engleski

INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: THE CASE OF CROATIA

It is now widely accepted that one of the main sources of economic growth lies in the successful embodiment of new knowledge about products processes and support systems within organization. What complicates this new knowledge is that there is a difference between an organization’s ability to learn and its ability to apply learning efficiently and effectively. After a short introduction to the theoretical foundations of innovation and knowledge, Section 2 analyses the level of innovativeness of the companies in Croatia. Our analyses are based on the information se collected from a Questionnaire given to Croatian companies. In this paper the results of innovative practices in Croatian export companies are presented. The survey investigates innovative activity in last five years. The main findings from this survey are that approximately one third of the companies’ registers patents and apply innovation. However, the number of innovations per company is rather small. Improved product quality, introduction of new technology/equipment, and increase of the market share the most important motives for innovations. Increase in specialization and production is the most often benefit of the innovative activity. The survey reveals the strong correlation between total revenue and investments an innovative activity and between total revenue and number of registered innovations. Companies from manufacture of electrical and optical equipment: electricity, gas and water supply ; and manufacture of machinery and equipment are particularly active in innovative activities. Building on analyses of the changes taking places in R&D management this paper in conclusion indicates Opportunities and Challenges and offers some options for solving the gap in tacitness, asset specificity, complexity, cultural distance and organizational distance between developed and emerging countries like Croatia.

Innovation; R&D; companies; Croatia

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