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Internationalization of small and medium enterprises is a specifi c process, which enables growth and development. However, internationalization brings both opportunities and challenges that SMEs do not always know how to deal with. The aim of this paper is to identify activities and challenges in the internationalization of small and medium enterprises in Croatia, as well as measures that could facilitate this process. In order to obtain these fi ndings, the Flash Eurobarometer 421: Internationalisation of SMEs database was used as a secondary data source. Data were collected from the study which has been conducted by the European Commission. The paper analyzed 501 companies from Croatia, and dependence was sought between company and industry size and activities, challenges and assistance measures for internationalization. It has been proven that there are diff erences in relation to the size of the company, as well as to the industry. Based on the conducted statistical analyses it is shown that internationalized SMEs from Croatia still base this internationalization on imports and exports of goods and services and other international business activities are less developed. There is a noticeable advantage of the European Union market as the primary choice of Croatian companies for internationalization. Recommendations for SMEs focus on the better understanding of the internationalization process and proper preparation, while policy recommendations are oriented towards raising awareness of the importance of internationalization and providing an enabling ecosystem for internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health tourism is one of the fastest-growing tourist branches in the world. Population aging, health awareness, globalization, sport and recreation are fundamental reasons for the positive trends of health tourism. Croatian health tourism is at the early stages of development and the implementation of specific business models, content, and strategies can become competitive if appropriately managed. The topic of this research paper is to determine and analyze the development potential of health tourism in Northwestern Croatia, current tourism trends, as well as the financial results of the health-tourism industry. The research aims to identify and analyze the offer and infrastructure of northwestern Croatia as well as the potential essential for the successful placement of the health tourism product on the market. The paper aims to identify the current situation of health tourism products in northwestern Croatia, the success of resource valorization and the status of development projects that should qualify Croatia as a competitive health-tourism destination. The methods used in this paper are historical, desk research, analysis, synthesis, and deduction. The contribution of the research paper is manifested through the methods used and the obtained results which can be beneficiary to practitioners and scientists dealing with the development of tourism. The findings can be a source of ideas and guidelines for further development, especially in the continental and northwestern Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in building social capital and human capacity, in terms of knowledge sharing, targeted training and developing education initiatives in higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach – The critical organizational form in the information age is networking. This new organizational principle is manifested through the processes of internationalization and global academic cooperation, which have become inevitable strategies for every higher education institution in order to be competitive in a global education market. The focus of this paper is on such positive practices implemented at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM). Since its foundation in 2002, a systematic use of new technologies in education has been encouraged, which in turn has provided the basis for major advances in development. Today ZSEM has around 1,400 students and about 150 courses with an integrated e-learning system, while currently 7 per cent of students take part in various types of international exchange. Findings – The effective use of ICT, such as synchronous and asynchronous methods of distance learning, enables higher education institutions to reach out students, teachers and researchers in foreign countries without physically moving them. Besides improving communication and exchange of information followed by opportunities for cross-cultural learning, effective ICT implementation enables expansion of social and economic networks and strengthens institutional and academic ties by thus building social capital. Availability and use of new technologies in education process is closely linked with globalization of education markets and student and professor mobility.Research limitations/implications – The current work has involved one institution utilizing a wide range of courses. Implications are that the approach could be positively transferred and used with other institutions and across countries. Originality/value – This work is one of the few that has examined ICT as a tool from the perspective of its application for building social capital in higher education. The work presented investigates in-depth this provision in a specific institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic environment forces companies to develop new approaches to establishing objectives and to develop management practices. Apart from doing profit-making activities, companies are forced to undertake activities aiming at their long-term sustainable development. As a result of deregulation and globalization, the banking sector had to accept the postulations of sustainable development and to keep their position on the market through establishing lasting relationships with customers, environment organizations, employees and a local community. The main goal of this paper is to explore implications of sustainability on the banking sector. Based on the research on the sample of 33 bank managers, the paper is trying to find out whether there are similarities in sustainability aspects in the banking sectors of Poland and Croatia. The findings of the papers suggest that banks in Poland express stronger need to take into account the environmental, social and economic concerns comparing to banks in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly impact of globalization process, that affect every field especially of social, economic, political, technological and cultural, have left a large imprint on the tourist market. Growing competitiveness between tourism destinations on the tourism market increases the role of marketing activities that work towards measuring the tourists' satisfaction of the tourism destinations and according that findings create qualitative tourist offer and at the other hand satisfied tourists who return to the destination. Satisfied tourist is the best way for the positive word-of-mouth communication. On the tourism market, under this conditions of growing competitiveness between tourist destinations, which try to find the best development strategy is one of the main problem for those who participate in creating tourist destination policy. Therefore, a main factor in the creation of tourism policies is the satisfied tourist who makes a positive image of a tourist destination. Tourist satisfaction has been considered as a main tool for increasing tourism destination competitiveness in the globalization conditions. That is connected to the efforts of having a tourist supply that can satisfy the expectation of tourists. Hence this paper explores and analyzes the relationship between aspects of tourist education, motivation, accommodation and consumption and the tourist satisfaction on the case of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in a changed environment caused by globalization process. The aim of the paper is to explore which tourist segments are satisfied with actually tourist offer and to identify the main attributes of tourist segment that are satisfied which results with return to the destination. The research problem is the decline of tourist demand for travel to the Dubrovnik-Neretva County as a result of the global economic crisis. The purpose and the objectives of this research are to determine the level of satisfaction of tourist demand in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. It is important to find models that would maintain the competitiveness of destinations on the tourist market in conditions of globalization. This research offers suggestions for further tourism destination development policy stressing the importance of the tourist satisfaction measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Migration & Ethnic Themes: MET / Migracijske i Etničke Teme is the property of Institute for Migration & Ethnic Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revija za Sociologiju is the property of Revija za Sociologiju and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The modern era, with the concept of supremacy of the neoliberal economy and understanding the role of the state and its institutional forms, has opened space and caused the need for finding new business methods and models, primarily in the area of project financing. As part of the sustainable development contents, the emergence and development of the public-private partnership is based on an effort to improve quality and availability of goods and services without the imposition of the additional taxes and funds for new projects. Furthermore, current trends in the world market, such as liberalization and globalization have impacted directly on the port environment and led to the new models of financing port investments in collaboration with the private sector. The aim of this paper is to elaborate the current situation in the Croatian seaports in terms of financial capacity to fund capital projects and to indicate the need for private sector participation, domestic or foreign origin, in financing the port infrastructure and suprastructure through "healthy" and sustainable projects of the public -- private partnerships. In addition, this paper elaborates the Croatian experience in applying public-private partnerships, as well as the legal framework that supports or limits the influence of private capital in the port sector and previous experience of the private-public partnerships in the port of Rijeka. The sustainability approach of funding through the public-private partnership in the seaports systems is not purpose by itself. The need for more business requires a partner who will be able to meet three key criteria: the achievement of port operation efficiency (economics, profitability) at the global level, price competition against the Northern and Mediterranean ports and the quality of port services at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Small tourist enterprises on the local level lack favourable and «friendly» business environment which would enable larger investments in increasing the quality of their products, strengthening the market position of its products, optimal use of resources and specialisation, which would create pre-requisites for generation of new added values, in order to to achieve a more respectable market position, which has been seriously threatened by large corporations as a result of globalisation rise. Competitiveness of local small entrepreneurs in tourist destinations which operate in the global business environment will increasingly depend on the ability to co-operate and form partnerships on the local level. Competitiveness of any tourist destination in relation to others will in the future depoend on the effectiveness of its tourist clusters. The main aim of this paper is to show how can tourism cluster of small entrepreneurs be possible model for small entrepreneurship development in tourist destinations in Croatia and how it can increase its competitiveness (case of Labin-Rabac tourist destination). The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of clustering in the tourism sector, and highlight key advantages and benefits of establishing tourist cluster for its cluster members and tourist destination. Basic hypotesis: pooling of small entrepreneurs into tourism clusters is the base of the most efficient way to achieve future development of tourist destinations in order to achieve more competitive tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Trends & Economic Policy is the property of Institute of Economics, Zagreb and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Globalisation and fierce competition forced companies to realize that satisfied customers are the key to long-term business success. Therefore, customer satisfaction has to be a strategic goal and a core value of the company's culture. Also, the customer satisfaction measurement has to be an indicator of everyone's contribution to the achievement of the goals if companies want to deliver superior service to their customers. The benefits of customer satisfaction are well known in practice as well as in marketing and management literature. Companies that have more satisfied customers experience higher economic returns and customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are increasingly becoming important factors in modern retailing -- a market characterized by slow growth and intense competition. Analysis of the retail trade in Croatia showed that it is one of the most developed, most competitive and dynamic economic sectors in the country. The main characteristics of the Croatian retail market are concentration, internationalisation and consolidation the same as in developed markets. The latest development trend is moving toward the construction of modern shopping centres that provide various shopping services and entertainment in one place. Retailers seek to respond more efficiently and more effectively to the needs of customers by managing relationship with customers and offering them superior range and quality of assortment and service. The goal of this paper is to explore impact of personal service on customer satisfaction levels in FMCG retail in Croatia. The results of the research indicated that the level and quality of personal service have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty but the impact of non-personal service on loyalty is even stronger. The research also provides empirical evidence of positive but weak and non-significant link between customer satisfaction and salesperson's work satisfaction. However, it is necessary to systematically manage customer satisfaction of the both external and internal customer. The results of the research have shown that retail chains are aware of the importance of CRM strategies and larger use of CRM software for this purpose can be expected in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The existence of home bias in trade is considered as one of six main puzzles in international economics. The measurement of the average intra-national distance has become the crucial issue in estimating the home bias in goods trade for countries with no internal trade data. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how different internal distance measurement affects home bias in trade. The results of the analysis indicate that sub-unit based weighted measures perform better in the assessment of Croatia’s internal distance than area based and measures based on relation to neighbour countries. In estimating the model, we use data on import values for Croatia according to standard gravity theory. Regression analysis corroborates theoretical assumptions regarding the impact of geographical distance of countries and transport costs on bilateral trade flows; imports from world are positively correlated with the GDP of imported countries and negatively correlated with the distance between them. The values of home bias variable for Croatia’s total imports were slightly higher than results obtained from previous explorations for EU countries meaning that there is still place for Croatia’s deeper integration into EU trade flows. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The primary objective of this article is to highlight the importance and the potential for the development of special interest tourism, in the example of two post-conflict target destinations within the territories of Croatia and Slovakia. The basic ideological platform of the article is to define sociological and psychological aspects of special interest tourism, and dark tourism as a reflection of the current society, in the trend of increasing demand for places from the distant or recent past, in which some tragedy or misfortune took place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is the world's largest trading bloc and the most influential supra-national organisation in the region. The EU has been the goal for many eastern European States, for Croatia accession remains a priority and underpins many of its national policies. However, entry into the EU requires certain commitments and concessions. In October 2003 the Croatian parliament declared an ecological and fisheries protection zone in the Adriatic. Under pressure the zone was suspended, finally entering into force in March 2008 exempting EU States. There are other marine conflicts between Croatia and the EU, particularly the contested maritime border with Slovenia, and the development of the Croatian fishing fleet in opposition to the Common Fisheries Policy. Conversely, attempts to harmonise Croatian Nature Protection with the EU Habitats Directive, facilitated by pre-accession funding, has galvanised conservation policy. Since 2005 two marine protected areas have been declared, significantly increasing the marine ecosystem under protection. Finally, the development of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is the latest EU attempt to integrate environmental policy in the maritime realm. This will have an effect not only on member States but neighbouring countries. For marine nature protection to be effective in the region the Adriatic Sea needs to be viewed as a mutually important shared and limited resource not a bargaining chip. Negotiations of the EU and Croatia have been watched closely by the other Balkan States and precedents set in this case have the potential to affect EU expansion to the East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]