The Croatian Corporate Landscape – a Practitioner's Perspective

Extract

The corporate landscape of a country comprises the total number and size, overall activity, economic performance, legal form, corporate governance and importance of the companies that operate there. It is dependent, inter alia, on the country's size, population, economic strength, historical development, traditions, stability, stage of development of the legal system and geographic position, as well as a series of other factors. This paper presents the author's views on the current level of development of Croatia's corporate landscape. In order to understand the changes that have taken place in this landscape, it is also necessary to describe the state of the Croatian corporate landscape in 1989, before the transition. It is also important to explain how private companies were established, how foreign direct investment was carried out, the course of privatisation, how bankruptcies were handled and how Croatia's capital markets developed. Taken together, these factors paint a comprehensive picture of the corporate and social landscape in Croatia. After these factors have been analysed, this paper presents on Croatian companies and an overview of corporate governance in Croatia.