O52 - Economywide Country Studies: EuropeReturn

The goal of this paper is to analyze main changes in the business performance - as in part of the overall competitiveness - of the Visegrád Group, i.e. Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland and Hungary, in the last ten years, 2004-2014, based on Pearson correlation, Chow and Granger Causality tests. The business performance in the Visegrád Group is defined with the help of five indicators: business density, value added per business entity, investment in fixed capital per business density, inward foreign direct investment stock per business entity and exports of goods and services per business entity. The author finds that the business performance, and hence the business environment, in the Visegrád Group has diverged since EU accession with the exception of internationalization indicators, which indicates the necessity for managers to adjust to the specifics in each particular country.

This paper describes the specifics of the current development of the world economy and discusses implications for new member states of the European Union, the EU NMS, with a small case study on the Czech Republic. The paper is divided into four parts: the trends, the EU NMS and the effects of the trends in the EU NMS and in the Czech Republic. The paper is based on a general economic analysis of data provided by the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Eurostat, the European Central Bank (ECB) and by the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO). Being familiar with recent macroeconomic trends is nowadays important for Central and Eastern European managers in order to efficiently adapt their strategies to the constantly changing business environment.

The article examines recent developments in the Russian retail trade and automobile industry as two very dynamic sectors of the Russian economy by stating and forecasting sales trends, presenting the main market participants, shares of business forms and deducing perspectives for Central and Eastern European investors. The article uses a standard methodology for description of industries and econometric models for sales forecasts and analysis. The article's main benefit for Central and Eastern European managers is its concise and up-to-date description of the both sectors of the Russian economy, which is not easily accessible for foreigners due to language barriers and marketing agency fees.