Cross-Border Relationships of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses - Landscape Modelling: Geographical Space, Transformation and Future Scenarios - page 58

cooperate with each other or if they plan to do so. Important were also questions con-
cerning the awareness of possibilities for support, problems of collaboration which
may appear, the valuation of the framework conditions, the implementation of the
Euro and the role of the Euroregion (cf. Schamp, 1995; Grimm, 1996; Kowalke &
Eckart, 1997; Bufon, 1998).
5.2 Method of the Survey
Our working group, which was composed of three scientists and 30 students, was
planning to arrange 300 interviews with executives of small and medium-sized
businesses in the area of Euroregion Elbe/Labe. In cooperation with the Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of Dresden and Ústí nad Labem, approximately 1.000
businesses were chosen and contacted.
The data acquisition was carried out by questionnaire. Almost 500 German
and 500 Czech small and medium-sized companies, located in the area of the
Euroregion, were chosen. But only 76 German and 52 Czech companies agreed
to participate in the survey.
The interviews were conducted with the help of students from the Geographical
Institutes of the Technical University Dresden and the Purkyne-University Ústí
nad Labem. The main questions were kept similar in order to obtain comparable
results.
The questionnaire was structured in three thematically oriented complexes:
1. Complex: Framework conditions. The questions of this complex were targeted
at the valuation of the conditions for cross-border cooperation (for example level
of information about support programs).
2. Complex: Cross-border cooperation. In this complex, the aim was to distinguish
between businesses which already cooperate, companies which are planning
to build up a cross-border relationship and companies which are not planning
to do so.
- Already collaborating businesses were asked for their motives of building up
such a relationship, the modalities concerning this cooperation and the prob-
lems that may appear including their perspectives when framework conditions
change.
- The aims of the questions for companies that are planning to cooperate were
to find out their reasons, the status of preparation and the modalities of the
planned cooperation.
- The main interest regarding companies that don't wish to initiate cross-border
cooperation is to find out their arguments for this.
3. Complex: characteristic of the business. The questions in this complex are related
to each business, its size, its connection to an economic branch and its legal struc-
ture. They were also asked for an evaluation related to their business location and
the Euroregion.