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The focus of this article is on the emerging private farming in Slovakia, mainly on newly re-established class of private farms. The aim is to analyse the wants and the needs and the current situation of farming entities represented through the sample of 412 farmers spread in two production areas in South and Northwest Slovakia. In the questionnaires, farmers were asked not only about the objectives but as well about their subjective feelings of their current situation in terms of economy, their life standard and their planes to the future.

The foreign agri-food trade has showed an unsuitable development for the Slovak Republic during the 1999-2001s. The negative balance for the competitive commodities is increasing. These are the commodities for the production of which the SR has suitable natural conditions. The contribution deals with the selected competitive commodities in the kilogram prices. The study shows the decreasing tendency of kilogram prices in import and the increasing tendency in export. Higher export price is the consequence of the higher value added and thus also higher revenues.

The study deals with the comparison of financial situation of farms in the Czech Republic. Three groups of farms are compared - co-operatives, business companies and individual farmers. The data were analysed within the years 1994 and 2000. The analysis of financial situation was done by the means of indexes describing liquidity, activity and profitability as well as some other additional indicators such as labour productivity and costs levels etc.

Phenomenalistic data of the development of prime costs in agriculture-oriented companies inSlovakia indicate that they have considerably increased in the main production, intracompany services and the company as a whole. Therefore, the management of a company has to apply an economic approach to cost management. Recommendations to build up a control structure of the cost system in the agricultural primary production are presented and its rational connection with actual costing, which uses algorithms of unconventional calculation methods, is analysed. In the cost system control structure, costs are recommended to be divided in two levels, namely by groups of activities and classification by elements of cost and by the relationship to outputs covering agricultural products. Using a general model, the objectives analysed are implemented in the livestock production aimed at dairy cow breeding.

Environmental analysis in the winegrowing industry is necessary for strategic management of businesses in this industry. The paper is focused on PEST analysis and pays attention to individual factors. It emphasizes the necessity of adjustment of the Czech legislation to the EU conditions, fulfilment of its conditions, e.g. compulsory registration of vineyards. In the field of economics, it is necessary to pay attention to renovation of vineyards with the help of subsidies from the state budget because the industry contributes to keeping the cultural level of the region and the human resources on the territory. It can be also a source of the environmental pollution. The technology of vine processing follows the changes in viniculture, changes of growing-technology and of the structure of white and red varieties. In conditions of the Czech Republic, it means to gradually transfer to production of quality varieties of vines by gradual renovation, which has to be a priority. The winegrowing sector is the industry with the highest value added also in the Czech Republic, and its share in the total agricultural production in a region can reach a significant level.

Decreasing numbers of tourists to the Czech Republic point at a weakening competitive position of Czech destinations during the most recent years. For many communities, tourism may be a short-lived economic dream when understanding of tourists´ perceptions and travel motives is lacking. The two objectives pursued in this study are 1) an identification of the positions of competing destinations and 2) an a-posteriori segmentation with psychographic variables. Market segmentation becomes the crucial factor in the strategic design process of target marketing. Like many other markets, tourism markets do not respond homogeneously to marketing activities. Subdividing visitors into useful groups may provide a basis for competitive advantage. Our study establishes taxonomy of visitors to Southern Moravia. The study tries to overcome well-known insufficiencies of single segmentation approaches by exploiting the advantage of the multivariate nature of combined push factors, pull factors, and other factors of more restrictive nature (i.e. time and money). The segmentation task employs multivariate data analysis techniques such as factor analysis, cluster analysis and multi-dimensional scaling. Recent research on the European Vacation Style Typology is incorporated.

Even ten years after the revolution in 1989, Slovak agriculture is characterized by the predominant position of cooperatives. There were shifts towards other types of agricultural entrepreneurship, and some of these trends we documented in our article, based on the data gained by surveying agricultural enterprises. We drew a conclusion that cooperatives are more labor demanding. This also means that they still preserve a social role as a main employer in rural areas. Our paper also differentiates between Southern and Northern (less favorable for agriculture) regions, represented by the Nitra and Žilina region, respectively. We examined soil quality, labor intensity, wages, and finally main crops yields in these two regions.

Formation of strategic development intentions of Czech agriculture is determined from a viewpoint of external factors by European integrating processes and strengthening tendencies of globalisation. This multi-dimensional process is a driving power and at the same time also an eliminating factor of many development trends. The sustainable dimension of globalisation is formed in the frame of the world society, world economics, world ecology and world policy. Problems of world agriculture are represented by the intersection of these trends and present a starting point for the formation of the European and Czech agricultural policy.

The aim of this paper is to summarize the results of the EU Phare ACE research project P97-8158-R, "Micro-economic analysis of farm restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe", that tries to fill the gap of theoretical as well as empirical research into the implications of continuing and evolving farm restructuring in CEECs on the efficiency of the agricultural production sector and the development of rural areas by focusing on the economic decisions and perspectives of farm operators, asset owners and rural households. For this purpose, surveys among family farms and farm enterprises were carried out in 2000 in Albania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On the basis of structure and qualitative parameters of agricultural soils, there are only 23.4% non profitable soils for the winter wheat growing in the total area of the Gemer Region. The same percentage for the corn maize growing is 78.7%, for the sugar beet growing 80.0% and for winter rape growing 46.0% of the total agricultural soils area in the mentioned region. Generally, for the crop production, it can be stated, that without production subsidies, at the present economic situation there are 65.9% soils non-profitable, 23.0% low profitable, 6.3% medium profitable and 4.8% high profitable in the Gemer Region. The calculated economic parameters can be used for a more effective production allocation and soil utilisation in different regions.

Agriculture is a traditional branch for the Republic of Bulgaria. The favourable agriclimatic and soil conditions further the growth of 145 agricultural crops and the production of various products, many of which have leading positions in the international market. The aim of this paper is to examine the nature and specific features of the reform of the land relationships in the Republic of Bulgaria during the period of transition towards market economy. The development of land relationships in this country reflects the economic interests of its society, which show their specific nature in the relationships between the owners and the leaseholders of the plots. It is typical for this country that during the collectivisation period, which took place in the middle of the last century, the land, being the basic production factor in the agricultural branch, was public property, the private character of which was never abolished. During the transition period, a process for restoring the land 'within its real borders' was started. This led to delay in the reform and a significant fragmentation of the land. The completed agricultural reform contributes to the recovery and precipitation in the process of developing of the land relationships in the country. A sign of this is the formation of land market. In the year 2001, 28 878.1 ha changed their owners, and another 280 000 ha were leased. The aim is, through active laws, to achieve synchrony of the social interests with the interests of the owners and leaseholders and to create conditions for optimisation of the production process in agriculture. A favourable economic environment will contribute to increasing the efficiency of the agricultural branch in the Republic of Bulgaria and to the formation of the land relationships, which will facilitate the process.

There are 80% municipalities under one thousand inhabitants in the CzechRepublic. The population trend observed in the region ofSouth Bohemia has proved a long-term and gradated depopulation of such small municipalities. While population has fallen in municipalities under one thousand inhabitants, towns and municipalities with more than one thousand inhabitants show the opposite trend. The possibility of changing this trend seems to lay in the state help for small municipalities parallel with the expected change of the situation after the EU accession because it is very probable, that many young families will be looking for the financially more convenient living in the country.

The paper is a part of the solution of the research plan of the FBE MUAF in Brno, No. GAMSM 431100007, and it is focused on the analysis of factors influencing competitiveness of the wine-growing and viniculture. This paper is based on the hypothesis that the competitiveness of the viniculture and wine sector could be influenced, amongst other things, by specific national conditions as defined by "Porter's diamond". This essay deals with factor conditions like the total area of vineyards, the average per hectare yield of grapes, the total wine production and wine consumption including the foreign trade with this commodity. The comparison of the chosen national conditions is made within the EU member states and also within six candidate countries - Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

In all developed economies of the world there was, in the past, a significant decrease in the share of agriculture with regard to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment. However, it is still possible to find considerable differences between individual countries as well as between regions. The income of agricultural workers is traditionally lower, which subsequently leads to an outflow of population from the country into cities, and to further deterioration of the demographic and economic situation of the rural population. As adequate production of food and food self-sufficiency have been among the strategic priorities of national governments, macroeconomic policies make efforts to support agricultural production both at the national and international level. Therefore, the Common Agricultural Policy has been one of the oldest policies of the European Communities. However, this support increasingly deviates from direct support of production towards harmonic development and diversification of activities in rural regions. With regard to these facts, the authors attempt to identify the particular causal relations between selected indicators at the level of territorial units NUTS III - the regions of the Czech Republic, and to verify the actual existence or non-existence of these relations. Noticeable differences between regions have been found, measured by the share of the agricultural sector in the regional GDP and employment. Subsequently, the authors have identified a dropping tendency between the share of agricultural employment and average income. On the other hand, no relations of dependency have been found between the GDP and agricultural employment and registered unemployment. Neither has the relation between agricultural employment and the GDP per inhabitant been identified as statistically significant. However, there is a high degree of dependence between the share of agricultural employment and the GDP per inhabitant generated in the agricultural sector, between the share of the country population (population density) and the GDP per inhabitant generated in the agricultural sector, and finally between the population density and the GDP generated by the agricultural sector in the particular region (Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9). It can be derived from these facts that their economic structure and demographic situation determine the variability among regions. In the future, these regions should receive aid targeted at the development of rural regions. Identification and statistical evidence of the problems of agriculturally-oriented regions is an important prerequisite for drawing funds from the European Communities programmes and for the establishment of effective macroeconomic policy at the national level. However, despite all the conclusions given above, it can be stated that at the present time agriculture apparently neither contributes to greater unemployment nor it lowers the efficiency of the economy measured by the region's GDP.

Internal and external entropy are indicators of evaluation of the success of the firm management. The evaluation of the file of the chosen agricultural firms shows, that the level of internal and external entropy is not too high for the future dynamics and development. Competitiveness of the evaluated firms can be influenced especially by problematic level of their interior social situation (it means social subsystem measured with the help of the internal entropy) that is connected with a not very efficient management of the human resources.

The paper addresses the behaviour of Czech farmers in the frames (structures) created by the agricultural policy in Czechia during the period of the Czech agriculture revitalization. The theoretical background of the paper is formed by the duality of actor and structures. The text considers the ideas embedded in the rules of agricultural policy in investigated period as they are confronted with actual behaviour of the Czech farmers. The main assumption is that the circumstances of agricultural policy should primarily increase the competitiveness of the Czech agriculture. Because this issue is a new one, the qualitative approach to deal with these problems was exploited. In-depth (less standardized) interviews with representatives of six farms were conducted. These farms are typical by various strategies of action. The results focus on information about the level of systematic knowledge of agricultural policy, about the specific reactions to particular areas of this policy (incl. farmers evaluation of particular measures related to Czech integration into EU) and about experiences related to the SAPARD program implementation.

The comparison of Czech and French agriculture results shows a higher intensity, productivity and profitability of French agriculture. There are just small differences in the effectiveness of the production. The Czech agricultural enterprises have been in economic distress for several years and only a low portion of them is able to modernize and increase reproduction. There is also highlighted the importance of the EU Common Agricultural Policy for the development and stabilization of French agriculture.

Authors summarise historical aspects of the renewable energy resources usage in the Czech countries, mainly of bio-mass. They are interested in the economic evaluation of the investment efficiency of usage or transformation of bio-mass. They supply facts of the approaching fossil fuels reserves exhausting and therefore an interest of growing trees and plants for energy usage. They indicate the possible utilisation of fallow land and of reclaimed land after the surface lignite mining for the purpose.

The old debt problem resulting from the transformation of the agricultural co-operatives of the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) is described with respect to its evolution and its economic policy treatment during the process of transformation. So far, the measures for the treatment of old debts have had business economically stabilising effects. Nevertheless, debts are still growing. The farms which are affected by such old debts are strongly interested in solving this problem. This explains the intensity of the results' discussion of a scientific expert opinion on an analysis of the mode of action of the old debt regulation in agriculture. The conclusions which can be drawn from the public discussion of these results with respect to the future treatment of these old debts show, that the affected farms favour a kind of bonus rule for debt repayment. Such a regulation also seems to be acceptable for the treasury as the final bearer of the remaining debts and as a solution to minimise the taxpayers' burden.

The paper is a part of solution of a post-doctorate grant awarded by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (GAČR No. 402/02/P059) connected with the research plan of the FBE MUAF in Brno (GAMSM 431100007), and it focuses on environmental analysis of the brewing industry in the Czech Republic with a focus on the key driving forces in this industry. The basic types of analysed driving forces are the following: long-term growth rate of the industry, character of customers and how they use the product, product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, entry/exit of major firms, diffusion of proprietary knowledge, changes in cost and efficiency, buyer preferences for a differentiated product, regulatory influences and government policy changes, changing societal priorities and lifestyles, uncertainty and business risk, and globalisation. Factors identified in the above-mentioned areas are examined also owing to their period of influence, and the possible implications on actions and strategies of breweries are discussed.

The paper deals with the functioning of commodity exchanges in the Czech Republic, and is particularly concerned with exchanges trading in agricultural production commodities. The introductory part of the paper is oriented towards the theory and general structure of commodity exchanges; the other parts subsequently deal (in more detail) with the most problematic areas of their operation in the Czech Republic up to the present time. Within this part of the paper, the method of analytical evaluation is used for examining, above all, the existing legal regulation, the structure and function of these exchanges. Subsequently, using the method of comparative analysis, selected key aspects of their operation are compared with the theoretical requirements of their functioning as well as with the everyday functioning of this kind of exchange in economically developed countries. Findings gathered this way are subsequently utilized in the concluding part of the paper, the subject matter of which is a prediction about the possible variants of the future development of Czech agricultural commodity exchanges, with regard to the assumed admission of the Czech Republic to the European Union.

Recently we can mention in the CR a step by step enterprise number increase in the area of production, transport services, services and financial organisations, which practically apply internal departments of controlling or audit into their managerial structures. That is why it is required to dedicate a wider publication space to the information on the role and principles of managerial instruments, which are provided by controlling and Internal Audit for business administration and financial management. The goal is to ensure a higher quality of preparation or response on the still emerging forms of our enterprises co-operation with foreign business subjects and to match step at the level of building and in particularly in effectiveness of business informational systems usage for managerial process (especially for planning and decision making procedures control) in all areas of business functions. Internal controlling instruments application and using results of risks evaluations by internal audit simultaneously contributes to the improvement of level and effectiveness of intra-enterprise monitoring as a modern conception of control usage in business management. Management level increase and increase of management competency are the conditions of ensuring our enterprises competitiveness.

This contribution deals with the differentiation of agricultural enterprises, with focus on the declining enterprises as the most troublesome. In 2000, these businesses generated about 47% of the total loss in agriculture. In this respect, the methodological procedure was also used for the purpose of tipping out the highly unprofitable enterprises. The economic and financial analysis is focused on evaluation of the achieved results expressed in basic economic indicators. The analysis refers to the cause of agricultural enterprises decline. The different dynamics of restructuring process of agricultural production confirm the marked difference of results characteristic for declining enterprises with growing year-on-year loss, increasing costs, decrease of own capital, high indebtness and dependence on the foreign sources.

In spite of the official goals of support for rural tourism promulgated by governmental bodies, rural tourism remains a marginal phenomenon. This lack of confidence in rural tourism has relatively deep roots. The basis for this is almost of an ontological nature and consists in opposition, although subconscious, against "commodified authenticity". Another source of this lack of confidence lies in the fact that rurality, the main attractive feature of tourism, has been substantially impaired as a result of trends in the 20th century. A third reason follows from the combination of rural tourism and mass recreation, as well as inadequate response by governmental bodies and authorities to the risks for regional stability, based on unmanaged mass tourism.

In the framework of Slovakia preparation for entering the European Union, there was done a Phare-ACE survey in years 1999-2000. The name of this survey was "Micro-economic analysis of farming households restructuring in pre-accession period to the EU". This survey was done in two regions of Slovakia, characterized by different natural conditions, production and economic conditions. This project was aiming not only at private farmers but also at other legal entities producing agricultural products. The first monitored group consisted of 412 private farmers, farming in average 43.2 ha of agricultural land. The second group consisted of 150 businesses, having 1,866 ha of agricultural land in average.

This paper analyses assets and liability structure on the selected data set from the primary agricultural production in Slovakia. Accounting is presented as a complex foundation, information system, which provides information for decision-making and company management. The source of input data are accounting records generating statements of finances. The theme of the paper is selected issues of balance sheet analysis. The results of the research show unfavorable total assets development. The index 2000/1999 has the value 96.7. There are long-term problems in liabilities volume and structure. Equity capital stagnates. Borrowed capital decrease because of the decreas in loans. Loans were 2 741 SKK/ha in 2000. Most of the companies are in primary insolvency position, when payables after maturity are twice higher than receivables after maturity.