The impacts of membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union on the local small and medium enterprises

The goal of this thesis was to analyze the conditions of small and medium-sized businesses after the Czech Republic joined the EU. I emphasized finding suitable recommendations for entrepreneurs how to care for future development and prosperity. Another goal was to analyze the state subsidy policy supporting this type of businesses and to find out about entrepreneurs` demands regarding such subsidies. The main goal was to propose recommendations how to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized firms. The first part of my thesis makes the reader familiar with definitions and the life cycle of small and medium-sized firms, their history, advantages and disadvantages, the present state of the Czech Republic and in the end with partnerships and alliances as a solution of typical problems of small and medium-sized enterprises. Another part concerns subsidies for small and medium-sized enterprises in 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2013 stating the most important among them in detail. The third part is a questionnaire and two polls trying to find the needs of small and medium-sized firms as for subsidies. Based on an analysis of these needs recommendations were made to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses