Wireless communication technologies associated with the Internet of things (IoT) have started to be used also in manufacturing. Developing data-driven services by IoT also known as "smart services" in manufacturing business has become one of the current trends. Sensors enable IoT systems to provide intelligent and smart services during the shift towards smart production. Smart technologies have begun to be used also in agriculture by means of agricultural and farming applications. The aim of the paper is to determine why manufacturing companies have started to provide smart services with their products. A literature review presents the background of smart services in manufacturing companies as well in agriculture. For the empirical part, a qualitative multi-case study was conducted among seven Czech electrotechnical manufacturers and one Czech agricultural tractor manufacturer. All case companies have already begun with their smart service development. The findings indicate that manufactures usually decide by themselves to start with smart servitization, but the main categories of smart servitization drivers are connected to competitive advantage. The study is unique in highlighting the problems of smart services in SMEs in the Czech Republic, where the industrial sector is still dominant in comparison to other European countries.

The paper is focused on the determination of new knowledge about interfunctional coordination. Interfunctional coordination was defined at the beginning of 90s. It is the coordination of all company activities leading to the increase of business performance. Interfunctional coordination is connected with market orientation. It is one of necessary principle of market orientation. It is not possible to use market orientation without interfunctional coordination. Market orientation is based on marketing conception. The first detailed studies were offered by Kohli and Jaworski (1990) and Narver and Slater (1990). Market orientation is described as a method helping to contribute better managing of a company by many researchers. A lot of papers on this topic were publicized during the last two decades. The earliest papers involved the first definitions of market orientation; offered methods for its measuring; and investigated the impact of market orientation on business performance. The last attitudes towards market orientation agree that market orientation enables managers to focus on external and internal elements and activities, which influence the activity of a company leading to its performance increase (Tomaskova, 2009). At present, we have a lot of methods used for the measuring of market orientation. Using a proper method depends on the branch or economic system. The perception of the implementation of market orientation is changing during the period, as well. However, the main principle is still the same market orientation has a positive impact on business performance. Nowadays, a lot of authors deal with the implementation of market orientation. Because of this reason, we have prepared research "Research on implementation on market orientation in Hi-Tech Firms" (GA 402/07/1493). The goal of the research was to detect barriers of the implementation of market orientation. We divided the barriers of the implementation into three parts according to managers' influence in an internal, branch and external environment. State, economy and technologies are named as the main elements of external environment. The main barriers connected with the elements of branch environment are quality and quantity of branch stakeholders. Barriers of internal environment involve the barriers connected with the top management and its personality, skills, knowledge and experiences, all employees of a company and interfunctional coordination. The paper deals with the interfunctional coordination at hi-tech firms. The objective of the paper is to define barriers connected with interfunctional coordination and to detect the perception and importance of interfunctional coordination at hi-tech firms. The theoretical knowledge is noticed in some research studies. The data was acquired by means of a questionnaire. New Method measured market orientation in a company. The questionnaire New Method with 7-point Likert scale constituted by Tomaskova (2005) was used for the research. The complete database was analysed by using standard statistical m...

Digitization is becoming part of agriculture. Winemakers can use monitoring technologies to map land or control the quality of grapes, and telematics, e.g., in tractors, or use entire autonomous machines. The aim of this paper is to find out the barriers to and benefits of the use of smart farming technologies by small and medium winemakers, specifically sensors and weather stations, which allow the collection of site-specific data for subsequent application in viticulture. Therefore, the pilot study analyses how winemakers in traditional industry are able to employ smart farming technologies (SFT) to gain some benefits and also describe possible barriers. The primary method of data collection was through 27 semi-structured interviews with relevant wine industry actors, accessing documents created by SFT providers and an academic literature review. Three groups of actors were researched: 1) 22 winemakers including the Ekovin Association, 2) three SFT providers and, 3) one supplier of hardware for soil and temperature sensors. According to the information of winemakers, it is clear that SFT are used by some of them and they are clearly aware of their benefits, which is also confirmed by SFT providers. The findings revealed that the main STF benefits are adjustment of the product portfolio, savings, consulting and organization of activities. However, respondents also mentioned barriers to SFT implementation, such as low need for information, another source of information, conservative approaches, ignorance of SFT, financial demands, low state support and age of winemakers. The novelty of this paper is in providing an analysis of the issue of SFT, specifically sensors and weather stations, for winemakers from three different perspectives, that of winemakers, suppliers of SFT and HW manufacturer for SFT.

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