Zuzana Virglerova, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlin, Czech Republic,
E-mail: virglerova@fame.utb.cz Kamil Dobes,
Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlin, Czech Republic,
THE INFLUENCE OF SME OWNERS’
EDUCATION ON THEIR PERCEPTION OF BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT IN CZECH REPUBLIC
E-mail: dobes@fame.utb.cz Jan Kramolis,
Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlin, Czech Republic,
E-mail: kramolis@fame.utb.cz Anna Kotaskova,
Paneuropean University in Bratislava,
Bratislava, Slovakia, E-mail:
anna.kotaskova@gmail.com
Received: February, 2017 1st Revision: May, 2017 Accepted: July, 2017 DOI: 10.14254/2071- 789X.2017/10-3/22
ABSTRACT. The aim of this article is to find out how SME owners in Czech Republic perceive the role of the state and whether this perception differs according to their level of education. In the course of this project managers or owners of small and medium enterprises were asked to answer the questions about business environment. The following three variables influencing business environment had been chosen: conditions for starting a business, state financial support for business, improving conditions for business in a longer-term pespective. For each of the answers, ordinal mean values were searched for, and discrete ordinal variances were calculated. In order to test for the dependencies, Pearson's Chi-squared test was applied. It was found that the lower education the businesspersons have, the higher is their satisfaction with the role of the state in the business environment of Czech Republic. Better-educated businesspersons are more aware of administrative obstructions when starting a business.
Majority of SMEs were not satisfied with the financial support for businesses provided the state.
JEL Classification : H70, L26,
M13, M21 Keywords : business environment, small and medium-sized enterprises, state, education
Introduction
Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in both domestic and international economic environments. They enter the international division of labour either directly through contacts with foreign partners, or indirectly, through importing and exporting as subcontractors. Under the increasing liberalization of international trade, their activity continues to grow (Dúbravská et al., 2015).
According to the initiative called the Small Business Act, Czech Republic is more or less at the EU average level in such fields as entrepreneurship, access to finance, the single market, skills and innovation, but is significantly below the average in the area of the second chance, “Green light to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises”, flexible management, state support, public procurement and internationalization (European Commission, 2015).
Quality business environment is a prerequisite for long-term competitiveness and growth of every market economy. In its broadest sense, business environment reflects the
Virglerova, Z., Dobes, K., Kramolis, J., Kotaskova, A. (2017). The Influence of SME Owners‘s Education on Their Perception of Business Environment in Czech Republic.
Economics and Sociology, 10(3), 321-332. doi:10.14254/2071-789X.2017/10-3/22