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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

the use of R&D results, high-tech, modern technologies, or

practices. (Kordoš, Krajňáková, 2018). On the opposite side, the
SMEs are more flexible and adaptable as their larger
counterparts. They are more openness towards new ways of
operating, their risk taking approach but they are more
susceptible to major external powers: the pressure of growing
globalization, changing legislation, increasing and wide
spreading technologies and innovation. This illustrates that
financial and non-financial aspects threaten SMEs’ survival. It
brings various risks that SMEs must face. Despite this fact, many
SMEs do not (or not adequately) apply risk management
practices, because they cannot afford to rededicate resources due
to their constraints. (Falkner and Hiebl, 2015).

In comparison with large enterprises, the risk management in
SMEs in Slovakia is missing. In microenterprises and family
businesses, too. (Mura, 2017). The same situation is in clusters.
Effective risk management identifies the significant risks that
could affect the success or existence of the SMEs. Risks can be
identified in internal and external environment of each
entrepreneurial subject (SMEs, each clusters’ entrepreneurial
stakeholders, but also cluster). An entrepreneurial subject is
tackled to risks continually and with different intensity. The
stakeholders in cluster cooperation are facing the various risks:
globalization, loss of reputation, shortening of a product life
cycle,

new technologies, catastrophic events (natural

catastrophes, catastrophes as the impact of man-made activities)
and different economic and non-economic risks. The results of
the scientific project VEGA No. 1/0918/16 showed that the
involvement of SMEs into the cluster can be accompanied by the
following risks:



regional economic problems – clusters are usually
organized regionally, in case of regional economic
problems, they will be transferred to the cluster and to their
cooperating enterprises;



the government policy - if it was based on cluster support
and financial support for cluster-related businesses, and
this support was limited/canceled from various reasons;
clusters thus lose the benefits and stakeholders the
motivation for cooperation;



industry crisis - this risk can be minimized through the
SMEs’ involvement into the cluster; enterprises in cluster
can respond more flexibly to industry crisis and the
synergy of collaboration and transformation can avert the
threat of a crisis for an enterprise;



inability to raise additional capital – the enterprises
cooperating in cluster reduce the risks of investors and
that’s why its connection minimizes the risk associated
with the inability to obtain borrowed capital;



slow innovation – the connection into the cluster brings
greater potential to all members in case of the innovation
development and strengthens the competitive position of
the enterprise and cluster,



contravention – the dysfunction of partnership also brings
risks

All this says about downsizing of entrepreneurial activities and
acceleration of those threats existence and operation of an
enterprise. The risk management process should be implemented
within every managerial decision in an enterprise. Enterprise risk
management is a new trend in security and growth of
stakeholders’ wealth. It is a new integrated approach to
management of enterprises risks. Development of enterprise risk
management has experienced at advance in all areas and
activities of enterprises. (Haviernikov

á, Okreglicka, Klučka,

2016)

The aim of risk management is to identify, analyze, evaluate,
solve and monitor risks possibly endangering the company. For
managers, the risk management process is one of the most
important things which they do in frame of managing the risks.
For them it is necessary to know how to apply a systematic risk
management process through the putting into action the core five
risk management process steps. All risk management processes
follow same series of basic steps, although they can be different

in dependency of used standard. The elements of the risk
management process are summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Risk management process

Source: A Risk Management (2002)

In general, in the entire risk management process, following the
identification of risks, which are significant for an investor’s
objectives, the risks are assessed, which means that the most
significant risks, as well as the risks which are less important for
the project, are indicated. (Korombel, Tworek, 2011). Stated
above should be implemented also in case of clusters. These
were the main reasons for contribution to the extension of risk
management' context in these type of doing businesses. The
main aim of this paper is the evaluation of selected risks that are
identified by SMEs in case of cluster cooperation and to
recommend the ways of their prevention. Due to the fact, that
there is used specific cluster typology in Slovakia, we focused
on two types of Slovak SMEs: technological and tourism.
Technological SMEs carry out their activities in the following
areas: ICT, creative industry, bio-economic focus, agriculture
and food, engineering, energy, electrical engineering,
construction, automotive, scientific research, and so on. The
realized research has limitation namely that respondents’ (SMEs)
are member of Slovak clusters or have experience with cluster
cooperation.

2 Material and Methods

There are more than 20 clusters in Slovak self-governing regions
(Bratislava-BA, Trnava-

TT, Trenčín-TN, Nitra-NR, Žilina-ZA,

Banská Bystrica-BB, Košice-KE and Prešov-PO) divided into
two groups according typology of Slovak Innovation and
Energy Agency that performs tasks in the area of innovation in
which the issues of clustering are also incorporated. This
typology was also used in scientific project VEGA. During the
duration of scientific project we have identified more than 20
clusters. We have also identified the number of SMEs connected
into the clusters. The results are presented in table 1. The
environment of the Slovak clusters is very dynamic and clusters
that realized activities in 2016 at present are inactive.

Table 1 Slovak clusters and number of SMEs

Region

SME

Danube

knowledge

cluster

National

energetic

cluster

unk.

ABC –

Academic

Business

Cluster

unk.

Automotive

cluster Slovakia

Cluster

Smolenice

unk.

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