Best Business Locations in Croatia

Since important Croatian companies began decentralizing production and building distribution centers across Croatia, the approach to investments is changing. Major urban centers are no longer the most attractive destinations for starting production.

IN THE NEW ISSUE OF THE BUSINESS WEEKLY LEADER, TAKE A STEP FURTHER AND LEARN MUCH MORE ABOUT CURRENT ECONOMIC ISSUES.

Based on data from March last year that Zdravko Šestak, the director of Podravka, signed a loan agreement that included INA shares as possible payment means, various difficult or completely unprovable theses are suggested in the media. The arrested Podravka managers, according to currently available information, can be suspected of the already common ‘business step errors’ in Croatia, or accused of minor criminal offenses, such as making decisions without the knowledge of superiors, exceeding authority, etc. However, the motivation for committing criminal acts in the Podravka affair is questionable, as is the level of the indictment proposal and, indirectly, the levels of individuals alongside the already suspected managers. More in the story by Gordana Gelenčer and Ivica Grčar ‘USKOK releases balloons to the media because there is still no real evidence.’

Alan Žepec, a leadership coach, analyzed the governance style of Jadranka Kosor. – The Prime Minister is ready to make brave and difficult decisions while carefully considering the impact on all those affected by those decisions – he says. The Prime Minister is closest to a democratic type of leadership, and possesses the characteristics of a leader-queen, marked by determination, perseverance, and steadfastness. However, there are still many party and state traps ahead of her before she justifies flattering comparisons.

Since important Croatian companies began decentralizing production and building distribution centers across Croatia, the approach to investments is changing. Major urban centers are no longer the most attractive destinations for starting production. Željka Laslavić and Marija Čekada explored the top ten best business locations in Croatia in this week’s topic. ‘We hesitated between building a factory in Osijek or Vukovar. In the end, we chose the former Vupik land in Vukovar, not because of cheap labor but because of our logistics needs and ideal position, close to the port on the Danube River that stretches across Europe and the industrial track’ – explains Višnja Sedlar, spokesperson for the Italian mineral fertilizer factory Adriatica Dunav, currently the largest investment in Croatia worth 22 million euros. Like any investor, their goal is, she says, to start production and return on investment as soon as possible, considering they waited two years for the issuance of a building permit. Perhaps because they are one of the few companies that purchased land outside the entrepreneurial and free zone area. This can partly be explained by the size of the required area of 80 hectares, which is, for comparison, the size of the nearby Danube Free Zone, and the other reason lies in the privileges that were abolished last year for new users of free zones regarding corporate income tax.

Our advisor, mr. sc. Marija Zuber writes this week about annual leave. Did you know that for unused annual leave, the employer pays a monetary compensation? If an employee’s employment relationship ceases and they have not used the remainder of their annual leave for the previous or current year, the employer is obliged to pay them compensation for unused annual leave. The amount of compensation is determined at the level of the salary the employee would have been entitled to if they had used their annual leave.

Vanja Figenwald spoke with Peter Löscher, the CEO of Siemens, who claims that environmental protection will become the strongest economic branch of the 21st century!

New entrepreneurs are not neighborhood traders; they only need a computer and the internet, and their market is – the world. They mostly wear sneakers and often hooded sweatshirts, they may have graduated, or maybe not, but they are certainly younger than 30 and do not look like they are troubled by major life problems. You have probably seen such mostly smiling young men a thousand times in a local café’s booth, but you did not recognize them when they came to business negotiations in something more formal. This is the new entrepreneurial generation that turns hundreds of thousands of kuna. More in the story by Tatjana Brebrić ‘Start up – New companies come from the living room, not from the garage anymore.’

In Business Knowledge, discover what the Art of Hosting is. We will only reveal that the Art of Hosting method involves employees in the early stages of developing a new solution, launching a project, changes, or some other business context. Their participation filters ideas, and management makes decisions more easily and has stronger support.

The main character of this week’s feuilleton is James Cameron, who is his own competition on the list of highest-grossing directors. In his long career, Cameron has not directed too many films, but he has included hits such as ‘The Terminator’, ‘True Lies’, ‘Titanic’, and now ‘Avatar’, thus becoming one of the most profitable directors ever, whose films have earned about 6.5 billion dollars in total. The latest ‘Avatar’ breaks dollar records faster than any film, earning around a billion dollars after just 17 days of showing. (G. J.)

The new Leader gifts its readers a special ‘Who is Who in the Automotive Industry’ and a supplement ‘Human Resources’