Competitiveness, Social Responsibility and Economic Growth

Globalisation of the economy and in particular the competition of low-priced goods from Asia have confronted Europe with an important question of what are its real competitive capabilities, sustainability of its economy and of the values of typical Europeans. The famous Lisbon Strategy (2000) has been an attempt to answer this by creating the knowledge economy, where providing conditions for establishment of the common European market and investing in R&D and knowledge would be of crucial importance. This book analyses the Lisbon Strategy from various perspectives. The first part of the book -- Increasing Companies' Competitiveness by means of R&D Activities and Innovations -- discusses the importance of both for economic growth. The instruments of the Lisbon Strategy are presented and then critically evaluated. It is shown that every country needs its own 'Lisbon' strategy, which would emphasise individual ways of achieving higher competitive levels. . It is in the spirit of this that we present two cases of small open economies, the Netherlands and Slovenia. In the second part -- Structural Reforms, Stabilisation, and Social Cohesion in Slovenia -- we discuss the interconnections between various mechanisms and government policies aimed at achieving faster economic growth in a technology follower country, such as Slovenia. The third part -- The innovative firm -- presents few case studies. The open innovation model is used to present the case of Gorenje, d.d., a company that is active in a mature industry. We discuss innovations in tourism, which, similar as most other service industries, has no established place in the innovation literature. The last articles in this part discuss the creation of new technological companies. The fourth part of the book -- The Company Social Responsibility -- embarks upon a currently very hot topic, which deals with the question of whether a company, in addition to achieving appropriate financial results, is also in other terms responsible for social environment.