THE USAGE OF THE OPEN DATA IN THE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

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05 April 2017, 5th Business & Management Conference, Rome ISBN 978-80-87927-34-2, IISES
DOI: 10.20472/BMC.2017.005.003
JURAJ FABUS
Zilinska univerzita v Ziline , Slovak Republic
IVETA KREMENOVA
Zilinska univerzita v Ziline , Slovak Republic
VIKTORIA FABUSOVA
Zilinska univerzita v Ziline, Slovak Republic
THE USAGE OF THE OPEN DATA IN THE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the issue of open data in the business management. All information and data
on which the open data application operates, is drawn from publicly available databases and
registries. Basic information frame is formed by the digital structured data, files in pdf, csv, xls
formats and electronic scans of various documents. The research focuses on the comparison of
applications (mainly Finstat and Indexpodnikatela) possibilities to search open data that contain
information about companies in the Slovak Republic area. For the purposes of this paper, we present
the specific examples of searching information through a filter provided by individual applications.
The filters differ from each other, as well as individual displayed data.
Keywords:
Open data, FinStat, IndexPodnikatela, information searching
JEL Classification: C88, L17, L25
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Introduction
This paper focuses on the issue of open data in the business management. The
research focuses on the comparison of applications possibilities to search open data
that contain information about companies in the Slovak Republic area. For the
purposes of this paper, we present the specific examples of searching information
through a filter provided by individual applications.
Open data
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it be a
business, a not-for-profit organization, or government body (Stofkova, 2011).
Management includes the activities of setting the strategy of an organization and
coordinating the efforts of its employees or volunteers to accomplish its objectives
through the application of available resources, such as financial, natural,
technological, and human resources. The term "management" may also refer to the
people who manage an organization.
Open data is the idea that some data should be freely available to everyone to use
and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other
mechanisms of control (Auer, 2007). The goals of the open data movement are similar
to those of other "open" movements such as open source, open hardware, open
content and open access.
The concept of open data is not new; but a formalized definition is relatively new—the
primary such formalization being that in the Open Definition which can be summarized
in the statement that "A piece of data is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and
redistribute it – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.
(opendefinition.org)"
Open data may include non-textual material such as maps, genomes, connectomes,
chemical compounds, mathematical and scientific formulae, medical data and
practice, bioscience and biodiversity. Problems often arise because these are
commercially valuable or can be aggregated into works of value. Access to, or re-use
of, the data is controlled by organisations, both public and private. Control may be
through access restrictions, licenses, copyright, patents and charges for access or re-
use. Advocates of open data argue that these restrictions are against the communal
good and that these data should be made available without restriction or fee. In
addition, it is important that the data are re-usable without requiring further permission,
though the types of re-use (such as the creation of derivative works) may be controlled
by a license.
These are for example timetables, states incomes, budget, databases, list of providers
of social services, register of organizations, lists of debtors or the measurement of air
pollution.
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A typical depiction of the need for open data:
Numerous scientists have pointed out the irony that right at the historical moment
when we have the technologies to permit worldwide availability and distributed
process of scientific data, broadening collaboration and accelerating the pace and
depth of discovery, but we are busy locking up that data and preventing the use of
correspondingly advanced technologies on knowledge (Wilbanks, 2008).
Sources of open data are:
 the state and public administration,
 schools and universities,
 non-profit organizations, associations,
 private companies.
We focus in this paper on two applications that provide information about businesses
in the Slovak Republic area. The first is IndexPodnikateľa (indexpodnikatela.sk) and
the second application is FinStat (finstat.sk). For comparison purposes, we closer
identify the parameters of the Slovak corporate market.
Figure 1: Rankings for Europe and Central Asia
Source: Own adjustment based on Open Data Barometer [online: http://opendatabarometer.org/]
We can see in figure 1 the Slovakia's position in Open Data Barometer scale.
Produced by the World Wide Web Foundation as a collaborative work of the Open
Data for Development (OD4D) network and with the support of the Omidyar Network,
the Open Data Barometer (ODB) aims to uncover the true prevalence and impact of
open data initiatives around the world. It analyses global trends, and provides
comparative data on countries and regions using an in-depth methodology that
combines contextual data, technical assessments and secondary indicators.
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Covering 92 countries in the present edition, the Barometer ranks nations on:
 Readiness for open data initiatives.
 Implementation of open data programmes.
 Impact that open data is having on business, politics and civil society.
The Barometer is a truly global and collaborative effort, with input from more than 150
researchers and government representatives. It takes over six months and more than
9,000 hours of research work to compile. This report is intended to be a summary of
some of the most striking findings. The full data is available online, and intended to
support further secondary research into the progression of open data policies and
practices across the world.
Slovakia has achieved above-average ranking. There are 5.5 million inhabitants, of
which more than 337,000 are self-employed. More than 290,000 are registered
companies. We can say that the data from the Statistical Office are outdated, since
they are published for the year 2015. We can obtain updated information from already
mentioned applications IndexPodnikateľa and FinStat. These applications have their
own databases and information is available immediately. Database contains
information on defunct and newly established companies and self-employees. In the
table below, we can see a comparison of databases of two selected applications.
Table 1: Databases comparison
Application
FinStat
IndexPodnikateľa
The number of companies
410 028
334 622
The number of self-employees
815 977
1 015 354
Source: Own processing.
To another database, which application FinStat contains, belong a database of
financial data, a database of persons in the companies, a database of nonprofit
organisations. After paying fees there is also a database of Czech companies and
self-employees, legal databases (e.g. register of executions and payment orders) and
other databases containing information from commercial journal (eg auctions).
Application IndexPodnikateľa contains the following additional databases: a database
of accountig statements, a database of financial analysis, a database of records from
commercial journal, a database of debtors in taxes, debtors on social and health
insurance.
Among published business data belong:
 registers of self employees, companies and organizations - Commercial
Register is a public register, which includes statutory data about entrepreneurs
and other persons, which are stipulated by a special law,
 macroeconomic, demographic and social statistics,
 economic results of companies - incomes, profits, etc.,
05 April 2017, 5th Business & Management Conference, Rome ISBN 978-80-87927-34-2, IISES
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 public procurement and e-marketplace,
 central register of contracts,
 a list of Slovak domains,
 contact information, company websites, catalogs,
 debtors' list (health and social insurance, taxes, duties, state claims),
 entrepreneurs in bankruptcy (bankruptcy, restructuring, small bankruptcies),
 execution proceedings,
 judicial decisions,
 register of pledges,
 information from the cadastre (land, buildings, certificates of ownership,
encumbrances).
These data can be used in business. The entrepreneurs may know better the market
in which they operate, for example: how many companies are operating in the same
industry, or area, what turnover they have. The enterpreneurs may properly identify
risks in the market and in the business contact (Soltes, 2016). Available information
gives them an idea about their business partners. Applications, which are compared
below, inform also about the changes in the monitored companies (bankruptcy,
execution proceedings). Based on the data, which can be obtained from the
applications, the company can compare its results with the competition, or branch, etc.
And on this basis it can take improvement, or gain new business oportunities.
Examples of what data we can watch:
 results of competitors,
 the change of the name or residence of the company,
 if the company became a VAT payer,
 if the company has been declared bankrupt or restructuring,
 increasing debt of the company,
 the change of the owner or manager of the company,
 if the company rewrites properties to other persons / companies,
 if the property is on mortgage,
 if the company has made any contracts with the state.
FinStat
FinStat was founded in 2012 and launched in 2013. The aim of the application was to
create a web portal that helps people to easily and for free assess the financial health
of Slovak companies.
FinStat has processed from the beginning a number of data sources which analyzes
and uses to make a picture of an individual companies. By combining data sources,
editing and analyzing them it creates at the same time the image of the entire market -
Slovak companies as a whole, individual sectors and groups of entrepreneurs.
05 April 2017, 5th Business & Management Conference, Rome ISBN 978-80-87927-34-2, IISES
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The most important data sources, which are processed, are commercial bulletin,
business register, trade register, the register of statement of finances, lists of debtors
from insurance companies, lists of financial administrative and judicial decisions. Thre
are also other data sources, which are used by FinStat.
IndexPodnikateľa
The project IndexPodnikateľa has been created as a tool to promote and develop a
transparent business environment in Slovakia. It is an innovative and unique service
that can examine and analyze any company doing business in Slovakia.
Entrepreneurs can therefore receive the basic and extended information about
business partners, suppliers or competitors. IndexPodnikateľa provides a detailed
view of the arrears of health and social insurance, tax, bankruptcy, restructuring,
execution and other statements relating to the monitoring company. One of the most
important outcomes of this service is also a financial analysis of the company and the
index ―IndexPodnikatela‖.
All information and data on which the IndexPodnikateľa operates is drawn from
publicly available databases and registries. Basic information frame is formed by the
digital structured data, files in pdf, csv, xls formats and electronic scans of various
documents. Detailed analysis of companies requires detailed information about
financial results (financial statements) for the previous periods. They are the only one
in Slovakia, who decided to digitize (convert into a structured format) all qualitative
sufficient and for the processing suitable documents (scans of accounting documents).
From the vast amount of data they create financial analysis of companies, predictions,
but also various statistical analyzes relating to the sectors, or specific lines of
business.
Not every enterpreneur, self-employees, or sales representative may understand the
variety of financial and economic indicators and financial analysis. Therefore, on the
basis of the data received, the index Podnikateľa decided to evaluate the reliability
and performance of companies, by creating the indexPodnikateľa, which clearly shows
in which financial and economic state the company is, and whether it is appropriate to
establish a business relationship.
With IndexPodnikateľa you can immediately verify your prospective business partner
and add him to the list of monitored companies. If any problems or changes occur the
system notifies you via automatic notification.
Both applications offer services for free as well as the paid services.
Specific examples for searching information
For the purposes of this paper, we present the specific examples of searching
information through a filter provided by individual applications. The filters differ from
each other, as well as individual displayed data. This is because the FinStat
application uses activity in sector as a filter for entrepreneurial activity, and application
IndexPodnikateľa uses the field of business according to the specification SKNACE in
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the filter. In the FinStat application, we can see the classification by SKNACE only in
the company details. Also, it is because the data that they present are from different
periods of time.
In Figure 2 we can see the design of FinStat application and in Figure 3 we can see
the design of IndexPodnikateľa application and also filtered data. Figure 2 shows the
output for search - traders in the information technology industry in Žilina region.
Figure 3 shows the output for search – self-eployees in the business field of
Information and Communication in Žilina region. We can observe a difference in filter
from the beginning. FinStat application uses sectors to assign the activity of
enterpreneur and IndexPodnikateľa uses the branch of business according to
SKNACE.
Figure 2: Searching in application FinStat
Source: Own processing.
05 April 2017, 5th Business & Management Conference, Rome ISBN 978-80-87927-34-2, IISES
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Figure 3: Searching in application IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
Statistical Classification of Economic Activities (hereinafter "SKNACE") is given to
categorize data relating to the economic entity as a statistical unit. It is one of the tools
for the preparation of various statistics - outputs, inputs into the production process,
capital formation and financial transactions of economic entities.
In Figures 4 and 5 we can see the filtered data. We searched for companies in the
telecommunications industry in Žilina region. It was displayed the list of companies in
the sector and a general information about these companies. The difference in
displaying self-employees and companies is observed in the initial display of
information on searching companies, i.e. we see the information about sales, profits,
assets, etc.
Figure 4: The list of companies in Žilina region in telecommunication area in the
application FinStat
Source: Own processing.
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Figure 5: The list of companies in Žilina region in telecommunication area in the
application IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
If you click on a particular company, details about the company will be displayed,
where we can find the necessary information regarding the company. Design of
applications is different and also the way to get the searched information.
Figure 6: Company details in FinStat application
Source: Own processing.
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Figure 7: Assets and liabilities of selected company in FinStat application
Source: Own processing.
In Figure 6, we can see an overview of information about a particular company in the
FinStat application. There are data about incomes, profits, assets, liabilities (Figure 7),
etc. for a specific year. These data can be converted to PDF. In the left panel, we can
view the financial report, financial indicators, balance sheet, profit and loss statement
and data from the commercial register of a particular company. In the upper bar are
another options: monitoring of the company, financial statements, and the financial
report, but these services are charged.
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Figure 8: Company Details in the application IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
In Figure 8, we can see an overview of a specific company in IndexPodnikateľa
application. In the top bar of the screen, we can gradually display more information
about the specific company, events (Figure 9), index podnikateľa (enterpreuer index),
financial analysis (fraction of a financial analysis we can see in Figure 10), balance
sheet, profit and loss account, financial statements, contracts and agreements,
outstanding debts, liquidation and bankruptcy and court decisions.
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Figure 9: Detail of events related to the specific company in the application
IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
Figure 10: Assets and liabilities of the specific company in the application
IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
Since we did not obtain access to paid version of FinStat application, in the following
paragraphs, we will describe only other features of IndexPodnikateľa application,
where we received a paid access. For the purpose of this paper we mention a specific
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example. We were looking for companies that sell wiring materials (SKNACE: 46520,
46690). Other information that we have obtained are:
 1222 companies and 40 entrepreneurs carry business in this area,
 66% of companies have a good credit rating,
 they place on the market goods for 9,033 companies (7158 traders and 1875
companies),
 10% of companies have a high risk of bankruptcy and 11% have a medium risk.
If we take for an example a wiring works, we find out:
 thre is approximately 645 customers, which is 7.15% of the market
 10% of companies in the market where the company supplying the goods has a
high probability of bankruptcy,
 1.7% of companies are in bankruptcy or restructuring,
 6.6% of companies and sole traders has led debt.
 0.5% of the companies is problematic in VAT paying,
 median period of the turnover in sector is 93 days for liabilities and 58 days for
assets.
 The total indebtedness in the sector is 55%.
Another feature of this application is people search, through which we can get also
information about where is the person involved. We can see also the rating of
individual companies. This function is used to gain insight into the financial health of
all companies in which the searching person operates. The particular example can be
seen in the Figure 11.
Figure 11: The participation of a particular person in application IndexPodnikateľa -
searching
Source: Own processing.
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Through the comparison with the competition we can obtain information about the
development of incomes and profits, development of margin, the turnover period of
liabilities and assets, profitability, liquidity, indebtedness. These comparisons are
shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12: The comparison of the basic economic indicators with competition in
application IndexPodnikateľa
Source: Own processing.
With this application the company may also find new customers with the following
information:
 websites, e-mails, phone contacts,
 filtering by company's legal form,
 filtering by residence (region, district, city),
 filtering by industry,
 search only uncontroversial companies,
 many other filters.
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Conclusion
We can point out in the conclusion that none of these applications does not have its
version in English. FinStat application provides more information for free than
IndexPodnikateľa. In the FinStat application we can obtain free of charge information
on sales, profits, incomes, assets, equity capital, gross margin, return of assets and
the total debt of the observed company. But on the contrary in the applciation
IndexPodnikateľa we can receive information only about the development of sales and
earnings. Both applications provide basic information about the establishment of the
company, its field of business, registration number and information on whether the
company has any debts and arrears. We can find the difference between applications
also in filtering capabilities of searching information. This service si chareged in the
application IndexPodnikateľa. However, we must point out that IndexPodnikateľa
offers to its potential clients free access for 14 days to paid services.
The use of open data in corporate activities has got ascending tendency. If you want
to carry business in the EU market, the portal European Union Open Data Portal is a
very good source of information. To do business locally, it is advisable to find a data
source in the country. In the SR is suitable for this purpose portal IndexPodnikateľa.
By providing easy and free access to data, the portal aims to promote their innovative
use and unleash their economic potential.
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