Improving the Investment Climate in Croatia • Evening for Safe Steps ...

Američka gospodarska komora u Hrvatskoj, Radnička cesta 47, 10000 Zagreb • Poštarina plaćena u poštanskom uredu 10000 ZagrebNewsMagazine of the American Chamber of Commerce in CroatiaNo. 4/2010&VIewswww.amcham.hrTISKANICA• Improving the Investment Climate in Croatia• Evening for Safe Steps• Intelektiv – Business Conference on Intellectual Property

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ISSUE 4/2010CONTENTSPresident’s Message4 CHAMBER NEWS6 Annual General Assembly7 AmCham Cocktail Sponsored by AMCTREPORT8 Decrease in Corruption = Increase in FDI10 Innovation is the Key for Sustainable Growth12 Evening for Safe Steps16 Intelektiv – business conference on IntellectualProperty17 Innovation - from idea to market18 Current Trends in Intellectual Property Filings inCroatia19 AmCham’s Trade and Investment Committee -Improving business and investment climate inCroatia20 Do foreign real estate investors fight the windmillsin Croatia?22 Are we seeing a turning point for the SEEInvestment Market?23 Investment obstacles Croatia24 Always Quality over Price26 The Slow Road to a Green Economy27 Creating Croatian Organic Brands28 Executive SearchNEWS & INFO29 Members News34 Member-to-Member DiscountsDear Members and Friends,Improving the investment climate is the focus ofthis final issue of News & Views for 2010 becauseit sums up the focus of AmCham for the past yearas we presented different aspects of investmentimpediments that we have been working on toovercome. For instance, transparency and theRule of Law are key issues for improving the businessclimate so we were very pleased when theGlobal President of Transparency International, Dr.Huguette Labelle agreed to be guest speaker atour AmCham lunch during her high level visit toCroatia.AmCham’s partnership with the US Embassy is crucial to our success and achievements.On many occasions, US Ambassador James B. Foley has stated that theprincipal goal of his tenure as Ambassador is to improve the business climate andcreate economic opportunity for Croatia. In our second issue of News & Views for2010, we brought you an unabridged version of the most impactful and sought afterspeech in business, government and diplomatic circles. Namely, US AmbassadorJames Foley’s remarks on ‘Improving the Investment Climate’ delivered at theZagreb School of Economics and Management, an AmCham member. You will findin this issue how our Trade and Investment Committee is engaging the Croatiangovernment at the highest levels in an effort to eliminate obstacles to investment.During the recent Poslovni Dnevnik and Banka Conference for a New Model forEconomic Growth attended by Prime Minister Kosor, Ambassador Foley commentedthat the current economic model was not sustainable and needed to be moreconducive to foreign investment. He also announced a Conference for USInvestment in Croatia which will be held in April 2011 in Dubrovnik commemoratingSecretary of Commerce Ron Brown who was killed along with 34 others in a planecrash near Dubrovnik in 1996. AmCham is living the good old US saying ‘Build itand they will come’ as we try to improve the investment climate so that we will beable to showcase Croatia’s attractive investment opportunities and foster better tieswith these potential US investors. Let’s make the most of this unique opportunityand work together to ensure its success and build upon it for the benefit of Croatiaand the US.Meanwhile, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a MerryChristmas and a Happy and Prosperous but above all, a Safe New Year.Best Wishes,Don Markušić, Solicitor and AmCham President››› DON MARKUŠIĆ,Solicitor and AmCham PresidentIMPRESSUMPublished byAmerican Chamber of Commerce in CroatiaMember of the AmCham NetworkRadnička cesta 47, 10000 ZagrebPhone: 385 1 4836 777 (778), Fax: 385 1 4836 776www.amcham.hr, info@amcham.hrMember of U.S. Chamber of Commerce & European Council of AmericanChambers of Commerce (ECACC)Editor in Chief Andrea Doko JelušićManaging Editor Marina VugrinDesign&layout byPrinted by Grafika HrašćeThe content of this publication must not be reproduced in full or inpart without prior written permission of the publisher. AmCham reserves publishingdiscretion for all received materials. NOT FOR SALEBoard of GovernorsPresidentDon Markušić, Law Offices Don MarkušićFirst Vice-PresidentVedrana Likan, Colliers International d.o.o.Second Vice-PresidentTomislav Krmpotić, DOK-ING d.o.o.Secretary-TreasurerSandro Baričević, Coca-Cola Adria d.o.o.Untitled GovernorsMislav Blažić, PBZ Card d.o.o.Philip Mahoney, The Regent Esplanade ZagrebPaul Suchar, KPMG Croatia d.o.o.4/2010 ISSUE 3

Chamber News››› AMCHAM HALLOWEEN PARTY BY MCDONALD’SOn 28 October AmCham held a Halloween party for the children ofthe AmCham member employees. Before we knew it the McDonald’srestaurant in Jurišićeva was filled with wizards and princesses, ghostsand action heroes, dancing around and singing karaoke. It was difficultto choose the best masks, as all were very special, creative anddesigned with a lot of effort.We would like to thank everybody for coming and we hope you had alot of fun. Please take a look at some of the selected photos. In addition,McDonald’s team took a photo of every child for the best maskcompetition so if you would like to have a copy let us know.››› AMCHAM & WEBSTER UNIVERSITY AFTER WORKNETWORKINGOn December 1st executive office and AmCham members met with Webster UniversityAlumni in Croatia. AmCham office presented its latest activities to the gathered guests,while Webster Alumni talked about their experiences in studying at this US University.Webster University is an American University with a global perspective. For nearly 30years, Webster’s Vienna campus has been providing a high standard of education in Austria,giving students from all over the world the opportunity to experience the benefits of anAmerican education. Webster University offers Undergraduate and Graduate programs.http://www.webster.ac.at››› THANKSGIVINGDonationLove and friendship, connectingpeople are things to be cherished nomatter if they are coming from onesingle friend in our lives or even astranger.Since the notion of family is of a paramountimportance to this Americantradition, AmCham will be donating5,000 kuna to the Autonomous Women’sHouse Zagreb (AWHZ), so thatthey, along with their children, canshare in this American family traditionduring their time of crisis.Main content of activities of AWHZ isproviding support and help to womenand their children which are exposingto psychical and psychological violencein the family, as well as otherforms of patriarchal violence. After 20years of work AWHZ has a hard timecovering their expenses and fulfillingtheir tasks, so we encourage othercompanies to join the efforts and donateas well. http://www.azkz.net/4 ISSUE 4/2010

Chamber News››› EU FUNDING POWER BREAKFAST1 December – Hotel Antunović ZagrebIn September 2010 AmCham founded a new task force, the EUTask Force. It was formed with the goal of gathering informationand providing education in relation to Croatia’s accession to theEU, focusing on the impact of EU accession, the legal and regulatorychanges that accession to the EU will bring and the ability ofCroatian companies to apply for EU funding.This was the first power breakfast organized on the topic that presentedto the interested members an overview of the precession/accession funds as well the responsible bodies. Our guest speakerwas Mr. Hrvoje Dolenec, State Secretary, Central Office for DevelopmentStrategy and Coordination of EU Funds, accompanied byhis Deputy, Mr. Savić.Since 2001 Croatia has been eligible for 5 funds - CARDS, Phare,ISPA, SAPARD, IPA. IPA is the new generation of pre-accessionassistance with an objective to provide support for the candidatecountries (Croatia, FYROM, Turkey) and potential candidatescountries (Albania, Bosna and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia)to prepare for accession to EU (alignment with and implementationof aquis communitaire) and forabsorption of cohesion/agriculturalinstruments. To be more effective infulfilling its objectives, IPA funding isdivided into five components:• for all beneficiaries countries:1. Transition assistance and institutionbuilding2. Cross-border cooperation• plus for candidate countries:3. Regional development4. Human resources development5. Rural developmentMore information about EU funds can be received directly from theCentral Office for Development Strategy and co-ordination of EUFunds: Radnička cesta 80, Phone: 385 1 4569 205, 4569 194Fax: 385 1 4569 150, strategija@strategija.hr, www.strategija.hr››› ENight of a Thousand Dinners 2009 Mine Adoption ceremonyOn 12 October AmCham and the project Patrons, the US and CanadianEmbassy and the main sponsor, PBZ Card, handed over • PBZ Card was the largest sponsors of the 2009 dinner. ‘’Goldamount is without the matched 2009 fundsthe Night of a Thousand Dinners 2009 funds to the Croatian Mine sponsors’’, and has been supporting this event for three yearsAction Center. The funds were donated for mine clearance of the as it is also one of the main sponsors of this year’s eveningarea in village Antin. Participants of the Mine adoption ceremony • Information on the field: mine clearance will ensure the safety ofand press conference:local population, safe access to arable land and cemetery. The• American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia (AmCham): VedranaLikan (AmCham First Vice President), Andrea Doko Jelušićarea lies within and around the village cemetery.(Executive director)• Canadian Embassy: H.E. Edwin L. Loughlin (Ambassador)• US Embassy- Hoyt B.Yee (Deputy Chief of Mission)• CROMAC- Oto Jungwirth (director)• Vukovarsko-srijemska county -Mr. Božo Galić (County Prefect)• Main sponsor: PBZ Card- Nina Oberiter Gluhak (President of theSupervisory Board)• International Trust Fund – Marija Plesec PongracInteresting info about the 2009 dinner:• 2009 Night of a Thousand Dinners was the 8th one; we are planninganother one this year on 19 November 2010. The 2010 dinnerwill have a different name “Evening for Safe Steps”• The amount collected with the 2009 dinner is 42.500 Euro(312.375 kn)This amount will additionally be enlarged through ITF and willreach, in our estimates, amount of 624.000 kn• From 2001 - 2009 project collected over 4,3 million kunas; this››› Andrea Doko Jelušić (AmCham Executive director), Oto Jungwirth(Director, CROMAC), Božo Galić (County Prefect), Vedrana Likan (AmCham First VicePresident), H.E. Edwin L. Loughlin (Canadian Ambassador), Hoyt B. Yee (DCM, USEmbassy), Nina Oberiter Gluhak (President of the Supervisory Board, PBZ Card)4/2010 ISSUE 5

Chamber News››› Annual General Assembly November 30, 2010 at Coca-Cola HBC HrvatskaMr. Don Markušić, AmCham President,thanked members for their participationand Executive Office for their hard work.He emphasized that AmCham as an organizationis strong both financially andin activities and thanked US Embassy fortheir continued support and cooperation.In short presentation of Chamber activitiesin 2010, he highlighted key speakerswe hosted at our events, committees’advocacy work, establishment of the EUTask Force and he announced formationof two new working groups relevant toour members’ work - Defence Committeeand US-Croatia Double Tax TreatyTask Force. Mr. Markušić also mentionedthe importance of AmCham’s continuedcooperation with other business organisationsand our dedication to CorporateSocial Responsibility – with our hallmarkevent for raising funds for demining - Evening for Safe Steps and alsoby bringing back to AmCham the American Thanksgiving tradition(we donated 5,000 kuna to the Autonomous Women’s House Zagrebas a Thanksgiving gesture).Mr. Baričević, Secretary/Treasurer, presented financial report for 2010and budget directions for 2011. He highlighted that in spite of economicchallenges in Croatia, AmCham delivered and exceeded itsexpected financial plan. Strong focus on cost control, revenue managementand financial management ledto consolidation and ability to invest forthe future. In 2011 we will increase focuson investment in Committee work andenhancing the activities and visibility ofAmCham’s advocacy and public policywork to the benefit of members.Mr. Detić, on behalf of AmCham memberJohnson & Johnson, presentedtheir proposal for the Constitutionalamendment regarding members’ votingrights at the Annual and ExtraordinaryMeetings of the General Assembly,which was not passed by the Assembly.Mr. Markušić presented another constitutionalamendment regarding deadlinefor receiving Board nominations, whichwas accepted by the majority vote.At the end of the meeting, the electionwas held for the Second Vice Presidentposition of the Board of Governors and we are pleased to announcethat the winner is Tomislav Krmpotić, DOK-ING d.o.o.Full minutes of the Annual Assembly are available at www.amcham.hrat Members only pages.THANK YOU to Coca-Cola HBC Hrvatska for providing venue andcatering for the Assembly!6 ISSUE 4/2010

Chamber News››› AmCham Cocktail Sponsored by2nd Annual Best in Customer Service AwardCroatia’s First Award Program Recognizing Excellence inCustomer ServiceOn October 21, 2010, the Best in Customer Service Award (BICSA)was presented at the AmCham Autumn Cocktail, which was held atThe Westin hotel in Zagreb. The event was organized by AmCham andVita Komunikacije d.o.o. and the proud sponsor was the American Collegeof Management & Technology (ACMT) in Dubrovnik.‘Quality customer service is about creating long lasting relationshipswith internal and external customers’ said Jela Begonja in presentingthe BICSA program, ‘employees are the ones who are in direct contactwith customers – that is why it is important to ensure employeesatisfaction in order to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction’said Begonja.Developing and maintaining strong relationships with internal and externalcustomers is especially important in these turbulent economictimes where the cost of customer dissatisfaction can have a lasting impacton the long term survival of an organization. Research shows that70% of unhappy customers will switch and take their business elsewhere,and the cost of hiring a new employee is up to 10 times greaterthan retaining current ones. Companies that are able to develop andmaintain strong relationships with internal and external customers willbe able to create added value and ultimately achieve high levels ofcustomer satisfaction and increased long-term profits.In 2009 the BICSA recognized 8 world class organizations that provedto know what it takes to achieve customer satisfaction. The 2009 winnersinclude:1. Pliva2. Hotel Hilton in Dubrovnik3. DHL International4. Colliers International5. PBZ Card6. RBA7. Avon8. Horizons International KindergardenThe BICSA program was created in 2008, it is a national competitionthat rewards and recognizes organizations that demonstrate excellencein 5 key areas: (1) Service Leadership; (2) Service Culture; (3)Service Positioning; (4) Service Relationship Marketing and; (5) ServiceRecovery.For 2010 the BICSA is provided in two categories — Best in CustomerService Award for medium and large-sized organizations and for SmallBusiness. In addition, a new Award under the BICSA umbrella wasintroduced - called the Ambassador Award – established to honor individualswho demonstrate leadership, innovation, and excellence incustomer service.To determine the winners, the BICSA program uses similar methodologyas highly respected programs,such the Malcolm BaldrigeNational Quality Award, in theUnited States and, the EFQMin Europe. Organizations receiveoutstanding recognitionfor their commitment toexcellence. Participating inthe BICSA program organizationswill serve as role modelsin customer service and raisestandards of quality customerservice in Croatia.The managing director of ColliersInternational, Vedrana Li-››› vedrana Likan, Don Hudspeth,Jela Begonjakan, a guest speaker at the event stated that ‘Colliers is dedicated tomeeting and exceeding the needs of their clients and thus last year’sBICSA award came in at the right time’. Likan stated ‘As a globalleader in real estate services and with focus on excellence in client services,Colliers International Croatia applied for the BICSA to challengethe local capacities and expertise of our team and win the only awardin the market that proves recognition of our commitment to deliveringbest in class service’, ‘the BISCA process helped our team recognizeour areas of strength and gain an insight of areas where we need improvement’said Likan.Don Hudspeth, the Dean of ACMT stated that Croatia needs to focuson improving the standards in customer service, particularly withthe entry into the EU, seeing as Croatia is a country whose economythrives on the service sector – particularly tourism. Also, Hudspethsaid that it is important to improve service standards in the public sector– a much bigger issue that needs to be addressed – which can beimproved using the BICSA criteria. The BICSA program is a great wayfor organizations to assess organizational structure and find ways toimprove processes that will achieve high levels of internal and externalcustomer satisfaction.Award winners will be recognized at a Gala dinner in spring of 2011in Zagreb and profiled in Poslovni Dnevnik’s special national report inearly 2011, the program Media Partner and Co-organizer.All AmCham members are invited to take part in this innovative program.Become a proud supporter of Croatian excellence by becominga sponsor or applying for recognition.Application deadline is 23 December 2011. For more information pleasevisit www.bestincustomerserviceawards.com and send an email toinfo@bestincustomerserviceawards.com.4/2010 ISSUE 7

News&ViewsTransparency International defines corruption as the abuseof entrusted power for private gain. This definition encompasses corruptpractices in both the public and private sectors. The CorruptionPerceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries according to the perceptionof corruption in the public sector. The CPI is an aggregate indicatorthat combines different sources of information about corruption, makingit possible to compare countries.highest ever score of 4.4 being achieved in 2008. The goal for Croatiais to achieve a score of at least 5 and above because in countries withscores of 5 and above, corruption is no longer considered to threatenfurther economic development and society in general.There is a direct correlation between corruption and ForeignDirect Investment (FDI). Every one point increase in the CPI scoreresults in an increase in FDI of 0.5% of GDP and a rise in averagereportDecrease in Corruption = Increase in FDIby Don Markušić, Barrister & Solicitor, President of AmCham,Board Member of Transparency InternationalThe 2010 CPI draws on different assessments and businessopinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutionssuch as the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Bertelsman TransformationIndex, the Institute for Management Development and the WorldEconomic Forum Global Competitiveness Report. It captures informationabout the administrative and political aspects of corruption.Broadly speaking, the surveys and assessments used to compile theindex include questions relating to bribery ofpublic officials, kickbacks in public procurement,embezzlement of public funds, andquestions that probe the strength and effectivenessof public sector anti-corruption efforts.Perceptions are used because corruption– whether frequency or amount – isto a great extent a hidden activity that is difficultto measure. Over time, perceptions haveproved to be a reliable estimate of corruption.Measuring scandals, investigations or prosecutions,while offering ‘non-perception’ data,reflect less on the prevalence of corruption ina country and more on other factors, such asfreedom of the press or the efficiency of thejudicial system. Hence, the many individualcorruption scandals that have surfaced inCroatian in the past 12 months prior have hada minimal effect on this year’s Index.Croatia scored 4.1 on TransparencyInternational’s Corruption Perception Index for2010 on a scale of 0 (total corruption) to 10(absence of corruption) which is exactly thesame score as for the previous year. Croatiaalso had this same score of 4.1 in 2007 with its ››› XXXXincomes of up to 4%. By fighting corruption we are in effect working toincrease Foreign Direct Investment.AmCham’s cooperation with other organisations again provedfruitful when Dr. Huguette Labelle, Global President of TransparencyInternational agreed to be guest speaker at our AmCham lunch duringher to Croatia in July 2010 when she also met with President IvoJosipović and Prime Minster Jadranka Kosor.8 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsreportInnovation is the Key forby Mikael Hagström, Executive Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and AsiaIn today’s speech, I will focus on the topic of innovation, more particularlysocial innovation.We have an important and critical event in front of us in Croatia,and that is the membership of the European Union which we supportthrough AmCham at the European level. I firmly believe that there is a lotwe can do as companies and member companies, not only to help makethis happen, but more importantly, to prepare Croatia for accessing theEU community in a more competitive and stronger way.These are difficult times. The recession has had a strong gripon Croatia for some time. One important step that needs to be taken is toimprove the investment environment, to make it more business friendly,efficient and transparent - in other words, to give Croatia the tools to attractmore foreign investments in general.I believe that Croatia has significant economic potential becauseof three main reasons. First, Croatia is a land of physical beauty andabundant natural resources. Second, a solid infrastructure is in place inCroatia, and the scale of the investments in infrastructure is significant,including the work done with the digital infrastructure. Of equal importanceis the third reason, which is education. On a very high level, thecurrent education standing has produced a talented and well-educatedwork force. I experience the need for talent on a daily basis, when wedo our own company projects that are innovative, such as in the area ofsocial networking for instance. It is very difficult to find specialists in thatarea, yet they are certainly available in Croatia. I think the opportunity ishere, and it is here now. That is why I believe the topic of innovation isso important.Opportunity to innovateIn my mind, innovation is about reusing what has already beeninvented but in new ways, and then acting on that opportunity. Most ofyou are familiar with new products from companies like Apple, to namejust one. Now, Apple did not come up with some major invention butinstead did a fantastic work around finding new uses for already existingtechnology. When we look at which companies have the strongest footprintin the digital industry, we notice that many of these companies arebased in the US, especially when you look at the top 10 websites, the top10 e-commerce sites or the top 10 social networking sites. But I believethat there are many opportunities for European companies to follow inthese footsteps, and Croatia has a natural role to play.When I think about the need for innovation, both the businessand public sector come to mind. In our work with governments and organizationsaround the world, we have seen that there response to theeconomic crisis to fall into three basic categories. The first is what I callthe “knee-jerk” reaction. When the pressure is intense, quick actions -any actions - are taken, just to demonstrate that the government doesnot stay immobile. The second is the “wait and see” approach, taking noaction while hoping that things will improve on their own - most often thannot, in vain. The third option is strongly linked to taking actions based onknowledge, to create a vision of building a new future. This is what I wantto focus on - what we can do now to come out of the crisis not only stablebut significantly stronger, to build a future that is based on innovation.Innovation emergencyI believe that innovation is required to accelerate growth. Governmentsacross the world are battling with the same challenges, such asunemployment and various social and demographic issues like aging orurbanization. These current trends put pressure on social infrastructure.Now is the time to reform, transform and modernize the way governmentsand countries are being run.The EU Commissioner for Research made some interestingremarks. For example, Europe has actually the largest pool of doctoralgraduates in the world. Therefore, Europe and Croatia specifically canbenefit greatly from commercializing innovations. It is not surprising thatthe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)is focusing very strongly on investments for innovation in Europe. Theywant to speed up and improve the competitiveness by increasing theinvestments and research in Europe. This desire is shared by the EuropeanCommission at the highest level, which underlines the topic of the“innovation emergency,” or a need to view innovation as the urgent key tobuilding sustainable growth in many areas.We can find examples in the issue of aging societies. Aging societiesare global phenomena. Most parts of Asia, with a few exceptionssuch as India, will soon be impacted. With health care costs rising, thereis a requirement to find a new way to maintain service levels at the sameor even reduced costs. Meanwhile, citizens are expecting better serviceand ways to increase their quality of life, which is an area where innovationplays an important role. Innovating in the use of preventive medicationincreases the quality of life. With the help of modern medical devices,people can live longer, healthier lives and can also enjoy reduced hospitalcare costs. The issue of preventive medication is a global topic, but thereare available solutions that are already invented. They just need to becombined and utilized in a new way.How do we get there? Education, marketinnovation and better public-private partnershipsIf we look at the economic situation in Croatia, innovation willbe fundamental to quick-start the recovery. In order to get an innovationframework functioning, three areas are going to be extraordinarilyimportant.At the European level, the quality of education is critical. Today’steachers still write on blackboards and use the same teaching principles10 ISSUE 4/2010

AmCham Lunch, 1 December 2010Sustainable GrowthPacific, SAS, and Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union Executive Councilthat have been in place for the past several decades. Meanwhile, today’schildren are different. They grew up with the latest technology, with aniPod in one hand, a cell phone in the other while working on a laptop.They use social networks to stay in touch with friends and make newones, and they communicate via SMS all the time.At SAS, we have been very strongly engaged in modernizingschool systems, getting digital curriculums and improving the quality ofeducation in the US. Croatia has the chance to have an ICT-savvy generationand a-well developed information infrastructure. The opportunity forCroatia in the ICT industry is in knowledge-based competencies in areassuch as creativity and adaptability.The next step is making the market innovation-friendly and creatinga strong capacity for innovation. That does not mean just creating theright environment around leading technological capabilities of research.It means also having strong, solid and clear legal frameworks. Thirdly,the key is in the quality of public-private partnerships, working closelytogether to develop the right products and solutionsAt the AmCham EU level, we are working very actively on howwe can help modernize and transform the public sector, and policymakersin Europe are waking up to the potential of IT in this transformation.Today, healthcare fraud in Europe is 100 times the size of credit fraud. Butgovernments are investing in the latest available innovative technologyto combat fraudsters and ensure that the money spent on healthcarebenefits people who need treatment.You will find a similar story if you look at the European Anti-FraudOffice (OLAF) which receives ten thousand suspicious cases and millionsof documents per year pertaining to the allocation of EU funds. In thepast, they could only hope that they were looking at the right documents.The example of innovative technologies here is the use of ‘text mining’ toscan the documents and narrow down the search to the really suspectcases, or in other words, improving the hit rate.It would be a simple way to achieve the same objectives that areset out for OLAF in public-private companies. At the moment in EU thereis about one trillion Euro annually that disappears through healthcarefraud and this leads to lower healthcare quality. In the UK, the CounterFraud and Security Management Service was able to reduce loses by55% in the pilot study, not by employing more staff but by thinking indifferent ways. The benefit from the pilot study was 671 million sterling.The project paid for itself in weeks.Tax collection is another area for improvement and faces differentchallenges. An interesting example can be found in Asia, where theParliament of the Philippines almost abolished the national VAT systembecause it failed to bring back any money to the state coffers. Using anSMS-based lottery system, citizens sent text messages to identify thestore location and amount of purchase every time they purchased something.In the first year, $1.4 billion was identified in under- declarations.An added benefit was that it showedhow quickly the government could act,resulting in an improved confidencefactor in this country.The key is two-way dialogueand confidenceAnother interesting examplecan be found in Singapore, where theSingapore People’s Association playsan important part in Singapore’s nation-buildingefforts. The Associationencourages people to take ownershipof their community and brings peopletogether to create a more cohesiveSingapore. This project, based on theexploitation of existing data, leads tothe on-time delivery of the right serviceto the right community to empowercitizens.But you can do even more by bringing together data from differentgovernmental silos and allowing this data to create real time communicationbetween governments and citizens. That two-way dialogue isbeing implemented in Europe as well. The Belgian Federal Public Servicetook it one step further and allowed citizens access to government databases.This two-way dialogue allows them to come up with new ideasand to create more efficient ways for the 30,000 employees to collectdata across the departments. It is important to keep the information up todate, to work proactively and to get the opportunity to know more aboutopinions of citizens. In that way, data-driven decision-making through analyticscan significantly improve the quality of life of the citizens of Croatiaand improve the competitiveness of this country as the world fully entersthe digital economy. To sum up, I would say that the largest issue facingCroatia today is generating enough self-confidence to move forward. Iam positive that applying the existing knowledge and skills in Croatiaquickly and precisely will help raise the degree of confidence in thiscountry, and that fostering innovation will help deal with the challengesfacing this region. I also believe that if we share our knowledge throughconstructive and open dialogue, we can identify approaches and policiesthat can help Croatia reach all of its ambitious goals very fast. This is anarea in which AmCham Croatia plays a strong role.As we are on the doorstep to a new world economy – the DigitalEconomy – the new markets are up for grabs, and Croatia is extremelywell placed to outcompete many of its peers.It’s time to seize the opportunity today to create a new and lastingbusiness footprint.4/2010 ISSUE 11

News&ViewsGold Sponsorsa member of the PBZ G roupSILVER SponsorSponsors: Cisco Systems Hrvatska • Ernst & Young Hrvatska banka za obnovu i razvitak • Merck Sharp & Dohme • PlivaIn Kind sponsors: Coca-Cola • La Chocolate • Mendek • Pjenušci Peršurić • Zlatan OtokCreative Agency: TBWA \ ZagrebPublic Relations Agency: Alpheus d.o.o.Media Partners: Europlakat • Nova TV • Večernji listreportEvening for Safe Steps19 November 2010, Westin Zagreb HotelCroatia should destroy all antipersonnel mines till2019 and American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), in partnership withthe Embassy of the United States of America and Embassy of Canada, fornine years in a row, is helping to achieve this noble goal. With humanitariangala evening called the ‘’Evening for Safe Steps’’, they collected around500.000 kn through ticket sales and direct donations for demining KarlovacCounty, which is among the most critical mined areas in Croatia.Representatives of the most influential Croatian and internationalcompanies, institutions, public authorities, international organizations anddiplomatic authorities showed that together they can raise awareness ofthis important issue and AmCham enabled them to keep this evening inthe best memory.In the beautiful setting of Crystal Ballroom in the Westin Zagreb hotel,guests were formally welcomed with champagne and Frankopan guardfrom Ogulin presented their skills. Hostess made sure that every guest receivedthe attention they deserve.In the official part of the evening, U.S. Ambassador James B. Foley,Ambassador of Canada Edwin Loughlin, President of AmCham in Croa-12 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsreportPBZ CARD – a SociallyResponsible CompanyToday PBZ Card is the leading card issuing organization inCroatia. We base our success on the considerable knowledge and experiencefrom almost forty years of the American Express brand on theCroatian market, on the value of the MasterCard and Visa brands andthe strong position of Privredna banka Zagreb, as the leading bank inintroducing new technologies and card products.As a modern card issuing company we consider our achievementsindivisible from the progress of the community in which we operate.Transparent business practices, application of high standards ofquality in all working segments, modern technology, focus on the clientsand business partners - sales establishments and their needs, these arethe principles and values we uphold towards the community, by supportingnumerous projects significant for its progress.We are proud to have sponsored the humanitarian dinner Dinnerfor Safe Steps for the third time, which contributed to the initiative forCroatia free of explosive mines and the creation of greater quality livingconditions, as well as equal work opportunities and further developmentthroughout Croatia.Among the projects we support we would like to emphasize theproject by the Ministry of Health and Social Care of the Republic of Croatiaentitled Monitoring Children with Neurorisks. This project is supportedthrough our American Express Card with a Heart so that for any purchasewith this card 35 lipa are donated to this charitable idea and project.Numerous Partner-Friends are included in this project - our businesspartners who donate additional 35 lipa for any purchase with theAmerican Express Card with a Heart at their sales establishments, so thatthe total donated amount per one transaction is 70 lipa. A great numberof cardmembers also assist in this project by using their cards regularlyfor products and services as well as donating their Membership Rewardpoints to the project for monitoring children with neurorisks. Thus, by nowwe have collected almost one million kuna for this noble purpose andhave donated around 800,000 kuna to eleven hospitals in Croatia, includedin this project, to buy specific medical equipment for monitoringchildren with neurorisks.Through charitable projects, such as Dinner for Safe Steps or thehumanitarian American Express Card with the Heart and many others,charitable activities have entered our daily lives.4/2010 ISSUE 13

News&ViewsHP-Hrvatska pošta d.d.In September 2009, the new management company developed astrategy of development of the Croatian Post until 2013 and, togetherwith the social partners, launched a restructuring process in order toimprove the operation, modernization and preparation for the new marketchallenges. New organization modeled after the modern world’spostal operators set up a new divisional organization (Mail, Network,Ekspress)The vision of the Croatian Post is held up as the market leader in postalservices, and as the largest and most accessible national network ofproviders of basic financial services in the market for retail and smalland medium-sized enterprises. All this will be achieved through constanttraining of employees in all segments, intensive work on improvingservice quality and expanding the supply constantly listening to thewishes and needs of our clients and following market trends.››› Mr. Markušić ››› Ambassador Foley ››› Ambassador Loughlin ››› Mr. Vučićtia, Don Markušić and Karlovac County Prefect Ivan Vučić addressed theguests. With an excellent selection of food and wine, the guests enjoyed aprivate concert of Marko Tolja who didn’t leave anyone indifferent with hissophisticated musical expression. Formal dresses and smooth lighting reallymade this dinner a glamorous affair. Good rock music can always raisethe audience to their feet and Ivana Husar Mlinac and Boris Mirković, withthe help of Tamara Loos, showed that this time it was not an exception.With the good cooperation, results are coming. This project helpedin demining Osječko-baranjska, Vukovarsko-srijemska, Ličko-senjska, Zadarskaand Sisačko-moslavačka County with more then 4, 6 milion kunafrom 2001 till 2009.After this year’s charity ‘Evening for Safe Steps’, which before hadthe name ‘Night of a Thousand Dinners’, AmCham has shown that it is investinga lot of effort to raise the level of corporate social responsibility inCroatia, but also showed that this humanitarian evening is rightly called thegala evening.14 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsreportWolf TheissZagreb BranchWolf Theiss is one of the leading law firms in Central andEastern and Southeastern Europe. We have built our reputation on acombination of unrivalled local knowledge and strong internationalcapability. Our team now brings together 300 lawyers from a diverserange of backgrounds, working in offices in 12 countries throughoutthe CEE/SEE region. Through our international network of offices, wework closely with our clients to help them solve problems and createopportunities.Wolf Theiss has assisted clients on matters relating to Croatia sincethe early 1990s. Now with our branch we believe we are unique inboth the depth and scope of our experience in this market and in ourcapacity to conclude large-scale, complex Croatian engagementswith international requirements in a timely and efficient manner. Webelieve ourselves to be a powerful tool helping Croatian business asit continues to project itself on the world stage.Our growing team of Croatian lawyers specializes in all areas of commerciallaw, including Banking and Finance, Corporate/M&A, DisputeResolution, Real Estate, Privatizations and Procurement. We are confidentthat we can be a productive part of your team, as well.The Zagreb office brings together a highly skilled group of internationallytrained lawyers. The local Managing Partner, Ronald B. Given, isan American and a hands-on, international lawyer who spent nearlythree decades in the United States at one of the world’s leading lawpractices, and also several years as the General Counsel of a listed,global property and casualty company based in Bermuda. Mr. Givenlives in Zagreb and his presence ensures that clients consistently receivetimely and competitively priced legal services delivered at anexceptional international standard.Like all responsible members of the Croatian community, we alsowant to do everything we can to make the country even better foreveryone. That is why we are so proud to have been a sponsor of the“Evening for Safe Steps”. A Croatia without mines is even more readyfor the future, and the entire Wolf Theiss family wants to get theretogether with you.Wolf Theiss is also proud to be a member of AmCham. Just like WolfTheiss, we believe AmCham effectively promotes an open, welcomingand progressive business environment. You simply cannot have abetter partner in Croatia.4/2010 ISSUE 15

News&ViewsThe American Chamber of Commerce and AmChammember Vernexo are co-organizing Intelektiv –one day business conference on IntellectualProperty which will take place on February 17th2011, in Sheraton Zagreb HotelAbout IntelektivIntelektiv conference themes are commercialization, managementand protection of intellectual property and intangible company assets.Previous Intelektiv was very successful with 150 attendees mostlyfrom services, marketing, telecom, media and IT industries; but also staterepresentatives, development agencies, lawyers, IP right holders, advisorsto management boards.Upcoming Intelektiv will be enhanced with more presentationsby leading Croatian and foreign experts and entrepreneurs, as well asseveral workshops with practical examples and experiences. Morningsession will cover broader IP related business topics like, process ofcreating and protecting new products and services, measuring intellectualcapital, managing organizational know-how and trade secrets andhow to use IP assets to increase revenues and profitability. Novelty is twoafternoon breakup sessions in separate rooms. Attendees, dependingon their specific interests, can choose workshop on topics of managingindustrial property assets (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, andgeographical indications) and workshop on topics related to characteristicsof copyright in contemporary digital age. The representatives ofSMBs and large enterprises will participate in panel discussions concerningintellectual property and the competitiveness of Croatian companies.Who should attend• Directors, CEOs, and board members of companies of all sizes andprofiles• Individuals within an organization whose job is to improve managementand commercialization of intangible assets (intellectual property)• Organizations and individuals using innovations and inventions tocreate competitive advantage• Professionals and board members in charge of business development• Department managers and departments of intellectual property• Individuals within an organization who are involved in the processesof creating copyrighted materials, patents, marketing materials andmanagement of intangible assets• Intellectual property right holders• Research and development, marketing and finance departments• Software companies and marketing agencies• Economists, auditors, tax advisors in domain of intangible assets• Internal audit departments• Legal experts, lawyers and judges engaged in the field of intellectualproperty• Patent and trademark attorneys• Institutional investors• Consultants in domains of technology transfer and licensing• Experts in company valuation, due diligence and market value assessment• Marketing experts• Experts in patents and intellectual property protection• Portfolio managers• Industries based on copyright and individuals with income from theircopyright (music, movies, publishing, photography, literature, theatre,visual arts)• Politicians making decisions in today’s knowledge economy and society• Government and state offices which scope is the protection of intellectualproperty• Venture capital investors• Government agencies for commercialization of intellectual property;investment and competitiveness promotion• Advisors to management and consulting companiesRegistration informationIntelektiv conference preparation is under way. For detailed updatedprogram and registration please visit www.intelektiv.com. You canalso contact us directly by phone +385 1 3705 375; +385 1 4836 777 oremail intelektiv@intelektiv.com; events@amcham.hr.16 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsThe e-book “Inovacija - od ideje do tržišta” Thee-book “Inovacija - od ideje do tržišta” (Innovation from idea to market)is a book about creating revenues and profit from innovation.Idea, concept or prototype will become innovation only if it createsvalue for customers, competitiveness for society and profit for the inventor/company.To create an innovation, “an excellent idea alone” isnot good enough, you have to reach the customers, create value forthem and wealth for yourself and society. In most cases, process ofinnovation commercialization proved to be more important than theidea itself, no matter how great it is. It is a known fact that most of theprofits from innovation weren’t captured by original idea creator, butthe one who was the first to find the way to the market through optimalbusiness model and commercialization strategy.Companies, scientists and innovators everywhere, in Croatiaand in the world face the same problem. Good news is that managementscience has found some good and reliable answers, rulesand methods about how to create innovation from an idea, how toinnovate existing products and services and which improvementscustomers could use and would like to pay for.• creation of innovations based on other people’s ideas (“not inventedhere” or “copycat” innovation)Since one must not separate creation of innovation from its“go to market” strategy, an important part are guidelines for managerialand strategic decisions about target markets, pricing, integratedproduction or outsourcing issues, competitors, customer outcomes,barriers, commoditization issues, partners, management, discoverydriven planning…Innovation and strategy creation processes presented in thebook are not an alternative to “normal” management or businessprocesses. It is not something like “new age” therapies compared to“conventional” medicine. Presented methods, tools and guidelinesare the best things that managerial science has developed in thearea of innovation creation, commercialization and management duringlast decade or so. The most successful global companies, evenwhole industries base their destiny on the products and businessmodels created from that knowledge. From the Croatian perspective,it is important to stress out that every method mentioned in the bookwas implemented and proved to create value in small Croatian com-reportInnovation - from idea to marketBy Boris Golob*, CEO, Science and Technology Park Rijeka ltd.New rules of innovation can help companies and innovatorsto raise success rate by changing two things: first - new product/service creation and second – the way how innovation initiatives aremanaged (strategic and “day to day”, internal or “go to market”).The existing low innovation success rate and profitability is aresult of “trial and error” innovation creation approach combined withclassic market analysis based on demographic, product or customerneeds categorization which is good for mature or existing markets,bur useless or even harmful when used for innovation.Secondly, one cannot expect to manage business same asbefore (with “old” products) and be successful on the new marketwhere it will face new circumstances, competitors, technologies…Root cause of many innovation failures is when companies try tomanage and commercialize radical or disruptive innovations in thesame way as they managed existing products and services. Whenyou innovate, you need to change your way of making business, too.E-book “Inovacija - od ideje do tržišta” presents five innovationprocesses:• new products/service creation• existing products/service innovation• new customer and sales creation on existing markets through consumptionbarriers removal process• new business model creationpanies, with limited resources and options. You do not have to be big,rich, creative, technologically sophisticated or original to create successfulinnovation and beat the competition. You just have to be openminded and willing to learn and innovate your offer and yourself.The e-book was created for managers that want growth fortheir companies, for scientists seeking use for their discoveries, inventorssearching right markets for their ideas.If you are an entrepreneur, what is keeping you from gettingwealthy? If you are a successful entrepreneur in Croatia, become asuccess in Europe! If you are an inventor, turn your inventions intoproducts that will actually be at the shelves of Croatian supermarkets!If you’re a scientist, reach out of your laboratory and change the worldwith your knowledge!The e-book, “Inovacija” was written for all those who havedecided “we need to innovate” and left it for “ the next week” becausethey did not know how or where to begin. We wanted the world’s latestknowledge of how to innovate faster, more efficient and cheaperto become available to everyone in Croatia.E-book “Inovacija od ideje do tržišta” was supported by BusinessInnovation Center of Croatia BICRO and Enterprise Europe NetworkEEN. E-book is available for free download at Inovacija.4shared.com.* Intelektiv 2011 conference speaker4/2010 ISSUE 17

News&ViewsAfter significant decline in number of industrial property filingsin Croatia in 2009 in consequence of the global economic crisis,this year has shown some signs of recovery.TrademarksUntil December 1st 2010 there were 2152 trade mark applicationsfiled directly before the State Intellectual Property Office of theRepublic of Croatia (SIPO) this year. Further 5003 requests were madevia the Madrid system for the international trade marks registration,making a total of 7155 requests for trade mark registration in Croatiain 11 months of 2010. Compared with the number of trademark applicationsfiled in previous years, an increase in the number of applicationsfiled directly before the SIPO is evident in comparison to the year2009 when only 2063 applications were filed. However, the numberof trade mark applications filed through the national route still hasn’treached the numbers of the years before the economic crisis (2821the residents of Croatia and natural persons. Further 310 industrial designapplications were filed in 11 months of 2011 through the system ofinternational registration of industrial design established by the Hagueagreement. In 2009 there were 346 such international registrations designatedfor Croatia, which shows that the numbers in relation to theindustrial designs stayed pretty much the same during the year 2009and 2010, but still lower when compared with 2007 and 2008.PatentsIn 11 months of 2010 a total of 267 patent applications werefiled with the SIPO, out of which 16 are the international (PCT) applicationsthat entered the national phase of the procedure. In comparisonto the previous year, further slight decrease in the number of applicationscan be seen as in 2009 a total of 318 applications were filed.The share of the PCT applications that entered the national phase inCroatia in year 2009 was 52.reportCURRENT TRENDS IN INTELLECTUALPROPERTY FILINGS IN CROATIABy State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatiain the year 2008, for example). The share of non-resident applicantsin the number of trademark applications filed directly at the SIPO iscontinuously decreasing. By now more then 60% of all trademark applicationsfiled before the SIPO are made by Croatian residents. Thenumber of international registrations designating Croatia still showsa trend of decrease that started in 2009. While there were 7424 internationalregistration designating Croatia in 2008, only 6058 weremade in 2009 and 5003 in 11 months of 2010. The largest number ofinternational trade mark registrations designating Croatia is requiredby applicants from Germany and the applicants who base their internationalregistrations on the Community Trade Mark System. Internationaltrademark registrations from Croatia are also still decreasing- until December 2010 there where 108 international applications filedfor which the office of origin is Croatia in comparison with the year2009 where there were 213 of such applications.Industrial DesignsThere were 251 industrial design applications filed directly beforethe SIPO in 11 months of 2010. This number is similar to the year2009 when 271 industrial design applications were filed. Since the CroatianIndustrial Design Act allows multiple applications, the 251 industrialdesign applications actually comprise the requests for registrationof 698 industrial designs. The largest number of applicants still makeDeclining number of patent applications filed with the SIPOcan still be partly attributed to the fact that Croatia became a full memberof European Patent Organization rather recently (in 2008), andmost of the foreign applicants are now instead choosing to file theEuropean patent application in which Croatia is designated.The number of the international (PCT) applications from Croatiafiled at SIPO shows slight recovery - in 11 months of this year38 applications were filed, comparing to the 35 applications in year2009.As for the number of patents granted in Croatia, in 11 monthsof 2010 a total of 192 patents were granted in SIPO procedures, 115of them as consensual patents (without substantive examination). Inthe same period 396 European patents entered the SIPO patent register,thus making a total of 588 patents granted in Croatia. Comparingwith the year 2009, when a total of 268 patents were granted in SIPOprocedures and further 378 European patents entered the register,a decrease in number of patents granted in Croatia this year can benoticed.With the patents granted in 11 months of 2010, a total of 2510(2121 patents and 389 consensual patents) is currently in force in Croatia.By technical field, a majority of the patents in force are in the fieldof organic chemistry (IPC class C07) and in preparations for medical,dental, or toilet purposes (IPC class A61).18 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsAs a part of the largest international business association inCroatia Amcham’s Trade and Investment Committee of suggests a moresystematized means of dialogue with state institutions, in order to implementchanges better and faster and generally improve the business environmentin the country.Steps the Committee has taken so far:• identified issues that are burdening different businesses in Croatia• performed a comparative analysis with the wider South-East and CentralEuropean environment to pinpoint the most important reforms thatneed to be taken• drafted and developed the AmCham Cost & Competitiveness PositionPaper, reviewed by the AmCham membership and approved bythe AmCham Board of Governors• prepared inputs for the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurshipfor removing administrative obstacles to investment andtrade• worked on including the six existing investment projects of Amchammembers to Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship’sCatalogue of investment projects that are important for Republic ofCroatia and which will be additionally supported financially and administratively.The AmCham Cost & Competitiveness PositionPaperAmCham seeks to identify impediments to business in or withCroatia and, through its close relationship with Croatian and foreigngovernments and the Croatian and foreign business communities, tomake suggestions as to how these problems can be alleviated or evenresolved, and to support useful reform efforts that are being planned orintroduced.production sectors of the Croatian economy• reduce tax burdens, especially para-fiscal taxation• increase efficiency of the public sector, especially in the sense of establishingreformed, independent and decisive regulatory bodies• complete potential investment projects• improve the dialogue between the business community, especiallythe international business community, which is not adequately representedthrough the Croatian business institutions, such as HGK,HUP, and HOKMain Inputs identifying investment obstaclessent to the Ministry of Economy, Labourand EntrepreneurshipBusiness climate has been one of the key areas of AmCham’sinterest and work. At the beginning of summer 2010 Ministry of Economy,Labour and Entrepreneurship invited AmCham and other business associationsin Croatia for inputs that will help identify and remove investmentobstacles in the country. The Trade & Investment Committee compiledand sent the inputs abd suggested AmCham’s participation in the Ministry’sWorking Group. Some of the problems outlined in the Inputs are:• tax authority opinions are non-binding• tax compensations between state and companies are not possible• non-accountability in public sector• legislative process – draft legislation sent for review by obliged partiesin tight deadlines (ultimately causes costly write-offs, expensiveadaptation for compliance etc)• small and middle companies’ positions are not adequately protected• VAT registration of foreign entrepreneurs is not properly enabled inpracticereportAmCham’s Trade and Investment Committee- improving business and investment climate in CroatiaBy Boška Trbojević, Coca-Cola HBC Hrvatska d.o.o.& Trade and Investment Committee ChairThe AmCham Cost & Competitiveness Position Paper, finalized inNovember 2009 sets out the case for improving the business competitivenessof Croatia. AmCham believes that it is both possible and necessaryto reform the business environment in a way that benefits domestic andforeign business in Croatia, the state, customers and consumers alike.In order to increase competitiveness and improve business climatein Croatia AmCham proposed the implementation of several imperatives:• reduce state spending• increase state incentives to business and private sectors, in order topromote continued production and value-added activities from the• permanent establishments of foreign entrepreneurs have to registerat least a branch office in Croatia to be able to comply with CorporateTax Act (and pay tax on projects in Croatia) which is unnecessaryadministrative burden• international transfers of foreign individuals to work in Croatia areheavily burdened with personal income taxes• uncertainty in applying transfer pricing rules• bilateral agreements on avoidance of double taxation help loweringadministrative and tax burden• time consuming tax dispute procedures• illiquidity problems due to VAT calculation basis.4/2010 ISSUE 19

News&ViewsIn 2009 Croatia witnessed the worst of First phase of RealEstate development in New Economy while 2010 proves to be anotheryear of major setback. Investment activity in 2008 had playedimportant role in economy growth, investments in 2009 and 2010have recorded considerable decrease and overall level of investmentshad put strong pressure on the decrease of the GDP. Consumerpessimism about the future economic situation rose togetherwith unfavorable trends on the employment market. Considerableestate segment, alongside with immense amount of administrativered tape, very slow and unreliable zoning and permitting proceduresand lack of clarity and inconsistencies in application of tax laws forinternational money flows. On the latter, Mr. Kristijan Gelo, ManagingPartner of Tulipan Group says “Implementation of the Tax Laws andregulations by Croatian Tax Office officials is very often on a case tocase basis which leads to the fact that companies are uncertain ofthe outcome Tax Office decisions.”reportDo foreign real estate investorsslowdown of the investment and construction sector activity wascaused by credit tightening. Knowing all this, or better to say – livingthat reality, more than few foreign investors and developers not onlyentered Croatian market within these few bad years but choose tofight all the obstacles and invest in real estate projects in Croatia.In the light of the EU accession, liberalization of the tradeand competitiveness of Croatian economy, on major obstacles forinvesting in Croatia, but also on the topic of positive reasons to investin our market, I spoke to three currently active investors anddevelopers in Croatia who have spent not only few years here butare locals representing international investment funds and developmentcompanies.Croatia stands for unorganized andsmall investment marketThere is no mystery that every foreign investor in Croatia, especiallyin real estate development will put emphasis primary on lack of anysubstantial government activities in promoting, facilitating and focusingFDI what actually leaves investors on their own to identify andcreate investment opportunities, as well as to resolve administrative,legal and tax barriers to doing business in Croatia.Mr. Igor Hržić, Managing director of Bluehouse investmentfund in Croatia says: “Slow, inefficient and unreliable judiciary systemdramatically increases execution risk of any investments. Assuch, it makes legal system useless for timely resolution of businessissues and forces institutional investors into unwanted compromisesthat further increase investment costs and reduces attractivenessof the market.”In addition to that, what decreases further the attractivenessof the market is the fact that Croatia is a country of only 4,5 million inhabitantsand relatively small investment absorption capacity in realLegal issues“Many foreign investors in Croatia lost not only time and money butpatience and good will to struggle local obstacles. In addition tothat, an overall picture of Croatia as an investor-friendly environmentis questioned when we hear and read about long lasting court trials.Investors usually seek fast track procedures and professionalcompetencies without which it is not possible to improve the proceduresaccording to which courts work and better align the incentivesof all interested parties for faster disposition of cases. At thesame time, further efforts are needed to establish specialized /realestate, hi-tech, intellectual property, small claims/ courts as well asout-of-court mechanisms, which could help alleviate the burden ofthe judiciary and provide simpler and cheaper options for disputeresolution.” – said Mr. Erik Mohorović, Managing director, on behalfof Verdispar International in Croatia.Therefore, the reduction and elimination of administrativeobstacles to investments into Croatia along with faster proceduresof commercial disputes are not only a must, but primary prerequisiteof re-positioning Croatia on investment map of the Europe.Based on five year long experience of Tulipan Group inCroatia, Gelo puts main emphasis on lack of coordination amonginstitutions and bodies on the local and central level. „State institutionsand their bodies are very often not coordinated with local level,that is they do not have the same working dynamic which is confusingfactor for investors. In order to bring decisions they very oftenneed to identify their common interests.“ On the slow and inefficientdecision making processes, Mohorović advises „Clearly definedstrategy and its implementation dynamics on all levels of decisionmaking process in the public administration would enable investorsto have their own goals and expectations along with risk exposureadjusted accordingly”.20 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsCroatia is a beautiful country of beautiful people. Of course,nobody is perfect. It is a young nation that was growing up in difficultcircumstances. The nation has changed different types of governmentand different rulers. It all left mark, if not a scar. The results are visibleto foreign and domestic investors. They created some obstacles to theinvestors in their way to realize this beauty. Two main obstacles (and theyare often mentioned by investors) are:• Frequently changing legislation; and• Unmotivated civil servants/judiciary.We will briefly describe in this article these two issues.Frequently changing legislationFrequently changing legislation is mainly a result of transition where fordifferent reasons some of the basic laws had to be passed with greathaste creating loopholes in interpretation. These loopholes resulted infurther changes sometimes creating further chaos.In addition, frequent changes are result of the attitude that it iseasier to change the laws than people. The frequent changes will comemore into focus as Croatia approaches the EU and more and more regulationshave to be in line with the EU regulations and directives.Frequently changing legislation creates uncertainty (investorsare not sure if the same rules of the game will apply at the beginning andat the end of their project) and creates problem in implementation forthe civil servants/judiciary and common people alike. Examples of suchchanges can be found in changing rules for construction, introduction ofvarious fees and quasi-fiscal duties during the investment cycle, etc.At first sight these issues seem to be relatively easy to tackle.First step in this battle is that laws are also analyzed for their investmentimpact and not only for its fiscal impact or cost impact. In that mannereach decision and rule would take into account implications on investmentsand investment cycle in Croatia. Second step is structured andorganized training for civil servants and judiciary (this can be made inform of academy, special educational institution, etc.) and to create oneknowledge data base. It goes without saying that the civil servants andjudiciary bore the greatest burden of implementation of the laws andtherefore should receive proper training. They are also human and canbe puzzled by the magnitude and implications of the legislation change.Further benefit would be equal implementation of the laws in the country.It is not infrequent that laws are interpreted differently in different cities ofCroatia or different counties or that decisions in key issues depend onlocation of the authority. More precise explanations and institutionalizedtraining can for sure help. Furthermore, this approach can for sure helpdecrease the duration of various proceedings with the authorities or judiciaryand also serve as training for the junior staff. It is not a great effort,it is not an expensive effort, but its ramifications go far beyond cost sideand the benefits are immeasurable.reportInvestment obstacles CroatiaBy Krešimir Lipovšćak, Partner, TPA Horwath d.o.o.Motivation of the civil servants/judiciaryMotivation directly influences productivity and efficiency. This statementis for sure something which is not new, but certainly appears tobe the new approach for the civil servants and judiciary. Motivationdirectly influences duration of the proceedings which is seen by themost investors as one of the greatest obstacles in realizing their investmentprojects.Most civil servants are not motivated to work and in that mannerthey are “stealing” both salary and reputation of their colleagueswho really invest all their best efforts in order to keep things going.Most of the employees (not only civil servants) know that if they receivethe same salary regardless if they outperform or underperform theircolleagues, they will stop any work or will do only basic minimum. Also,this would motivate them to undertake continuous education coursesand improve themselves in what they are doing. Obvious solution forthe motivation is introduction of bonus system and other motivationpackages. Again, the costs of changing legislation and costs to statebudgetary dwarf the effects of motivation system.In conclusion, all investment obstacles are in our view moreor less sourced from these two issues. The issues are relatively easyto handle and do not require great time span or financial means to beimplemented. They just require goodwill. We sincerely hope that this advicewill be taken into consideration so that the beautiful country of thebeautiful people from the first paragraph can become more beautiful tothe investors.4/2010 ISSUE 23

News&ViewsOrtoimplant, a Zagreb-based dental companyoffering a wide range of dental procedures at competitive prices, hasintroduced new dimensions in the practice of dental medicine, primarilyreferring to dental implantology and innovative dental spa services.Important elements of the company’s business operations include ateam of top-notch dentists as well as advanced and comprehensivetechnology.Doctor Zdenko Trampuš established Ortoimplant four yearsago, striving to ensure quality of equipment and services and removethe all-too-common fear of dentists. For that reason, the company hasdesigned a unique approach to complete tooth and mouth care in onelocation.Ortoimplant’s patients do not need to go from one specialistto another listening to various professional opinions but can solve alltheir problems in one place with the help of single team of experts. Thegoal is to accustom the patients to the level of quality which will makethem forget they had ever feared going to the dentist. Dr. Trampuš, improvedhis knowledge in implantology through 1 year Master programat the University of California. His dental office is visited by numerousCroatian and foreign patients, including ambassadors, foreign managersand young entrepreneurs who consider an attractive smile a quiteimportant asset.Dr. Zdenko Trampušsponsored articleAlways Quality over PriceWhat are the most sought-after services provided byOrtoimplant?Dr. Trampuš: The most sought-after services include Allon-4,a quick solution to the problem of toothlessness, a procedurein which four implants are installed within 24 hours. Apart from theseservices, our lingual of invisible braces ensuring beautiful, straightand healthy teeth in a short period of time are also a great hit. Theattractiveness of these braces lies in the technique of placing thebrackets on the back side of the teeth and not on the outside. Advancedtechnology has ensured that treatments with braces are nolonger age-limited and that their effects are quite visible.How many foreign patients visit your office?In its database, Ortoimplant has about 5 percent of foreignpatients, mainly businessmen and persons from diplomatic circles.What are your plans for future? Do you plan any investments?Since patients have recognized the emphasis put on thequality of service provided by Ortoimplant, the need for expansion ofour facilities in the field of dental medicine has arisen. However, justas we did not achieve the present level of quality without proper planning,we also need to prepare a plan for expansion in order to ensurethat the achieved quality level is maintained.By 2011, Ortoimplant is expected to grow by at least 40 percent.24 ISSUE 4/2010

Dental Spacomplete one-stop dental service in Croatiadr. Ivana Golubić Bago, Ivana Trampuš, dental hygiene, dr. Zdenko Trampuš, dr. Aleksandar Gulin, dr. Petar Bago, dr. Petra StulićOrtoimplant Dental Spa in Zagreb feel that a beautiful and healthy smile reflects yourlifestyle and is your message to the world, so we provide a high-quality, complete treatmentprogram at our dental clinic and we will tend to your every need. Company has designedunique approach to complete dental care in one location, so you can solve all your problemsin one place with the help of a single time experts.Ortoimplant provide a wide range of restorative and cosmetic dentistry treatments atDental Spa in Zagreb.Dental treatments available:• Invisible orthodontics – Ortoimplant is the only Croatian dentist to offer this service. Ifyou have crooked teeth or an irregular bite, our team of experts can correct the problemwith invisible braces.• Dental implants ready in 24 hours – new teeth in 24 hours• Prosthetics• Endodontics• Aesthetic stomatology – we use advanced methods and materials to restore teeth sufferingfrom small imperfections with teeth whitening, ceramic crowns, implants, bridges, coversor tooth jewelry.• The state of the art laboratory – only functionally certified dental laboratory in Croatia thatutilizes advanced technologies in everyday practice.ORTOIMPLANTIlica 283, ZagrebTel: 00385 1 3703 498Mob: 00385 98 358 857www.drstomatolog.comwww.ortoimplant.hr

News&ViewsThe global economy is tentatively crawling out of thelargest post WW II recession. The major issue for governments as well forbusinesses and the general population is how to embark on the path togrowth again. This is the state of affairs in the industrialized world. ForChina and India the issue was never the recession but the magnitudeof their growth rates which ranged from 8-12% during the past decade.currently value and how much are we concerned about environmentalissues. Public opinion research - GfK Roper Global Green Gauge - conductedin 2010 in 26 world economies across the globe may offer someinsights. Everyone knows about the climate change threat but few reallycare about it: the majority places it in tenth place in a list of global concerns– the first three being occupied by recession and unemployment,inflation and high prices, and enough money to live right and pay thebills. The value listed as “preserving the environment” is ranked 27th outof 54 different values. Consequently, only a minority of respondents (30%)take the environment into account when making purchase decisions allor most of the time. Business responds to consumer preferences: globalnew products with claims of being environmentally friendly constitute only12% of new product launches in 2010 (up from 8% in 2009). Another attitudethat appears from public opinion research conducted recently inthe US shows that “keeping energy prices low” is important for the vastmajority of the population. This attitude is incongruent with other preferences,like reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, and protectingthe environment from the effects of energy development and use.Yet another research study conducted in the European Union in 2008points out the fact that respondents do not perceive their consumptionhabits as an environmental issue to be worried about! As if environmentalproblems related to the manufacture of consumer goods, householdwaste generation, personal transport and overall household energy usewere all unrelated to our consumption habits and life-styles. To wrap it up:(1) consumers are not quite ready yet to embrace the green paradigmand changed life-styles; (2) their efforts are mostly of palliative natureand trivial in their effects on the environment (e.g. separating waste andturning off lights), and (3) demand for green products and services is stillreportThe Slow Road to a Green EconomyBy Igor Matutinović, GfK - center for market research, ZagrebThe issues of the major consequences of global economic growth –from biodiversity loss and climate change to the rapid depletion of theremaining reserves of conventional oil - have slipped down the politicalagendas of the major global economic powers. It appears that capitalisteconomies are institutionally designed to function properly only underthe conditions of growth and, therefore, the aforementioned issues arequickly submerged each time economic growth stumbles. But submergingthe problems will not make them disappear and they will re-emergewith even higher intensity once our economies are on the stable growthpath again. But who is to take responsibility for these problems once theyreappear – businesses, politicians, consumers? And where shall we belooking for solutions – in free markets, in technology or within ourselvesand our system of values and beliefs that guide our life-styles? Can wehave growth and the greening of our economies at the same time? Beforewe try to give a tentative answer to these questions, let’s look at what weconfined to a niche. All these suggest that this recovery is not likely tobe substantially “greener” than any in the past. What should happen sothat we “change course” from unsustainable to sustainable patterns ofproduction and consumption? My research and that of other suggest thatmarkets and technological change will not suffice. Instead, we shouldfirstly change our worldview – that dominant set of values and beliefswhich define our overall attitude towards life and our natural environment.These values and beliefs shape our institutional framework – the way weorganize our societies in all important aspects that concern political andeconomic life. Finally, the institutional framework regulates many detailsof our economic behavior and, consequently, its environmental impact.The timely change of the dominant worldview in Western societies is neitherguaranteed nor inconceivable: the future is open and the responsibilitylies with all of us - in our different roles as political actors, businessleaders, and consumers.26 ISSUE 4/2010

News&ViewsThey say we are what we eat. According to Organic Monitor researchreport, in our annual consumption of conventional and processedfoods we absorb on average about 0,5 kilograms of harmful chemicals.Just thinking about it could upset our stomachs.Today, probably the most overused word in the United States,aside from „facebook“, is „organic“. The trend of organic food is growingso much, that organic food is almost becoming mainstream. Organicfood has no pesticides, no growth hormone or antibiotics, no irradiationor genetically modified organisms. The main difference between organicand other healthy foods is „the organic certificate“ which proves that atleast 95% of product volume is organic and it could be traceable fromthe source to the final product. It is not the rule, but producers of organicfoods usually tend to care about the sustainability, animal welfare, environmentand fair trade.reportCreating Croatian Organic BrandsBy Andrijana Čuljak, Partner / Managing Director, www.okomito.comOrganically certified food today holds 2-3% of total world foodconsumption. In the EU, Japan and the US it grew up to 30% annually inthe past 5 years. Germany is the biggest European organic food marketwith 8,73 billion dollars in sales in 2009. Health is becoming new statussymbol, and represents the third most important value among sixty testedin thirty European countries (GfK European Consumer Report 2007).In Croatia, annual consumption of organic food per capita in2007 was 0.5 €. In Germany, it was 57 €. Organic food in Croatia is priced30-50% more than conventional food. In Germany, it is priced up to 15%more. Croatian market is not educated enough to differentiate healthyfrom organic. Croatians love their local food and think that it is still healthyenough not to pay that price premium for organic certificate. On the otherside, the shelf space of mass retailers for healthy/organic food is growing.Consumers in recession are switching their priorities and trading luxurieslike skiing holidays for better quality higher-priced food, which becomesaffordable luxury. Our Cro-organic phase is still about to come.In the context of the EU markets, it is challenging for Croatianproducts to become and stay competitive considering higher prices dueto the lack of economy of scale. Organic products are premium pricedand consumers are willing to pay more for trusted source of food. Croatiahas high quality resources and high potential for organic farming andprocessing. Better focus on organic sector could increase Croatia’s competitivenesswithin EU markets.Many areas need improvement in order to become that trustedsource of great food for EU consumers. Less than 0,1% of all farms inCroatia are organic and only 0,2% of all agriculture land is used fororganic. But farmers are not to blame. Certificates are very expensive becauseof traceability requirements, quantities of produce on individual basismostly insufficient to supply mass retail, knowledge of the organic stilllow, and distribution channels unaccessible. If farmers don’t get an outsideregulatory, educational, financial and operational support it will became almostimpossible for them to survive by choosing an organic path.In order to motivate manufacturers for more organic productsand brands Croatian Government bodies should first focus on improvingregulatory environment. Certification process should be leaner and thereshould be one point of information where potential manufacturers couldobtain all documentation and information about requirements. Regulationsfor obtaining the certificate should be revised and adjusted to Europeancertification requirements.The confidence and credibility of Croatian “eko” label should beincreased and promotion financed from the Government side. Marketshould be educated what it really stands for and common vocabularyshould be implemented. There are still misunderstandings and confusion,is it the same to have organic, bio or eko product. Croatians don’ttrust enough their own label. The visual identity of Croatian label shouldbe improved, too. When compared to some European and the US certificateit does not reflect that confidence level that would motivate someoneto pay more and still feel happy.Financial assistance for manufacturing, distribution and promotionis probably the most difficult part, but at least organic should be onthe agenda when prioritizing investments for potential EU competitiveness.Aside from desirable destination for a great holiday, Croatia couldbecome “a great European garden.”GERMANY CROATIA2007 / THE FOOD MARKETMarket size E 170 billion E 4,7 billionAnnual consumption per capita E 1.700 E 1.065Annual consumption per capita as % of GDP 6% 17%2007 / ORGANIC FOOD MARKETMarket size E 5.3 billion E 2.3 millionAnnual consumption per capita E 57 E 0.5Market share 3.1% 0.05%2007 / ORGANIC FOOD MANUFACTURING% of agriculture land used for organic 4.9% 0.2%area of agriculture land used for organic 826.000 ha 6.204 ha% of organic farms 4.6% 0.08%number of organic farms 17.560 368number of wholesalers and importers for the50 35organic retailnumber of processors 1.300 50Source: The Specialised Organic Retail Report Europe 20084/2010 ISSUE 27

News&ViewsCurrently on the Croatian market there is an abundance ofOnce a client decides on cooperation with an Executive Searchfirms providing recruitment services: HR agencies, Recruitment companies firm, the main task for an executive search recruiter, similar to other consultingbusinesses, consists in thorough understanding of a client’s needand Executive Search firms. What guidelines should an organization use inorder to be able to make the right decision about the recruitment solution and problems, and how to solve them while taking into consideration theprovider?client’s strategic direction and plans for future development of their organization.The main challenge at this point is to find the right balance betweenAs an executive search consultant, I will define situations in which acompany would need executive search service. As a rule, it is most effective what the client wants and what s/he really needs.when an organization plans to attract a manager who will have decisive influenceon the business results of an organization. The instances could be: essence represents an assessment of a current situation of a client, andTherefore, Executive Search is the consulting service, which in itsrestructuring process, expanding to a new market or new business, resignationof a manager, or merger/acquisition. All of these situations are critical, assessment is only a part of this process.offering a suitable solution. The market analysis, search and candidates’as the successful outcome of the project depends on whether a companyMost notably, Executive Search is a well-defined and managedwas able to pull in skilled managers to run it.process. This means that a candidate’s profile is fine-tuned during theNevertheless, when a firm comes to the conclusion that it needs course of a search assignment, which generally lasts 4 to 6 weeks, throughto recruit a senior executive, some issues may arise:ongoing communication with a client in order to guarantee that the resultTop candidates for the executive roles generally do not actively of the project is successful. However, the result of an Executive Searchseek for jobs. In this case, Executive search firms as a third party can provideresponsible approach to such candidates;faced by a client organization, for example increase of sales,process is not simply hiring of a manager, but is the solution of an issuedevelopmentreportExecutive SearchBy Sanja Brkić Fakleš, Pedersen & Partners d.o.o.It is not always easy to define the role and responsibilities of apotential candidate, and formulate the results expected of a manager.Competent executive recruiter can draw on their experience and help createa comprehensive candidate profile, and fine-tune it in the course of thesearch process;The image of an organization could be an issue impeding the recruitersfrom attracting the best candidates; and it is almost impossiblefor a client organization to assess this objectively using internal resources.Executive search consultants have the ability to pick up such signals fromthe market and alert the organization.Organizations that are not familiar with executive search serviceand process often resort to advertisements in the media, word-of-mouthreferrals or less expensive recruitment firms. For a senior position thismay not yield the desired results, as hiring a highly visible top executiverequires a thorough research and discrete approach. Thorough researchis to ensure that a firm that was mandated to perform the search has indeedcovered the whole market and found a person who is the best matchfor the client’s organisation, culture and strategy. Discrete and confidentialapproach is necessary in order to protect both the client organisation andcandidate executive, for example in such cases as replacement of an existingmanager or entering new markets.Other reasons for working with executive search providers includemarket experience of the executive recruiters, as they are out on the marketevery day meeting decision-makers and interviewing executives, whichgives them access to first-hand market information. Executive search firmsalso have extensive database and network of relevant contacts cultivatedover the years.of new sector of the market, management of new business and so on. It isalso important that a new manager is a good fit with the structure of clientorganization and ensures positive financial results.I would also like to note here that although executive recruiters actin the interest of client organizations, professional executive recruiters alsotake time to build long-term relationship with the potential candidates andoffer advice on career development.Specifics of the Croatian MarketCroatian market is rather small and consequently, the number of skilledand experienced managers is also limited. However, the existing managersare in general quite well educated and trained. On average majority of candidatesare fluent at least in English, some with additional foreign languageskills. At the management level foreign language skills are a must and not aproblem to find. The salary expectations are quite high in comparison withsimilar markets, although the expectations have slightly decreased dueto economic crisis in the country. A wide range of managers of differentages is available, so it is possible to find younger but already experiencedmanagers with potential to grow, as well as matured managers, many withinternational experience. At this moment well positioned managers do notmake a decision to change their job easily as their first motivation is stabilityand security.Additional characteristic of Croatian market of senior executivesis lack of willingness to relocate, both within the country and internationally.Most of the managers are simply not interested in relocation as theythink they have the best chances of successful career and quality of life athome.28 ISSUE 4/2010

Members NewsWe are offering you another free of charge service for promoting your company. In the ‘Members News’ section of our ‘News & Views’ magazine, wecan publish any news from your company that you would like to share with others (new service, product, success story, personnel or contacts change...). Pleasesend your text to us by e-mail (office@amcham.hr) and it will be published in the next available issue of ‘News & Views’ magazine.››› Tesla & Friends for Tesla’s 154th BirthdayNikola Tesla – Genius for the Future AssociationHappy Birthday Tesla!The 154th Birthday of Croatian born national hero and world genius,Nikola Tesla was celebrated at the Regent Esplanade on 9 July 2010with the inaugural Annual Nikola Tesla – Genius for the Future Awardswhich featured a Roundtable on Tesla and an entertainment programmarking the event. The event was organised by the Nikola Tesla – Geniusfor the Future Association under the patronage of the City Zagreb.The Annual Nikola Tesla – Genius for the Future Awards are awarded inthree categories. In the category of Quiz in Physics and General Knowledgeabout Nikola Tesla, the award went to Željka Vuković, a pupil atthe Kralja Tomislava Primary School in Zagreb. The company Dok –Ing received an award for the electric car in the category of InnovativeInvention and Manufacture and in the category of Wider Tesla Activities,the award went to the artistic organisation dance studio, Light inMovement for the children’s ecological play Mudra šuma, zeleni čovjek,Čović i gospođa Ambrozija (Wise Forest, green man, Čović and Mrs.Ambrozija).The panel on the Roundtable on ‘Tesla Today and in the Past’, comprisedprominent scientist Davor Pavuna, Belgrade journalist and publicist andauthor of 20 articles on Nikola Tesla, Aleksandar Milinković, the Curatorof the Technical Museum in Zagreb, Renato Filipin and Professor VelimirSrića from the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. An interesting highlightof the evening was the discovery by Aleksandar Milinković a few monthsago of a form at the American Immigration Office on which Tesla statedthe date of his birth as 15th June and not 10th July 1856.Nikola Tesla – Genius for the Future Association also gave out HonoraryDeeds to its honorary members including scientist Davor Pavuna,the Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić, University Professor Velimir Srića,››› Mr. Markušić, AmCham President and Ms. Mihajlović, Presidentof the Nikola Tesla AssociationAssistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science Božo Skokić, thePresident of the American Chamber of Commerce, Don Markušić andother honorary members who, as mentioned by the President of the Association,have been exceptional in assisting the Association in its work.An Honorary Deed was also given to the youngest admirer of NikolaTesla, 18 month old Sara Tesla from Rijeka whose first words spokenwere indeed Tesla’s name.The President of the Nikola Tesla – Genius for the Future Association,Dragica Mihajlović, addressed the approximately 100 Nikola Tesla admirersand friends gathered at the Esplanade after presenting a lineof clothing and protocol gifts under the name Tesla – Genius for theFuture, which she personally designed. This is a trademark brand whichhas won numerous awards in Croatia and around the world. The designof the clothing and the protocol gifts represents the beginning of herwork dedicated to promoting and extolling Nikola Tesla.The evening of science, art, innovation and creativity was embellishedby music by the opera singer Nikolina Korečić and pianist Ivan Pernički,and Tvornica lutaka (the Doll Factory) performed an excellent play entitled‘Radio Tesla’, directed by Marija Kovač and which was the finale tothe Tesla & Friends evening.The celebration of Tesla’s birthday continued the next day on 10th Julyat the Technical Museum where a lecture was held entitled ‘Nikola Tesla– The man who lit up the world’. The lecture was given by the Curator ofthe Technical Museum, Renato Filipin.‘I am very pleased that we celebrated the birthday of the man whosecharacter and work I greatly admire and respect, in the spirit of science,innovation and art. This is our first but not last project. We shall continueto promote the character and work of Nikola Tesla and to promote innovationand creativity in Croatia and around the world. On 10th July nextyear we shall celebrate Tesla’s 155th birthday on yet another Tesla &Friends evening’ – the President of the Association, Dragica Mihajlovićannounced.››› TPA Horwath awarded “ACCA Platinum Approved Employer”statusACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), the fastestgrowing global body for professional accountants, awarded TPA Horwathwith “ACCA Platinum Approved Employer” certificate. Platinumis the highest level an organization can attain in ACCA’s ApprovedEmployer Programme and is an acknowledgment that TPA Horwath’slearning and development systems are on par with global best practice.TPA Horwath is one of the few companies in Croatia that has achievedthis elite status.In addition, TPA Horwath was also awarded approved employer statusin relation to continuous professional development (CPD) of its ACCAstudents. Approved employer status for CPD means that TPA Horwath’sfinance training and development infrastructure meets the very detailedrequirements in relation to ongoing professional development for ACCAmembers to ensure they keep themselves technically up to date.4/2010 ISSUE 29

Members News››› Mr. BUDIĆ“Professional development ofpeople is extremely importantfor TPA Horwath and we arevery proud of the obtainedACCA platinum certification.Our goal is to provide the higheststandards of service andvalue for our clients, and toachieve this, we constantly investin education. This status isa great encouragement for furtherinvestment in professionaldevelopment of our employees.“-said Reno Budić, partnerat TPA Horwath.››› The Key Best Buy Award Winners Presented in Zagreb18 October 2010 - Some of the key Best Buy Award certified companieswere presented in Zagreb’s shopping mall City Centre ONE, in aceremony very different from the usual hotel and congress centreevents. “By placing the Best Buy Award presentation in a shoppingmall - amongst consumers, instead of in a business hotel, we haveadditionally emphasized the fact that it is the consumers who decideabout the Best Buy Award, which is indeed primarily intended forconsumers,” said the Director of Best Buy Award Croatia, Mrs. MirjanaS. Pelaić on that occasion. This is the first time the Best Buy Award andcertificate have been awarded in Croatia.The Best Buy Award project was created in a collaborative partnershipbetween the companies Axios, Center for Market Research GfK and theconsulting and auditing company, PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).The Best Buy Award Certificate is awarded on the basis of GfK researchconducted on Croatian companies, products and services that Croatianconsumers consider offer the best ratio between price and quality onthe market.Only those companies and brands which were ranked first in the GfKresearch (as the preferred response of Croatian consumers) withina Best Buy Award category are awarded with the Best Buy AwardCertificate for their category.The main award in the category “Companies and Brands Offering theBest Price and Quality Ratio - Overall” went to Podravka, ranked first inthis category.Besides Podravka (which won the main award but also the Best BuyAward Certificate for as many as eight categories in the food sector),the Best Buy Award Certificates were also awarded to: Dukat (14 of16 research categories in the dairy industry); Nestle -“Instant Coffee”category; Terme Tuhelj -: “SPA/Wellness Centre” category; Generalturist- “Tourism Agency” category; Turbo Limač - “Toy Shops Chain”category; Hrvatska pošta - “Postal and Delivery Services” category; HGSpot - “Chain of Computer Equipment Shops” category; HP - HewlettPackard - “Portable Computers” category; 24 sata - “Daily Newspapers”category; Glorija - “Women’s Weekly Magazine” category and “LifestyleMagazine Overall” category; Men’s Health - “Men’s Magazine”category; Lider - “Business Magazine” category; Doktor u kući - “HealthMagazine” category; Globus - “Political Weekly Magazine” category;City Center ONE - “Shopping Center” category.Additional information:press@bestbuyaward.org, www.bestbuyaward.org››› MojPosao: The first choice on Croatian labour marketfor 10 yearsMojPosao is Croatia’s leading recruitment website and the main or onlyrecruitment channel for more than 30.000 small, medium and largecompanies in Croatia. Since the year 2000, when it was launched,MojPosao has completely changed employment practices in Croatia. Inpast 10 years more than 170.000 job postings have been advertised onMojPosao and close to 130.000 jobseekers found a new job using it.In March 2007, MojPosao became a part of one of the world’s leadingmedia groups - Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) and enteredpartnerships with Posao.ba and Infostud.com - leading recruitmentwebsites from Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. MojPosao is a memberof ‘The Network’, largest global online recruitment alliance of jobsitesand ‘Broadbean’, global leader in job posting distribution and responsetracking technology.››› Lucijana Jerkovic new Country Manager for GraylingCroatiaZagreb, 25th November 2010– Lucijana Jerkovic has joinedGrayling as Country Managerfor Croatia, where she will beresponsible for driving newbusiness development andgrowing the company’s clientportfolio – further establishingGrayling Croatia as thepreferred communicationsconsultancy for internationalinvestors and regional companieson the Croatian marketand in the region.Lucijana is professionally ac-30 ISSUE 4/2010

Members Newscredited as an IABC Accredited Business Communicator and is currentlythe only ABC in Croatia. She has over 12 years of experiencein Corporate Communications and Business Development. Over thelast three years she has been involved in managing high level pre andpost-acquisition communications, including internal communications,strategic planning and project implementation across multiple marketsthroughout Europe. Lucijana also has strong expertise in the area ofdigital communications, having managed large internal and externaldigital communications projects.››› AISZ Promotes Service Learning PartnershipService Learning is a student-centered pedagogy connecting teachingand learning with meaningful communityservice. The outcome is an enriched learningexperience which develops civic responsibilityand helps to build stronger communities.This fall, the American International Schoolof Zagreb hosted a community wide ServiceLearning reception and workshop. The purposeof the event was twofold: to raise awarenessof the power of service learning and to beginto build a community network that fostersand supports service learning in schools around Zagreb. The workshopand reception featured renowned service learning expert and author,Cathryn Berger Kaye who energized and inspired nearly 80 teachers,directors, and community members for the 2 ½ day event. In the end, acommittee of members formed whose aim is to promote partnershipsthrough service learning. For more information or to get involved pleasecontact amy.mclean@aisz.hr, or by phone at 4680 133.››› Altogether 90.000 kuna raised in Avon’s campaignfor helping Autonomous Women’s House ZagrebWithin the joint campaign that the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreband Avon Croatia launched against violence towards women in Septemberthis year and under the slogan “They call them different names.You call 060 90 04”, 40.000 kuna for helping the Autonomous Women’sHouse Zagreb was raised. On the occasion of The International Day forthe Elimination of Violence against Women, Avon Croatia donated additional50.000 kuna for the cause.After 20 years, due to reduced funding, AWH is threatened with closure,so the goal of the campaign was to raise funds for sustainability of shelterfor women and also raise awareness of the problem and contributeto the mission of empowerment of women. The event for marking thebeginning of the campaign was held on September 25th in Zagreb,4/2010 ISSUE 31

Members News››› Ms. Kolar, Ms. Josipović, Ms. Tolle and Ms. Andrašekwhile the funds were raised via phone line 060 90 04 and also by purchasingthe necklaces, bracelets or rings, specifically designed withinAvon’s global campaign against violence towards women.Media partners of the campaign were RTL, HRT, Net.hr, Plavi Radio,Story and Žena.hr, while the contribution was also given by Europlakatcompany which handed the advertising space for representing thecampaign.››› Zig Zag Medveščak!Fantastic cheering atmosphere, adrenalin rush and incredible stunts onice, positive vibes no matter whether they win or lose – that’s what IceHockey Club Medveščak from Zagreb – The Bears - is all about.Over the years, The Bears won a series of eminent sports awards. In formerYugoslavia, Medvešćak won three consecutive national championshipsand they were winners of the national ice hockey cup four times.Since Croatia became an independent state, they won 11 consecutivenational championships from 1995 till 2007. Their greatestachievements in international arena took place inthe late 1980-ies when they beat top teams from Italy,France, Austria, and Germany and played semi-finals ofthe Champions Leageu for two years in a row.Gavrilović’s finest products have been helping the Bearssatisfy their hunger for victory ever since Gavrilović becamea proud sponsor of the mega-popular Bears inwinter 2010.Inspired by the Bears’ passion and zeal, with how theyleave their hearts on the ice carried on by the tremendouscheering of the viewers who fill every last seat everytime, Gavrilović joined the efforts of their Purchase,Sales, and Marketing Departments which resulted in agreat cooperation with this excellent ice hockey team, tomutual benefit and satisfaction.Gavrilović continues to support the Bears in the new season as well.Something extraordinary happened: for the first time in their historyGavrilović placed a picture of the bear instead of the famous girl Jelicaon the Winter Salami label. Other examples of this success story includea TV-commercial “Ready for New Excitements” endorsing a special editionof Gavrilović Pates under the name of Medveščak 3PAK. Bear timeis back!››› Puris adopted Kelly Bronze Turkey BreedPuris is a renowned Croatian poultry breeding and poultry meat processingcompany. They have recently widened their already large selectionof high-quality turkey meat by adopting a new supreme breed totheir farms – Kelly Bronze turkeys – that will be marketed under the newZlatno pero brand (Croatian for „golden feather“).Zlatno pero turkeys originate from the famous British Kelly Bronze breed,distinguished by its superior natural flavor and texture. The whole storybegins and rests on the specialized breeding and raising methods: turkeysare able to roam freely in pastures, in the specific micro-climateof Istrian inland.Puris adopted the best of traditional farming methods and slow-growingto maturity over several months. During the first 6 weeks of their life,turkeys are placed on farms where modern computer systems ensureoptimal microclimate conditions for growth. After that period, turkeysare released to pastures on the fresh Istrian air. They are allowed toroam in the fields and woodlands by day andat night they find shelter in barns, to protectthem from bad weather. The growing processtakes 12 to 14 weeks. This way of feedingand free roaming in fresh air ensures slowgrowth, resulting in smaller size of the birdsand their meat gains superb culinary evaluation.The birds are fed with high-quality, domesticallygrown cereals. The feed is GMO-freeand contains no growth promoters. Purishas its own, fully automatic feed mill, whichis one of the most important links in this integralproduction chain. Buying only from the carefully selected suppliers,there is a strict incoming control of all raw materials. From materialreceiving to the finished product shipment point, the feed undergoescontinuous laboratory analyses. The closely controlled production processincludes HACCP and ISO 9001 systems for food safety and qualitymanagement.Resulting from this rounded production cycle are Zlatno pero turkeys,an entirely new product of the Puris Istriana Premium line, the very topof the Puris gourmet brand products. Their rich, full flavor provides theperfect touch for the upcoming Christmas feasts.››› Bojan Klarić new Executive Director in AtlanticGrupaBojan Klarić, manager with extensive experience in trade, distribution,logistics and trade marketing, joins Atlantic Grupa’s team at the positionof the Executive Director for International Markets in the DistributionDivision. Taking this position Bojan Klarić will be responsible formanaging and developing entire distribution activities of Atlantic Grupain the markets of Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. In cooperation withthe members of Atlantic Grupa’s top management which he is joining,he will participate in the processes of strategic planning and strategyimplementation. In his work he will report directly to the Senior Vicepresidentfor Business Operations, Mladen Veber.Before joining Atlantic Grupa, Bojan Klarić had a successful career in respectableinternational companies. From 2004 he was a Board Member32 ISSUE 4/2010

in Mars Hrvatska, with responsibilities for sales, distribution, marketingactivities and transforming the business model reflecting the market requirementsin both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to Mars,he developed his career in Wrigley, where he worked as the NationalDirector for Sales in Croatia and B&H, in charge of development of thedistribution network and organization of sales teams in these markets.››› Gavrilović products in the USAGavrilović has a long tradition of exporting its products to the States.Before 1991 „the old Gavrilović“ shipped large quantities of itsproducts to the USA and to NATO units stationed all over Europe.Thousands of tones of cooked ham in a mandolin-shaped can wereshipped across the Atlantic on a regular basis. In the meantime,however, situation has dramatically changed, mostly due to morerestrictive US import and consumer protection policies.European countries can export only heat treated (commercially sterilecanned products), purely pork products to the USA. No beefingredients are allowed.After the long and exhausting application process, Gavrilović finallyobtained the label approval and the first export to the USA in therecent company’s history took place in November 2005. Prior tothat, in February 2004, Gavrilović had been added to the approvedexport establishments list. Since the initial USDA/FSIS audit, thecompany has received acceptable ratings in regular annual auditsand remained listed.Gavrilović received label approvals for 12 different products like luncheonloaves, pork liver patés, and ready-to-serve meals. However,only 5 items are regularly exported and the rest are still pending.This year Gavrilović has launched a production of poultry meat patéand beef luncheon meat on the American soil.From the very beginning, Gavrilović has worked with the same partnerand distributor through whom they export their products to Canada,as well. Taking into consideration numerous restrictions and themarket situation, where domestic American products are the biggestcompetitors, Gavrilović can sell their products almost solely to theCroatian ethnic groups. They would like, though, to be able to exporttheir whole range of products to the States and try to sell productslike the famous Winter Salami on the „true“ American market in aforeseeable future.›››International Home +Housewares ShowThe International Home + HousewaresShow is the world’s largesthousewares-only marketplace,where close to 2,000 exhibitingcompanies have the opportunity toshowcase thousands of new productsand designs in over 750,000square feet of exhibit space.The Show offers you the opportunityto see first-hand consumerlifestyle and product trends for allareas of the home, both insideand out, under one roof. Products are categorized into four showwithin-a-showexpos:Clean and Contain Expo – featuring bath & shower accessories,cleaning products & supplies, general merchandise and impulseitems, hardware supplies, outdoor living products, pet supplies, homeorganization and clothing care products, promotional products;Dine & Design Expo – featuring cookware and bakeware, tabletop& kitchen accessories, gourmet food and products, home décorand giftware, home textiles, china, crystal and silver;Wired & Well Expo – featuring household electrics, kitchen electrics,major appliances, purifiers and filters for water and air, energyconservation products, floor & carpet care, personal careitems, home healthcare, and Global Crossroads featuring internationalpavilions.International Home + Housewares Show 2010 statistics• Buyer attendance: over 20,000• International attendees from over 120 countries• Total number of exhibitors: nearly 2,000 from over 35 countries• Net square feet of booth space: 752,135Visiting International home + Houseware Show 2011 is an excellentopportunity to experience one of the most beautiful and vibrantU.S. cities famous for its architecture, restaurants, parks andmuseums. See more at: www.choosechicago.comFor more information, please contact the U.S. Commercial Servicesoffice in Croatia at: Zagreb.Office.Box@trade.gov4/2010 ISSUE 33

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