The objective of the paper is to explore the governance structure of strategic alliances created by small and medium enterprises in the South Moravian Region. It deeper examines contractual alliances between strategic partners with focus on the contract and also deals with the protection of intellectual property rights in the investigated firms. To gain data for investigation, both primary and secondary research have been applied. Within the former the main data collection methods were the questionnaire survey and semi-structured personal interviews. The overall goal of the paper is to enhance the knowledge about the creation and functioning of strategic alliances in the Czech Republic. This paper is organized in the following way: first of all, the notion of strategic alliance is introduced. Next, the main forms of governance structure are presented in more details. This is followed by the objective and the methods of research. The results present the main findings of the research and discuss them in broader context. The conclusions recall the main findings and reveal the space for further investigation.

ESTÉLYIOVÁ, K., KORÁB, V.: Network cooperation of small and medium enterprises in the South Moravian Region. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2010, LVIII, No. 3, pp. 41-54 Competitiveness of national economies depends in great part on technological development and implementation of knowledge from science and research in practice. The phenomenon of cooperation represents an integral part of these processes. While its bounded forms, like mergers and acquisitions are relatively embedded in the Czech Republic, the advantages of less formal partnerships have been gradually discovered just recently. In the paper we focus on a special type of cooperation called networks. In order to get an initial overview, we introduce some of the basic defi nitions, as the specialized literature lacks single explanation and categorization. Within the framework of our research we have focused on such purposeful connections of small and medium enterprises that bring benefi ts for both sides and lead to the growth of competitiveness. The aim of the article is to investigate the prerequisites of interfi rm network operation in the South Moravian Region. The fi rst part of the paper introduces network cooperation, especially the motives standing behind network set-up, the typology of networks and the role of networks at regional level. Then we briefl y describe the South Moravian region, where our investigation has been made. We focus especially on the demonstration of the most powerful and perspective economic branches in which we consider networks very important. This base is further extended by the information received in the South Moravian Innovation Centre, an interest association of legal persons having experience especially in research institution -company cooperation. The operation of a partnership network is analyzed on the case of DC Concept, a. s., a company from Brno producing and developing information system for middle and large companies. We introduce the six types of their partners, the system how the network works and the motives lying behind. The paper is based on the information gained during the pre-research which falls within the scope of doctoral dissertation research focusing on network creation of small and medium enterprises in a certain region. small and medium enterprises, South Moravian Region, network, cooperation, information tech nolo gy Síťová spolupráce, partnerské vztahy, synergické podnikání, strategické aliance, klastry -jsou jenom některé z výrazů popisující spolupráci mezi podniky v české odborné literatuře (viz např. práce autorů Vodáček a Vodáčková, 2006Vodáčková, , 2009Mikoláš, 2005;Skokan, 2004). Když k tomu přidáme anglické názvosloví, výčet se rozšíří o mnohé další výrazy, jako cooperative agreements, cooperation networks, coopetition, strategic partnerships apod.Vodáček a Vodáčková (2006) upozorňují na tendenci stálého rozšiřování a růstu intenzity kooperačních, a tím i interakčních vztahů mezi partnery. Uvádějí, že některé formy strategických partnerství, jako joint vent...

No abstract

Innovation is very often characterized as a resource-intensive activity connected with a relatively high level of risk and uncertainty. Therefore small and medium-sized enterprises are more vulnerable in this respect than large companies. Cooperation is one of the ways of tackling this disadvantage. The objective of the paper is to reveal the attitudes of SMEs in the South Moravian Region towards interfirm-cooperation in the form of strategic partnerships and find out the attributes of such cooperation in the field of innovation. To achieve this goal the authors have evaluated and interpreted the results of research conducted in 2010-2011. To gain data quantitative methodology was applied in the form of a questionnaire survey. This data was completed with primary qualitative data from personal interviews and secondary data from previous research.The paper is organized in the following way: first of all, the importance of innovation is highlighted and the means of its creation through cooperation are introduced. Then the research methodology is described in more detail followed by the presentation of research results. Finally, there is a discussion of the main results and the conclusions arrived at.

ESTÉLYIOVÁ, K., KORÁB, V.: Conditions for making strategic alliances: The case of two enterprises from the South Moravian Region. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2011, LIX, No. 4, pp. 71-78 This paper focuses on the study of the role and importance of strategic alliances for small and medium enterprises. The purpose of the paper is to point out the conditions for making these cooperative relationships. This study is based on expert literature, mainly in foreign languages, which off ers a relatively detailed breakdown of this topic. The research itself contributes to enhancement of knowledge by summarising the key aspects of strategic co-operation and presentation of the approach of two Czech enterprises by means of a case study. The fi rst case study presents a small business with a development and growth strategy based mainly on strategic co-operation. However, despite positive examples many enterprises do not make any alliances, and their business relations can be described as "traditional". The second case study presents an example of such an enterprise and its approach to co-operation. Thanks to the two diff erent viewpoints it is possible to arrive at a better idea about co-operation and to discover the factors that limit the creation of strategic co-operation. The fi nal part of the work summarises the motifs -both active and passive approach -in making alliances and emphasizing some specifi cs of alliances. The outputs from the paper may lead to a broader discussion about strategic co-operation and serve as a starting point for further research. strategic cooperation, strategic alliance, small and medium enterprises, research and development, competitiveness