THE FACTORS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE IT-SECTOR IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC INSTABILITY: THE EXAMPLE OF HUNGARY AND BULGARIA

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the dependence of the annual turnover of the IT segment in Hungary and Bulgaria on groups of factors with the definition of the most influential groups for each country separately. The analysis of the IT/ITC sectors of the countries in terms of economic efficiency and the quantitative indicator of companies is presented in general. An indicator of the dimension of companies for each of the countries is also presented. The main indicator of the financial efficiency of companies for both countries was the annual turnover of companies. Three main areas were classified as groups of influence: tax rates, educational component indicators, and labor force indicators. Tax rates were considered under three main types: corporate tax, payroll tax, and social contributions. The educational component as a group of factors was divided into two subgroups: the quantitative characteristics of students, graduates, and education costs. The group of labor force factors was based on analyzing the number of employees in IT/ITC and company-level staff costs. Based on correlation regression and vector autoregression, each influencing factor group was analyzed when creating optimal models. Based on econometric analyzes and tests (for example, the Granger test), systems of factors influencing the performance indicator of technological companies in Hungary and Bulgaria were derived.