If Charles Perrault had known Nadan Vidošević, perhaps one of the most famous fairy tales in the world would not have been Sleeping Beauty. Walt Disney would have produced a lavish animated film, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky would have composed the famous ballet, and generations would have diligently revived the story of the unfortunate sleeping beauty. Nadan is, in this case, merely a personification of the company that would be in the southernmost selection for the sleeping main protagonist in a Croatian corporate fairy tale. The main character is Kraš, the largest confectioner in this region, as it likes to boast, who has been sleeping a deep sleep for years.
"Sustainable growth," a stable balance sheet, low debt, and favorable conditions for its increase are undeniably commendable achievements. But, however much one may console themselves, it is not enough. Kraš could and should have done more. Growth in good times of a few percent, which the recession has turned into a somewhat larger decline, and staying within the limits and frameworks that were set long ago is simply too little for someone with any serious ambitions. Roughly speaking, this is called stagnation. The fact that a company of such size and potential has not made any acquisitions or significantly stepped into neighboring markets where its brands are well known for all these years is quite difficult to understand.
They are obviously aware of this at Kraš, as they emphasized at the sweet Christmas gathering that "they have enough capital for the planned steps." What lies behind these mysterious announcements remains unknown. Previous steps have remained at the point where they officially became the owners of Mira from Prijedor in 2003, which had been part of Kraš since 1967 anyway. As the story goes, Kraš is now "seriously" eyeing the Osijek Karolina, and the media occasionally mentions it in the context of a potential acquisition in Serbia. They have linked it with Jaffa, Bambi… but nothing has come of it.
