G31 - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies; CapacityReturn

The present work is based on a hypothesis that the Czech economy was showing signs of economic deceleration and a potential slump into deeper growth problems way before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., at least in the year 2019. However, the present text does not intend to thoroughly confirm this hypothesis because in order to do so, a longer timeline of key economic indicators needs to be analysed. What it does present is at least a partial argumentation supporting the abovementioned hypothesis and some basic calculations. It proposes two ways towards its confirmation. The first one is a comparative analysis of individual - especially European - economies' response to subsiding external influences, i.e., to the weakening of the effects of the pandemic on the economy. The second way is at least a partial analysis of key macroeconomic indicators from the time before and during the pandemic, with an emphasis on detectable divergences in the development. The conclusion of our research is the finding that as early as in 2019, the Czech economy was showing signs of imminent deceleration of growth, which would probably have turned into stagnation and possibly a certain decrease in economic activity. The conclusions indicate that the reason behind such development was a massive but in fact little effective investment activity in the Czech economic environment, which is historically related to the structure of the economy and to the position of the Czech industrial sector in supplier relationships. Two related phenomena arise from that: firstly, a relatively low labour productivity, with producers domiciled in the Czech Republic reaching quite a low volume of value added, and secondly a massive capital outflow in the form of profits paid to parent companies abroad. The final part of the paper outlines some potentially effective steps which might lead - under favourable circumstances - to restructuring processes in the Czech economy. Due to the date of finishing the research, the paper does not include the consequences of the War in Ukraine.

Importance of risk and uncertainty in present period of dynamic changes grows. The article deals with risk and uncertainty in strategic decision making. First the concepts of risk and uncertainty and possibilities of their measurement are discussed. Further shortcomings of strategic decision making from the point of view risk integration are described. The emphasis is on discussion of decision making methods under risk and uncertainty (including decision tables, scenarios, Monte Carlo simulation, real options, decision trees, multicriteria utility function under risk, theory of games and methods of portfolio development) as supporting tools for strategic decision making. In the last part of the article some recommendations for integration of risk and uncertainty in strategic decision making based on scenario approach are suggested.

The topic of this paper is concerned in a possibility of connection of the micro- economics theory and the business economics theory. The goal of the submitted paper is an implementation of an economic efficiency as a microeconomic component to the business economics with a regard for an economic practice of companies in the Czech Republic. I use an analogy of the microeconomics and the business economics concept of total revenues and total costs to this implementation. The main of the text is reserved to opportunity costs because it is fitting to total economic costs from a point of view of business economics theory and practice is complicated. On basis of accepted analogies I generalize conclusions about an economic efficiency and I think of a product possi- bility frontier in a company too.