Are domestic entrepreneurs the ‘real’ ones, while foreigners are ruthless bloodsuckers? Are domestic or foreign investors better?
Are domestic or foreign guests better? Who are the cannibals, and who are the philanthropists? There are countless such questions in the foreign-domestic relationship in Croatia, and somehow the prevailing sentiment is that ‘ours’ are better, or at least better than foreigners who have no emotions towards this land and only look out for their own interests in the form of cash or very liquid assets. As if business is otherwise a very emotional matter.
To clarify at the outset, I do not have a completely clear stance on this topic. As soon as something leads me to lean towards the thesis of better or more desirable domestic owners or investors, in the next moment reality contradicts me in favor of foreigners. It always seems that they are, at the very least, better and more efficient managers or, to put it more nicely, executives. Or as soon as I think about why we shouldn’t keep some of the ‘family silver’ in state ownership and manage it as responsible private owners, various examples (probably just the tip of the iceberg) of private enrichment of politicians and ‘managers’ at the expense of taxpayers lead me to the stance that everything should be privatized.
But, let’s return to investments. From the richest domestic company, Adris Group, which is constantly called upon to stand up for large domestic investments while it remains indecisive, they constantly convey that domestic investors are much more beneficial for the state because they reinvest their profits, while foreign investors extract money from Croatia. When we look at banks and the largest telecom, it is hard not to agree with that thesis. On the other hand, there are few among domestic entrepreneurs who decide to invest in Croatia solely out of love for the country. An example is Solin’s AD Plastik, which was only retained in Croatia due to new incentives and benefits for investors. True, perhaps some Italian or French corporation, in a situation where conditions in Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia are almost the same, would not choose Croatia because it simply does not matter to them in which of those three countries they open a facility, while the people of Solin, after the bottom line and cold numbers, still chose Croatia because they live here. Other domestic entrepreneurs claim that they will always choose Croatia for investment over any other country if the conditions are roughly the same. Some sociologists and economists have explained this phenomenon and the general topic of ‘are domestic or foreigners better’ very simply – locals live among us, while foreigners are somewhere far away. These domestic entrepreneurs’ families live in this environment, they want to be here, if not recognized at least not very disliked, and therefore, at least in theory, they will pay more attention to what and how they do things.
