National support and legislative change in the business environment of V4 countries: Business sectors view

Abstract

Research background: The business environment in the countries of Central Europe is in turbulent times due to the presence of crisis phenomena and its related consequences. Support for business entities at the national level in the form of legislative changes plays an important role in the growth of the business environment of each country. Countries are trying to approach measures taking into account the specifics of each individual business sector. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to compare the subjective attitudes of the business entity owners on the perception of support at the national level and their legislative changes with respect to the industry in which they do business. The subjects of the assessment are following business sectors: production, trade, services, and construction. Methods: Data collection was performed in December 2022 and January 2023 using a questionnaire. The test sample of respondents consisted of 1090 enterprises operating in the business environment of the Visegrad Group countries. Statistical hypotheses were evaluated using parametric methods. The purpose of the verification was to determine the effect of factors such as business environment and the country of operation of the business entity on selected statements regarding legal risk. Findings & Value added: The business sector and the country of business are significant factors that effect the assessment of national support and legislative changes. Enterprises operating in the service sector do agree to a greater extent that the business environment is over-regulated. Enterprises operating in the service and manufacturing sectors are the least likely to agree that the conditions for doing business in their country have improved over the past five years. Enterprises in trade and construction do not perceive the negative impact of frequent legislative changes on the business as much as enterprises in manufacturing and services. Slovak and Czech entrepreneurs perceive the negative impact of frequent legislative changes and lower support from national institutions during crisis phenomena significantly more than Hungarian and Polish entrepreneurs. Czech entrepreneurs perceive that the business environment is overregulated the most intensively among the V4 countries.