Regional specialization and geographic concentration: experiences from Slovak industry

This paper attempts to indicate changes in industry during the period of economic restructuring and European integration in Slovakia in the regional and sectoral contexts. The concepts of geographic concentration and regional specialization are used in order to achieve the envisaged aims. Based on the relationship between the change in the specialization index and the change in the number of companies in three size categories, the main aim is to show the strategies used in the transformation of the regional industrial structure. It is expected that the largest category of industrial companies, those with 250 or more employees, will be a significant factor in explaining the changes in regional specialization. The main output will be a graphic model of transformation strategies and the identification of regional industrial types.