The world’s economy has been significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic crisis. Its logical reflection is a deteriorating condition of national and regional economies and their vehicles—enterprises. Negative effects of the crisis have influenced both the manufacturing sector and the services sector, where some segments have been hit fatally. In the corporate sphere in general, including in the services sector, there has been a growing need to change the approach to corporate strategy. The strategy should be generated based on management of value-creating processes with the objective to maximize satisfaction of customers while minimizing costs. This is also the topic of this paper. A representative sample of small and medium enterprises from the services sector have been surveyed about their size, using mathematical statistics and models that have been proposed to maximize profit probability. The objective was to propose models that maximize probability of profit and, at the same time, minimize costs for each combination of value chain activities (input logistics, provision of services, output logistics, marketing and sale, servicing, and other accompanying activities, purchasing material management, science-technical development, human resources management and company infrastructure). The main outcome of this paper is the fact that we have been able to prove the functionality of the tested model, which has demonstrated the growing importance of value stream management in relation to the size of enterprises. Such a universal and structured model provides a practical tool for the definition of economic-financial, investment and personnel policies in enterprises.

The contribution deals with the economic value added and its influence on credit absorption capacity. The aim was to determine the significance of the difference between the economic value added (EVA) entity and EVA equity indicators on credit absorption by the construction sector in the Czech Republic. The data came from the Albertina database of Bisnode Czech Republic for the period 2012–2018; small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, were selected. The most important factor for calculating the amount of credit absorption depends on the EVA entity indicator and the weighted average cost of capital. The calculations produced negative values for credit absorption, which reflects an unattractive investment climate for business owners and their creditors. In other words, loans sought by enterprises in the Czech construction sector do not lead to a greater degree of realization of their goals, i.e., an increase in value for shareholders.

Development trends in management and organizational structures are considered one of the limitations of the ongoing transformation of the company architecture of enterprises in the Czech Republic. This study is based on the survey data of over 450 enterprises in different sizes and sector categories conducted in 2016–2019. Statistical dependence between the type of organizational structure and size of an enterprise is confirmed with a trend of transition to a department-based organizational structure at the expense of a division-based structure. A high degree of statistical dependence is found between the number of management levels and size of a company. However, a low level of statistical dependence is found between the number of management levels and the sector type. Dependence between management structure/size of an enterprise and its profitability is not confirmed. A critical strategic task for companies is acceleration of the transformation of the company architecture, including the organizational framework, and intensification of the innovation and digitalization based on a transfer of new knowledge into corporate practice. If enterprises accomplish this strategic task, they will generate higher value and they can be more profitable and sustainable. A transfer from classical management structures to departmental structures is demonstrated, which creates preconditions for transformation in process and project management. A new finding is an independent relationship between management structure/size of an enterprise and its profitability; and an opposite trend considering the number of management levels compared to the prediction, i.e., their decrease.

Research background: Companies are under considerable pressure to continuously improve their performance in today's highly competitive business world. KPIs have evolved as indispensable tool for assessing and measuring the performance of businesses against strategic objectives. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to present the current use of Balanced Scorecard systems and related KPIs in the implementation of the strategic management system in industrial companies in the SMEs segment and introduce a system of proposals for improving their performance, value, and competitiveness in the long term. Methods: The research methodology in the first phase was based on an examination of the available scientific and professional sources in this area. Used sources were selected taking into account the time range of the data up to a maximum of 7 years and in relation to the chosen research topic and objective. The main techniques used were survey and comparative analysis. The research was conducted using a questionnaire from years 2017 to 2022. Using database of the Entrepreneur's Index portal (www.indexpodnikatela.sk), we obtained contact information of 4230 enterprises. From this sample, 290 enterprises showed an active interest and participated in the survey, representing 6.9% of the total sample of 4230 enterprises. The obtained data were analyzed and transformed into a logical form of tabular outputs. Findings & Value added: Based on the research results, we can conclude that companies with more than 20 employees use strategic management systems and have linked KPIs. We also tested and proved the hypothesis of using supporting complementary management systems significantly more often by these companies. However, our research supports our hypothesis that companies that do not use BSCs do not have statistically significantly lower economic ROE. We also did not confirm that the turnover was lower in firms that did not use BSCs. On the other hand our research has shown that better strategic management systems must be built, as there is a lack of consistency between the objectives and essential performance indicators in all aspects of the balanced scorecard.