Slovak spa companies significantly contribute to tourism support and to health tourism development. The paper aims to evaluate the financial situation and financial position of 21 Slovak spa companies, and the Slovak spa industry within NACE 86 - Human Health Activities and NACE 869 - Other Human Health Activities. In terms of legal form, the research sample consists of 16 joint-stock companies (Inc. (a.s.)), 3 limited liability companies (Ltd. (s.r.o.)), and 2 state-owned companies (s.o.). Data of given spa companies are obtained from their Financial Statements in Register of Financial Statements of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. Data on mean values of the financial indicators for NACE 86 and NACE 869 were obtained from the company CRIF - Slovak Credit Bureau. We cover the period 2007-2018. Our results include an evaluation of the criterion of economic efficiency of the industry NACE 86, the sub-industry NACE 869, and individual spa companies using methods of quantifying the impact of determining factors. At the same time, we present the factors that influence development most. We determine the position of spa companies by using multidimensional scaling (MDS). Results show that the total assets turnover ratio and return on sales are contributing factors to the change of ROE to the greatest extent. MDS quantifies that Spa Bojice, a.s., has the best financial position in space, on the other hand, Specialized Medical Institute Marína, s.o., has the worst position.

One of the characteristics of business competitiveness is business performance. Managerial decision making is one of the main factors that can affect the competitiveness of a company. Financial and economic analysis is an inseparable part of financial management in the practice of business entities. The aim of this contribution is to present several models of forecasting the financial situation of companies. By implementing the Taffler model, Springate model, and the Aspect Global Rating, we assess the financial health of a set of non-financial corporations that, with their net turnover, represents almost the entire electrical engineering industry in Slovakia. As Slovakia has a poorly developed capital market and a numerous private companies do not have publicly traded securities, in this paper we use models based on information from financial statements, an approach which is preferable to the use of market-oriented models. Financial data of selected non-financial corporations needed for the financial analysis were obtained from the Register of Financial Statements of the Slovak Republic, with data for the entire industry obtained from the CRIBIS database and results highlighting the financial health of individual electrical engineering companies. Relevant information should be beneficial especially for suppliers in order to avoid disruptions in their own production as well as for stakeholders, managers and auditors. Among other things, it is possible to monitor which companies have the strongest financial health and which are losing their competitiveness, thus are threated. A creditworthy model confirmed that the sector appears to be financially healthy.

Sustainability describes a means to satisfy the needs of today’s generation without causing suffering to the needs and standards of living of future generations. The concept of sustainability consists of three pillars: economic, environmental, and social. The purpose of this study is to find a link between Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environmental Management System and its impact on the economic results of the researched companies. Many companies expect to increase their profits through Corporate Social Responsibility behavior and Environmental Management System certification. Based on an analysis of data collected from 200 of the largest firms operating in various industries in the Slovak Republic, we observed the implications of these two management tools and their impacts on the economic results of these companies. To verify individual hypotheses, we use well-established methods, specifically the Pearson Chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test, along with the Statistica software. The results suggest a relationship between the incorporation of these two management tools and that incorporation of the Corporate Social Responsibility has an impact on company profit. This work contributes to the literature on sustainability, corporate social behavior, and environmental certification in firms operating in various sectors of the national economy.

Business environment is an essential indicator of a country's competitiveness in general, and in the tourism field in particular. The aim of this paper is to examine whether indicators of the Business Environment pillar of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) share common factors. We use TTCI data of seven indicators obtained from World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey for 119 countries during 2017 and 2019. Factor analysis shows two common factors, namely General legislative conditions (protection of property rights, regulations on foreign direct investment, indicators of legal and judicial systems, and market dominance) and Taxation (specifically, its extent and effect on incentives to work and invest). Data of TTCI show that overall Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Finland have the best business environment. Contrastingly, doing business is most difficult in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mauritania. The specific findings are very similar for both analysed years. The results of this study could be useful in any attempts to manage the business environment in travel and tourism.

Industry 4.0 and related automation and digitization have a significant impact on competition between companies. They have to deal with the lack of financial resources to apply digital solutions in their businesses. In Slovakia, Industry 4.0 plays an important role, especially in the mechanical engineering industry (MEI). This paper aims to identify the groups of financial ratios that can be used to measure the financial performance of the companies operating in the Slovak MEI. From the whole MEI, we selected the 236 largest non-financial corporations whose ranking we obtained according to the amount of generated revenues in 2017. Using factor analysis, from eleven traditional financial ratios, we extracted four independent factors that measure liquidity (equity to liabilities ratio, quick ratio, debt ratio, net working capital to assets ratio, current ratio), profitability (return on sales, return on investments), indebtedness (financial leverage, debt to equity ratio), and activity (assets turnover, current assets turnover) of the company. Our analysis is an essential prerequisite for developing a realistic financial plan for companies operating in the MEI, especially when considering investments in new technologies related to Industry 4.0.