Czech colaboration
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 11:10:00 BST
April 2015 was a busy time for the Business School’s Emerging Markets Research Group (EMERGE) with three visitors from the Czech Republic. Dr Iva Honova and Dr Radek Kana from the Technical University of Ostrava and Dr Jaroslav Demel from the Technical University of Liberec presented their research to the EMERGE group over the last two weeks.
The Czech seminar series started off with Radek’s talk on the European Union’s Contribution to Global Security. In his presentation, Radek was talking about some of the issues linked to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as a pillar of EU external relations, the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) as an integral part of the CFSP, the cooperation in the field of CSDP, and the EU operations and missions as a key instrument of CDSP. The presentation provided a very detailed overview of the types of the missions currently run by the EU as well as some issues linked to the spending on security policy were brought to attention. Based on all the data it was concluded that the EU has a balanced spending on security compared to the national budgets of other European countries; however, it has been pointed out that a very near future might see further spending due to current concerns related largely to immigration and unrests in the EU’s ‘safety belt’.
The second presentation was by Dr Iva Honova who was talking on the issue and importance of the European integration and further integration of the EU in the global economy. Iva’s presentation titled ‘The Integration Process in the World Economy’ was looking mostly at the reasons for economic integration and some specific characteristics of the European regional integration. Iva proposed a new approach to the theory of integration which splits some of the currently known stages of integration into two stages, and therefore provides a more detailed explanation of the whole integration process. Iva says that although the integration process of the EU is at a very complex and sophisticated level, there are still some improvements to be made which will require further cooperation between its member states as well as a deeper economic and fiscal integration.
The set of Czech seminars for the EMERGE group was concluded by Jaroslav Demel’s presentation who was recently awarded with his PhD and therefore it was his first time presenting as Dr Jaroslav Demel. His presentation was based on his PhD thesis which was aimed at the internationalization of Czech businesses. Jaroslav took an interesting approach to the issue of firm’s internationalization using the theory of a firm’s potential in the process of its internationalization process and its stages. Jaroslav says that a company is like an organism where it is crucial to direct all the aspects that define its potential in such direction that will lead to its performance maximization through the use of its potential to the fullest. He has developed a model that allows him to measure the potential of a firm not only statically but over time allowing him to trace the individual stages of the internationalization process.
The presentations were very interesting and triggered some exciting discussions of further prospects for the European Union and the membership of the Czech Republic in the EU as well as its various policies and current and military missions. There has been a great discussion of Jaroslav’s theory and the presentation had a very positive feedback and encouragement for further research.
Professor John Anchor, Director of the Emerging Markets Research Group, says “ It was great to see two old friends from the Czech Republic and meet one new one. The fact that these visits occured at all is testament to the depth of the relationships which have been established between Czech colleagues and the Emerging Markets Research Group at the Business School. Every year, these relationships deepen as we continue to learn more about one another. On behalf of the University of Huddersfield Business School, I would like to congratulate Jaroslav Demel on the recent award of his PhD by the Technical University of Liberec. Well done, Jarda!”
