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Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness: Europeanisation of SME Policy in Croatia

As part of its drive to develop an EU-wide policy towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs) the European Commission has recently promoted the adoption of the European Charter for Small Enterprises which sets out indicators of best practice for policy makers to follow. Croatia endorsed the Charter at the Thessaloniki summit in 2003, and has given a leading role to SME support in Croatia’ s industrial policy. Yet, as in the EU, this ambition to promote an entrepreneurial and competitive economy in Croatia is beset by multiple obstacles and policy inconsistencies. In the paper we summarise the current position of the SME sector in Croatia, present some selected indicators of the level of entrepreneurial activity, and evaluate different components of SME policy performance. We analyse the critical directions for future policy development in the context of Croatia’ s progress in the European integration process. We draw on the findings of recent comparative empirical studies carried out by the OECD and the European Commission in which the authors have been involved, and other recent research studies. In conclusion, we identify some main obstacles to effective policy implementation, and question what role the process of Europeanisation of policy can play in improving the process of policy implementation in this field.

SMEs; entrepreneurship; policy performance; Croatia; competitiveness

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