Title: Small business and cohesion policy - statistical evidence from the Czech Republic

Authors: Karel Mirošník; Jan Čadil; Klára Čermáková

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic ' Faculty of Economics, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic ' Faculty of Economics, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract: This article focuses on evaluation of structural funding of small enterprises in the Czech Republic (2007-2013). It describes basic characteristics of small business beneficiaries of the subsidies and compares them with a control group of randomly selected unsupported companies. Its main purpose is to contribute to the discussion about the effectiveness of the EU cohesion policy. This analysis is based on microeconomic data. It turns out that despite of the main objective of cohesion policy - to support the regions which are lagging behind - most of the financial means end in businesses located in developer regions. Moreover it seems that these funds contribute mainly to personnel costs and capital purchases and have no effect on productivity. The article concludes that limited efficiency of implemented cohesion policy is partly caused by the concept of CP itself and partly result of the way of implementations in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: evaluation; small businesses; EU cohesion policy; regional differences; EU funding effects; European Union; competitiveness; funding effectiveness; convergence; financial indicators; structural funding; small firms; Czech Republic; structural funding; small business funding; small business finance; personnel costs; capital purchases; productivity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.079421

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.29 No.3, pp.398 - 415

Received: 15 May 2015
Accepted: 10 Nov 2015
Published online: 28 Sep 2016 *

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