Central European Business Review

5-12

Authors: Radek Tahal

Loyalty programs rank among the most important marketing tools used for motivating customers in repeated purchases. The history is more than a hundred years old and there are many interesting points in the development. At present, programs can be built on the basis of various algorithms. In any case, it is necessary to develop such programs that are positively accepted by customers, viewed as useful, creating emotional ties to a retailer or to a brand. This study is based on primary data collected in the Czech Republic and in Great Britain, and it aims at two research targets. The first is to compare customers´ preferences in choosing loyalty programs in the two countries, to find similarities and differences. The second target is to make a comparison of customers´ willingness in disclosing their personal data for a retailer when signing up for a loyalty program.

23-34

Authors: Hana Machková, Paul-Marc Collin

In 2014, the Czech automotive industry had a record-breaking year with 1 278 000 motor vehicles manufactured. This was a result of the investment of three major carmakers, who entered into the Czech Republic, because they believed in the industrial capacity of the country and its strategic location in Central Europe. The goal of this article is to analyze the different entry strategies into the Czech market and to compare the results of different strategic approaches for both foreign private investors and the recipient country. The main research method used in this article is a case study. In our case studies, we will analyze the cases of the Volkswagen group and its acquisition of the manufacturer Škoda, the greenfield investment of Hyundai, and the strategic alliance of the French car producer PSA with Japanese Toyota who had founded the TPCA joint venture in the Czech Republic. All three case studies show examples of good practices and prove that foreign direct investment (FDI) has the potential to generate employment, raise productivity, transfer skills and technology, enhance exports and contribute to the long-term economic development of the country.

48-59

Authors: Jiří Strouhal, Natalja Gurvitš, Monika Nikitina-Kalamäe, Emilia Startseva

Despite the fact that obligations to publish reports on corporate social responsibility will come into force in the European Union from 2018, an increasing number of companies are starting to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy into their everyday business practices, and as a result the information of this activity is disclosed in CSR reports or within annual reports. As the disclosure of such information is currently voluntarily based, we believe that the growing popularity of CSR leads to a direct link between the sustainability of the company and its financial performance. The purpose of this paper is therefore to determine the linkage between CSR and financial performance within two countries in the CEE region – Czech and Estonia – using data from 2012 - 2013. We compare return on assets and normalized market value added of listed companies. Based on the results, we can state that the implementation of a standalone CSR report does not have any direct linkage with the financial performance of the tested companies.