Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Corporate Governance in Slovenia after Sixteen Years of Transition
Matej Lahovnik

ABSTRACT. Among those transition economies that entered the new larger Europe, the Slovenian economy is perhaps the most developed, with a GDP of approx. 89% of average GDP in the European Union. Slovenia has become a ‘benchmark’ for other post-communist economies in the region due to its successful transition process. Paper offers some insights into the characteristics of the corporate governance system in Slovenia in the post-communist period. It’s focused on the relationship between governance and management. We made three consecutive research studies on the characteristics of corporate governance in Slovenia in the period 1998 to 2006 in order to determine the role of the various groups of stakeholders in Slovenian companies. The controlling owners are nowadays more active in setting the required rate of return on their equity investments as they were eight years ago. In general, we found out that companies with external owners outperform companies with internal owners.

KEYWORDS: corporate governance, company, transition, Slovenia.

JEL classification: G34, M10, M14, P2.