1. UNIVERSITY OF PRIMORSKA
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT KOPER
INTEGRATION AND THE SYNERGY
EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Drago Podobnik, MSc
Doctoral thesis
Koper, 2008 Mentor: prof. dr. Slavko Dolinšek

2. ABSTRACT
This doctoral thesis deals with the issues of integration and synergy effects of management tools
in the integrated model of management in the case study of a Slovenian company. When
engaging in different managerial activities the managers help themselves by using different
management tools. The selection of tools depends on different factors. The research of the
management model case study carried out in the dissertation deals with the synergy effects
caused by the interactive performance of European Business Excellence Model and Balanced
Scorecard in the integrated management model created for this purpose. The results of the
research confirm the formation of the synergy effects when proportionally using previously
defined management tools, which are the subject of this dissertation. These tools and their
effects enable the company management to approach the formation of strategies, which create
conditions for the competitive advantage originating from the company and presenting itself on
the company level on the basis of the complete overview of the company’s situation. The
competitive advantage, along with sensible managerial decisions, makes the company
competitive. Companies with bigger competitive advantage are more successful. The results of
the research confirm that positive synergy effects of interactive performance of management
tools discussed in this dissertation in the integrated model of management increase the
company’s competitiveness. The results of the research also indicate a danger that the Balanced
Scorecard eventually takes over a dominant role and in this way ruins the balance of the
performance. The long-term commitment of the management appears to be the warranty for the
continuous balanced performance of the management tools discussed in the dissertation.
Following the logic of replication is the way, which will in future increase the degree of
analytical generalisation of the results of this research. The dissertation also indicates the
direction in which further research should be done in the sense of development and
improvements of the integrated management model from this dissertation. Sensible
incorporation of the concept of economic added value, sensible incorporation of the processes
originating from the model of strategic planning, sensible incorporation of the intellectual
capital concept, sensible incorporation of the risk management processes and sensible
incorporation of cost management into the integrated management model are just some of the
challenges which present themselves as possible subjects for further research.
Key words: competitive advantage, competitiveness, business effectiveness, European Business
Excellence Model, Balanced Scorecard, management, integrated management model,
synergies, interactions.
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