Efficiency of crisis management of Croatian companies in the conditions of the COVID-19 virus pandemic on selected examples

Svijet se u povijesti suočio s mnogim problemima, poput ratova, siromaštva i širenja raznih bolesti. Iako se mnogo toga moglo naučiti iz poznatih povijesnih činjenica, svijet je 2020. godinu u mnogočemu dočekao nespreman. Pandemija COVID-a 19 u potpunosti je promijenila dotadašnji način čovjekova života, a time i života svakog poduzeća. Ovaj rad, osim definiranja poslovne krize i njenih uzroka, donosi teorijske smjernice za upravljanje u poslovnoj krizi. Ipak, koronakriza je pokazala kako teorija kriznog menadžmenta nije pridavala dovoljnu pažnju mogućem razvoju krize koja je u većem dijelu svijeta nastupila 2020. godine. Upravo iz tog razloga, rad sadrži i empirijsko istraživanje provedeno na uzorku od pet poslovnih subjekata različitih djelatnosti i veličine. Cilj istraživanja je dublje proučavanje aktivnosti koje su poduzeća poduzela kako bi se učinkovito nosila s novonastalom situacijom. Istraživanje uključuje detaljno promatranje najvažnijih područja poslovanja poduzeća: poslovnih procesa, tržišta, financija i samog kriznog upravljanja. U svrhu spomenutog proučavanja provedeno je strukturirano intervjuiranje, a prikupljene informacije dodatno su proširene korištenjem podataka iz sekundarnih izvora. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su inovativne aktivnosti kriznog upravljanja koje su ispitana poduzeća učinila pobjednicima ove poslovne krize. U svrhu daljnjeg, podrobnijeg proučavanja, preporuča se provođenje ankete na većem uzorku ispitanika, segmentiranje ključnih, inovativnih aktivnosti te njihovo proučavanje.Throughout its history, the world faced a vast amount of problems, such as wars, poverty and the spread of various diseases. In spite of many things that could have been learned from wellknown historical facts, the world was quite unprepared to face the year 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the way humanity lived before it, and by extension, the way of life of business companies. This research paper, alongside defining the business crisis and its causes, brings forth the theoretical guidelines for management in a business crisis. However, the corona crisis showed that the theory of crisis management did not pay enough attention to the possible development of the crisis that occurred in most parts of the globe in 2020. For that reason in particular, this paper also contains empirical research conducted on five business entities of different activities and sizes. The goal of this research is to study more thoroughly the activities undertaken by the aforementioned companies in order to efficiently deal with the new situation. The research includes a detailed observation of the most important business areas of the companies: business processes, markets, finances and crisis management. For the purpose of this study, structured interviews were conducted, and the collected information was further expanded by using data from secondary sources. The results of the research showed the innovative crisis management activities which made the surveyed companies the winners of this business crisis. For further purposes and more detailed study, it is recommended to conduct a survey on a larger sample of respondents, and segmentation and study of key, innovative activities