Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Božena Plchová Title: Competitiveness in the International Context. Selected Aspects of the Position of New EU Member States Abstract: The purpose of the study is to analyse and evaluate the position and trend of international competitiveness of the Central European EU countries, and the results of the influence of their EU membership on the competitiveness of the chosen countries. The study method is based on a complex set of multidimensional analyses using, firstly, quantitative indicators, namely input and output indicators, and secondly, qualitative evaluations. The results of the empirical evaluations had to monitor the changing positions of the new EU Member States in the International Competitiveness Scoreboard: Yearbooks of IMD Lausanne; Reports of WEF Geneve. The study conclusions confirmed the influence of the involvement of the New Member States in the common and shared EU policies (common trade policy, agricultural policy, liberalization of the movement of capital and services within the EU, EU regional and structural policy, and other common policies) on the increasing competitiveness of the new EU Member States. Keywords: international competitiveness, multidimensional category, quantitative and qualitative indicators, Porter´s Classification-JEL: F13, F15, F43 Pages: 3-27 Volume: 2011 Issue: 2 Year: 2011 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/download.php?jnl=aop&pdf=328.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/328 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlaop:v:2011:y:2011:i:2:id:328:p:3-27 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlaop/references/328 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Adam Krčál Title: Business Perception of the Czech State Export Promotion Services. Analysis of Selected Aspects Abstract: The article deals with the Czech export promotion system. The hypothesis that is being examined in the article is as follows: "Exporters in the Czech Republic do not have enough information about the current system of the Czech state export promotion services and they only make little of use these services." The theoretical part contains an analysis of the Czech export promotion system. The Czech export promotion system is based on the activities of several institutions, mainly the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also government agencies such as CzechTrade and CzechInvest, but there is also the Czech Export Bank and the Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation. The hypothesis formulated in the introduction is then confirmed by the results of the author´s primary research, which was carried out among Czech exporters in the form of a questionnaire. Keywords: primary research, foreign trade, export promotion, trade promotion, export policy, trade policy Classification-JEL: O24 Pages: 28-49 Volume: 2011 Issue: 2 Year: 2011 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/download.php?jnl=aop&pdf=329.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/329 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlaop:v:2011:y:2011:i:2:id:329:p:28-49 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlaop/references/329 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Martina Bejrová Author-Name: Jiří Králík Title: Qualitative Changes in Risk Trends Pose Challenges for Insurability Abstract: Our rapidly changing world has been challenging insurers to keep the pace. Given the qualitative changes in risk trends, the insurance industry has encountered a problem of insurability limits and shifting boundaries of the private insurance sector. The possibilities of covering enormous uncertainties, particular risks and new or modified risks are discussed in this paper. The basic problem of how the nature of risks has evolved over time and obstacles to insuring against certain risks are explained in this paper, and some innovative ways to overcome the mentioned obstacles are listed. One of the most recently discussed issues is the impact of catastrophic losses and man-made disasters since their frequency and extent have been continuously growing recently. In order to handle the rapid changes in our world and to maintain its stable position, the insurance industry has found some ways to heighten the limits of insurability, i.e., adjustments of terms and conditions, careful risk selection and pricing, reinsurance, innovations, public private partnerships, or multi-source financing of incurred losses have been used recently. However, given the more stringent regulatory requirements which are going to be implemented by 2013, capital requirements may increase and thus the capacity of the insurance industry might be reduced and the industry might have to find other solutions for heightening its capacity. Keywords: qualitative changes in risk trends, shifting boundaries in insurability, catastrophic losses, man-made disasters Classification-JEL: D74, D81, D82, G22 Pages: 50-65 Volume: 2011 Issue: 2 Year: 2011 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/download.php?jnl=aop&pdf=330.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/330 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlaop:v:2011:y:2011:i:2:id:330:p:50-65 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlaop/references/330 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Adam Borovička Title: Comparison of Volatility Models of PX Index and FTSE 100 Index Abstract: The article deals with a typical phenomenon of financial time series - volatility. These time series usually embody intermittent periods of relative "calm" and quite high variability. A volatility modelling of time series is made with the help of special econometric volatility models which characterize the so-called conditional heteroskedasticity. The goal of this paper is to choose a suitable volatility model for Prague PX Index and London FTSE 100. The path to the aim is via a stationarity analysis of tracked time series of closing values of the mentioned indexes, conditional heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation tests and an identification of probability distribution of the studied quantity. A profiling of asymmetric effects is also very important because they determine the linear or nonlinear character of the resulting model. Keywords: volatility, conditional heteroskedasticity, EGARCH, GJR-GARCH, function NIC Classification-JEL: C58 Pages: 66-88 Volume: 2011 Issue: 2 Year: 2011 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/download.php?jnl=aop&pdf=331.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/aop/331 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlaop:v:2011:y:2011:i:2:id:331:p:66-88 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlaop/references/331