The world’s economy has been significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic crisis. Its logical reflection is a deteriorating condition of national and regional economies and their vehicles—enterprises. Negative effects of the crisis have influenced both the manufacturing sector and the services sector, where some segments have been hit fatally. In the corporate sphere in general, including in the services sector, there has been a growing need to change the approach to corporate strategy. The strategy should be generated based on management of value-creating processes with the objective to maximize satisfaction of customers while minimizing costs. This is also the topic of this paper. A representative sample of small and medium enterprises from the services sector have been surveyed about their size, using mathematical statistics and models that have been proposed to maximize profit probability. The objective was to propose models that maximize probability of profit and, at the same time, minimize costs for each combination of value chain activities (input logistics, provision of services, output logistics, marketing and sale, servicing, and other accompanying activities, purchasing material management, science-technical development, human resources management and company infrastructure). The main outcome of this paper is the fact that we have been able to prove the functionality of the tested model, which has demonstrated the growing importance of value stream management in relation to the size of enterprises. Such a universal and structured model provides a practical tool for the definition of economic-financial, investment and personnel policies in enterprises.

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The contribution deals with the economic value added and its influence on credit absorption capacity. The aim was to determine the significance of the difference between the economic value added (EVA) entity and EVA equity indicators on credit absorption by the construction sector in the Czech Republic. The data came from the Albertina database of Bisnode Czech Republic for the period 2012–2018; small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, were selected. The most important factor for calculating the amount of credit absorption depends on the EVA entity indicator and the weighted average cost of capital. The calculations produced negative values for credit absorption, which reflects an unattractive investment climate for business owners and their creditors. In other words, loans sought by enterprises in the Czech construction sector do not lead to a greater degree of realization of their goals, i.e., an increase in value for shareholders.

Development trends in management and organizational structures are considered one of the limitations of the ongoing transformation of the company architecture of enterprises in the Czech Republic. This study is based on the survey data of over 450 enterprises in different sizes and sector categories conducted in 2016–2019. Statistical dependence between the type of organizational structure and size of an enterprise is confirmed with a trend of transition to a department-based organizational structure at the expense of a division-based structure. A high degree of statistical dependence is found between the number of management levels and size of a company. However, a low level of statistical dependence is found between the number of management levels and the sector type. Dependence between management structure/size of an enterprise and its profitability is not confirmed. A critical strategic task for companies is acceleration of the transformation of the company architecture, including the organizational framework, and intensification of the innovation and digitalization based on a transfer of new knowledge into corporate practice. If enterprises accomplish this strategic task, they will generate higher value and they can be more profitable and sustainable. A transfer from classical management structures to departmental structures is demonstrated, which creates preconditions for transformation in process and project management. A new finding is an independent relationship between management structure/size of an enterprise and its profitability; and an opposite trend considering the number of management levels compared to the prediction, i.e., their decrease.

The state of organizational and management structures and the expected development in this issue is the subject of research, the outputs of which are presented in the article submitted. The research period covers 2016 - 2020; the test sample of enterprises (about 460 entities) includes all size categories and the manufacturing and service sectors. The research started in a period of strong economic growth and continues in the current period of economic downturn. Three research hypotheses were formulated. The first hypothesis concerning the existence of statistical dependence between the organizational and management structure of the enterprise and its size was confirmed. The remaining two hypotheses were rejected. Specifically, business managers did not identify the dominant departmental organizational structure as an instrument of profitability and sustainability. Similarly, the hypothesis that the enterprise managers did not consider Research and Development, Quality, and Investment departments as pro-growth tools were not confirmed, as the identified pro-growth tools are the Economic and Production departments and controlling. This result demonstrates the managers´ misunderstanding of the objectives, mission, and especially the function of an individual organizational unit in the corporate system. The conclusion of the paper presents the prediction for further development. Based on the obtained outcomes, a pro-growth organizational rule is defined. The main objective of all new management tools must be to ensure the production and provision of services to ensure the maximum possible satisfaction of customer requirements and to maximize the achieved margin. As confirmed by the literary research, this process has already started in the European Union countries. Many companies are fully implementing these principles in their daily management and decision-making practices.