Major conceptual contributions of a number of Nobel-laureates in putting forth a framework linking the citizenry's right to know and access to information with development, have already had a major influence in various fields. However, implementation of transparency-related reforms on the ground...

This chapter summarizes the salient results of the World Business Environment Survey (WBES). It shows that important dimensions of the climate for business operation and investment can be measured, analyzed, and compared across countries, and that governance is key to the business environment...

Building from the 2002/03 contribution to the Global Competitiveness Report ("Governance Crossroads"), this paper argues that governance continues to be at a crossroad, its underperformance being evident in most regions and across many countries. This ('governance policy gap') contrasts with the...

The main aim of the paper is to identify the succession strategies (especially the ways in which they attempt to balance the strive to maintain family’s control over the company with the goal of firm’s growth) of the first generation of Polish entrepreneurs. Research survey was conducted on...

The paper verifies the existence of relations between development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the particular factors of regional environment as well as demographic parameters of entrepreneurs and their enterprises. SMEs localized in Southern Poland in accordance with NUTS -1...

The main focus of the article is to elaborate on the importance and role of small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovak economy. The authors show development tendencies of SME sector in Slovakia in the years 1993-2006. Where it was possible the authors enumerated the data for the year 2007. The...

This empirical study seeks to identify, for the period 1933-1998, determinants of the rate of return on bank assets (ROA). The study finds that the ROA has been an increasing function of the interest rate yield on bank loans to the private sector, the growth rate of real GDP, and the percentage...

Using Co-integration Tests, Granger-Causality Tests, and OLS, this study empirically investigates the determinants of the rate of return on savings and loan assets over the 1965-1991 period. It is found that it is determined by the mortgage rate, the capital/asset ratio, the price of imported...

Despite important advances in recent years, no general agreement exists concerning what constitutes management excellence. Specific knowledge of how managerial behavior is perceived and evaluated by others will help to resolve unsettled questions about what is meant by management excellence and...