Naděžda Petrů

Family business is the largest global source of jobs in the private sector, whose multigenerational nature strengthens the stability of individual economies. A competitive small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector into which family businesses are classified is an essential prerequisite for the full-fledged integration of any economy into the global economic space. For the Czech economy, the importance of foreign trade is increasing, and is dependent on the capabilities of companies to expand to foreign markets. The goal of this article is to identify involvement of the generation of successors to export activities of family business, focusing on diversifying export territories in relation to structure of the industry A secondary goal is to discuss the demand mechanisms for SMEs/family business oriented toward export. The scientific hypotheses defined are focused on demonstrating a dependency between the diversification of export territories, the involvement of the generation of successors in the management of the company and structure of industry. Authors have demonstrated that family businesses managed by the first generation of founders export primarily to the territories of Slovakia, Germany, and the EU. Companies where the next generation contributes to management diversify territorial risk and also export outside the EU countries. A significant correlation was demonstrated between automotive industry and Germany, Slovakia and country outside the EU and mechanical engineering and country outside the EU. The uniqueness of this article lies in the topicality of the real transition of Czech family businesses to the next generation, which carries out foreign trade to promote the further development and sustainability of the family business for future generations.

The startup ecosystem in the Czech Republic falls far below the level of the developed economies of its Western neighbors. The startup map of the Czech Republic shows 1,717 continuously operating startups. And yet they have yet to receive priority attention in the academic realm. The primary goal of this article is to define the key factors of startup sustainability and to look for dependencies between them. The secondary goal is to identify the weaknesses of the Czech startup environment. The scientific hypotheses formulated focus on demonstrating the dependencies of selected factors influencing the startup sustainability. These have been verified on the basis of evaluation of data obtained via primary qualitative and quantitative research. Its findings were compared with the data of secondary research and with the conclusions of the scientific studies of international authors. The data were processed using statistical apparatus. Thanks to this research, the authors have identified in their conclusion the factors of the remote, immediate, and interior environments that can influence startup sustainability. They demonstrate a correlation between the level of strategic management and the quality of internal communications processes, between the capacities of startup management to manage relationships with customers (CRM) and to drive communications strategy, including brand support. In real practice, however, nine out of ten startups do not succeed. The reason is that their design fails to understand and address the needs of customers and lacks marketing and managed sales.

Czech family businesses are currently experiencing their first changeover of generations in history. The first generation (founders or successors), two or more generations collectively operate in management and administrative authorities. This article aims to compare and evaluate preference for use of debt or equity financing in family businesses with the differing involvement of generations and the diversity of its allocation for the specific need of the company’s growth. This empirical study is performed based on a qualitative analysis of 245 family businesses. Hypotheses were confirmed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. This study confirms the dependence of equity and debt financing on the number of generations in management. This brings differing perspectives, opinions, and practices for financial management in the sense of a preference for debt or equity financing. The need for debt arises at the moment of compensating the transfer of ownership between generations. The analysis results indicate that family businesses managed by one generation prefer equity financing, companies managed by first and second generations prefer debt financing, and companies managed by second and third generations prefer equity financing.

Acknowledgment
The result was created in solving the project TA ČR ETA 2 (STA02018TL020) “Family businesses: Value drivers and value determination in the process of succession”, TL02000434. We are grateful also to representatives of enterprises who were willing to participate in this research.