THE INFLUENCE CORPORATE CULTURE OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

Globalization with its socio-economic consequences has a major impact on small and medium-sized enterprises. In the process of globalization, the importance of human resource management and its parts is increasing. A new approach to human resource management is associated with the entrance to the knowledge economy. Corporate culture is an integral part of human resource management. However it can be often perceived as unimportant by managers. The corporate culture (together with an atmosphere, which it creates) can have a positive or a negative impact on all activities in the enterprise. Corporate culture and its management in today's society is becoming a world trend, which helps to maintain the competitiveness not only in the local market, but in the international environment. The paper investigates the existence of a relationship between corporate culture and financial performance The paper deals with corporate culture, which is expressed through G. Hofstede's cultural dimensions and explores the existence of its influence on financial performance of the surveyed companies. The aim of the paper is an analysis of relationships between cultural dimensions and selected indicators through statistical methods. Power distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Masculinity vs. Femininity, Uncertainty avoidance and Short-term vs. Longterm orientation belong to the cultural dimensions of corporate culture and these cultural dimensions can be used for diagnostics of corporate culture. Selected indicators are: profitability ratios, Asset Turnover Ratio, etc. It can be concluded that desirable cultural dimensions of corporate culture may help enterprises to increase and maintain competitiveness.