manages 2 100 hectares of agricultural land suitable for growing potatoes, although the largest area is used for growing wheat. The range of produce remains constant. Regarding livestock, the corporation specializes in cattle with the steady head count 250 for the past 15 years. These are predominantly red and white cattle, optimized for both milk and meat production. The average annual production is 1 350 000 litres of milk and 250 tons of beef. The agricultural farm can be described as being a strong perfomer with a very stable base, good reputation and very attractive products, both of crops and livestock. In order to keep this enviable status, frequent internal and external environmental analyses are undertaken.

Based on a questionnaire survey carried out among managers of medium size companies (over 50 employees) of agricultural business in the region Vysočina, it was found that the prevalently production and processing companies (86.3%) reside mostly in small and medium size towns and villages (82.4%). According to the opinion of respondents, the companies employ a too big number (9.8%) of employees while 88.2% respondents consider the situation as adequate to the requirements and possibilities. The respondents estimate (35.2%) that the level of present wages is disproportionately low. At the same time, they anticipate the growth of requirements for qualification (66.7%) with respect to the permanent technological development. However, they do not expect (82.4%) a corresponding marked increase of wages. The evaluation of working conditions has to be an indivisible part of the proper management of human resources in the companies of the region. These conditions are evaluated as satisfactory (88.2%) but in the horizon of 5 years, requirements for their improvement are expected by 78.4% managers of the monitored companies.

The paper deals with the analysis of the typology of unemployed people in agriculture. Approximately 35-40% of people from this unemployment group have already no more chance to be reintegrated into the labour market. The analysis points to out the regional occurrence of this type of unemployment (less urbanised sub-mountain areas, stagnating and backward regions facing various processes of de-industrialisation, etc) and evaluates its wider socio-economic impacts. After 2000, the fragmentation of employment contracts in the corporative types of farms (agricultural co-operatives and companies) begins to appear in the agricultural sector. The category of seasonal agricultural workers with decreased labour and social protection begins to emerge as well. As a result of the strategy to cope with the situation, a certain self-supplying (subsistence farming) subculture was established in the Slovak rural areas to mitigate the difficult economic conditions of the rural households endangered by income deprivation, including the decreased purchasing power of rural population.

The paper addresses the initiative Tradice Bílých Karpat. It is the example of innovative use of local resources through joining together organic farmers and environmentalists. Content analysis (research technique used in combination with case study) proved to be an efficient tool when evaluating the impacts of this initiative for the public. The results documenting the impacts of this initiative for the public are rather of regional nature. They address only some activities of the Tradice Bílých Karpat, mostly those concentrated around processing of local apples. The paper also outlines the possible reasons for the existing image of this initiative presented in mass media and presenting it for the public.

The delimitation of less-favoured areas (LFA) on the territorial and the farm level in the EU member states varies in many ways. The Commission emphasizes the unification of criteria on the territorial level. But the EU countries use very different criteria for the eligibility area definition and for the eligibility on farm level. This makes the comparison very difficult. The CR belongs to the countries with a lower level of differentiation of payments rates. The eligibility area is restricted to the grassland in the CR and degresivity of payments is not applied. In particular, collective farms as the owners' association play an important social role in the country of the Czech Republic and some other countries in the Central and Eastern Europe. It would be necessary to find such differentiation of payment system that would reflect these specific conditions. The holdings with different size and different form of farming as well as the effect of other subsidies to holdings should be taken into account. The support potential within the axis III of the Rural Development Program would be necessary strengthen to elimination of the adverse impact due to further lay-off of the employees in agriculture

Social and habitual changes of guests and a more difficult competitive situation are forcing the gastronomy industry to change. As one necessary reaction, restaurant operators need to apply a more specific and therefore a more effective communication policy. This research proves that there exist categories of guests, which react strongly positively to a certain mix of information content and information channel. Thus, communication policy is most effective, when such a communication mix is used. The explored factors are dimensions, not types; which means that each guest will show a different rate of interest in each of the defined dimension. The theory behind these dimensions is adopted from the applied personality theory, which has led to the development of the Big Five personality dimensions. The empirical analysis was exclusively conducted on the basis of the existing guests (189) of two pizzerias in Germany. The analysis mainly presents results for the relationship marketing, which focuses on the satisfaction of the already existing customers.

In the paper, the level of assets and long-term tangible property as well as the development of own and foreign capital, and the development of sales are evaluated in the time period 1992-2004. An analysis of internal financing resources - profit after taxation, reserves, depreciations of long-term property - was done for the years 2000-2005. The monitored items are calculated for agricultural enterprises of legal entities. Further selected factors are evaluated, which influence the property and capital structure of an enterprise.

This scientific paper shows the results formulated in the author's research focused on strategic decision-making of the company management in a new entrepreneurial environment resulting from changes caused by integration processes, the development of information technologies and globalisation factors. The goal of this paper is to publish the changes in behaviour of the management of the selected entrepreneurial entities resulting from new factors of changes affecting the entrepreneurial environment. This is reflected in the process of strategic decision-making of entrepreneurial entities in the necessity to use new methods of decision-making of the company management as a reaction to factors of the external as well as the internal environment. Rapid changes in particular in the external environment require the company management to select new approaches and methods of decision-making and to have a well conceived algorithm enabling a flexible response to customer wishes using the findings of knowledge management.

The purpose of the situation analysis of the external environment is to find what is happening in the company environment now and in the future and how these factors will influence the activities and existence of the company. The paper deals with a situation analysis of the external environment of a specific company. This paper describes the external environment of the United Bakeries company using the STEPE analysis and in addition a situation analysis of the external environment was made. Next the probability estimation of the occurrence and influence of the factors is made for today, and for the near and long-term future.

The objective of this paper is to show the mediation between citizens and political power by political parties in Czech rural areas. The position of political parties in rural municipalities is demonstrated in two perspectives. The top-down perspective is based on the distribution of several tens of thousands mandates in local municipal councils between political parties. The opposite perspective provides the bottom-up point of view - from the level of the individual municipalities, their party systems and party organisational structures. The analysis of the municipal election results reveals clearly that the role of political parties in local politics depends namely on the size of the given municipality. In this sense, the Czech Republic represents a very interesting example as it is characterised by a dense and heavily fragmented population settlement with a large number of small rural municipalities. In rural municipalities, we encounter incomplete party spectra and the absence of political parties in the smallest municipalities. Besides, the lists of candidates in rural municipalities reveal the weakness of the local party organisations that cannot avoid cooperating with the independent candidates. The small distance between the citizen and the elected body in a rural community significantly determines the forms of the local politics; the ideological and party mediation is superfluous, in fact, it is often seen as something harmful which divides the rural community.

The paper focuses on rural immovable cultural heritage as a part of the infrastructure for certain forms of tourism. Using the secondary analysis method, it compares data about the support of rural cultural heritage in the pre-accession period (2002) and after the Czech Republic joined the EU (2004-2006). Conclusions include a broader issue of animation of cultural heritage for the purpose of rural development.

The paper is focused on the problems of income disparity in agriculture. This economic as well as social phenomenon is often discussed, especially at the administrative level, nevertheless, it has not been exactly defined and methodically delimited yet. The comparison of average wages of farmers with average wages in inhomogeneous industry and with average wages in the very sector-differentiated national economy used today can be considered as problematic. In the paper, the possible system of income disparity monitoring is suggested which would remove the current deficiencies. In its frame, a special attention is paid to regional aspects of income disparity and the relation of wages and labour productivity.

Abstract: The paper derives from the working and publication activities from research project "Chances of product diversification on behalf of improvement of competitive advantage in the small and middle-size farming business in the Czech Republic". This paper deals with the critical success factors for successful diversification at the small and middle-size farming business. For the purpose effective implementation of the diversification have been identified the principal influences of this issue. Besides of that, we have tried to measure a diversification's impact for an entrepreneurial profit in agricultural area. There is a definition of "diversification" as new farmer's activities for using profit opportunity. On the base of 50 units-exploration has been made a hypothesis validation of the most often impulse for doing diversification. That is an effort to utilize more effectively the product factors of farming business. Further, there was a validation of the effective and efficiency diversifications' characters.

This scientific paper shows the partial results of the research project GAČR 402/05/2697, focussing on the analysis of a questionnaire survey and the creation of strategic thinking models of decision making. The partial analysis of the questionnaire survey results was used for designing the basic structure of the required dependencies in the form of a decision tree. On the basis of the tree, requirements for designing the system of strategic thinking models were deduced. These requirements are reflected in the functional model, the data model and in the status diagram. These models will present an instrument suitable for supporting strategic decision making.

The contribution is focused on the analysis of barriers to the entry into fruit production. The branch is identified as a fruit growers branch and the threat to new entries in the branch will concern especially the establishment of a new firm or the expansion of an existing firm's plant production by some fruit species production. The methodology is based on the Porter model of competitive forces in the industry. In fruit production, there have been analysed the following entry barriers: economies of scale, differentiations, capital intensity, transfer, access to distribution channels, cost disadvantage independent of scale, government policy, anticipated retaliatory measures from existing firms. The analysis proves that the barriers to enter the fruit production are rather high nowadays, which should discourage the potential new firms from entering this branch.