Managerial elite and some dimensions of the socioeconomic culture in Croatia

In the text the authors investigate various forms of "encounters" and confrontations of different socioeconomic cultures of the "West" and "East", in a very specific area - Croatian companies with major foreign ownership. The qualitative analysis of gathered data (based on in-depth interviews) suggests that these encounters are happening without major cultural shocks, but with some tensions and misunderstandings that are characteristic of cultural change. Host and foreign company owners and host and foreign managers are identified as key-actors in the process of mutual permeation of socioeconomic cultures in companies. Foreign managers bring new leadership styles and new managerial practices to companies. They promote contractual culture and the culture of effectiveness. While their experiences with business actors is variable, depending on the economic sector they are working in, both (host and foreign managers) share the opinion about the inefficiency of state administration. The requests of foreign managers towards the host management arise from the desirable role that Croatian managers have in the context of the entrepreneurial capitalist organizational model. However, the spread of this model as the source of new regulations of basic values of companies, is also dependent upon other organizational and environmental actors. It is left to be seen in the future to which extent this model will be widely accepted, beyond the sphere of companies in major foreign ownership.