REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

PART IV:
study. Firstly, companies should seek to enhance the productivity level. If the productivity
increases, sales and profits will increase too. In order to increase productivity (i.e. value
added per employee) a higher investment level is necessary, mostly in new technology,
know-how and marketing. Since past research suggests that new product development is a
crucial element of business strategy, it is advisable for managers to focus on this aspect and
to design new approaches for market repositioning of their companies. Managers should
be aware to greater extent to allocate more resources for human capital development
and enhancing labor skills and competencies in their companies. In order to have skilled
labor and sustain the best workers, it is necessary for companies to increase the level of
productivity, which would help them pay out higher wages.
Although this study produced some interesting and meaningful findings, there are some
limitations as well. First, although the data employed in this research were better than
previously available ones, more abundant and richer data would have enlarged the scope of
analysis. Like most survey studies, this study took a “snapshot” of a sample of the industry
at a single point in time. Several years of data would have provided further information as
to how strategic behavior changes. Despite these limitations, the results of this study offer
useful insights into the productivity and sources of competitive advantage in the Croatian
manufacturing firms.
There are several areas in need for further research. In order to understand the sources of
firm’s competitive advantage, scholars should carry out longitudinal studies to capture how
sources of competitive advantage and firms’ behavior evolve over time. More accurate
measures of performance and firm’s strategic behavior should be conceived and tested.
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