Corporate Governance In Relation To The Enhancement Of Social Responsibility

Paper argues that managers have the obligation to make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society as well as the organisation. Social responsible behaviour is actually in a company's self interest. Therefore the company must take the social consequences into account when formulating strategies. Still there are those scholars who argue that considerations of social responsibility should not enter into the decision process. However, many institutional investors pay attention to corporate social behaviour and thus influence the market for a company's stock. Our conclusions are based on a longitudinal research method. We made three consecutive research studies on the characteristics of corporate governance in Slovenia in the period 1998 to 2006. We compare the results of our studies made in 1998 and 2002 with the latest results in 2006. The most important long-term strategic objective of Slovenian companies is growth. The share of Slovenian companies not considering equity opportunity costs has decreased significantly in the last six years due to the consolidation of ownership structures. The controlling owners are more active in setting the required rate of return on their equity investments. There is no conflict of interests between internal and external shareholders in most companies. Obviously, Slovenian companies have changed their strategic behaviour to reflect the interests of their stakeholders. We may argue that some stakeholders, like customers and employees, are even more important for Slovenian managers than the owners

Corporate Strategies In The Post-Transition Economy: The Case Of Slovenian Companies

This paper argues that unrelated diversification strategies outperform related diversification strategies.  The author identifies three phases of the internationalisation process.  More detailed analyses of the internationalisation process shows that companies are trying to develop more complex forms of international business activities.  The author also identifies four groups of competencies that are the cornerstones of corporate strategies.  This study reveals that 40.6% of companies diversified through external means, 36.2% diversified through internal means, while 23.2% diversified through both internal and external methods.  There appears to be no statistically significant performance differences among companies regarding external and internal growth strategies.  Internal growth and joint ventures are the most important forms of diversification.  These companies also tend to develop various forms of long-term strategic co-operation.  This process can be crucial for developing competitive advantages.  By comparing the performance of companies regarding ownership structure, the author found that companies with international ownership structure performed better.  In other words, foreign ownership had a positive influence on company performance

Characteristics of acquisitions in the Central and Eastern European economies in transition

This paper deals with strategic issues of acquisitions in Central and Eastern European economies in transition: Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Poland. The underlying motives for 45 acquisitions in Slovenia and 11 acquisitions in other Central and Eastern European economies are identified and compared together with certain characteristics of the acquisition process. This study also identifies the motives of the owners of target companies in agreeing to sell. There are only two hostile take-overs in the samples under study. Therefore, the motives of the target companies’ managers in supporting sales are of special interest in this paper. The performance of the acquired companies is measured against the realisation of the key motives

Dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage: Findings from case studies

Our paper highlights the importance of the dynamic capabilities perspective as a field of study in today\u27s dynamic environment. The dynamic capabilities view has received a lot of attention in recent years, although the outcome is a complex with limited empirical studies. In our study we conducted in-depth interviews in six representative IT firms. The underlying assumption is that firms, which are able to reconfigure their resources and capabilities, in line with recognized opportunities and environmental change, can create and sustain a competitive advantage. We argue that firms with a stronger commitment to deploying dynamic capabilities are more successful, and vice versa. The results suggest that ignoring the deployment of a single dynamic capability can negatively affect the deployment of other dynamic capabilities since they are correlated and interwoven. Our paper is also considered to be important from practitioners’ point of view. We believe the results will help managers to understand how dynamic capabilities work and will guide them in deploying capabilities in their own organizations

Problematika razkrivanja spornih poslovnih praks v organizacijah

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problem of whistleblowing in the organisations.Whistleblowers are insiders who go public in their criticism of business practices of the organisation. This form of occupational suicide is thus available for interpretation as either heroic or pathological. Many contradictions are at work in how such episodes are produced, how they are encoded and distributed by media institutions and how they are interpreted by publics. In practice we are faced with internal as well as with the external whistleblowing. We argue that individuals go public more often if there is no intraorganisation mechanism to enable internal whistleblowing. Key words: organisation, conflict, loyalty, social responsibilityNamen prispevka je osvetliti problem razkrivanja spornih ravnanj, ki niso skladna z javnim interesom, zainteresirani javnosti. Razkrivalci informacij se v teh primerih obrnejo na širšo javnost in kritično opozorijo na sporne poslovne prakse določene organizacije. Takšna oblika poklicnega samomora se lahko interpretira kot herojska ali pa kot patološka. Obstaja veliko protislovij glede nastanka takšnega ravnanja, interpretacije s strani medijev in načina posredovanja kot tudi glede razumevanja ravnanja s strani javnosti. V praksi smo soočeni z razkrivanjem spornih ravnanj tako notranjim kot tudi zunanjim interesnim skupinam. V prispevku utemeljujemo, da se posamezniki obračajo na zunanjo javnost pogosteje, če ne obstajajo ustrezni mehanizmi znotraj organizacije, ki omogočajo notranji pretok informacij o domnevno spornem ravnanju. Ključne besede: organizacija, konflikt, lojalnost, družbena odgovornos

Dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage: Findings from case studies

Our paper highlights the importance of the dynamic capabilities perspective as a field of study in today\u27s dynamic environment. The dynamic capabilities view has received a lot of attention in recent years, although the outcome is a complex with limited empirical studies. In our study we conducted in-depth interviews in six representative IT firms. The underlying assumption is that firms, which are able to reconfigure their resources and capabilities, in line with recognized opportunities and environmental change, can create and sustain a competitive advantage. We argue that firms with a stronger commitment to deploying dynamic capabilities are more successful, and vice versa. The results suggest that ignoring the deployment of a single dynamic capability can negatively affect the deployment of other dynamic capabilities since they are correlated and interwoven. Our paper is also considered to be important from practitioners’ point of view. We believe the results will help managers to understand how dynamic capabilities work and will guide them in deploying capabilities in their own organizations

Organization in New Business Environment: a Franchisor’s View

This paper investigates the basic risk and incentives relationship in franchising companies. The results of past research reflect volatile influence of risk and incentives. An in-depth analysis of this relationship was conducted using case study approach, including 12 international franchise firms of two types. Our study included retail and service franchising. Findings from this research confirm basic agency theory predictions. The risk-incentives relationship is negatively correlated in retail franchise companies, due to lower royalties in the sector. Service franchise companies do not follow the same concept, due to their adaptability of franchise system to local markets. We believe service franchise systems might be responsible for volatility. However, both types of companies nurture and develop strategies based on experience and intuition. Findings of the research offer important insights in understanding the nature of franchisor’s risk perception, as the basic underlying mechanism to the risk and incentives relationship

Korporacijske strategije akvizicija i ekonomska uspješnost – primjer Slovenije

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influenced the performance of acquisitions in Slovenia. The empirical research methodology is based on qualitative part (interviews by using questionnaire) and quantitative part (descriptive statistics, correlation, regression model). In the methodology subjective approach (performance perceived by managers) is combined with more objective criteria. The performance of an acquisition is measured by comparing the acquisition’s motives with its outcomes. The acquisitions were divided into three types: horizontal, vertical and conglomerate. The result of this research implicates that the so-called strategic and organizational fit between companies involved in M&A play an important role in improving the operational performance of the acquired companies in the post-acquisition period. Successful acquirers not only had a background in detecting below-average or less than full potential performance, but they also had some skills and competencies to improve the performance of an acquired firm. The results of our study suggest the conclusion that increasing relatedness – especially with regard to certain competencies and skills – between companies involved in an acquisition increases the chances of success.Svrha ovog istraživanja jest proučiti čimbenike koji utječu na uspješnost preuzimanja firmi u Sloveniji. Empiričko istraživanje temelji se na kvalitativnom dijelu (intervjuima menadžera pomoću upitnika) i kvantitativnom dijelu (deskriptivnoj statistici, korelaciji i regresijskom modelu). U primijenjenoj metodologiji, subjektivni pristup (uspješnost percipirana sa strane menadžera) kombinira se s objektivnijim kriterijima. Empirijsko istraživanje temelji se na uspoređivanju procesa akvizicije s motivima. Akvizicije su razvrstane u tri tipa: horizontalne akvizicije, vertikalne akvizicije i konglomerati. Rezultati ovog istraživanja pokazuju da takozvane strateške i organizacijske akvizicije imaju važnu ulogu za uspješnost poslovanja preuzetih kompanija u post-akvizicijskom periodu. Osim što su uspješni preuzimatelji primijenili uspješnu metodologiju za identifikaciju firmi koje su poslovale ispod prosjeka, odnosno ispod svojih mogućnosti, imali su i potrebne vještine i kompetencije za unapređivanje uspješnosti poslovanja preuzete firme. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na zaključak da što su firma-preuzimatelj i preuzeta firma bolje međusobno povezane na temelju određenih kompetencija i vještina, to je i veća mogućnost uspješnosti akvizicij

Successful competitive strategies of large Croatian and Slovenian enterprises

In this research report, the authors identify and analyze the successful samples of strategic behaviour of large Croatian and Slovenian enterprises, as well as their similarities and dissimilarities. The research has encompassed the levels of corporate and business strategy (i.e. the strategy of a diversified firm and its strategic business units/areas), as well as the analysis of strategic performance and sources of competitive advantage. The research consists of two parts: the theoretical foundation for the analysis of the successful patterns of strategic behaviour and the empirical analysis, based on the primary data collected during the research project

The development of corporate governance in Slovenia

Prispevek obravnava razvoj upravljanja v Sloveniji po spremembi družbenopolitičnega sistema v zadnjih tridesetih letih. Namen prispevka je prispevati k razumevanju dejavnikov, ki so vplivali na značilnosti upravljanja v Sloveniji. V prispevku prikazujemo tudi razvoj teorije upravljanja v svetu in ključne izzive za upravljanje podjetij v času po koronakrizi. Na razvoj upravljanja v prvem desetletju po osamosvojitvi leta 1991 je zelo vplivala specifična lastniška struktura, ki je izhajala iz načina lastninskega preoblikovanja podjetij. V drugem desetletju, pred finančno krizo leta 2008, so se zgodile pomembne institucionalne spremembe in lastniška konsolidacija. V tretjem desetletju, po vstopu v OECD leta 2012, pa prihaja do naravne institucionalne konvergence upravljanja podjetij z razvitimi državami, ki imajo daljšo tradicijo upravljanja. Podjetja, v katerih bodo organi upravljanja upoštevali dolgoročne interese ključnih udeležencev in jih vgrajevali v strateške odločitve, bodo uspešnejša od tistih, ki poudarjajo le kratkoročni interes delničarjev. Upoštevanje vseh ključnih udeležencev podjetja ni le moralni imperativ, temveč strateška nujnost v globalnem svetu, kjer konkurenčne prednosti temeljijo na znanju zaposlenih in razvoju strateških partnerstev