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The aim of this work is to analyze the dynamics of attitudes towards the European Union in the Czech Republic on the basis of the data file from the project "Aktér", which has been realized by the Department of Sociology Faculty of Arts since 1999. In recent years, public euro-skepticism in attitudes of the population of all EU member countries has emerged. The same for the Czech Republic, as evidenced by periodic public opinion surveys (eg Eurobarometer and CVVM). The European Union is perceived negatively by the efforts to intervene in the affairs of nation states. On the other hand, EU brings many new possibilities and opportunities but they are accepted and used selectively. Specific socio-demographic, economic and political characteristics of people differentiate the perception of the European Union. This work reveals whether the skepticism towards the EU is universal phenomenon in the Czech Republic or whether there are population groups that are consistently positive towards a united Europe, and why. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The diploma thesis studies the short-term impact of Croatian accession to the EU on its agricultural sector. This is done by discussing current literature in the field, studying Croatian accession process, analysing Croatian economic indicators and agricultural sector, utilizing Slovenian experience with accession, and using econometric analysis. Both the empirical evidence and results of model estimation show that Croatia is better off after the accession with regard to the agricultural trade. Early post-accession data show no evidence of serious adverse effects on employment or volume of trade. There is much stronger agricultural export decrease to the CEFTA countries in 2013 than to the EU countries, shifting the ratio of export in favour of the EU. A significant increase of imports from the EU is registered after the accession but imports from the CEFTA countries remain unchanged. The results show that the EU accession has positive impact on Croatian agricultural trade.

The thesis analyses the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh which both parties claim to be their historical territory. The thesis explains how the conflict started and continued with a full-scale military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which is commonly referred to as the Nagorno-Karabakh War. One of the most important chapter of the thesis is the description of roles played by foreign mediators such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkey. All those countries pursued their own geopolitical and economic goals in the region, and wished to actively participate in it in order to spread their influence. The European Union has constantly been playing an important role in settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict thanks to its active involvement in all peacekeeping and mediation processes in the region. Nonetheless, despite all international efforts, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh still continues as of today, and the parties cannot come to any compromise due to the antagonistic nature of their territorial disputes for Nagorno-Karabakh. Both, Azerbaijan and Armenia have started actively deploying their troops on the mutual borders, which raises fears among the international community that a new war for Nagorno-Karabakh might start already in the near future.

The Eurozone has been the object of much controversy recently. Both on the member-state and on the EU level, policies are being made to cope with the many problems of the Eurozone. In this paper we state that academic economics is often unable to give the right advice for policymakers in the case of the Eurozone crisis, because this is a new situation where academics are disagreeing fundamentally about the best remedy for the problem. We come to this conclusion by first showing how one of the most prominent theories about monetary unions (the Optimum Currency Area theory) is unable to give any good advice to policymakers. After that we make a country-comparitive study between the ten new EU members in Central and Eastern Europe that joined in 2004 and 2007, which shows us that these countries respond fundamentally different on the Eurocrisis and that these reactions are more based on political and public support and national economic performance than on formal academic economics.

This thesis examines the integration of European stock markets, focusing on the affect of the EU and Eurozone. Moreover, the thesis analyses whether increasing integration is a local trend possibly caused by the EU and Eurozone, or whether either the Japanese or American stock market gets more integrated with the European ones as well. We study the integration using weekly data of eighteen European stock markets and stock markets of Japan and the US over the horizon of twenty years. The method used is an extension by Klöessner and Wagner (2012) of a method originally introduced by Diebold and Yilmaz (2009). We find a positive effect of the EU on the integration of the stock markets. Also, the integration is rather local as the American and Japanese stock markets are proved to not have a higher increase in integration with the European stock markets that they have with each other. Finally, we find the Eurozone does not have an immediate positive effect on the integration of the stock markets. Keywords Stock markets integration, Spillovers, EU, Eurozone, Diebold and Yilmaz Author's e-mail vildova.t@email.cz Supervisor's e-mail mp.princ@seznam.cz

The concept of marketing has typically been perceived as an overtly commercial concept by both nature and origin amongst public sector professionals. Consequently marketing has conventionally been viewed as at best irrelevant and at worst antipathetic to the delivery of public services. The widespread adoption of market based approaches to the organisation of public services in Western economies, together with the emergence of active public sector consumerism has, however, forced a fundamental reconsideration of the potential role of marketing in the delivery of public services. Focusing on the experience of self-governing hospital Trusts operating within the NHS internal market in Scotland, this thesis critically examines the process of adoption and adaptation of marketing concepts within such organisations. Utilising a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches across a sample of acute NHS Trust in Scotland it provides a structured assessment of the issues impinging on the potential transfer of marketing concepts into a complex public sector organisation. The specific issues addressed in the research include; the utilisation of marketing techniques and concepts in such organisations, the extent to which marketing concepts have become structurally embedded in the organisation, the key organisational influences on the process of adoption, and whether current marketing paradigms offer a contextually relevant conceptualisation of marketing. The market within the NHS is ultimately characterised by the existence of a complex network of inter-locking relationships between the organisations within that market. Reflecting this market structure, there is a uniform rejection of traditional transactional conceptualisations of marketing by NHS professionals. The effective adoption of marketing concepts in such a public sector setting arguably requires less of a fundamental adaptation of marketing concepts than a substitution of a relational conceptualisation of marketing in place of the prevailing transactional models of marketing.

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In recent years there has been significant interest in the performance of independent retail businesses located in UK market towns as they face up to new patterns of competition and demand. However prior to this study there has been only a very limited understanding of the factors that contribute the success and failure of these individual small businesses. This thesis fills a gap in the literature relating to the performance of these small firms through empirical analysis and the application of management research methods in a contextual setting. Based upon a comprehensive review of relevant literature spanning the boundaries of marketing, retailing and small business research a model is developed that identifies relationships between independent retailer performance, market oriented behaviour, competitive strategy and prevailing environmental contingency variables. Relationships in the model are tested using valid and reliable measurement constructs for market orientation and performance, which are based upon data collected from a postal survey of owner-managers and qualitative interviews. Findings suggest that the extent of an independent retailer's market orientation is significantly and positively associated with its performance, which concurs with extant studies of small businesses. Results also identify that the effects of market orientation on performance outcomes are in certain circumstances dependent upon environmental contingencies, which adds weight to theory positing moderated effects. The findings of the research contribute to retail management theory by distinguishing variations in competitive strategy types in the independent sector and associating differences in strategic posture with performance. The results of contingency analysis in the model framework identify interactions between the variables, which suggest that market orientation contributes to strategy selection and implementation, and consequent performance outcomes. The research concludes with a series of implications for both theorists and practitioners. In particular it suggests that promoting a market orientation culture and related activities in a judicious manner can promote strategic behaviour, which enhances performance. Issues associated with the implementation of market oriented behaviour are discussed and recommendations for owner managers and advisory bodies proposed.

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