The Slovak economy faces the strategic task of transforming its technology structure, raising its performance and integrating itself into the international division of labour with economically developed countries (EDCs). The problem of structure changes is not in trinsic to transitional economies only, EDCs meet this problem too. Know-how of this development can be instructive along several lines to master the changes that face the current economy of the Slovak Republic (SR). Since the sixties EDCs have experienced gradual manpower price increase, which especially in Western Europe proceeded faster than labour productivity increase. That discriminated above all labour intensive branches oriented on mass production In the seventies this development was aggravated by the steep price increase of raw materials and energy. These facts, accompanied by progress in science and technology and a drive of newly industrialized countries of south-east Asia with cheap manpower, changed the character of the competitive advantage of EDCs. In one decade a whole range of production branches went bankrupt, such as iron and steel metallurgy, textile production, ship-building etc. If price increase and limited natural resources lead on one side to seek new economical methods, on the other side the price increase of production factors opened the way towards more expensive investment and research intensive technologies. Factors based on the progress of science and technology became a moving force of a new type of competitive advantages. Unlike static factors of comparative advantages, which are usually linked to a certain geographical region, dynamic factors are characterized by greater mobility and are linked more and more to regions rich in science and research potential. The result of all this seems to be a high concentration of direct foreign investments in EDCs. The share of EDCs in the total inflow of direct foreign investments represented 85.4% in 1980 and till 1992 this figure rose up to 88%. Such a development means a new polarization of the world. In the year 1965, the seven wealthiest countries produced 20-times more than the poorest countries. In the year 1995 this figure rose to 39 times. All these facts influence foreign trade too. The traditional exchange of commodities between autonomous independent firms has widened into international exchange within multinational companies. The share of intercompany exports in multinational companies USA reaches about 36%, in manufacturing industry even double that figure. Such a change markedly narrows transfer channels of modem technologies through traditional foreign trade. Under the new conditions multinational companies try to gain advantages resulting from the progress in science and technology by founding daughter and sister companies of their own, and research institutes. In the year 1989 the enterprises of USA, Japan and EU placed 40% of their research centres abroad, compared to only 12% in the year 1982. This means that the interest of investors is attracted not only by comparative advantages of production conditions, but increasingly comparative advantages of the intellectual potential in the relevant country. The advancing process of globalization, the growing importance of innovations and a more severe competition environment significantly increased the demand on information volume, its acquirement and handling. The share of people employed in information professions markedly rose. The transfer of the centre of gravity from physical work to brainwork introduced a whole range of new problems. Most important of these was the contradiction between labour productivity in information professions and in physical work. Solely in the period from 1975 to 1985 the labour productivity increment in industry was 30 times as big as that in administration. The increase of those employed in information activities became st great obstacle to total labour productivity growth. This discrepancy resulted from the strategic orientation of industrial community predominantly oriented on the increase of the physical performance of the individual. The start of computer technology brought a solution of this contradiction. This technology together with telecommunication techniques provided material base of post-industrial development now designated the information society. In a short time it penetrated into all segments of economics and society and accelerated the rate of production restructuring in favour of products demanding information resources and qualified labour. Table 3 illustrates the development of manpower allocation in the USA proportionally by sectors and years, and Table 4 presents the share of people employed in information activities in the total of the active population proportionally in selected countries. The information society today has ceased to be a future vision only. It has a definite place in the economies of EDCs, creates new branches in the sphere of production and services. The changeover of the Slovak economy onto the development path of EDCs will not be easy. Foreign trade exchange of SR is still characterized by imports and exports of raw materials, fuels and intermediate products. Their share in the last three years has even increased. The Slovak economy registered an increasing comparative advantage against small economically developed countries in the years 1994-1996 only in intermediate products and short term consumer goods. The data of Table 6 show that SR is reaching positive differences in comparative advantages in commodity groups demanding simple labour, physical capital and raw materials. At the same time the group of products demanding research, e.g. higher qualified labour, the negative difference increases (from -24.8 up to -30 points). The data of Table 7 witness the fact that SR gains comparative advantage against small economically developed countries above all in less technology demanding commodities. At the same time the share of university students in Slovakia per hundred thousand inhabitants is satisfactory, in the middle between developed and less developed countries of the EU. Due to worse technology equipment, to provide one million USD of GDP needs 4.82 students, whereas in economically developed countries one needs only 0.89 students. it is clear that current technology equipment of production substantially reduces the efficiency of university educated professionals. Slovakia achieves, in the overall productivity measured by GDP per capita, only one third of the productivity currently achieved in the EU countries. In the education level SR occupies eleventh place among 15 EU countries (Table 9). This disproportion between the education level and labour productivity can be explained only by the fact that other production factors badly lag behind. One can see, therefore, that the factor of education and intellectual potential of SR is not lagging behind to such an extent as other production factors and has therefore the best chance to become a driving force of future development.
