Archive of articles - November 2000, page 2

Acquiring a business: Avoiding the pitfalls of poor plans

Recent studies have found that over half of mergers and acquisitions ('M&A') have destroyed shareholder value, and a further third made no discernible difference to the performance of the merged companies. Despite this, worldwide M&A activity is at an all time high, and Slovakia is no exception to this trend.Some of the reasons contributing to the increase in M&A activity in Slovakia include the opening of the Slovak market to international companies looking to increase growth by accessing new markets, tax incentives, geographic position, a cheap and well qualified workforce and expectations of EU accession.

Review: Plzeňská pub: Overt theme detracts from finer points

Plzeňská tries hard to be a laid-back cellar pub, but the hallmarks of corporate planning are obvious. Like at Smíchovská Perla, another Czech establishment in Bratislava, eating at Plzeňská is a little like entering a commercial for a famous Czech beer company.I won't mention that company here, but you'll see it enough if you go to Plzeňská - on the way in, on the walls, on the coasters, on your tablecloth - imprinted on the insides of your eyelids if you're not careful. Put another way, Plzeňská reminded me of the ethnic pubs at American amusement parks that claim to represent entire nations, but which undermine that notion by their very existence.

Around Slovakia

Slovak tennis stars compete internationallyAustrian police barred from questioning womanReferendum peculiarities reportedWW II bomb shell found in sugar factoryTen year-old boy kills his fatherJany Case: No fingerprints takenNew cathedral bells mark friendship

Slovakia 'ready for the world'

US Ambassador to Slovakia Carl Spielvogel speaks deliberately, measuring his cadences with slow hand gestures."Slovakia is ready for tourism, Slovakia is ready for culture, Slovakia is ready for business," he intones, reciting the mantra of his new campaign to promote the country's potential. "I want the Slovak people to say, 'We are ready to participate in this larger world'."For all his Olympian calm, however, the pace of Spielvogel's life since he took up his post 11 weeks ago has been frenetic.

FWA tenders coming, but experts still sceptical on UMTS

Potential bidders are waiting for word from the Telecoms Ministry on a tender for licences that they say will bring a welcome competitive boost to Slovakia's telecoms market.Telecoms Office advisor Stanislav Vanek told The Slovak Spectator November 14 that the tender for the sale of at least three licences for the 26 GHz Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network should be called either at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year at the latest."We are not entirely sure at the moment on the exact tender date. We have spoken to the Telecoms Ministry and given them a lot of scenarios for the issuing of the licences. It is now up to them," he said.

Letters to the editor

More on the backpacker debateStop racism

Slovakia beginning to win the war on software crime

While representatives from the Slovak police and leaders of BSA Slovakia, an association of software providers, said that more than half of the software in Slovakia continues to be used illegally, both groups agreed that much progress had been made in recent years in the fight against piracy and that domestic businessmen were beginning to wake up to the responsibility of using properly licenced software."Our biggest success has been that companies are now beginning to pay attention to using software legally," said Roman Sládek, account manager at Microsoft Slovakia and chairman of BSA Slovakia, which promotes legal software use in Slovakia....

News Briefs

SMK submits two year report on the governmentSlovakia introduces visa restrictions for BelarusCommittee wants more money for state mediaDzurinda the only candidate for SDKÚ headSlovakia moving towards NATO membership

NASA to land soon in EuroValley?

The creation of 'EuroValley' - a proposed Information Technology park in western Slovakia's Malacky region - may be fuelled by the world-renowned American space research giant NASA [National Aeronautic Space Agency].According to Leighton Klevana, the former director of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Slovakia and now head of the proposed EuroValley project, NASA has expressed an interest in the Slovak site, on which they would build a laboratory housing a simulation centre close to participants in existing NASA projects in eastern and western Europe.

Combining voice and data in one

We are living in a converging world of new life and business relations, a technological "re-evolution". For us, convergence means that over the last 10 years we have replaced all old analogue systems with new digital ones, and started to use intranet and Internet services on a daily basis. What's next?Many businesses are looking for new enhanced services combining voice and data together. They are looking for a simple, effective and, of course, cheap solution. Of these new services, the packet-based voice system is the leader because of its flexibility and price efficiency. Demand for voice transport over the Internet (VoIP) is also growing.

Top Pick: AmCham's Thanksgiving Dinner

The American Chamber of Commerce will hold its 7th annual Thanksgiving Gala Dinner at Spoločenská hala in Park Kultúry a Oddychu (Culture and Leisure Park) on November 24.The programme will be both official and entertaining, featuring the traditional turkey dinner. Famous guitar melodies from the 80s and 90s will be performed by the Silent Duo group. The official welcoming ceremony will begin at 18:50, led by AmCham president Mari Novak, and will be followed by short speeches from Slovak government officials and representatives of the American Embassy.Then comes what Thanksgiving is really about: gorging on turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Brownies will also be served.

This Week

EC report both carrot and stick for Slovakia

Slovak government ministers have expressed cautious pleasure with the findings of the European Commission's annual report on EU candidate countries. Following the release of the document November 8, the officials said that despite shortcomings fingered by the EC, Slovakia stood a strong chance of catching up to its neighbours in the admission process to the European Union.While the report noted that advances had been made in some branches - most notably in Slovakia's economy - the commission was heavily critical of faults in three key areas: the judicial system, public administration reform and minority policy, especially affecting the Roma.

Business Briefs

October core inflation drops to 0.5%New structure of SCP approved by shareholdersSlovnaft's EFPA complex reduces sulphur emissions

Marketing Slovakia: Rendering unto Caesar

Carl Spielvogel, the new American ambassador, has truly put his shoulder to the wheel in suggesting that the private sector 'sell' Slovakia to the rest of the world as a tourist and investment destination. But given the lack of marketing know-how here, and the resistance Slovaks feel to viewing themselves and their country as products that can be sold, one wonders how much forward impetus the ambassador's business contacts and personal enthusiasm can impart.The need for basic marketing skills certainly exists. One only has to look at the resumés that one receives as an employer to see how little even young people understand the need for turning themselves out well. It's not just that the resumés are confusing, it's that they give almost no indication that the author is aware of any personal skills that might be attractive to a prospective employer.

Quotes of the Week

Community Corner

The Kingdom of Spain's Flamenco FestivalItalian Film FestivalSkating rinkMusic at the French InstituteWelcome UnderstandingGoethe Institute ExhibitionsBratislava Zen CentreAmerican Thanksgiving serviceBahá'í Community's celebration

Ratings agencies raise hope for change

Slovakia was given an unexpected boost last week when international ratings agency Standard and Poor's followed the lead of its fellow ratings agency Moody's and raised its outlook for the foreign currency country ceiling and foreign currency bank deposit ceilings from stable to positive November 9.The outlook change, which ostensibly affects the premium on state-guaranteed bonds and government-issued foreign currency bonds, is, experts say, a prelude to a raising of Slovakia's country rating from speculative to investment grade."If everything goes right we could see the [country] grade changed to investment," said Tomáš Kmeť, analyst at Slovenská sporiteľňa, Slovakia's largest finance house. "In half a year we could see a change in the rating if all goes well."

Systems successes mark IT grade

Having closed an initial IT gap with the more developed West in the mid 1990s, Slovak Internet providers are beginning to finally corner the market in their own country in installation of the latest and most complex office technology systems.Foreign investors have said that there is no longer a need to rely on their own IT specialists to install intranet and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in their local branches with well-trained and highly-skilled local IT consultants taking over the job with ease.