Entrepreneurial activities of municipalities in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Local self-governments in Slovakia have on their disposal several ways of performing entrepreneurial activities. In general municipal entrepreneurship leads to the appreciation of municipal assets and generation of additional own budget revenues. The aim of the paper was to identify and analyse commercial enterprises, through which local self-governments conduct entrepreneurial activities. Within the research, we focused on the enterprises with the property share of municipalities, which have the status of the town. The following factors were taken into account when analysing the municipal enterprises: number of enterprises, their distribution in regions, legal form, economic activity and their economic results. Research results point to the fact that Slovak municipalities have long-term experience in performing of entrepreneurial activities using the municipal enterprises. They are mostly enterprises with 100 percent ownership of towns, and in terms of legal form, they are mostly limited liability companies. As for the economic activities, these enterprises are active in the fields corresponding with the municipal competences. An important positive effect of the entrepreneurial activities of the local self-governments is the increase in the value of assets.