Innovativeness of Slovenian Enterprises and the Role of the MER Model of Integral Management

In accordance with the basic developmental goals of EU, expressed in the Lisbon strategy [1], Slovenia is aiming to become competitively successful state. One of the Slovenia’s goals is also to be placed among ten the most successful EU member states. Considering the governmental strategic documents on one side and the actual state of the country’s competitiveness on the other, there is the gap between Slovenia’s ambition and its competitiveness ranking among world countries. The ranking of Slovenia in The World Competitiveness Yearbook [2] shows that its competitiveness falls every year. Out of 60 world countries Slovenia was ranked on 52nd place in 2005 (in 2004 on 45th place). One of the reasons for such position can be found in insufficient innovativeness of the Slovenian enterprises. In the paper the results of the research on innovativeness of Slovenian enterprises are presented. The cognitions show (especially for the medium sized enterprises) that the enterprises innovativeness in Slovenia is mainly concentrated in technological areas, which in our opinion is not enough for creating the needed competitiveness of Slovenia. We observe the lack of presence of integral management models in the governance and management of the Slovenian enterprises. Therefore, we see the MER Model of Integral Management as possible contribution in changing the present conditions in Slovenian enterprises. The Model, with its “innovative focus”, is applicable not only in enterprises in Slovenia but in other countries as well.