Slovenian foreign direct investments in Croatia and Serbia

Podjetja, ki poslujejo na majhnih trgih, kot je slovenski in stremijo k dolgoročni rasti in razvoju, ki sta pogojena z znanjem, motivacijo in kapitalom, morajo poslovati preko svojih meja, se internacionalizirati. Ko se veča obseg mednarodnih transakcij kapitala, produktov in storitev ter se meje krhajo in izginjajo, vidimo zametke skupnega, enega, svetovnega, globalnega trga. Vsako podjetje mora pred vstopom na tuji trg proučiti možnosti ter tveganja in ugotoviti realnost pričakovanj. Na teh trgih je prisotna večja konkurenca, predvsem s strani večjih multinacionalk, ki obvladujejo vedno večji tržni delež. Slovenska podjetja, ki se odločajo za poslovanje na tujem, se soočajo s temi tokovi in jih skušajo obdržati znotraj svojega vplivnega območja. V časih Jugoslavije je obstajal en skupni trg, ki je po njenem razpadu za nas postal tuji trg. Po stabilizaciji političnih razmer so se spet začele tkati skrhane vezi in vlaganja na trga Hrvaške in Srbije so se spet vzpostavila. Na podlagi ugotovljenih podatkov lahko rečemo, da so bile slovenske NTI na Hrvaško in v Srbijo v porastu vse do leta 2008, ko je svetovno gospodarstvo zaznamovala svetovna gospodarska kriza. Po tem letu je zaznati manjši, a nikakor drastičen upad slovenskih NTI na obeh trgih. Slovenija več vlaga na Hrvaško kot v Srbijo, saj se je Srbija kasneje ločila od totalitarnega režima. V prizadevanjih k približevanju evropskim integracijam obe državi sproščata državne omejitve ter administrativne ovire in postajata atraktivni lokaciji tako za slovenske investitorje kot za investitorje iz ostalih držav. Obe državi predstavljata potencial za vlaganje, Hrvaška predvsem v turizem, Srbija pa v infrastrukturo in industrijo. Obe ostajata dve največji gostiteljici slovenskih investicij v tujini in verjetno bosta zaradi svojih prednosti, ki izvirajo iz zgodovinskih, kulturnih in jezikovnih podobnosti, še dolgo ti dve poziciji tudi zadržali.For companies operating on small domestic markets such as Slovenian that aim at long-term growth and development, based on knowledge, motivation and capital, it is inevitable to expand their business across the borders, i.e. to internationalise. When the scope of international transactions in capital, products and services increases, the borders get weaker and start to disappear, we witness the development of one, common, world, global market. Before entering foreign markets, every company has to research the possibilities and risks, and measure the reality of expectations. These markets are more competitive, especially due to multinational corporations growing their market share. Slovenian companies which decide to go into business abroad face these trends and try to keep them within their scope of influence. In the period of former Yugoslavia, Slovenia was part of one common market that disintegrated into foreign markets at its breakup. After political conditions have stabilized, business relationships were revived and investments in Croatian and Serbian market were restored once again. On the basis of identified data, we find that Slovenian FDI in Croatia and Serbia grew until 2008 when world economy faced global economy crisis. After this year there was a slight but not drastic decline of Slovenian FDI on both markets. Slovenia invests more in Croatia than in Serbia, as for Serbia it took longer to part from its totalitarian regime. In the process of European integration efforts, both countries relaxed their state restrictions and administrative obstacles and, consequently, became more attractive to Slovenian investors as well as to investors from other countries. Both countries show potential for investmentsCroatia especially in tourism, Serbia in infrastructure and industry. Both remain two most important host countries for Slovenian investments abroad and due to their advantages based on historical, cultural and language similarities, they will probably keep these positions for quite a while longer