Bojan Lekovic

The impact of HR development on innovative performances in central and eastern European countries

The purpose of this paper is to research the impact of one of HRM activities, employees’ development, on the level of organizational innovative performances. HR development techniques that organizations use in order to develop employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities and their impact on the perceived level of organizational innovativeness was set in the focus of research, with the intent of determining which development techniques influence organizational innovative performance.,The research is based on the data from CRANET project, which has been largely used in exploring the relation between HRM activities and other variables of organizational behavior and performances. Data for this study were collected from a sample of 1,384 organizations from 8 CEE countries (Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia) for the period 2015–2016. The correlation was used to explore the relations between variables. Ordinal logistic regression was used in order to explore the relations between the employees’ development techniques, training importance and training effectiveness and the level of organizational innovativeness.,The regression model showed that there are a statistically significant relations between the effectiveness of training expressed by systematic evaluation of training practice, and the methods of employees’ training (use of projects to stimulate learning, on-the-job training, development centers, use of international work assignments and mentoring) with the level of innovation. The importance of training practice expressed by the ratio of the annual training budget in the total payroll costs did not show statistically significant relations with the level of innovation. Also, systematic estimation of the need for training of personnel has not shown statistically significant relations with the innovation rate of the organization.,The data are derived from single source respondents, and response rates between countries do vary. At the country level, every effort is made to represent the structure of the economy in the country and at the point in which the data are being collected.,Training and international working assignments have a direct positive relation with the level of organizational performances, while teamwork and coaching and mentoring have not shown the same. Organizations and their HR managers should pay special attention to planning and implementation of HR development programs – coaching, mentoring and teamwork – in order to create space for organizational innovation enhancement.,Previous literature seeking to clarify the role of HRM and fostering organizational innovation has made its evident contribution based on theoretical papers. In order to improve the current situation in which empirical evidence is very rare, research on the significance of the employee development program and its impact on the organizational innovative performances is based on quantitative indicators of the conducted research. The relation of HRM and innovative performances in the CEE region was studied in only a few studies. In the previous period, this region has often been omitted in the field of HRM research. Therefore, an additional novelty can be derived from a research sample compiled from the CEE region countries in the conducted research.

BUSINESS INTERNATIONALIZATION - CONDITIO SINE QUA NON OF ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE SUCCESS

The incentive for launching an entrepreneurial venture determines also the entrepreneur’s striving towards the growth of the venture, development of innovation or business internationalization. Assessment and understanding of outcomes of the launched entrepreneurial venture is possible if one have insight into both endeavor and motivation of an entrepreneur towards expressed entrepreneurial initiative. Entrepreneurs as holders of the entrepreneurial process based on recognition and profitable exploitation of identified opportunities, often find possibilities of venture growth outside the borders of their country. Internationalization of business is available to new established entrepreneurial ventures. Using available technologies, innovative products/services and available market, they find potential for entrepreneurial venture growth outside the framework of national economies. Therefore, the subject of this paper is analysis of the impact of the business internationalization on entrepreneurial venture, observing it towards maturity stage of entrepreneurial ventures. The aim of this paper is to determine relationship between business internationalization and maturity of entrepreneurial venture. For the purpose of analysis of interaction between the observed variables, database of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor has been used. For statistical analysis Spearmans correlation coefficient has been used. The results of statistical analysis confirmed a positive correlation between the level of business internationalization and maturity of the entrepreneurial venture. Also, a positive correlation has been confirmed between the level of education and business internationalization. Within this relationship, higher degree of entrepreneurial education simultaneously means a higher degree of business internationalization

The Role of Human Resource Management in Small and Medium Sized Companies in Central-Eastern Europe

Human resource management (HRM) in contemporary economics is linked to a company’s success measured through numerous organizational measures (profitability, productivity, rate of innovation, market share, environmental performances, etc.). The role of HRM in large enterprises is relatively known, especially when the competitiveness and sustainable development are in question. On the other hand, small entrepreneurial and medium sized (SME) companies have not been greatly studied in relation to the HRM in the past. Although there is a lack of literature and empirical research in this area, several studies in the past decade and recent years emphasized the importance of the HRM for the survival and success of the SMEs. The reason why more and more authors today are arguing about the success of the SMEs is the perceived advantages of SMEs in a turbulent and unpredictable business environment. SMEs are seen as the driving force for vulnerable economies, a source of innovation, employment, and flexibility. Bearing in mind SMEs and their advantages, the authors have focused their attention on the economies in the Central and Eastern Europe countries (Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria) where the SMEs are recognized as potential possibilities for economic recovery and development. Since human capital is recognized as one of the most important factors of enterprise success, the aim of this work was to explore the role of HRM in SMEs in the economies of Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia, to determine the type of linkage between HRM and the success of small and medium-sized companies that operate in the CEE region, in light of the Cranet 2008/2010 survey data. The objective in this chapter was the exploration of the existence of organizations’ business strategy and HR strategy in SMEs, as well as HR departments, and the role of HRM in the business of the SMEs. The special task in this research was the exploration of the HRM activities and trends (recruitment, selection, compensation, performance management, training and development, human resource information system, etc.) that are present in the SMEs in the CEE region. The ranking of the SMEs’ performances is also presented and the relations between the existence of HRM and the several performance measures in these companies. Descriptive statistical methods, t-test of independent samples and ANOVAs tests have been used during quantitative analysis to explore the presented relations.