Digital strategy

The digital strategy presents a framework for digital business transformation and an inevitable requirement for achieving success in a digital world. The pace of change and innovation in digital businesses is not slowing down and today almost no business can ignore its digital aspect but what drives digital transformation is a strategy, not technology. Therefore, the ability to digitally reimagine the business is determined by a clear digital strategy, and the leaders able to implement it in the organization. Inertia is not the solution to uncertainty. Having a clear vision, goals and objectives help organizations to reduce this ambiguity and adapt to an everchanging digital environment. Agile outperforms the traditional approach and new, innovative organizations replace incumbents that do not adapt fast enough in a process known as creative destruction

An Overview of Digital Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European Countries

The aim of the study is to explore and present an overview of digital entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European countries and to examine how certain components of the DESI index affect GDP per capita in CEE countries and in what way modern information technologies affect their economies. The paper uses secondary data sources, mostly scientific and professional journals from the studied area, DESI reports, Eurostat data, and other Internet sources. The first part of the paper presents a short introduction on digitization digital entrepreneurship and digital technologies. The second part provides a descriptive analysis of digital entrepreneurship indicators and explores business demography in the ICT sector while the third part refers to the analysis of the DESI index. The panel method on data from 2015 to 2019 was used to show the influence of the different DESI index components on the observed countries’ GDP per capita. The hypothesis that the components of the DESI index have a positive impact on GDP per capita has been partially confirmed. DESI rank, Connectivity and Human capital did not prove to be significant, while Use of internet services, Integration of digital technology, and Digital public services proved their significant positive effect

KONKURENTNOST I INOVACIJSKI IZAZOVI U HRVATSKOJ

Competitiveness is a concept we all want to achieve, but it is very difficult to define, and even harder to implement. An important feature of competitiveness is its dynamic nature, because sources of competitiveness are not permanent. Competitiveness is a matter of growing interest for every country, which is concerned about the success of its industries and nations. For understanding the current economic situation, it is necessary to know the historical background because it affects the current situation and competitiveness of the economy. Competitiveness is the most commonly defined economic concept in the last 30 years. It is in the interest of every country to be competitive and that the industry is export-oriented. To be competitive in the demanding EU market and on the global market is the task of both enterprises and the economy of the Republic Croatia. The purpose of this paper is to link international competitiveness with the lack of innovative activity in Croatia. Innovation capacity and sophistication of production technology are one of the main problems of business competitiveness in Croatia. This paper researches the indicators of competitiveness and innovation index parameters that determine the position of the Republic of Croatia on the regional and the global level. The aim is to show the influence of the national competitiveness and innovation standard on entrepreneurship in Croatia.Konkurentnost je koncept kojeg svi žele postići, ali ga je vrlo teško definirati, a još i teže provesti. Važna značajka konkurentnosti je njezina dinamična priroda, jer izvori konkurentnosti nisu trajni. Konkurentnost ima sve veći značaj za svaku zemlju, koja želi razvijati svoju industriju i gospodarstvo. Za razumijevanje trenutne ekonomske situacije potrebno je poznavati povijesnu pozadinu jer utječe na postojeću situaciju i konkurentnost gospodarstva. Konkurentnost je najčešće definiran ekonomski koncept u posljednjih 30 godina. Interes svake zemlje je da bude konkurentna i da je industrija izvozno orijentirana. Da bi se postigla konkurentnost na zahtjevnom tržištu EU i na globalnom tržištu, zadatak je oboje - i poduzeća i gospodarstva Republike Hrvatske. Svrha rada je povezati međunarodnu konkurentnost s nedostatkom inovativnih aktivnosti u Hrvatskoj. Inovacijski kapaciteti i sofisticiranost proizvodne tehnologije jedan su od glavnih problema poslovne konkurentnosti u Hrvatskoj. Radom se istražuju indikatori konkurentnosti i parametri indeksa konkurentnosti i inovacija koji određuju položaj Republike Hrvatske na regionalnoj i globalnoj razini. Cilj je pokazati utjecaj nacionalne konkurentnosti i standarda inovacija na poduzetništvo u Hrvatskoj

Digital due diligence: a complementary perspective to the traditional approach

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) represent one of the most common ways for firms to achieve non-organic growth, and one of the main stages in the typical M&A transaction is due diligence of the target company. The aim of this paper is to provide a guideline for conducting due diligence process in the digital environment. After a brief introduction on the nature, purpose and elements of the due diligence, the paper elaborates various risks, and psychological and contextual hazards often occurred during due diligence process. Special attention has been paid to the elaboration of the role and importance of the digital due diligence as a new concept in today’s contemporary ‘digital’ economy. The outcome of this paper is to provide a comparison between ‘traditional’ and ‘digital’ due diligence, digital due diligence methodology, and easy understandable check list for conducting the process of digital due diligence

Social Entrepreneurship: Strategic Development in Croatia

Social Entrepreneurship is an area of entrepreneurship and economics in general that have become more and more popular in the last 30 years across the whole globe. However, the topics related to social entrepreneurship came in focus in Croatia during the past years due to developing and adopting the Strategy for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Croatia for the period from 2015 to 2020. This paper will provide an overview of the relevant definitions of social entrepreneurship, social entrepreneur and social enterprise (with reference to the Strategy). The aim of this paper is to analyse the strategic framework for development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia and finally, to propose the direction of development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia in the future

BARRIERS TO ENTRY OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN CROATIA

Barijere ulaska prisutne su ako je novim poduzećima (tzv. potencijalnim „ulaznicima“) djelomično spriječen ili u potpunosti onemogućen ulazak u neku industriju ili pristup određenom tržištu. Postoje brojne barijere ulaska, a najčešće se dijele u strukturne i strateške. Strukturne barijere ulaska vezuju se uz specifičnost same industrije i različite su od industrije do industrije, odnosno mogu biti vezane uz tržište. Strateške barijere su aktivnosti kojima poduzeće u sektoru kroz vlastitu strategiju djelovanja nastoji spriječiti ili onemogućiti ulazak drugima u industriju ili tržište. Cilj rada bio je istražiti javljaju li se profitabilnost i stopa rasta poslovnih prihoda, a potom i cijena rada kao barijere ulaska, te kako utječu na dinamiku ulazaka u pojedine djelatnosti u sklopu prerađivačke industrije, djelatnosti s najvećim udjelom u strukturi bruto domaćeg proizvoda i ukupnoj zaposlenosti, te najvećim udjelom u ukupnom izvozu Republike Hrvatske. Istraživanjem su obuhvaćena mala i srednja poduzeća unutar prerađivačke industrije u Republici Hrvatskoj. Rezultati regresijske obrade upućuju na značaj stope rasta poslovnih prihoda, povrata na kapital, povrata na imovinu, te prosječni trošak po zaposlenom, odnosno njihov utjecaj na dinamiku ulaska u pojedine djelatnosti prerađivačke industrije.Barriers to entry exist if new enterprises (potential “entrants”) are partially or completely prevented from entering a particular industry or market. Th ere are numerous barriers to entry, but the most common division is into structural and strategic. Structural barriers to entry are associated with the specifi cs of an industry and differ from one industry to another, or may be market related. Strategic barriers are activities which enterprises undertake while carrying out their own strategy, with the aim of deterring or preventing the entry of others in the industry or market. The purpose of the study was to investigate the presence of profi tability and growth in operating revenues and the cost of labor as entry barriers, and their eff ect on the dynamics of entry to a particular segment of the manufacturing industry. This industry is characterized by the highest share in gross domestic product and total employment, as well as the highest share in total Croatian exports. Research was conducted on small and medium-sized enterprises within the manufacturing industry in Croatia. Regression results indicate the importance of the growth rate of operating revenue, return on equity, return on assets and average cost per employee and their impact on the dynamics of entry in the manufacturing industry

Access to Finance – Experiences of SMEs in Croatia

Access to finance for small and medium enterprises still represents one of the biggest problems that entrepreneurs face when launching their business or when they want to enhance their production capacities in other stages of the enterprise life cycle. Entrepreneurs generally use informal sources of financing when starting their business (3F: family, friends and fools) if they do not have other available sources of financing. There is a common classification in the literature that divides the sources of financing to: informal investors, debt financing, equity financing, government support programs and the entrepreneurs’ own sources. The purpose of the survey conducted for this paper is to determine the sources of used finance of Croatian SMEs and the main problems that SMEs encountered while accessing finance. The second main goal of this article is to identify future needs for financing with potential financing problems that may occur. We gathered data from Croatian SMEs about the sources of funding used over the past three years and about the funding sources that they intend to use in the next three years. In last part of the paper we analyze the results from the survey and from that draw the implications for policy makers and market participants

Analiza indikatora digitalnog poduzetništva na primjeru odabranih članica Europske unije

Digitalno poduzetništvo jedan je od pokretača rasta i razvoja modernog gospodarstva koji se pokazao iznimno otpornim u razdoblju pandemije bolesti COVID-19. S obzirom na to da se digitalno poduzetništvo pojavljuje kao rješenje problema nezaposlenosti i gospodarskog rasta, važno je razumjeti njegov koncept i glavne odrednice. Nove tehnologije dovode do stvaranja inovativnih poslovnih modela i prilagođavanja postojećih modela novim tržišnim uvjetima. Poduzeća koja pravovremeno usvoje inovativne tehnologije i svoje postojeće poslovanje prilagode novim digitalnim tehnologijama mogu povećati svoje tržišne udjele. Poduzeća koja se ne prilagode turbulentnom poslovnom okruženju i modernim digitalnim tehnologijama bit će istisnuta s tržišta u poznatom procesu kreativne destrukcije. Istraživanje provedeno u ovome radu nastoji dati pregled i analizu najvažnijih indikatora digitalnog poduzetništva. Korelacijska analiza primijenjena je za ispitivanje međuodnosa među dimenzijama indeksa digitalnog poduzetništva u Europskoj uniji (EU). Implikacije analize odnose se na bolje razumijevanje koncepta digitalnog poduzetništva, njegovih indikatora, ključnih metrika te aktualnih tendencija digitalnog poduzetništva u EU-u

Comparative empirical analysis of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs

Motivacija predstavlja čimbenik koji izaziva određeno željeno ponašanje, pri čemu različiti čimbenici određuju željeno ponašanje kod različitih tipova promatranih ekonomskih subjekata. Cilj rada je steći dublje razumijevanje glavnih razlika motivacije poduzetnika i intrapoduzetnika. U radu je pružen teorijski prikaz poduzetnika i intrapoduzetnikate su navedene najznačajnije sadržajne teorije motivacije. Također, u radu su prikazani različiti čimbenici motivacije koji su korišteni u istraživanju. Od ekstrizičnih motivacijskih čimbenika ispitivali su se novčana nagrada, izazov i trening, dok su se intrizični čimbenici ispitivali kroz moć, pripadnost i priznanje. Kako bi se ustanovilo navedeno provedeno je kvalitativno istraživanje te je u namjernom uzorku metodom polustandardiziranog intervjua ispitan utjecaj intrizičnih i ekstrizičnih čimbenika na motivaciju poduzetnika i intrapoduzetnika. Ustanovljeno je kako su poduzetnici više motivirani novcem i moći u usporedbi s onim što motivira intrapoduzetnike, a to su izazov i priznanje. Što se tiče treninga, pripadnosti i uspjeha, ti su faktori bili jednako motivirajući za poduzetnike i za intrapoduzetnike.Motivation is a factor that causes a certain desired behavior, where different factors determine the desired behavior in different types of observed economic entities. The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the main differences in motivation between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. The paper provides a theoretical overview of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, and lists the most important content theories of motivation. Moreover, the paper elaborates on various motivational factors used in the research. Extrinsic motivational factors which were examined in the research are: monetary reward, challenge, and training, while intrinsic factors examined in the research are: power, affiliation, and recognition. Semi-structured interview as a form of qualitative research method was used in order to examine the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the motivation of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Results show that entrepreneurs are more motivated by money and power compared to challenge and recognition as prime motivators of intrapreneurs. Training, affiliation and success were equally motivating for entrepreneurs and for intrapreneurs

THE INFLUENCE OF OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE ON THE PERFORMANCE IN CROATIAN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Transition from the socialist to market economy required, in one of its stages, a change in ownership structure and privatisation of enterprises. Privatisation developed differently in former socialist countries: in some countries, the process has been completed fully, while in other countries, it has been completed only partially. In addition to differences in the dynamics of privatisation across countries, privatisation evolved differently across sectors within a single national economy. Moreover, the birth of the Croatian state and a shift towards the market economy evolved in specific conditions due to the Croatian War of Independence, which placed an additional burden on the transition process which is difficult as it is. This paper examines the privatisation of hotel industry in Croatia, its dynamics and its results in the light of two facts. Firstly, tourism represents a major driver of economic growth in Croatia, and secondly, the resources available within this sector are very specific. The paper therefore evaluates the justification of privatisation by studying various facets of economic performance among privatised and non-privatised enterprises, e.g. their level of productivity and structure of debt, with special emphasis on the performance of mixed enterprises. The study results indicate a far better performance of private firms in relation to state-owned enterprises. More precisely, better economic performance is noticed in enterprises where state holds minority ownership interest than in enterprises where state holds majority ownership interest