RESEARCH OF AMBIDEXTROUS ORIENTATION IN CROATIAN SMEs

Sa？etak Organizational balance between continuity of operative business activities and changes aimed at future success is often emphasized as a precondition for long-term organizational success. In this context, ambidexterity in firms is studied. It should enable the simultaneous focus on operational processes and active exploration of new opportunities in the process of ensuring long-term success. Due to limited resources of SMEs the question is whether these companies have to decide between operational efficiency and building new business opportunities. Crucial for the implementation of ambidexterity in SMEs is the entrepreneur’s ambidextrous orientation which should indicate the flexibility of entrepreneur in reconciling different approaches in business. The assumption is that entrepreneurs who demonstrate ambidextrous orientation induce, encourage, reward and promote activities beyond existing operational processes in order to seek possibilities for exploration and exploitation of new business opportunities in the future. The purpose of this paper is to examine specificities of ambidextrous orientation in Croatian SMEs. Ambidextrous orientation, the level of strategic ambidexterity and the relationship between them will be examined on a sample of 190 Croatian SMEs. Furthermore, the relationship between ambidextrous orientation and performance of the SMEs will be studied assuming that successful companies have a higher level of ambidextrous orientation. The aim is to further clarify the features of ambidextrous orientation in SMEs and how it affects their current success and future potential