engleski

International Marketing Strategies Of Croatian Groups Of Companies

Groups of companies represent business systems consisting of a larger or a smaller number of affiliated companies (subsidiaries) which share a common objective, namely, to operate successfully as a whole group. Most groups of companies find their domestic market insufficient for growth and development ; venturing into the international market becomes the only way for them to expand business. This applies in particular to the groups of companies which originate from the countries with a small market potential (whether due to a small population – potential buyers, or limited purchasing power of the population), such as Croatia. The two most significant trends nowadays are the internationalization and the globalization of business activities. Intense business internationalization began in mid-twentieth century while globalization became a topical phenomenon at its end, primarily thanks to the development of the Internet and communication technology in general. It was precisely these two trends that facilitated the development and growth of groups of companies. The fact that business internationalization of domestic groups of companies, unlike in recent foreign literature, has been poorly researched in Croatian scientific literature served as the basic motive to the authors for writing this paper. The authors wanted to examine the opinions of marketing managers employed at Croatian groups of companies about the factors that have the greatest impact on the selection of the foreign country as a destination in which to establish a subsidiary. In addition, they wanted to find out which marketing strategies, according to the respondents, are the most suitable for business internationalization of Croatian groups of companies. Therefore, four hypotheses were tested in this paper (H1 – The most significant factor in the selection of the foreign country in which to establish a subsidiary is the potential of that country for sale of products/services ; H2 – Cheap labor is the second most significant factor, after the country’ s potential for sale of products/services, in the selection of the foreign country in which to establish a subsidiary ; H3 – Foreign direct investment strategy is the most suitable business internationalization strategy for Croatian groups of companies ; H4 – Export strategy is the second most suitable business internationalization strategy for Croatian group of companies, after foreign direct investments). With a view to testing the proposed hypotheses, primary research was conducted. A highly structured questionnaire was used as the instrument. The survey was conducted out via mail (which represents the basic limitation) on an intentional sample of experts, consisting of 127 marketing managers employed at Croatian group of companies. The respondents were employed at both parent companies and subsidiaries and were involved in creating the strategy of the group’ s foreign market entry. The survey results proved hypotheses H1, H3 and H4 while H2 was rejected. The research found market potential for the sale of products to be manufactured by a subsidiary to be the most significant factor for the selection of the country in which the subsidiary will be established. The factors that follow are expected economic growth of the country and skilled labor force. Also, the research showed the strategy of foreign direct investments to be the most suitable marketing strategy for business internationalization of Croatian groups of companies – it is precisely by pursuing that strategy that systems such as groups of companies may realize their advantages to the full. Croatia is a transition economy ; its companies have no ample financial resources available to invest into internationalization and, traditionally, their international business operations focus largely on the territory of neighboring countries. Thus, the research result that marketing managers consider export to be the second most suitable strategy of business internationalization of Croatian groups of companies comes as no surprise. Research results may serve to the managers employed at Croatian groups of companies in the process of business internationalization, primarily in creating the marketing strategies for entering foreign markets. Similarly, they may be used by the managers to point to the factors that require special attention when choosing a country in which they want to establish a subsidiary. These decisions are crucial, and not only their business performance but also the degree of success in tackling competition of foreign and global groups of companies hinges on them. To the scientists in the field of international marketing, the paper may present a stimulus for further examination of this still insufficiently researched field.

Business Internationalization; Internationalization Marketing Strategies; Factors Of Selection Of Foreign Country; Groups Of Companies; Republic Of Croatia

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