Maks Tajnikar

Performance ratios for managerial decision‐making in a growing firm

This paper investigates the impact of firms’ growth rate on various financial and non‐financial performance ratios. The study tests the hypothesis that variations in growth rates across firms relate to differences in the values of ratios of profitability, liquidity, current assets, and solvency, as well as the break‐even point, revenue per employee, average costs, labour costs, capital costs, capacity utilization, productivity and efficiency. In order to estimate the impact of growth on financial and non‐financial indicators while also accounting for unobservable individual effects of each firm, the study assesses several two‐way fixed effect panel models with regression analysis. Authors show that knowing the impact of growth rates on financial and non‐financial ratios gives managers of growing firms additional relevant information for making business decisions.

Funding system of full-time higher education and technical efficiency: case of the University of Ljubljana.

The present paper tackles the issue of the higher education funding system in Slovenia. Its main attribute is that institutions are classified into study groups according to their fields of education, and funds granted by the state are based on their weights or study group factors (SGF). Analysis conducted using data envelopment analysis tested whether members of the University of Ljubljana are classified into groups according to their relative technical efficiency and SGF values are aligned with the relative differences between them. Results confirm the heterogeneity of the study groups, the inappropriate formation of one group, inaccurate classification of institutions and that the SGF values of different study groups are too high relative to the base group.

From a labor-managed economy to a market economy: A contribution to economic transformation

Does transition of a labor-managed economy to a capitalist economy really lead to an efficient economy? Which transformation strategies can be established during the transition? Which type of capitalist economy can be predicted by such transition strategies? This paper answers these questions by using the economic models described and explained by the main principles of post-Keynesian economic theory. It is found that the transition process leads to replacing the investment function, instituting the labor market, and replacing the expectations of a personal income rate with a profit rate. To achieve these processes, privatization and institution building, or institutional restructuring, are crucial. They also remove problems that should be removed by stabilization and restructuring.

Firm growth types and key macroeconomic aggregates through the economic cycle

The paper investigates the role and impact of different groups of firms according to their growth type on macroeconomic aggregates at various stages of the economic cycle based on the entire population of firms in Slovenia. The applied classification of growing and fast-growing firms is based on microeconomic theory. Results exhibit that despite larger year-to-year fluctuations, firms with growth towards their long-term equilibrium contributed most to macroeconomic aggregates, i.e. employment, capital and sales, especially in times of economic prosperity. Firms with growth that shifts them closer to their short-term equilibrium proved to be more important primarily for assuring employment stability. Furthermore, we show that using single growth measures prevents us from identifying all growing firms and capturing the true contribution of particular growth groups of firms to studied macroeconomic aggregates. The paper provides both theoretical and empirical information for managers for designing different types of firm growth and enables policy makers to adopt adequate industrial policy measures.

Measuring The Impact Of Innovations On Efficiency In Complex Hospital Settings

Abstract In this paper the authors propose an approach for measuring the impact of innovations on hospital efficiency. The suggested methodology can be applied to any type of innovation, including technology-based innovations, as well as consumer-focused and business model innovations. The authors apply the proposed approach to measure the impact of transcanalicular diode laser-assisted dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR), i.e. an innovation introduced in the surgical procedure for treating a tear duct blockage, on the efficiency of general hospitals in Slovenia. They demonstrate that the impact of an innovation on hospital efficiency depends not only on the features of the studied innovation but also on the characteristics of hospitals adopting the innovation and their external environment represented by a set of comparable hospitals.

Technical and Cost Efficiencies as Determinants of Business Failures of Small Firms: The Case of Slovenia

This paper investigates the determinants of business failure in particular historical circumstances of Slovenia, attempting to answer two questions: if the occurrence of bankruptcy can be explained by technical and cost efficiency, measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA), and what the time lag is in which technical and cost efficiency effect bankruptcy. The findings of logistic regression allow the conclusion that efficiency, measured by the DEA indicators, adds additional explanatory power to predicting the business failure of small firms in Slovenia from 2001 to 2004, as well as business performance by sale market, market power, and location of a firm.

Heterogeneity and Competitiveness of Entrepreneurial Processes in the European Union with Special Attention on Croatia as Candidate Country

Heterogeneity and Competitiveness of Entrepreneurial Processes in the European Union with Special Attention on Croatia as Candidate Country The paper investigates the efficiency of entrepreneurial processes in European Union member states and Croatia as a European Union candidate country. The authors follow the model of Davidsson (2004), who argues that entrepreneurial activity originates in three waves: the wave of ability, need and opportunity for entrepreneurship; the wave of perceptive ability, perceptive need and perceptive opportunity for entrepreneurship; and entrepreneurial motivation and activity. The authors of the paper argue that the efficiency of the transformations of one entrepreneurship wave to another can be measured by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) on the basis of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database, which is a new approach to the analysis of entrepreneurial processes. The results indicate high level of heterogeneity of entrepreneurial processes among European Union member states. The authors give special attention to Croatia and conclude that the membership of Croatia in European Union would not threaten the entrepreneurial processes of this European Union candidate country.