The program that promotes entrepreneurs and opens access to capital is starting its second generation

We live in an uncertain, changing and complex world where constant disruptions impose challenges even for the most ambitious organizations in the definition of their strategy. Research shows that only 51% of top management can name their organization’s top three strategic priorities, and this percentage decreases with lower ranks in the organizational hierarchy.

Many organizations do not have a clear idea of what they want to achieve, how they will achieve it, and when, and even 67% of organizations fail to implement their strategies successfully. Developing strategic plans and activating and executing them takes time and effort, with variable outcomes and success rates.

The strengthening of Croatian entrepreneurs

“Strategy in Action” (SiA) helps the leadership teams of small and medium enterprises to co-create, activate and implement their organization’s strategy, build strategic plans for growth and scalability, help open access to capital, create opportunities with investors and prepare them for going public.

“I am glad that Privredna banka Zagreb d.d. joined the promotion of the Strategy in Action initiative in cooperation with COTRUGLI Business School, the Zagreb Stock Exchange and the EBRD with the aim of providing appropriate support and education to companies that are strategically thinking about accessing the capital market with the desire to finance their future business, where it is particularly important to ensure the quality of corporate management that investors on the capital market demand. Going to the capital market is one of the ways companies can strengthen their financial position and capital base for future projects and business expansion. By strengthening Croatian companies, especially the small and medium segment, we are also strengthening the resilience and competitiveness of our economy,” said Vedrana Jelušić Kašić, member of the Management Board of Privredna banka Zagreb.

The first generation of the Strategy in Action program aroused great interest among Croatian entrepreneurs, and ten domestic companies had the opportunity to experience and go through the program end-to-end. One of them is Igor Drašković, President of the Management Board and majority owner of the company DRACO, who revealed to us his impressions of the concept of the program, the advantages of the program for his company’s business and how the program can help other entrepreneurs.

“We found out about the Strategy in Action program through the COTRUGLI business school. They announced an introductory workshop on strategy, which seemed interesting to us, but we were not familiar with the entire SiA program. Already at the first workshop, we saw the benefits because the SiA program was able to connect known concepts from strategy formulation into an integrated program that requires concrete inputs and provides concrete steps for the implementation of the strategy,” says Drašković.

As the key advantages of going through the program, Drašković points out: “I think the main benefit is connecting all components of strategy formulation into one cohesive whole and communicating the vision, mission and main goals of the company to the internal organization and the market. Each step of formulating the strategy forced us to reconsider the fundamental assumptions, resulting in high-quality long-term reflections and goals.”

Increasing competitiveness

“Every domestic company that is ambitious and thinking about growth can benefit from this program, which is a distillation of the best business practices from developed markets. Croatian companies that want to develop their business outside the borders of our homeland, on the competitive European and world market, must compare themselves with the best“, says Drašković and explains that their competition is mostly global corporations, so a clear strategy enables them to successfully deal with them on the domestic market.

After the completed program, the president of the DRACO board revealed that their next step is the implementation of the set strategy throughout the entire organization, lowering the corporate goals through the departments and considering options for financing the next big step in the company’s development.

He also referred to the fact that more and more qualified workforce is going abroad. “We share the fate of all companies in Croatia, so we are also affected by the lack of qualified personnel. The additional problem is that industrial production in Croatia has been interrupted for twenty years, so there is a lack of professional knowledge, especially in chemical production. However, despite the challenges, we still manage to attract quality people because we are recognized as a quality company“, concludes Drašković.

To learn more about the SiA program click here. 

*The original interview was published on the pages of Poslovni Dnevnik