Purpose: This article’s primary purpose is to present and analyze the current state of board gender diversity and elaborate on the relatively sparse literature in this field in the Czech Republic, a post-transition Eastern European economy. The described study sought to identify and comment on the theoretical views concerning previous research in other, mainly Western European countries, by highlighting new perspectives on board gender diversity.

Design/methodology/approach: The study’s empirical analysis was based on 235 companies domiciled in the Czech Republic with 500 or more employees. We followed a selection protocol consisting of several filters in arriving at our final sample. We initially analyzed the data in relation to (a) the number of employees, (b) organization turnover, and (c) industrial classification. We calculated the mean (μ), standard deviation, (σ), and coefficient of variation (CV) of the data/variances, then tested our hypotheses through χ2, determining the significance through the p-value. Finally, we calculated the board diversity index (DI) for female/male board members.

Findings: Our findings showed that the representation of women on corporate boards of Czech Republic companies is well below the European directive target figure of 40%. There is a greater representation of women on supervisory than on statutory boards. Moreover, the research revealed that female directors are more likely to serve on boards of companies in health care, social, wholesale, retail, and administration sectors compared to the construction, manufacturing, transportation, and storage sectors. Furthermore, company turnover also plays a part in board gender diversity. Finally, we highlighted many reasons why the Czech Republic is a fertile ground for the study of board gender diversity.

Practical implications: We believe this article will be valuable to senior managers in industry and wider regulatory, corporate governance, and ethical environments, fostering diversity and equality on corporate boards. This article forms a sound foundation for future studies on board gender diversity in the Czech Republic and contributes to the ongoing discussion on any adoption of possible future quota.

Originality/value: This research presents a rare insight into the current board gender diversity structure in the Czech Republic, especially because the country is relatively under-researched in the corporate governance and gender diversity literature. Thus, the research adds to the theoretical views concerning earlier research undertaken in other, mainly Western European countries, highlighting new perspectives on board gender diversity.

Purpose: The article considers country-level governance factors (legal/regulatory system and financial development) and ownership concentration that impact the value of non-financial firms in Central European nations, specifically by describing a study done in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

Methodology: A fixed effect panel data regression analysis was applied to a strongly balanced panel data using a collection of six diverse Central European countries’ non-financial firms across the sample period of 2010–2020.

Results: According to regression analysis, the legal and regulatory system as well as financial development have a positive relationship with firm value. The firm’s value rises as the legal and regulatory system improves. Furthermore, the growth of financial markets adds to the firm’s value. However, our study reveals a negative relationship between ownership concentration and firm value, which indicates that ownership concentration is too high to allow for effective supervision, implying that more ownership concentration lowers firm value, as the expropriation theory suggests.

Originality: The study examines the value of a firm by incorporating both country- and firm-level factors, which broadens the current literature’s insight.
Implications: Overall, our findings add to the literature on the value of non-financial firms by providing new significant information. Some of the recommendations may be beneficial to the long-term success of non-financial companies.

Purpose: This study aims to assess the direction of changes in the extent of extreme, relative, and statutory poverty in 2008–2017 in Poland, along with the spatial differentiation of poverty in individual voivodships.

Methodology: The study of poverty differentiation based on data from Household Budgets Survey. Obtained results were subjected to statistical analysis, using elements of multidimensional analysis.

Results: The research revealed that there are significant differences in the level of poverty in individual voivodships, with lower values observed in Western Poland. A significant drop in the level of poverty, especially extreme poverty, was recorded in 2008–2017. Furthermore, fluctuations in the extent of poverty are strongly impacted by state policy.

Implications: Research results may be useful to policy-makers at the local government level not only in Poland but also in other countries, mainly from the perspective of the European Union’s Europe 2020 strategy.

Originality/Value: The article undertakes the topic of poverty, which constitutes an important and current socioeconomic concern. Despite progressive economic development, there still exist disadvantaged groups of entities and households.

Purpose: The aim of this article is to present the results of the research on the export of venture capital backed firms in the European Union countries.

Methodology: For the purpose of this article, the author created four linear regression models. He decided for export revenue to be a dependent variable. Then, the author verified the influence of four independent variables on export value.

Findings: The research found that the turnover of venture capital backed firms positively influences their export value. Moreover, the costs of employees also play an important role in export value explanation. Nevertheless, the empirical study did not confirm any strong positive correlation of analyzed firms’ export value with the number of employees and their share of shareholders’ funds in operating income.

Limitations: The analyzed period was limited only to 2016. Second, the study used only one dependent and four independent variables. Further research must include other variables, especially moderating ones, such as entrepreneurship ratio or availability of external financing forms. Third, the regression models were based on data retrieved from Orbis Database and can induce uncertainty regarding its credibility.

Originality: At present, there are still only few research studies that explore the export of venture capital backed firms.

Purpose: Respective European Union member states’ interest in using spending reviews varies as there are no international mandatory regulations. The EU legislation contains general indications as to maintaining a rational fscal policy, from the provisions of the TFUE, expanded in the Pact for Stability and Growth, and elaborated in 2011.

Methodology: Adopting an interpretative research approach, this article elaborates a multiple explanatory case study design to discover how existing theories about public spending reviews are conceptualized by practitioners in their natural contexts.

Findings: The deteriorated state of many countries’ public fnances, as a result of the global fnancial crisis, has increased the interest in advanced innovative consolidation and fscal stabilization methods. Spending reviews are among the most developed and advanced methods. Such reviews were conducted both by countries that had applied this instrument before (Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Australia), and by those that introduced them for the frst time (Ireland, Canada, France). However, reviews are applied in countries characterized by signifcant economic advancement and mature public management systems.

Originality: This article analyses and draws conclusions from several selected countries’ experience to date in using spending reviews. The budget functions are compared using information from the implementation of the spending reviews. This article contributes to flling two main gaps identifed in the literature review.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to summarize studies aiming to defne matters related to the quality of explanations found in corporate governance statements published by listed companies. Another important aspect of the conducted analysis is the identifcation of various dimensions of explanation quality.

Methodology: The character of the conducted research is that of an overview of literature devoted to the subject. Apart from scientifc articles, it covers European Union regulations, regulations characteristic of countries selected for the analysis (member states of the European Union), and applied solutions aimed at guaranteeing the desired quality of explanations for deviation included in corporate governance statements that are in the centre of attention.

Findings: The conducted analysis organizes the current knowledge concerning actions aimed at improving the quality of explanations for deviation from principles of corporate governance. Without a doubt, the primary pillar consists of the level of information and its quality, as found in explanations for shareholders. It is this quality that determines if the shareholder understands the processes occurring in the realm of corporate governance in the company.

Research limitations: The conducted analysis should be treated as an introduction to related research issues. It should be stressed that research into explanations provided by companies is still in the process of development, and the number of publications devoted to this topic is still modest.

Practical implications: The study fts in the research into the phenomena of the “comply or explain” mechanism as applied in practice, which according of many researchers, continues to be poorly investigated. In terms of the directions for further research, there are promising topics including e.g. identifcation of factors that may translate into the quality of such statements (e.g. ownership structure, identity of shareholders), the role that should be played by institutions involved in developing CG codes (i.e. their successive versions), and the involvement of the board of directors/ supervisory board in the evaluation process.

Originality: The present paper identifes the key factors perceived as determining the quality of corporate governance statements. In addition to that, it outlines new avenues for further investigation.

Purpose: The article presents the results of a study conducted for the January effect. This anomaly is best recognized in the capital markets. In this case, we fnd explanation of its appearance based on both fundamental analysis and heuristics used by investors. The research focuses on the markets of the European Union enlargement countries of 2004. There are three hypotheses stated in the article: Hypothesis 1: The January Effect occurs in the analyzed markets. Hypothesis 2: The January Effect weakens over time. Hypothesis 3: The January Effect weakens with the development of a market.

Methodology: Three methods verifed the hypotheses: tests of differences, average and median rate of return, and dynamic models paneled with the estimation of parameters and the generalized method of moments.

Findings: The January Effect exists in the analyzed markets. The anomaly weakens over time but, after accession to the European Union, January return rates increase signifcantly.

Limitation: The defnite verifcation was diffcult due to the available methods and data. Further research in this feld is, therefore, needed.

Originality: The originality of the paper stems from the construction of the sample – new evidence from post-communist countries – which became the European Union members in 2004. The next important issue is the period of twenty years after the economic transformation – ten before and ten after the enlargement of the EU.

Purpose: This article provides an understanding of international retailers’ successes and failures when expanding in the Polish market. Accordingly, the objectives of this article were to define and identify what are the critical factors of success and failures of international retailers’ strategies while expanding in the Polish market according to the retailers themselves.

Methodology: Adopting an interpretative research approach, this article elaborates a multiple explanatory case study design to discover how existing theory on internationalization compared to how internationalization is experienced and conceptualized by practitioners in their natural contexts.

Findings: Twenty cases were studied among which were found four successful retailers and two who had failed. Coding of categories highlighted five critical success factors and five critical failure factors. Pricing strategy, necessity of adapting operations to local market, learning by doing, e-commerce and early entry timing appeared as factors of success or at least as “facilitating factors.” Choosing the inappropriate entry method, underestimating competition, developing the retail network and retail environment at a slow pace and not giving enough means of abnegation led to failures in Poland.

Originality: This article contributes to filling two main gaps identified in the literature review. Many different theoretical approaches exist but no conclusive framework has emerged. Besides, most concepts were developed and tested on western European countries and nothing proved adequate to the specific retail landscape of eastern Europeans countries such as Poland.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of market structure and market conduct characteristics (such as market concentration, presence of networks operated by global corporations, presence of vertically integrated companies, presence of hypermarket gasoline stations and consumption level) on price-cost margin levels, based on an example of the European Union retail gasoline market.

Methodology: The research applied regression analysis on a panel data set comprising of average monthly price-cost margins for 2012 to 2015, based on the data published in the European Commission Oil Bulletin, and on a set of variables characterizing market structure and market conduct of 24 European Union member state countries.

Findings: The results showed that in the case of retail gasoline markets, higher industrial concentration yields higher price-cost margins with a statistically significant influence of other market structure and conduct factors.

Purpose: The organization of this article was subordinated to the connections between the government program documentation related to the state social objectives and their implementation at the budgetary level. The article shows the necessity of perceiving fiscal policy as an instrument to implement government programming objectives. The aim of the article is to assess the degree of implementation of social objectives on the basis of information resulting from the experience gained in the area of performance budgeting in Poland.

Methodology: To assess the scale of financing of social objectives in Poland in comparison with other European countries, the author used Eurostat data from COFOG (Classification of the Functions of Government). To assess the effectiveness of state operations related to the achievement of social objectives, the author used information from the implementation of the performance-oriented state budget. It was assumed that the performance-oriented system linking the clear structure of public expenditure with the objectives and measures assigned to them to assess the effectiveness of fiscal policy in particular areas of government intervention.

Findings: The relations between individual strategic documents related to social objectives and performance-oriented budgetary structure are presented. The results indicate that the scale of financing of social tasks in Poland is at a lower level than the average for European countries. The author points out the functions related to the achievement of social objectives whose effectiveness could be improved.

Originality: Using information from the implementation of the performance-oriented budget to compare the individual budget functions of social character on the basis of the evaluation of the degree to which the measures for these functions’ operations have been implemented.

Purpose: Miles and Snow’s conception of strategic types is the most popular and extensively studied typology of strategic choices. Consequently, in recent years it has been related to organizational performance measures. Despite numerous studies conducted in different environmental and organizational settings, the research results of relationships between strategic types and organizational performance are ambiguous. In this paper, we seek to advance the knowledge regarding how a chosen strategic type affects organizational performance measures in the transition economy of Poland.

Methodology: Using quantitative research results, on the basis of data from 96 organizations we statistically test four research hypotheses.

Findings: Research results reveal the existence of “clear” strategic types in majority of companies but highlight moderately strong relationships between declared strategic type and organizational performance. In turn, they suggest that Prospector and analyzer strategic types promise slightly higher performance than Reactor and Defender types.

Originality: This research project on strategic types in SMEs in a transition economy is one of few dealing with this topic that have been conducted in Eastern European countries to date.

Purpose: This paper attempts to examine the meaning of professionalization, the conditions required for professionalization and whether internal auditing can be recognized as a profession. The paper makes use of study results in the fi eld of internal auditing conducted in Europe and the USA, as well as Andrew Abbott’s theory on the system of professions. Professions have common characteristics which differentiate them from other occupations. These characteristics were used to determine the criteria for evaluating the professionalism of internal auditing. The conducted analysis indicates that presently internal auditing cannot be regarded as an independent profession.

Methodology: Study results (quantitative and qualitative) in the fi eld of internal auditing were used in the analysis.

Findings: The conducted analysis indicates that presently internal auditing cannot be regarded as an independent profession.

Research limitations: Only a selection of research studies conducted in the USA and a few European countries were used, which limits the cognitive value of the analysis.

Originality: The paper presents an overview of conducted research studies and gives an evaluation of the current state of professionalization of internal auditing.

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to find an answer to the question whether the European Union, and especially the countries that are full members of the Economic and Monetary Union, are able to reach a common solution in fiscal policy, which may result in a further deepening of integration processes.

Methodology: The article is based on literature, legislation and documents, reports and accounts of the institutions and bodies of the EU. The paper presents an analysis of the current situation within the European Union on fiscal consolidation, the theoretical format of the fiscal union and the range of possible functions of common bonds and consequences of the issue (in the context of sharing risk between the issuers, and thus – the impact on
fiscal discipline), and finally, the role of the disintegrative processes in the context of public finance.

Findings: So far, the common legislation to restore budgetary balance was broadly implemented, however, it is too early to say whether specific rules will translate into action of public authorities. When it comes to issues indicating the deepening of integration, it is difficult to note the political consensus in this regard. The proposal for creating a new budget only for the eurozone countries seems to be far-reaching.

Research implications: This paper may be a contribution to the further discussion on the future of the European Union, especially in the context of fiscal policy.

Originality: The author presents her findings and thoughts on current events in the financial integration within the European Union on the basis of documents of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the President of the European Council and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Purpose: The main objective of the article is to assess the impact of new regulations introduced in the EU and the euro area in the face of the economic and financial crisis.

Methodology: Literature review related to the functioning of the euro area, roots of the global crisis and financial market integration. The critical literature review was focused on two issues: identification of the causes of fiscal and macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area and assessment of the implemented instruments designed to prevent them.

Findings: The basic feature of the six-pack measures and the European Semester, which complements them, is deeper coordination of macroeconomic, structural and competitiveness policies among Member States. Adopted measures are a big step towards strengthening the economic pillar of the monetary union. However, the progress and quality of their implementation will be critical in improving economic governance in the EU.

Research implications: identification of strengths and weaknesses of the adopted reforms allows for using these results in the assessment of the balance of costs and benefits of the future functioning of the euro area as well as the implications for macroeconomic policies in the countries intending to join the euro area.

Originality: The author tries to provide an overview of the roots of the crisis in the euro area with the assessment of the reforms aiming to prevent similar crises in the future. The arguments presented in the article are against the view that the main reason for the crisis was a weak fiscal policy of the euro area countries.

Purpose: The article investigates whether performance of government-owned banks
is influenced by electoral considerations.

Methodology: To verify the political interference hypothesis, net interest margins
recorded by banks during different stages of the electoral cycle are studied. Univariate
tests are applied and random effects regression models are estimated.

Findings: It is established that government-owned banks exhibit statistically and
economically significantly lower net interest margins and interest incomes during
pre-electoral periods in Central European countries. The results support the view
that government-owned banks do realize political goals.

Research limitations: The role of only one political factor, i.e. electoral cycle is analyzed.
A comprehensive research project should encompass the effect of such factors
as political competition, non-electoral political events, electoral expectations,
government political complexion, and institutional development on governmentowned
banks’ behaviors. It should also assess the political determinants of lending
volume.

Originality: The article uses a new dataset including financial information since
1992, i.e. since the early transformation years.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to show how the concentrations of primary income
can be related to the labour market structure in two samples of selected European
and transition countries. Then it focuses on the differences in the transitional path of
Poland and Russia that justify the current divergences in the distribution of income
in these two countries.

Methodology: This research, in its empirical part, is based on cluster analysis and
principal component analysis (PCA). By these techniques, the study defines which
main factors of the labour market are more involved in the distribution process in
the selected countries.

Findings: On the basis of the data used, it seems possible to establish a relationship
between different labour market models and the degree of primary income inequality,
focusing on which variables are more relevant with respect to the different
labour market systems.

Originality: This research deals with the aspect of the concentration of primary
income in different economies with cluster and principal component analyses, considering
the shortage of related economic data in this field of research.