Management practices utilization in organizations : a comparison between catching-up and well-developed economies

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of management practices in catching-up and well-developed economies. Within that framework, the paper examines the utilization of management practices in Slovenian and Croatian organizations, as both are considered the representatives of catching-up economies from Central and East Europe (CEE), while also comparing the utilization of management practices in the two selected economies to the global use of management practices. Evidences about management practices utilization reveal that in well-developed economies in the forefront are management practices aiming to support customer relationship management, strength customer relations and customer satisfaction, while in Slovenia and Croatia prevail practices that are oriented toward optimization of the business and its processes. Based on the research results and the situation in organizations, a possible future pattern of management practice utilization in organizations operating in catching up economies is outlined, with the aim to reduce the developmental lag and increase competitiveness of those organizations. The paper also provides several practical implications for future utilization of management practices in catching-up economies. The sample of catching up-countries includes 155 responses from employees in Slovenian organizations and 185 from Croatian ones. Data for samples from well-developed economies are obtained from a global survey of management practices.