ATTITUDE OF SLOVAK SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES TOWARDS RISK MANAGEMENT – INVESTIGATION OF THE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

Abstract

Contemporary trends highlight the need for education in each enterprise. The current business environment is characterized by many changes such as increased customer expectations and high levels of competitiveness in the environment. World trends, shows, that managers and owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) perceived the need to take care of risk management in their enterprise. This issue has been analyzed and discussed for a long time. It is necessary to concentrate on this field mainly in the Slovak Republic. SMEs in Slovakia are very sensitive to changes in the environment.
 The aim of this paper is to investigate regional differences in the attitude of Slovak SMEs towards risk management, with special emphasis on the attitude towards significance of the education in the field of risk management based on empirical research, which was provided by authors in 2017. This paper will evaluate: the level of dependence between the selected Slovak regions and the created space for discussion about risks in SMEs, the level of dependence between selected Slovak regions and the created space for employee education in risk management in SMEs, and the level of dependence between selected Slovak regions and the required education possibilities in the field of risk management. It will use: association, the Pearson’s coefficient and the Tschuprov coefficient for evaluating the results.
 Overall results of the empirical research point towards the significance and importance of using risk management in SMEs. The results, shows, that there is a very large association between investigating dependence. Based on the results, it is necessary to improve the level of education in the field of risk management, which will be based on current entrepreneurial requirements.