On the bright side, Croatian workers do not lack in creativity.
Croatia has the lowest motivational index in Europe and relatively high investments in technology, but a small number of good products. These are the two most important conclusions of the international research Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which was presented by the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP), reports liderpress.hr on April 19, 2016.
"This is the world's largest entrepreneurship research based on the primary data collection from a representative sample of adult population and selected experts, with the use of standardized questionnaires. It looks at entrepreneurship from the aspect of an individual, and deals not only with their economic life", said Slavica Singer, a member of the National Competitiveness Council and leader of GEM's national team for Croatia.
But, in this sea of discouraging results, Singer singled out one category which stands out in a positive way and puts Croatia far above the EU average. It is the entrepreneurial activity of the employees in Croatia. This term covers those who have developed a new product or service or who have launched a new business unit for their employer. And this is, more or less, the only good news.
With other Europeans, Croats share the same sense of fear of failure, while the percentage of people who believe that it is desirable to be an entrepreneur in Croatia is constantly falling, and the Croatian entrepreneurs (along with those in Spain and Greece) have the lowest status in Europe. Fewer people, compared to the rest of EU, see business opportunities in Croatia, while the motivation to enter into an entrepreneurial venture is to a large extent caused only by necessity. All of this leads to a low contribution to the creation of new value and new jobs.
"Based on many elements, we are not an entrepreneurial country. Out of the 11 elements of the entrepreneurial eco-system, Croatia is in the last place in Europe in five of them. The biggest problem is the regulatory framework, and it is incomprehensible that no government has used our evidence related to the problem of the regulatory environment. Changes must be radical and urgent, but that does not mean they can happen overnight. Sometimes it takes more than one term in power to implement them", concluded Slavica Singer.
