Innovation As One Of The Ways Of Competitiveness Of The Eu And Slovakia

One of the strategic interests of the company is to find a way to survive in the midst of the pressure of competition from other companies in the domestic and foreign markets. The article compares the development and the current state of competitiveness of Slovakia with the selected V4 countries. For comparison there was used an aspect of competitiveness through innovation. The comparison is described in two levels where the first plane is the macroeconomic view on the development and current state of competitiveness of Slovakia with selected V4 countries based on the results of several international indicators. Another level to compare the competitiveness are the outputs from the internal research of the international research team from the Slovak and Polish universities. The research was conducted in 2013 among medium-sized enterprises selected from regions of Poland and Slovakia. In Slovakia, the research was participated by firms in the Prešov region, the eastern part of the Slovak Republic and in Poland, the sub-region firms from Krosno-Przemysl in the Carpathian region in the south of Poland. The subject of the research was the issue of competitiveness of medium-sized enterprises in both countries from those regions which lag behind in export. Many companies are involved in international trade, not only in the markets of the EU but also outside the Union. Since the Slovak Republic, open economy is the issue of enforcement is a key issue in the middle of the competition. Export of successful Slovak companies is supported by the growth of innovation that distinguish the products or services of one undertaking from those of another. Upgrading is one way to increase competitiveness. It represents not only new products, services, tools and methods but also a path that can contribute significantly to the prosperity and fulfillment of the objectives of company's owner for long-term growth and existence of the company in the market. Innovation cannot be construed as a new product or service in its own. In the world there are many companies that are trying to produce new products, respectively provide new services, but there is not interest in them. Customers ignore them. Not every activity represents progress. The real innovation is always reflected in the financial recovery and customers are willing to pay well for another new value, which comes to the market and brings them greater benefits. Innovations therefore were and are the driving force behind the growth of the economies. They open new markets, represent the use of new materials, products, processes and new sales methods.