engleski

Sources of Competitive Advantage in the Croatian Manufacturing Industry

The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationships between firms’ characteristics, strategic behavior of manufacturing firms and firms’ performance (measured as value added per employee). The research questions were tested with data collected from company survey carried out during the period of October-December 2007 in Croatia. The data was analyzed using chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicate that company size, technological intensity and firms’ experience do affect the performance differences among companies. Higher percentage of small companies appeared to have higher productivity as compared to medium-sized and large companies. Younger firms outperformed older firms, while companies with higher level of technological intensity had higher productivity than those with lower technological level. Furthermore, the paper identifies several strategic behavior variables that affect firms’ performance. High performing companies had higher volume of sales per employee and higher levels of profit per employee. Finally, the paper discusses implications of findings for policy makers and managers.

manufacturing industry; performance; sources of competitive advantage; strategy; Croatia

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