Syllabus of course Business management of the Czech Republic Full-time study programme: Topical plan of lectures: 1. Introduction, Economic transition of corporate sector: from central planned to market economy. The first lecture deals with the process of transformation of Czech companies after the year 1989. Our point of view is micro-economical, primarily. However the changes in companies are not seen isolatedly – they are explained in context of transformation in macro-economical settings. In this way, we try to identify the reasons for tendencies, which have emerged in Czech companies since 1997. 2. The Development of FDI in the Czech Republic The aim is to provide a basic overview of the development of foreign direct investments (FDI) and its importance for an economy in transition. The lecture is divided into several parts. The introduction focuses on the importance of FDI, second part indicates the changes in attitudes towards FDI. Major part of the presentation gives the description of the development of foreign investments in the Czech Republic including the role and functions of the Czech Invest agency. Final part provides description of the future trends. 3. Legal framework of the Czech Companies The aim of the lecture is to present the basics of legal framework for doing business in the Czech Republic. The main principles as well as essential codes and laws will be introduced followed by the more detailed characteristic and description of all types of legal entities. Other types of business entities available for doing business in the Czech Republic will also be stated. Structure of the lecture: o Czech law – principles, codes and laws o Natural and legal entities – distinctions, basic characteristic o Trades – types, requirements, doing business in the CR for foreigners o Detailed description of legal and natural entities types o Other types of business entities o Commercial Registration 4. Economic impacts of membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union on the Czech companies The aim of the lecture is to familiarize students with the consequences of the membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union. Both positive and negative impacts will be mentioned as well as main changes for the Czech companies. Structure of the lecture: o History of relationships between the Czech Republic and the European Union o Membership of the Czech Republic in the EU – SWOT Analysis o Economic Impacts of the Membership o Czech Companies and EU Funds with the Impact on the Structural Funds 5. Czech corporate sector – industry environment, effectiveness, and financial analysis The aim of the lecture is to introduce students into the Czech business environment with differentiation between industry, trade and services. Focus on effectiveness and financial analysis of the Czech corporate sector will be supplemented by ratings of best Czech companies. Structure of the lecture: o Business Environment in the Czech Republic – comparison with other countries (mainly CEE) o Structure of the Czech Industry, outputs, employment o SMEs in the Czech Republic o Financial analysis of the Czech industry 6. IAS (IFRS) and their relationship with Czech accounting standards The aim of this lecture is to provide information about International accounting standards, International financial reporting standards and Czech accounting standards used in accounting evidence of Czech enterprises with the special focus on differences between these systems of accounting evidence and impacts of their usage on economic results of enterprises. 7. Forms of Strategic partnerships in the Czech Republic Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) are sometimes facing up problems with lack of resources, which are essential for the competitiveness of a company. Strategic partnerships provides possibilities how to cope with resource problems of SMEs and how to compete large corporations. The extent of strategic partnership and its limits in Czech entrepreneurs are identified. 8. Consumer’s rights in the Czech Republic The lecture presents short history of consumer’s rights in the Czech Republic, before and after (the year) 1989. We focus on the following topics: “state and protection of consumers”, “legislation and consumers’ rights”, “system of consumers’ protection” and “executive institutions in the sphere of consumers’ protection”. 9. Czech national quality program The lecture continues and elaborates the previous topic. We move focus form the consumers to companies back and we answer the question which instruments are utilized by Czech government to enforce quality (of products and management itself) in companies. We compare the activity of Czech government with the policy of EU Commission. 10. Retail in the Czech Republic The main ambition of this lecture is to present the basic analysis of retail sector in the Czech Republic. We identify main changes in retail since 1989. To explain shopping behavior of Czech consumers, we don’t take only the economical aspects into account, but we incorporate social changes in society into our analysis as well. 11. Advertising in ČR The advertising expenditure of companies has increased dramatically since the transformation process started. We analyze the structure of these costs and thereby we identify the one of the problems in marketing activities of Czech companies which is the gap in marketing research, which is underfinanced. The second part of lecture deals with the ethics in advertising and with the opinions of Czech customers on that. 12. In a search for (European) marketing? Recent political and economic changes in Europe brought number of challenges for business managers and marketing experts. The presentation provides overview of recent changes in the economic, political and social spheres and their influence on marketing thinking. Students are provided with various attitudes how to do marketing in Europe, how to tackle and approach different consumer groups and emerging marketing segments. 13. Mobile commerce in Czech Republic Mobile commerce is nowadays very popular term, for several reasons. The basic one is the advance of technologies in the mobile telecommunications and development of new means of payments. We identify the main business applications of mobile commerce and state of the art in the Czech Republic. The sequence of lectures can be changed!!