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The aim of every healthy economy is to reduce differences between regions in economic life, living standards and employment. It is a difficult task for most countries and especially in the Slovak Republic, because of the hard-pressed situation in decreasing regional differences. Paper's aim was to determine whether from a regional perspective, exist differences between entrepreneurs' opinion in obtaining loans in Slovak banks. In this context; we focused on the perception of bank involvement with SMEs, the transparency of bank lending, the information gap in bank loan terms and perception of the contemporary loan terms compared with the past ones. We conducted the survey on the sample of 541 respondents, in 2016. We found that more than one-half of them did not believe in bank transparency and about the same number considered information gap as significant. Approximately 60% of entrepreneurs thought that credit conditions are more acceptable than the past ones.

In terms of competition, manufacturing companies are focusing more and more on employee performance as well as motivation, the latter of which seems to be a prerequisite for the long-term performance of employees and thus the sustainable success of the company. Managerial decision-making, another phenomenon gaining scientific attention, can be considered a challenging function and the most important activity of a manager. But what is the impact of managerial decision-making on the motivation of employees? Can managerial decision-making influence employee motivation? The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of managerial decision-making on the motivation of employees in manufacturing companies. As the main method of data acquisition, a questionnaire survey among employees was conducted. For further processing and evaluation of the survey results, a contingency table and Chi-square test were used, followed by Student's T-test and F-test for calculating testability and verifying hypotheses. The results brought answers to the questions regarding the relationship between managerial decision-making and motivation of employees in the selected production companies. Factors and benefits affecting the motivation of employees and leading to their higher work performance was also determined, as well as to what extent a manager is able to influence performance.

The study addresses the aspects of sustainable economic development in terms of Industry 4.0. The fourth industrial revolution is built on digitalization of manufacturing processes, gathering and analysing data across machines and transformation of enterprises into smart and sustainable ones. This manufacturing revolution will bring along significant changes in labour markets. The Slovak economy focuses on industrial production based on cheap labour. In terms of Industry 4.0, the pools of low-skilled workers will no longer be needed. Even today, digital skills and competences are needed for employment. Thus, attention needs to be paid to the need to develop digital skills in order to achieve sustainable economic and social development of countries and regions. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the selected indicators of sustainable development and the effects of Industry 4.0 on their development in the Slovak Republic. The analysis of sustainable development indicators within the framework of Industry 4.0 makes the paper original. The issue has not been treated from this perspective in the Slovak Republic. Thus, new opportunities are opened up to examine social and economic effects of Industry 4.0. Several scientific disciplines tackled the issue from their own perspectives whereas associations of different kinds were not investigated. Basic mathematical and statistical methods (timelines, comparative statistics), analysis of materials, publications, governmental concepts and the EU decisions on the issue have been employed. The data were drawn from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Ministry of Economy, OECD and EUROSTAT. The authors attempted to identify new opportunities for achieving long-term competitiveness of the Slovak economy and sustainable social development. Several recommendations have been made mainly to the education sector which is deemed for driving innovation.