engleski

Design and Implementation of Local Development Strategies in Central, East and South-East Europe – The Case of Istrian County

Istrian county is among most developed counties in Croatia. One reason is that the war never came near to this area. The second is a good macroeconomic management and local development strategy design by the local authorities. Although we can be satisfied with the design of the area-based strategies in Istrian county we should not be satisfied with the speed of their implementation. Central government strategy in Croatia seeks to foster local development through two channels – by attracting foreign investments and entrepreneurship development by the means of industrial parks (zones). In the paper we discuss several actual programmes that the central government is trying to implement to boost local development. Local development policy in Istrian county is based on the area-based strategies implemented by the local development agency called IDA (Istrian Development Agency). The research in the paper is based on the surveys undertaken in a period from November 15th of 2003 until January 15th of 2004, which included more that 40 small and mid size businesses from the local area (City of Pula), the expectations of the entrepreneurs regarding ongoing local development programs (business incubators and industrial zones) include following: solve long-term problems regarding land, space and other infrastructure (electricity, water, telephones), obtain financial support through lower tax payments or loan subsidies from local or central government, increase its current production as well as its competitiveness level, boost its profitability and market share. The analysis of the local development programs and interviews with central government leaders and administrators showed us the expectations of the central government regarding aforementioned programs. Identified expectations included: increase in the aggregate employment level, boost economic growth and development, increase in the aggregate production and export level, equalize development level of all the regions and counties in Croatia, educate/consult small and mid size business on various issues (marketing, financing, strategic and operational issues), speed up the implementation of the new state-of-the-art technology, foster innovation and new product development, remove administrative barriers increase living standards, etc. Aforementioned surveys and interviews clearly pointed out several major obstacles met in the implementation process. In the paper we deal with the spotted obstacles proposing several policies and methods for avoiding them.

local development strategies; development constraints; successful local development

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