The competitiveness of a particular national economy and its business environment is critical for the country's economic, political and societal development. Competitiveness can be analyzed using a diapason of single-and multi-factor competitiveness indicators that contribute to quantification as well as and the analysis of internal and external competitiveness determinants. Suitable levels of competitiveness measurements and analyses, be they in terms of a company or a nation, are a matter of continuous debates. The authors of this paper have used econometric equations (models) in order to quantify and qualify the impact of the institutional environment, a factor represented both by the quality of governmental and regulatory measures as well as the corruption perception index. Institutional environment impact was measured in terms of export performance, as this metric represents one of the most important single-factor indicators of competitiveness. For the purposes of our research, the precise quantification of exogenous variables was not a necessity; rather we evaluated the assessment of strength and direction of relations between endogenous and exogenous variables. Our assumption was grounded in the notion that a higher quality of institutional environment is characterized by a higher level of competitiveness and lower transaction costs based on the belief that export performance is a reliable measure of competitiveness. Our research demonstrated, however, that the export performance is not a universal indicator of competitiveness, a finding that signals the need to apply other indicators, most notably, multi-factor ones.

From the EU perspective, the Western Balkans region is considered to be an important sphere of interest with the prospect of stepwise EU accession. This is evidenced by establishing a specific accession process for these countries, including an option of granting the status of potential candidate. The progress, particularly concerning the economic preparedness and competitiveness of the Western Balkan countries, is uneven. This paper compares the readiness of particular Western Balkan countries for EU membership on the basis of accession progress assessment, as well as on the basis of international economic position assessment. Taking into account official progress reports published by the European Commission providing a comprehensive assessment of the EU membership criteria, we broaden the perspective of the economic progress assessment by employing the assessment of the international economic positions of the Western Balkan countries based on multifactor indicators. For this purpose, we developed our own composite index of international involvement. We then compared the assessment based on our own index with assessments based on both the Global Competitiveness Index and the Index of Economic Freedom. Based on our findings, the best international economic positions among the Western Balkan countries belong to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Montenegro. Therefore, it may be concluded that accession progress is accompanied by an adequate fit of these economies represented by their international economic position. Contrary to that, Serbia belongs among the worst assessed Western Balkan countries despite its advanced accession progress.

The paper focuses on education in the field of foreign languages, particularly Spanish, in the framework of university study of economic and managerial orientation in Slovakia in order to find out what the labour market requirements are for graduates in the field of foreign language skills. In our research, we focus on Spanish, as no similar relevant research has been done to date in this foreign language. Current research shows that the graduates of economics and management fields lack the link between the content of education and the requirements of the labour market, as well as preparation in the field of foreign language skills. This calls for a better understanding of the real needs of employers and graduates. This paper is based on a questionnaire survey among potential employers of graduates of the University of Economics in Bratislava who require foreign language skills, mainly Spanish, as well as of graduates of the University of Economics in Bratislava who use foreign languages, in particular Spanish in their employment. The paper provides an overview of the specific language competencies and knowledge that are needed in the labour market. The ambition of research is to contribute to improving the link between higher education content and the real needs of the labour market, and thus to boosting the employability of graduates in the labour market.

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