Aggressors who do not choose methods of market competition exist even in developed capitalism. However, if over the years they have not managed to sophisticate these impulses, they often end up on the margins of the business community.
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Written by: Miodrag Šajatović |
Wise entrepreneurs are beginning to realize that the days when they could smash local establishments and dam rivers without risking their business are over. |
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Lika entrepreneur Joso Mraović, best known to the public for the court case regarding the alleged rape of American basketball player Illisha Jarret, has once again drawn attention to himself. This time it is undeniable that he has concreted the banks of the river Lika near his family home in the village of Bilaj without requesting any permits. It is still unclear whether he deepened the riverbed and dammed the river through blasting. About ten days earlier, entrepreneur Željko Žužić, owner of the Solidum shopping center in Zagreb, made headlines because his son Hrvoje, while driving under the influence, killed a 19-year-old girl in Velika Gorica. It turned out that, like his son, the father has dozens of traffic violation reports, and it has also emerged that a case is being conducted against the father and son Žužić in the Municipal Court in Glina for criminal acts of threats and destruction of someone else’s property. Adding to this is the affair in which a third entrepreneur was accused of removing pedophilic content from the internet, raising the question of what is happening with the Croatian entrepreneurial class. A detailed analysis would likely show that the offenses that end up in the black chronicle, when it comes to about 50,000 people who could be classified under the broadly elastic term entrepreneur in Croatia, are proportionally represented similarly to the overall population. Entrepreneurs, however, are prominent members of the community, and any deviation (or deviation of their family members) carries far greater weight than when something similar happens to ‘ordinary people’. Since the beginning of the transition to today, when it comes to business results, it has not really mattered how a businessman behaves. Moreover, those who lacked restraint and moral boundaries often defeated competitors who tried to operate within the law and morality. One should not be naive and expect that this will completely change in the short term. Aggressors who do not choose methods of market competition also exist in developed capitalist countries. However, if over the years they have not managed to sophisticate these impulses, they often end up on the margins of the business community. The message to Croatian entrepreneurs could be: The time has come when you must start paying attention to your own and your family’s behavior. There is still time to separate from the ‘naughty’ past. Those who do not will be the first to be abandoned by their former political patrons. While private entrepreneurs may still afford arrogance, politicians have realized how dangerous it is for their careers if they are caught in dishonorable actions or associating with problematic ‘businessmen’. Of course, many will be drawn into murky games, but they will do so with entrepreneurs with whom there is less risk of excess and scandal. Those who remain in the game with the problematic expose their own careers to risk. Evidence of this is the swift reaction of Darko Milinović, president of the Lika-Senj HDZ, regarding Mraović’s devastation of the river Lika: However, if it turns out that a parent actually sends a signal to their heirs by their example, if they are a public figure and also an entrepreneur, they must be prepared to suffer damage. Socially responsible behavior, increasingly important in the business world, also implies responsible behavior from individuals. If a miracle happens and the rule of law works, honest entrepreneurs may not feel, as they often have until now, like fools and naive people. In the end, business associations (HGK, HUP, Croma…) must also be involved in improving the atmosphere, from which it is also expected to clearly define their members who have crossed the line. |
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