This research aims to propose a model adding to the competitiveness of companies by identifying factors that determine the profitability of the selected companies (both publicly traded and unquoted private companies of all sizes). Another aim is to prove a dichotomy between the motivation of equity holders and senior lenders as far as acceptable financial leverage is concerned. The paper is innovative based on its combination of several different factors influencing corporate profitability (i.e. firm-specific effects: current ratio, labor cost ratio, working capital financing ratio, long-term financing ratio, return on sales, age of the firm; industry-specific effects and other macroeconomic effects) and by assessing determinants concerning the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders using a panel regression analysis with fixed effects. The authors prove that the determinants of the operating performance of Czech trading companies differ substantially when the performance is measured by ROA or by ROE. This clearly shows discrepancies between the equity holder interest to maximize their returns on investment and the other stakeholder interests. Specifically, the authors have found that the leverage, both in terms of working capital and long-term financing, negatively impacts returns on assets. On the other hand, it positively impacts returns for equity holders both in the Wholesale and Retail sub-samples. Interestingly, other determinants of operating performance, such as capital intensity, labor cost ratio, historical profitability, and macroeconomic variables, are of comparable significance, impacting both the ROA and ROE analyses.

The study’s primary purpose is to assess the probabilistic impact of corruption in climate finance on achieving zero emissions. This scientific problem is highly relevant since the largest recipients of international climate assistance are countries with significant corruption in the public sector. Thus, it is necessary to increase the transparency in the use of international assistance funds and strengthen accountability. The study used the methods of survival analysis, namely the Kaplan-Meier approach and the Cox proportional hazards regression model, to investigate 114 countries that received international climate assistance during 2005-2021. The empirical analysis showed that the most probable time frame for achieving 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is five years. Moreover, the response of climate finance to reducing greenhouse emissions is faster in countries with medium levels of corruption than in countries with high and very high levels of corruption. Two covariates (the level of corruption and the volume of climate finance) likely to affect the achievement of net zero emissions were chosen to build the Cox proportional hazards model. The study empirically confirms that with a 1-point increase in the Corruption Perceptions Index, the probability of reducing emissions increases by 2.4581%, while the volume of climate finance does not have a statistically significant impact on the performance indicator. It suggests that current climate investment in underdeveloped countries is incapable of mitigating the negative impact of climate change.

The article aims to define the Czech Agro-Food supply chain and develop financial metrics to quantify the economic value added generated within the supply chain. The study is based on a sample of complete financial statements from 2011 to 2018 from the agro-food organisations. The authors prove that the retail sale sector generates high shareholder value. Contrary to that, the wholesale sector´s shareholder value deteriorated over the respective period owing to reinforced capital intensity measures, resulting in low profitability. A special case is primary agricultural production, where the low shareholder value is offset by public transfers influencing all value drivers either directly or non-directly. These constantly changed, both in the single sector and financial supply chain, thus concluding the latter is dynamic in its nature. The primary agricultural production (Agro) faced specific conditions due to significant public transfers in the form of subsidies etc., thus influencing non/directly all shareholders´ value drivers and consequently reducing the originally expected vulnerability. The authors have found that the shareholder value is not generated and distributed evenly within the Czech Agro-Food supply chain; therefore, the “scissors” are expending in favour of the Retail sector at the expense of the others, especially of the Agro sector.

The paper investigates the relationship of financial leverage and operating performance in a small open economy. A comprehensive sample consists of panel data from 1,821 Czech firms over the period 2006 to 2017. We find that leverage has a negative effect on the operating performance for the entire sample as well as for subsamples structured according to size or sector. We also find evidence that the relationship between leverage and performance in some sectors and segments is weakened during periods of economic downturn, as well as during the recent foreign exchange interventions of the Czech National Bank. Our study, focusing on the banking perspective, contributes to the debate about the impact of differences in leverage across sectors and segments on the capital allocation channels, managed in small open economies predominantly by banks.

Due to the importance of automotive industry for the Czech Republic (in a broader sense for European countries) and due to the unprecedented development of both national and European economies caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, also having implications on the financial sector, we aim to explore the main determinants of operating performance within the automotive supply chain. This study is based on the data sample composed of complete individual financial statements (audited if available) of firms conducting their business in the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2018 and belonging to the automotive supply chain. This supply chain is defined as (sub) deliveries of the Czech automotive industry represented mainly by companies classified under NACE 22, 27, 25, 24. The hypothesis claiming that the investment and leverage-based variables are the important drivers of operating profitability was only partly confirmed (valid predominantly for Tier 3), which shows that the supply chain organization also plays a crucial role as well as (valid for Tier 1). Also, we have shown (illustrated) that the assumption of different capital structures among tiers is valid. The average overall indebtedness of Tier 3 is higher by approximately 50% (altogether, the short- and long-term leverage are higher by 40% and 62% respectively) than Tier 1 firms. The need for relatively high capital expenditures (applicable to Tier 1) and working capital investments (applicable to Tier 3) is partly facilitated by external funds reflected in the indebtedness, which is associated with the costs reducing overall low profits from these investments. The leverageprofitability relationship seems to be nonlinear for long-term debts contrary to short-term debts where the linear relationship prevails.