L20 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: GeneralReturn

The article presents a short overview of heuristics and biases in managerial decision-making under risk and the consequences of such non-standard preferences for financial health of organisations. It is argued that, particularly in the case of inefficient ownership control or poor corporate governance, such bounded rationality manifestations can have a significant impact on a firm's performance. We also argue that in such cases risk preferences of individual managers can be more idiosyncratic. We illustrate that using the concepts of limited attention, reference-dependence decision-making and especially overconfidence (over-optimism). The relevance of such concepts is shown on a number of real data studies analysing investment policies of firms, their leverages, financing strategies and decisions on mergers and acquisitions. We also include recommendations targeted at minimising negative outcomes of bounded rationality at the managerial level in respect of financial health of firms. The final parts concern limits of the current empirical literature.

Internationalization, or the process of foreign market entry, has lately been a frequent topic of discussion. It is an essential phenomenon that has shaped the global economy over the past decades. At a micro level, internationalization can be a very effective tool for supporting sustainable company growth. This paper focuses on the internationalization of Austrian firms in the Czech Republic. It lays down the author's research into 52 Austrian firms currently present on the Czech market with regard to the eight main internationalization theories and models. Austria plays a very important investment role in the Central and Eastern European region, including the Czech Republic. Indeed, the Czech market is the third largest recipient of direct Austrian foreign investment, following Germany and the United States. After defining the term internationalization, the paper first describes the firms' entry onto the market, answering the following research questions: How have Austrian firms internationalized on the Czech market and what are their common characteristics? Then, these internationalization approaches are analyzed as follows: the Uppsala model, the network theory of internationalization, the strategic behaviour theory, the international product life cycle theory, the transaction cost theory, the eclectic theory, the behaviourist internationalization theory, and the "born global" theory. However, their evaluation is only partial and solely based on the research sample. A more complex analysis of the theories and models would require larger samples from different regions and the application of statistical methods.

The article deals with definition of approach of managerial audit and its importance for development of SME. Managerial audit is not understood here like a personal audit but way of the evaluation of management of the firms. The interviews with managers of SME are the essence of the managerial audit. We use for it the methodology of coaching. The aim of it is to improve process and critical parts of firms. The results of article are created in the research project No. 2E06044 "Managerial audit as a support tool for sustainable development of SMEs" sponsored by National Program of research II Ministry of education.