engleski

Impact of Internal and External Factors on Performance of Fast-growing Small and Medium Businesses

This study aims at broadening understanding about small and medium businesses (SMBs), as a significant driver of economic development, and in particular finding out about their market performance, as a result of their competitiveness, as well as the impact of the internal and external environment on it. The study was conducted on Croatian fast-growing SMBs (“gazelles”). However, the scientific and practical contribution of the research transcends national borders, due to the insufficiency of similar research in transitional or small countries as well as in the field of fast-growing businesses. The dynamic nature of the research has enabled creating a more realistic picture of variability of environmental factors as well as of variability of SMBs performance/effectiveness. The added value of this research lies in the fact that it also includes the period of crisis as a specific economic condition that jeopardises not only the performance, but also the very survival of businesses in general. This study confirmed that all of the eight internal factors (business entity size, life cycle stages, technology and product innovation, organizational features of autonomy, centralization and formalization, market roles and type/importance of goals) and three out of the five external factors (general state of the economy, sector and type of customers), depending on the period (life cycle stage and general state of the economy), exercise a more or less significant impact on the performance/effectiveness (sales growth and achievement of goals) of SMBs.

performance/effectiveness; internal and external factors/environment; small and medium businesses (SMBs)

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