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Education and information infrastructure for agribusiness in Croatia

The Croatian agribusiness sector, comprised of agriculture and the food and beverage processing industry, plays a significant role in the Croatian economy. In terms of total GDP the Croatian agribusiness sector holds an 11percent share. According to business indicators for 2005 (e.g. net profit of EUR 320.3 million) Croatian agribusiness companies achieved much better results than during the previous year. Successful business results can be highly connected with increased awareness of the role of education in business performance. Due to this increased awareness, agribusiness companies investment in educational programmes. In many theories of economic growth, intellectual capital is defined as the knowledge, capability and skills of individuals/employees. Intellectual capital is recognized as one of the most important factors of growth and development of the company According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Croatia still needs to improve the quality of education in its post-secondary school system. The same observation was made by the National Competitiveness Council. It stated that the educational system did not prepare Croatian citizens adequately for the challenges of a knowledge-based society. One of the proposed initiatives for improvement was the ongoing project of Agribusiness Higher Education Development in the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb (AHEAD). At the same time, the leading Croatian agribusiness companies (e.g. Podravka) recognized the importance of intellectual capital (knowledge and skills of employees), and introduced some internal education programmes in cooperation with some well-known business schools. One of the prerequisites for stimulating an entrepreneurial environment is institutional support. As an example, the role of the Croatian government’ s information support system for the decision-making process in agribusiness is presented based on the use of TISUP (Market Information Service in Agriculture).

education; agribusiness; infrastructure

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