ÚvodProblémy regionálneho rozvoja Slovenska, podobne ako aj ostatných postsocialistických krajín strednej a východnej Európy, od roku 2004 nových členov Európskej únie, sú stále aktuálnym spoločenským problémom a jednou z kľúčových tém bádania viacerých vedných disciplín, vrátane geografie. V posledných rokoch sú na Slovensku aktuálnym problémom pretrvávajúce rozdiely v spoločenskom rozvoji jednotlivých regiónov.Skutočnosť, že územná diferenciácia rozvojového potenciálu štátu je objektívnej povahy (okrem iných Lukniš, 1985, Paulov, 1992, Hampl, 2005 a i.) sa všeobecne akceptuje. Prijíma sa aj fakt, že efektívny ekonomický rozvoj, resp. integrálny spoločenský rozvoj štátu nutne musí vytvárať rozdiely medzi regiónmi, aby boli dobre využité zdroje štátu (Hampl, 2005, Blažek, Csank, 2007, Korec, 2009, Blažek, Uhlíř, 2011, Ženka a kol., 2012. Gorzelak (2009) explicitne konštatuje, že "zaostávajúce regióny nikdy nedobehnú bohaté". Nakoniec, "degeneratívne" dôsledky "násilnej" nivelizácie regionálnych rozdielov v minulom politickom systéme sme na Slovensku po roku 1989 pocítili veľmi rýchlo. Takisto je však zrejmé, že dôležitou otázkou je aj "vhodná" miera spoločenskej (ekonomickej a sociálnej) regionálnej diferenciácie. Z tohto dôvodu je preto nevyhnutné vytvárať také politické mechanizmy, ktoré budú schopné nájsť

Agglomeration Economies and Technology Intensity of Industry Sector in Slovakia This paper analyses the geographical concentration of the industry sector according to technology intensity of industries. The analysis of spatial distribution employs a database including information on the number of plants at the 2-digit level of sector aggregation in the period 1997-2016. We estimate parameters for a spatial panel data analysis with random and fixed effects in order to examine two related research questions: (1) to what extent are the effects of internal economies of scale present in the technology-intensive industries; and (2) which types of external economies of scale are used by different industries depending on technology intensity. Our results indicate that the regional industrial structure of Slovakia has become more diverse. As a consequence of the phase of economic integration, some of the regions have been integrated into global production networks and maintain high levels of specialisation.

This paper attempts to indicate changes in industry during the period of economic restructuring and European integration in Slovakia in the regional and sectoral contexts. The concepts of geographic concentration and regional specialization are used in order to achieve the envisaged aims. Based on the relationship between the change in the specialization index and the change in the number of companies in three size categories, the main aim is to show the strategies used in the transformation of the regional industrial structure. It is expected that the largest category of industrial companies, those with 250 or more employees, will be a significant factor in explaining the changes in regional specialization. The main output will be a graphic model of transformation strategies and the identification of regional industrial types.

The article deals with the spatial pattern of the supply network of the automotive industry according to the time-accessibility to four car assembly plants in Slovakia. Empirical results are anchored in the spatial concept of integrated periphery and theoretical framework of the nested structure. We obtained the data after a personal meeting with the General Secretary of the Association of the Automotive Industry in Slovakia. The database contains a list of 313 suppliers of different levels. We assume that with increasing distance from automobile assembly plants and decreasing level of the supply network, the geographical concentration of the supply network will become lower. Our results confirm the assumption that tier-1 suppliers are located closer to assembly plants with higher geographical concentration compared to bottom suppliers‘ levels. On the other hand, these spatial patterns change when we consider a regional production system of the automotive industry that reaches beyond the national territory scale (e.g., KIA) or a launch of a new car assembly plant (JLR) arriving into a developed environment with an existing network of suppliers.

No abstract