Although the bankruptcy prediction models can be a stabilizing element on both macro and microeconomic levels, they are rather a domain of academic research than an instrument, widely applied in a business practice. It is especially true if the models are reflecting the conditions of countries of their origin, rather than countries of their intended uses. Besides, few of the models contain inherent flaws, including the absence of a methodical approach addressing this problem of the severely imbalanced representation of bankrupt companies in financial datasets. The article is focused on the use of oversampling with SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique) algorithm under the condition of extremely imbalanced data sets of Slovak companies. While the model does not provide a single answer in many (if not most) of the situations, it still could be used for the selection of companies for which the more detailed (and expensive) analysis is not required.

Gazelles create greater share of new jobs in comparison with other businesses operating on the market. These are young businesses of various sizes, but mainly small businesses. They generate a high rate of growth of production within a short time, which is based on the use of innovation, they are also the bearers of innovation. They are characterized by effective use of creativity and human resource capacities. They may be found in all sectors of economy, but to the greatest extent in the services sector and within that sector mainly in business services characterized by high knowledge intensity, high dynamics and continuous growth in employment. Gazelles of business services in the Slovak Republic intensively use all types of innovation. Management ability to optimize innovative processes according to needs of the enterprise seems to be of importance. Human resources and performance is considered to be the most important area of innovation influence. With its innovative activity they act as the accelerator of economy and changes in the thinking and culture of both enterprises, as well as the whole company toward sustainable growth.

Innovation and its management has been a current challenge for companies in the knowledge economy. Open innovation is a system that creates and uses synergies from sharing and collaboration. The digital economy and society support the emergence and functioning of open innovation systems. In the Slovak Republic´s environment, the management of innovations through an open mechanism is a perspective for the development of knowledge intensive business services (KIBS). These services are an important link in the value chain of the Slovak economy focused primarily on the automotive industry. The article deals with the creation of a model of open innovation in the environment of KIBS production in the Slovak Republic. Its elements and their classification are based on the results of the primary survey carried out by the Delphi method. The importance of individual elements thus reflects the priorities of innovation management of KIBS companies in the Slovak Republic. In the current theory, we do not find a model with these specifications. The presented model thus represents an original result supported by the primary research in a specific environment. The construction of the model identifies three building components of the open innovation mechanism: preparation and planning, implementation, evaluation of outputs and a value creation. They are complemented by factors, risks and effects. The model provides the possibility of measurement at the level of inputs and outputs.

A key factor of increasing performances of service enterprises and in effect, that of the entire economy is the introduction of innovations. However, it is the final effect of the process that is important, rather than the type of innovation introduced by an enterprise. The aim of the paper is to verify the validity of the relationship between the innovation activity of service enterprises in Slovak Republic and their economic performance. Results of analysis have not demonstrated unanimously a positive relationship between innovations and the productivity of business service . The reason for that is in the so far low innovation performance of services as well as in the low time-related homogeneity of the implementation and the effect of innovations.

The main goal of the article is to evaluate the importance of regional competitiveness of tourism as a factor of regional growth. The starting point is to examine the operation of cluster tourism organizations in the identified natural clusters of tourism. By calculating the location quotient, we obtain an overview of the concentration of the tourism sector in the Slovak regions and, by applying shift-share analysis, we explain the impact of regional competitiveness in tourism on regional growth and profiling of regional specialization in tourism. The existing cluster tourism organizations do not copy the sectoral tourism concentration in the regions. Only three tourist regions where cluster organizations operate are characterized by regional competitiveness in the context of the profiling of tourism specialization. The justification for the questionable action of cluster tourism organizations and their public funding is a challenge for the formulation of a cluster and regional tourism policy.