Specificities of management in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Croatia

Poduzetništvo je važan segment svakog gospodarstva. U Republici Hrvatskoj poduzetništvo ima veliko značenje za cjelokupni gospodarski razvoj, pri čemu ključnu ulogu imaju mala i srednja poduzeća čiji je doprinos u gospodarstvu izuzetno značajan. Mala i srednja poduzeća otvaraju nova radna mjesta te time doprinose povećanju zaposlenosti, inovativnosti, proizvodnji te izvozu. Takva su poduzeća specifična po svojim obilježjima na koje menadžment mora obratiti pozornost prilikom obavljanja svojih aktivnosti. U radu su opisana obilježja menadžmenta u malim i srednjim poduzećima, odnosno prikazani su čimbenici koji utječu na obavljanje menadžerskih funkcija u navedenim poduzećima. U empirijskom dijelu rada provedeno je kvalitativno istraživanje metodom intervjua čiji je cilj bio ispitati specifičnosti s kojima se susreće menadžment u malim i srednjim poduzećima. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju da se menadžment malih i srednjih poduzeća u Republici Hrvatskoj susreće sa specifičnostima poput učestalih promjena zakonskih regulativa, snažnog utjecaja okoline, obavljanja više menadžerskih funkcija, kao i situacije da su vlasnici poduzeća ujedno i menadžeri.Entrepreneurship is an important part of any economy. In the Republic of Croatia, entrepreneurship has a great significance for the overall economic development, where small and medium-sized enterprises have the key role. Their contribution to the economy is extremely important. Small and medium-sized enterprises create new jobs and thereby contribute to increasing employment, innovation, production and exports. Such companies are known by their characteristics and management must pay attention on those characteristics while performing their activities. This paper describes the characteristics of management in small and medium-sized enterprises, and the factors which affect the performance of management functions in those companies, are presented. In the empirical part of this paper qualitative research has been conducted through interviews whose purpose was to examine the specifities which management is facing in small and medium-sized enterprises. The research results indicate that the management of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Croatia meets with specifities such as frequent changes in legal regulations, strong environmental influences, performing more managerial functions and the situation that the owners of enterprises are managers at the same time