Department of Macro and Microeconomics

Human capital management is a strategic and planned approach to managing the most valuable of the organisation, workforce. To achieve organisation goals is essential to assess the value and efficiency of human capital. Several approaches are known of the human capital assessment and its effectiveness, but the unified methodology has not been accepted yet. In the process of teaching realization in universities is essential to deal with the new, modern themes, whose research is continuing. The goal of our paper is to explain some metrics of human capital efficiency and to solve practical examples point out the possible implementation of knowledge in this area in teaching the economic subjects and addressing of diploma thesis.

All kinds of advantages, which increase an enterprise's competitiveness and profit levels, are welcome by most subjects in business environments. Currently professionally oriented social networks present one of these potential sources, which offer comparative advantages not only for individuals but also for companies, industrial enterprises and organizations of various kinds. It is because social networking can offer numerous benefits that could help to increase employment expand business activity or generate new business opportunities. The important fact is that social networking services are free, so the costs of their comprehensive use by individuals or businesses are minimal compared with the benefits flowing from them. The future destiny of the development of social networking services is open ended. Today we already know that Internet and mobile technologies are available to the general public. Their positive impact on business and employment activities for the business environment is definitely not negligible. Keywords social networking • business environments • business opportunities • SN's advantages and disadvantages • marketing tools Acknowledgement This work has been supported by the grant VEGA 1/0149/09 Formation of flexible system determining growth of the value of enterprise flowing from analyse relevant attributes by using classical and modern approaches and methods. JEL CLassification: D22, D80.

Statisticians and prognostic models are often used by all economic subjects for forecasting of different aspects of their business activities. But what can they do when their novelties and innovation have no relevant historical data or have only a few objectionable (subject to quantity or periodicity) data? Despite the incomplete data, which are useless for traditional forecasting methods, all mobile operators request some kind of prediction about the success or failure of market acceptance of their novelties (innovations) and about their and future development. In this article, we try to look through how relevant principles and knowledge of diffusion theory can be applied in practise by creating some diffusion scenarios for adoption of mobile technologies and services in conditions of the Slovak mobile market. The conclusions made by us might be valuable for all mobile operators and content providers for future learning and decision-making in case they want to introduce a new mobile technology or service to the market.

When applying a suitable combination of different modern methods of education, it is possible to improve quality and attractiveness of higher education and readiness of students, not only for successful completion of the exam syllabus, final paper, final state exams, but also to deal with everyday life and work situations, creating a precondition for the successful application of the students in their further activities outside of school. We have shown an example in the article how you can use the method of role plays within the teaching of Macroeconomics and increase the attractiveness of the subject and efficiency of education for students of Informatics.

The demand for experts in the field of information and communication technologies, who in addition to professional knowledge and skills have quality management and economic capabilities, is constantly growing. It is due to the fact that these candidates are not only technically proficient, but are able to respond to the new demand, innovate old markets and gain the interest of customers. The contribution introduced points out the content and methodological aspect for teaching bases of Microeconomics for the students of Informatics. It presents the occurrence of Microeconomic theory in practice and proposal of teaching methods for the practical application of economic knowledge.

Universities as the centres of knowledge play an important role in education and application of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). They are not just institutions of higher education and research granting titles but they together educate responsible people with excellent knowledge able to solve questions and problems globally and share their knowledge that the wider community can benefit from. The aim of this article is to show which teaching methods could be used to educate students of the study program Informatics in the field of corporate social responsibility in Slovakia. The success of the CSR implementation, to a large extent, depends on the level of involvement of university teachers and appropriate teaching methods they choose. Corporate social responsibly literacy means, that student will be able to apply basic concepts years later in situations relevant to their professional personal lifeline.

Evaluation is a complex process, which is attributed a certain value according to certain criteria and standards. The assessment of higher education teaching outcomes is focused on the student's progress in learning, skills and attitudes. The situation before and after undergoing certain training activities is taken into consideration in relation to the objectives (range of student's knowledge in various subjects, profile of graduate study programme). The evaluation of results of higher education teaching in time is carried out in three steps: initial, ongoing and final. In our article, the evaluation represents an effective tool of student's preparation for their future career in their field of study as well as an effective tool of shaping student's personality (it evokes a need for further education in the field, the need for self-realization and knowledge). The aim of the paper is to highlight the complexity of project teaching evaluation and a causal link between the evaluation of higher education teaching outcomes and the quality of higher education. The article focuses on the importance of multicriteria assessment and presents its sample.

The economic result is primary and main financial source for the further development of the enterprise. It is an expression of value of business transformation process. It represents the criterion for deciding on the volume of production, new products, investments, etc. In the interests of stability and the further development of each enterprise we need to pay attention to it not only in terms of level, but also the factors that affect it. On the basis of the above, there was created a process model of decomposition of the economic result. It consists of the knowledge and the analysis of its reference point, defining target value, making variations in order to achieve the target value, the determination of the means to achieve it, establishing the criteria for the selection of variant, selection of the most appropriate variant, implementation of concrete measures, finding the actual condition of the creation of economic result, findings and analyses of the deviations, adoption of measures. The aim of the paper is the generalisation of the results arising from the creation and application of process model of economic result decomposition and drawing conclusions and recommendations. The result is the acquisition of new knowledge making up the essence of the observed value expression of the business transformation process.

The Žilina region is located in northwestern Slovakia. Considering the amount of GDP, unemployment, employment and average wage, it belongs among the medium-performance regions in Slovakia. FDI is considered one of the factors promoting its sustainable development, economic performance and balancing regional differences. A positive aspect of FDI in terms of regional development is the fact that they contribute to an efficient allocation of resources, as investors are directing their investments in those regions where they expect the achievement of economies of scale. FDI began to increasingly flow to the Žilina region after 2004, in connection with the arrival of KIA Motors and establishing its subcontracting partners. The aim of this article is to point out the condition and development of economic performance and FDI in the Žilina region, and to demonstrate a causal relationship between FDI and the sustainable development of the region.

The economic recession brings problems often affecting the existence of enterprises and organizations. The growing problem of increase in the number of claims after maturity affects many enterprises. One of the tools for the management of customer receivables is regular assessment of the credibility of current and potential customers. The subject of the article is the proposal of the methods for assessing the credibility of key customers in the manufacturing enterprise.

Universities, as the centres of knowledge play an important role to be a leader of corporate social responsibility. They´re no longer just institutions of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees, but rather they are turning into institutions which train responsible humans, create cutting-edge knowledge to solve the issues and problems at a global scale and share the knowledge so that it can benefit the community. This article wanted to pay attention to aspects of corporate social activities which could be implemented on universities themselves. Universities then can own experiences utilize for creating good practice and also increase a level of education in this field. It is also important to debate how can universities help to raise awareness and commitment in our society to develop a sustainable socioeconomic model for the future.

The aim of this article is to identify substantial factors affecting the motivation of universities’ students to be actively engaged in the education process and define recommendations for the increase of this motivation. As a result, the sustainability of education at universities will be supported, contributing to the increase of the value of human capital of students and, subsequently, to the generation of value for the stakeholder groups in those enterprises where the graduates will be employed. The research hypothesis is focused on the presence of differences in students’ motivation in relation to their gender, study program, and the year of study. To effectively achieve this aim, the analysis, comparison, and the synthesis of the theoretical background was performed, using available sources of secondary data found in the pieces of domestic and foreign professional literature. The pieces of knowledge obtained were supplemented and combined with pieces of information acquired fr...

Due to the specificity of transport services that are being performed with an unambiguous impact on the environment and society, all activities of transport enterprises oriented towards the achievement of the sustainability goals are more visible than in the case of other enterprises. Consequently, the growing need for sustainability increases not only the costs of individual transport services but also the total costs of a transport enterprise. Indisputably, the costs affect the pricing, which leads to the final market prices. On the one hand, they can increase the prices, but on the other hand, they decrease the enterprise’s competitiveness and its success in the market at the same time. Even though the cost-based pricing is essential, it is not sufficient under these circumstances. Based on the objectives stated above, the primary aim of this paper is to emphasize that the creation of prices in a transport enterprise must consider the global aspects of the enterprise’s performanc...

The aim of this article is to present and promote current research outcomes in the field of age management and its impact on sustainability through a review of the appropriate literature sources and pieces of empirical experience. The identification of relations between the work ability index, ageing population and the needs of the labour market can significantly improve the decision-supporting models that the managers can use to achieve higher competitiveness and sustainability for their enterprises.

Enterprises are currently trying to bring new technologies into production and use new procedures and recommendations in various management activities. However, they should not forget to change their approach to the evaluation of the results achieved and focus on the use of modern methods of performance evaluation and prove to apply them in their enterprises. The aim of this paper is to point out several variants of the calculation of Economic value added (EVA) indicator, define the possibilities to apply EVA methods to the conditions of enterprises in the Slovak Republic and the need to adjust data providing financial statements and data for current accounts. Application of economic value added should be able to contribute to changes in the views of the owners and managers of enterprises in the Slovak republic for use not only as financial indicators.

Everyday usage of new information and communication technologies and recent changes in the economy increased the importance of educated IT employees with the right combination of technical and business skills. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the management literature and practice by answering the question of what abilities today's IT students should have to fulfil the requirements of their future workplace. Our surveys via the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews among IT employers and IT students identify the importance of hybrid skills and the increasing managers' awareness of this topic. The findings indicated that not only the employers but also the students call for the increase of education efforts to improve these skills. The skills and knowledge recognized in our surveys should be mastered by the university educators to prepare graduates by providing innovative learning and teaching methods. For IT students, it is essential to acquire and develop technical skills as the core ones, but they also need the business skills to become desired professionals who can play a significant role in the future workplaces and the economy as a whole.

Nowadays all economies are more and more based on knowledge and information. Economists therefore are increasingly interested in the measurement of productivity of highly qualified employees. While in the case of other factors of production (labour, land, capital) we know the number of economic and statistical approaches how to deal with the measurement of efficiency or productivity, there is no single methodology in relation to highly qualified employees. Also there is a lack of an internationally agreed definition of highly qualified employees. This article offers possible approaches in this field focusing mainly on a staff segment with tertiary education. Although measuring of qualitative impacts is sometimes difficult, it does not mean that it is impossible. On the contrary, properly interpreted and applied indicators increase employment on the labour market and reinforce the positive contributions of highly qualified employees in the business.

The government of each state strives for the decrease of the unemployment to the lowest level possible, and thus for achieving of the natural unemployment rate. Slovakia, after joining the European Union, also had to adapt to this trend and to develop even more effort for solving the issue of a high unemployment rate. One of the possible approaches to promoting the employment of people without work is the use of active labor market policy instruments. The tools are intended for enterprises and individuals and should encourage enterprises to create new jobs or individuals to show more initiatives. An example for Slovakia, as well as for other EU states, is represented by the Nordic countries. In these countries, the active labor market policies have been functioning for long years. In the paper, the approaches of Slovakia, Sweden, EU and OEDC countries are identified and analyzed pertaining to the tools of active labor market policies in the context of sustainability. Based on the an...

The continuous development of information and communication technologies is reflected also in the growth of the number of students in the fields of Informatics. Students however, come to study with the idea of what they want to be and how much they would like to earn in the future, but without knowledge of what the specific requirements they will be asked for in the future in a given employment or working position. Based on surveys even IT specialist needs basic economic literacy to improve software quality and customer satisfaction. Therefore effective results of their education process depend on the choice of the appropriate educational methods, which represent the path, or way in achieving the educational objectives defined in the teaching process. Application of appropriate educational methods and innovations are allow students to make basic economic connections in real business conditions and show usefulness of economic knowledge in practice in more attractive way. This contrib...

The methods used represent an important tool for ensuring the educational process. The selection of appropriate methods is determined by the aim of the subject. However, the use of a suitable combination of mutual educational methods should be conditional on the individual needs of students and teachers, social needs and trends. The selection should respond to the current global trends in technical, economic, and educational research and development. The implementation of appropriate methods is determined by various factors. It is, for example, the number of students in one group, their present and desired level of knowledge, skills, motivation to learn, functional position. The level of expertise and experience of teachers and spatial capabilities are also important. The aim of the article is to show how it is possible to increase the efficiency and attractiveness of the subject at university using participatory methods.