The mental health of young adults, particularly students, is at high risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in mental health between university students in nine countries during the pandemic. The study encompassed 2349 university students (69% female) from Colombia, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Germany, Israel, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Participants underwent the following tests: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Exposure to COVID-19 (EC-19), Perceived Impact of Coronavirus (PIC) on students’ well-being, Physical Activity (PA), and General Self-Reported Health (GSRH). The one-way ANOVA showed significant differences between countries. The highest depression and anxiety risk occurred in Turkey, the lowest depression in the Czech Republic and the lowest anxiety in Germany. The χ² independence test showed that EC-19, PIC, and GSRH were associated with anxiety and depression in most of the countries, whereas PA was associated in less than half of the countries. Logistic regression showed distinct risk factors for each country. Gender and EC-19 were the most frequent predictors of depression and anxiety across the countries. The role of gender and PA for depression and anxiety is not universal and depends on cross-cultural differences. Students’ mental health should be addressed from a cross-cultural perspective.

Purpose: Even in established economies, empirical studies on the relationship between business incubation and firm performance do not show unequivocally positive results. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this debate based on the empirical evidence from the under-researched Central and Eastern European region in which no similar study has been conducted before. Due to the shorter experience with the management of business incubators and less developed institutions, business incubators may not be so effective in supporting their tenants in this region. Design/methodology/approach: The authors utilise firm-level data from incubated Czech enterprises (n=205) founded after 2003 and compare them with those that have not received support from incubators. The authors implement three matching techniques to pair incubated and non-incubated companies. The outcome variables measured sales, price-cost margin, assets turnover, value added, size of total assets and size of personnel costs. Findings: Compared to the control group, incubated firms reported on average lower values of the above-mentioned indicators. Presented study shows that Czech incubators have not been successful in supporting growth of incubated firms. Practical implications: The study suggests that there is a clear room for improvements. Incubators should improve in attracting and selecting high potentials and in providing more effective support focussed on tenants’ growth, whereas policymakers should exercise stricter control regarding the money spent and effectiveness of incubators. Originality/value: The empirical analysis was conducted based on the research gap in the studies related to the impact of business incubation in the under-researched Central and Eastern European region. It also shows that positive results from similar studies done in established economies cannot be taken for granted as they depend on the quality of institutions in a particular country.

Inefficient and uncompetitive companies operating in the economy are a significant impediment to sustainable economic growth. This article contributes to the knowledge on so-called zombie firms. Using a Czech sample from 2003 to 2015, this research detected zombie firms and firms with negative equity, and investigated the process of zombie firms’ genesis and symptoms appearing in financial management before the company became a zombie. The results show that zombie firms are most often located in metropolitan areas, they are smaller companies, and most likely they are middle-aged companies. Negative development of firm financial performance significantly increases probability to become a zombie firm.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effect of firm-specific determinants on the entrepreneurial success (measured through the objective financial performance) of the Czech food processing firms over 2003-2014 and with the main particular focus on capital structure and productivity as the tough challenges of the firms in transition and emerging economies.Design/methodology/approach: Determinants of profitability are tested econometrically, as for the estimation technique, both-way fixed effects controlling for variety over the time and across enterprises were applied. The collected micro-panel data set consists of 10,509 observations and includes 1,804 firms. Estimated regression models with fixed effects are used to quantify the determinants of the financial performance, operationalized through three key performance indicators – price–cost margin, return on assets and return on equity.Findings: Estimated econometric models supported hypothesis assuming a positive relationship between the labour productivity and profitability. In line with the assumptions based on the development of the Czech food market, high leverage of firms led to the decrease of profitability, which can be explained by the high financial distress costs and worsened market position of firms in the competitive environment. Ageing of firms and firm size were associated with the increase of profitability indicators.Practical implications: The findings of the presented research are important for investors considering agribusiness as a part of their investment portfolios and for policymakers to enhance the economic efficiency of the food industry through regulations and public support, and particularly, from the firm management viewpoint, e.g. to pay attention to the debt policy due to the negative impact of high indebtedness on firm profitability, and to the productivity factors, which proved to be important drivers of entrepreneurial success.Originality/value: Although the firm-specific factors responsible for firm performance have already been studied, the food processing industry has received limited interest from the empirical analysts, and the results are not always unequivocal. This study is expected to contribute to the literature on this subject, both empirically and methodologically, as to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has been encountered yet where the factors determining the profitability of the Czech food processing industry have been the focus. With regards to the collected micro-data set and the estimation technique, the study can be considered as extensive not only from the perspective of the research in the Czech Republic but also from the international perspective.

Studying the effects of public entrepreneurship and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policies on productivity (i.e., technological efficiency) is important, because the investment policies primarily aim to reduce allocation inefficiencies, enable usage of economies of scale, promote new production methods and technological development. We reviewed the recently published studies, and we show that they often lack fundamental information, such as a sample description and numbers of supported and non-supported firms. Keeping in mind the importance of transparent and rigorous empirical evaluations, we evaluated the effects of investment support from the European Regional and Development Fund (ERDF) on the productivity of the firms operating in the Czech food processing industry two years after the end of the programme. Methodologically, we apply the propensity score matching approach (PSM) combined with a difference in differences approach (DID) based on the firm-level data accounting for 157 firms (i.e., 77.3% of all beneficiaries within the industry) and a control sample of 1224 firms that have not been supported by the intervention. We use three measures of productivity—production efficiency, labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP). The obtained findings showed that investment subsidy had a positive impact on labour productivity of supported firms. However, the effects on TFP were negative. The impact on production efficiency indicator was proven to be inconclusive. It follows from the results that the productivity of subsidised firms did not improve through an internal increase in efficiency (efficiency of the use of inputs), which indicates no significant technological change. The subsidy decision-making processes should be more careful and transparent to ensure allocating resources only to the projects with growth potential.

Purpose: The objective of the study is to identify and explore factors affecting the productivity of companies in the Czech Republic with a focus on the role of firm size, firm age, indebtedness and long-term negative equity, efficiency of assets usage, liquidity, legal form, location and sector affiliation.Design/methodology/approach: The study utilizes a large unbalanced panel dataset of 91,257 firms (548,998 observations in total) covering the period 2000–2019. The dependent variable, i.e. total factor productivity (TFP), reflecting the overall firm productivity, was estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The main findings were obtained through the estimation of two econometric models explaining the effects of factors on firm-level TFP. First, the OLS regressions together with Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 3 regions, year dummies and robust standard errors were estimated. Second, as a robustness check, the very same model was estimated with the random effects (RE) generalized least squares (GLS) method.Findings: The analysis has shown a statistically significantU-shaped relationship (with the turning point of 38, resp. 36 years) between firm age and the overall TFP among the Czech enterprises. The authors provide two key findings in terms of a firm size-productivity relationship. Firms with fewer employees, often officially registered as self-employed individuals/freelancers, report higher levels of productivity. Nevertheless, when it comes to firm property (assets), the authors find a positive relationship between firm size and TFP. A high proportion of debts in the capital structure of analysed companies, or even negative equity, has been negatively associated with TFP levels.Research limitations/implications: More research is needed in the deeper exploration of sectoral and regional determinants of firm TFP, as both regional and sectoral heterogeneity were observed in the study. The authors propose the employment of a multi-level modelling approach, including a range of continuous variables and investigation of their role in shaping firm-level productivity.Practical implications: Concerning the results, managers should be mindful of optimal capital structure principles due to the negative impact of a high level of debts on the productivity level. High indebtedness means high-interest payments drawing earnings off, which may be, especially in the long term, a hindrance to investments. The entrepreneurship and small- and medium-sized enterprise policies may be targeted at the soft policy actions, including advisory services and counselling on business development or risk and on the provision of financial capital allowing firms to strive for growth-oriented projects.Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to provide insight into the firm-level productivity determinants, based on the large dataset covering enterprises across the whole economy over the long term, representing the structure of the country's entrepreneurial activity.