This thesis deals with issues related to innovation in the Czech company and their influence on their competitiveness. The aim of the work in the first part is the definition of terms: innovation, competitiveness and demand and their relationships. Attention is paid to the impacts of global competitive and turbulent world and the competitiveness of Czech companies. They show the expected basic trends of the world. The second part describes Czech industrial company (GZ Digital Media, Inc.) and its trends over the past year. It analyzes the development of the basic indicators (profitability, liquidity and business activity) and quantifies the prediction possibilities of bankrupt (Altman index, IN 05). Finally there are definitions of factors of the current success of the business, including its persistent and intense innovation and strong influence of leading figures in business management.

Kishor Wasan’s promising oral formulation of an intravenous drug is offering the prospect of effective treatment for two unrelated infections.

Submitted by Daniele Santos (danielesantos.htl@gmail.com) on 2017-06-06T18:33:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Tania Ngo_Revised.pdf: 2343388 bytes, checksum: 712a5c30f8c6b9eddacef1040388043a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2017-06-06T20:10:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Tania Ngo_Revised.pdf: 2343388 bytes, checksum: 712a5c30f8c6b9eddacef1040388043a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-21T13:08:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Tania Ngo_Revised.pdf: 2343388 bytes, checksum: 712a5c30f8c6b9eddacef1040388043a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-02 / Affordability is a key concern of international donors who finance antiretroviral drugs to treat AIDS in Sub-Saharan African countries. The ability of Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce their prices below large-scale manufacturers in India is challenging. Additionally, these medicines must meet The World Health Organization prequalification standards. While the cost of second-line ARVs remains a concern, donors should also focus resources on other factors of ARV access, such as the supply of human resources for health, infrastructure and issues of sustainable financing. This research specifically aims to determine if the domestic production of
antiretroviral drugs can be a successful and viable option to increase access to ARVs in sub-Saharan Africa by using three case studies of Uganda, Kenya and The democratic Republic of Congo. The research is intended to explore a potentially economical way to provide ARVs to populations with HIV/AIDS in order to move away from a dependence on foreign aid, which does not guarantee continued long-term access to the medications. Since ARVs must be taken daily for the duration of the patient's life, it is important to develop ways to increase access to the medications in a manner that facilitates the long-term drug procurement. The success of local manufacturers then relies on the capacity of the firm to achieve two necessary elements of donor-financed requirements: international quality standards and economies of scale to lower price. I recommend that more countries in Africa should produce ARVs locally in order to lower to cost and increase accessibility, especially in small villages. Even though the current operation of local production has not led to a significant increase in access primarily due to market entry restrictions, this endeavor have the ability to amplify long-term access to affordable ARV drugs

This research, with the main focus on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, was based on data from the literature, and on questionnaire and interview surveys with the main stakeholders: authorities, drug-developers and NGOs/foundations. It revealed the following determinants, which contributed to the occurrence of drug pricing conflicts in Brazil, Thailand and South Africa: governmental constitutional commitments to supply medicines to poor people, the existence of a local pharmaceutical industry capable of producing generic versions of patented medicines and long histories of disease treatment programmes. The research documented the preferred approaches to increase global access to life-saving medicines for the next decade, which were found to be: public-private-partnerships, prevention measures, dedication of >0.5% of GNP to poor countries, and improvement of national healthcare/insurance systems. Those approaches were integrated into a conceptual framework, which could enable country-level organizations to move beyond the conflict mentality via a ¿Public-Private-Partnership for gradual Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability Model,¿ (P3S3). Within this framework, rich countries should invest >0.5% of their GNP to help to alleviate poverty in poor countries. With these funds, national governments should implement programmes to expand implementation of disease prevention measures and improve national - 4 - healthcare/insurance systems and the quality of the medicines involved. Public-private-partnerships should act as ¿steering-and-controlling¿ organizations to guide the process and to minimise corruption. As a positive message to all who currently lack access to these medicines, the thesis author¿s conclusion is that the use of this model could help to turn the current unsustainable development policies into sustainable ones, and as a consequence, it would contribute to improvements in the quality of life of millions of people in poor countries. / Tibotec-Virco BVBA

This research, with the main focus on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, was based on data from the literature, and on questionnaire and interview surveys with the main stakeholders: authorities, drug-developers and NGOs/foundations. It revealed the following determinants, which contributed to the occurrence of drug pricing conflicts in Brazil, Thailand and South Africa: governmental constitutional commitments to supply medicines to poor people, the existence of a local pharmaceutical industry capable of producing generic versions of patented medicines and long histories of disease treatment programmes. The research documented the preferred approaches to increase global access to life-saving medicines for the next decade, which were found to be: public-private-partnerships, prevention measures, dedication of >0.5% of GNP to poor countries, and improvement of national healthcare/insurance systems. Those approaches were integrated into a conceptual framework, which could enable country-level organizations to move beyond the conflict mentality via a 'Public-Private-Partnership for gradual Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability Model,' (P3S3). Within this framework, rich countries should invest >0.5% of their GNP to help to alleviate poverty in poor countries. With these funds, national governments should implement programmes to expand implementation of disease prevention measures and improve national - 4 - healthcare/insurance systems and the quality of the medicines involved. Public-private-partnerships should act as 'steering-and-controlling' organizations to guide the process and to minimise corruption. As a positive message to all who currently lack access to these medicines, the thesis author's conclusion is that the use of this model could help to turn the current unsustainable development policies into sustainable ones, and as a consequence, it would contribute to improvements in the quality of life of millions of people in poor countries.

[pt] O presente trabalho se desdobra através do dentro/ fora da União Europeia (UE) perguntando que poder existe na narrativa de poder normativo? E o que essa narrativa faz com a UE? Essas questões são investigadas movendo o foco de análise para perceber em que extensão e de que maneiras as relações com Outros afetam a identidade da UE. Considerando que o Poder Normativo Europeu (PNE) é o elo entre a segurança ontológica da UE e sua política externa, ele não pode ser pensado independentemente do Outro. A tese oferece uma teorização dos mecanismos de difusão e posterior operacionalização de uma perspectiva dialógica que endogeneiza o Outro desde o início. Recepção de normas é, portanto, parte integrante da análise de difusão. Posteriormente, a tese recria diferentes processos de difusão a partir do PNE como política externa para observar o argumento condutor de que, quando os Outros são integralizados à análise, dois dilemas do PNE despontam, um político e outro, mais profundo, ontológico. Um primeiro dilema é político: se o PNE enfrenta resistência, ou ele a anula, minando assim seu status de um tipo distinto de política externa; ou não, e então não alcança seu objetivo de difusão de normas. Mas um dilema mais profundo está ligado ao fato de que o PNE não é apenas uma política externa: é também um componente central do projeto de identidade da UE. Mesmo se as normas forem difundidas e as políticas convergirem, o PNE pode não ser reconhecido como a identidade superior na qual a ordem internacional deve se espelhar. Dito isto, se a UE tomar conhecimento do seu não reconhecimento, ela é posta diante de ver isto como uma aberração que será remediada ao longo do tempo, ou como uma potencial ameaça à sua segurança ontológica. Ela, portanto, paralisa e não consegue alterar sua abordagem. Como resultado, o PNE como política externa pode, mesmo que seja bem-sucedido, prejudicar seu projeto de identidade; e o PNE como projeto de identidade pode minar sua política externa exatamente quando sua tendência a ver-se confirmado ao encontrar o Outro prejudica seu reconhecimento externo. Empiricamente, o dilema ontológico é observado em um caso de cooperação para o desenvolvimento, o Programa entre a UE e a Comunidade de Estados Latino-Americanos e Caribenhos (CELAC) sobre Políticas de Drogas (COPOLAD), iniciado em 2011 e renovado em 2016. O dilema político, por sua vez, é observado em um caso de resistência, a busca pelo acesso global a medicamentos que provocou intensa polarização e divergências entre a UE e o Brasil no âmbito multilateral em 2008-2009, com desenvolvimentos até 2016. A tese constrói uma teoria e desenvolve hipóteses conectadas aos dilemas do PNE, integrando seriamente o Outro em uma abordagem dialógica aos dois casos paradigmáticos. A abordagem explora a presença de diferenças, contestação e assimetrias de poder em trajetos processuais que resultam em um dos dois dilemas. A maioria dos estudos que abordam o exercício do poder normativo da UE como política externa lidam com casos de Europeização entre os Estados membros da UE, candidatos e países vizinhos. Esse cenário pode conduzir a um problema tanto para a estabilização da identidade política da UE quanto para o sucesso de sua política externa, uma vez que países distantes das suas fronteiras provavelmente desafiam o discurso de excepcionalidade e caráter distinto da UE. Estudos Europeus e a própria UE, por sua vez, não lançaram luz sobre esse problema até meados dos anos 2000. Em contrapartida, esta tese contribui para a agenda de pesquisa sobre difusão de normas e governança externa da UE em duas frentes principais: 1) oferecendo um quadro teórico para analisar o PNE como política externa, proponho que nosso entendimento é atualmente insuficiente para compreender dilemas que têm a ver com a forma como o PNE deve funcionar; 2) operacionaliza uma abordagem dialógica dos estudos de caso que revelam a política de recepção de normas, considerando os Outros como parte / [en] The present work looks across European Union s inside/outside by asking what power is there in a normative power narrative? And what does this narrative do to the EU? These questions are investigated by moving the focus of analysis to see to what extent and in which ways relationships set up with Others beyond Europe affect the EU political identity. Considering that NPE is the link between the EU s ontological security and its foreign policy, it cannot be thought independently of the Other. At first, the thesis offers a theorization of mechanisms of diffusion and subsequently operationalization in a dialogic perspective that endogeneize the Other from the onset. Norm reception is thus integral part of the diffusion analysis. At second, it recreates different processes of diffusion starting from NPE as foreign policy to observe the driving argument that, when the Others are endogeneized, two dilemmas of NPE arise, one political and another, more profound one, ontological. A first dilemma is political: If NPE faces resistance, it either overrules it thereby undermining its status of a different type of foreign policy; or it does not, and then does not succeed in its aim of norm diffusion. But a more profound dilemma is connected to the fact that NPE is not just a foreign policy: it is also a central component of the EU s identity project. Even if norms are diffused and policies converge, NPE may not be recognized as the superior identity to which the international order should strive. This said, if the EU becomes aware of its non-recognition, it is put before either seeing this as an aberration that will be remedied over time, or as a potential threat to its ontological security. It is hence stuck and cannot change its approach. As a result, NPE as a foreign policy can, even if successful, undermine its identity project; and NPE as identity politics can undermine its foreign policy exactly when its tendency to see itself confirmed when meeting the Other undermines its external recognition. Empirically, the ontological dilemma is observed in a case of development cooperation, the Programme between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC) on Drugs Policies (COPOLAD), which began in 2011 and was renewed in 2016. And the political dilemma is observed in a case of resistance, the quest of global access to medicines that provoked intense polarization and divergences between the EU and Brazil at the multilateral level in 2008-2009, with further developments until 2016. The thesis builds a theory and develops hypotheses connected to the NPE dilemma, seriously integrating the Other in a dialogic approach to the two paradigmatic cases. The approach explores the role of difference, contestation and power asymmetries in processual paths that end up in either of the two dilemma. Most studies that address the exercising of NPE as foreign policy tackle cases of Europeanization among EU Member States, candidates and neighboring countries. This scenario may lead to a consequent problem for both the stabilization of the EU political identity and success of foreign policy, since countries far from its borders are likely to challenge EU s discourse of exceptionalism and distinctiveness. European Studies and the EU itself did not shed light on this problem until mid-2000s. By contrast, this thesis contributes to the research agenda of norms diffusion and EU external governance on two main fronts: 1) offering a theoretical framework to analyze NPE as foreign policy, I propose that our understanding is currently insufficient to grasp dilemmas that have to do with how NPE should work; 2) it operationalizes a dialogic approach to the case studies that reveal the politics of norm reception, considering the Others as part of a fruitful communication with the EU, and not as passive receivers of NPE. Politically, it is relevant for the EU to make the NPE as a strategy coincide with its discourse on norms and principles, reducing the creation of stereotypes like double standards. In addition, to embody the Others in