The cornerstones of corporate strategies in Slovenia and Croatia

Abstract

In our study, we managed to include companies involved in six different industries. Diversification is the most frequently used corporate strategy. Our study reveals that 43.3% of companies diversified through external means, 26.7% diversified through internal means, while 30% diversified through both internal and external methods. Retrenchment strategies are relatively unpopular because retrenchment seems to imply failure. The orientation of most top management towards growth strategies has resulted in a strong preference for acquisitions and joint ventures. 90.3% of companies are expanding their operations internationally. In our paper, we also examine the motives for developing a specific corporate strategy. Special attention is given to the core competencies and skills that have proved to be the cornerstones of the competitive advantages of companies.

Corporate Governance Codes and Their Role in Improving Corporate Governance Practice

“…Since the early 1990s, Slovenia like other Eastern European countries has made considerable efforts in transition to market economy [12,26]. After its foundation, Slovenia has been faced with a three-way transition process [14]: (1) the transition to an independent state, (2) the reorientation from the former Yugoslav to Western-developed markets and (3) the transition to the market economy. These include several developments such as privatization of companies, trade liberalization, development of domestic financial markets and their integration to global capital markets, and development of the institutional framework in terms of regulations and law systems.…”

“…Slovenia is one of the transition countries that present a large sub-category of emerging economies [13]. As a new European state, it was founded in 1991, and has been in last decades under several transition processes [12,14,15]. Even though some authors [16] claim that Slovenia is no more a transition countries since it joined the European Union (EU), several indicators show that economic transition from routine to innovative economy and society has not been finished yet in this country [17,18].…”

Re Thinking the Corporate Social Responsibility in Slovenia: Empirical Evidence

“…The European interest in CSR is, however, a relatively recent trend (Falck and Heblich, 2007) and mostly seen as organizational competitive advantage (Lahovnik, 2004) if implemented in order with the preferences of key stakeholders (Freeman, 1984). According to the World Bank definition (in Nicolau, 2008) CSR are company's obligations to be accountable to all of its stakeholders in all its activities.…”

A literature review on CEE firms’ internationalization: success measurement, achievement and outcomes

“…As according to several authors, firms are successful in their initial or subsequent foreign market activities only if they achieve growth or high levels of some internationalization-related or more general indicators, it is logical that such outcomes are expected to occur as a result of successful internationalization. From internationalization-related outcomes , high degree of internationalization (Annushkina, 2014), increased export share (Ferencikova and Hluskova, 2015), a high export value (Jaklič et al , 2017), increased foreign market share (Ciszewska-Mlinarič et al , 2020; Ferencikova and Hluskova, 2015) and increased involvement in target markets in terms of exporting initially, but, thereafter, establishing foreign subsidiaries (Ciszewska-Mlinarič et al , 2020; Lahovnik, 2004; Trąpczyński et al , 2016) have been mentioned. In addition, export survival (Vissak and Masso, 2020), low export volatility (Cieślik and Kaciak, 2011), re-entering previous (Vissak, 2022b) and entering additional foreign markets (Trąpczyński et al , 2016) have been considered to characterize successful exporters.…”