Evaluation of the Performance of SMEs in the Context of Regional Development

Abstract

Research background: Regional development of the European territory is becoming a key priority area and thus arouses interest in analyzes of the impact of development not only of business activities on economic competitiveness. Entrepreneurship is an important part of every country's economic system and has important implications for the growth of society. The paper focuses on the possibility of identifying the determinants of regional competitiveness of the manufacturing industry with a focus on defining their impact on SME performance, in the sense of EVA in the programming period 2014-2020. Purpose of the article: The presented paper focuses on the performance of companies in the Czech economy in connection with the reflection of national regional policy documents. Purpose of the article is to evaluate the economic performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry in connection with the level of development of the regions in the Czech Republic in which they are located. Methods: The evaluation of the achieved level of regional development is performed at the level of regions and administrative districts of municipalities with extended powers. Through multidimensional regression modelling, the determinants of regional development disparities are identified with a focus on defining their impact on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises expressed by the economic value added (EVA) indicator. Findings & Value Added: Public sector expenditure on science and research was evaluated as the most important parameter of regional disparities, which explains the economic performance of companies. Based on the achieved results, measures are proposed for the cultivation of the business environment for the next programming period. The contribution is the proposals for the formulation of regional policy with a focus on the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises.