Balkan Business Brief

What caused the closure of McDonald's in Bosnia & Herzegovina - ?evapi or Bentley’s?

According to media reports, McDonald's business has not been going well since its opening in 2010. Bosnia and Herzegovina have always been recognized for its national dish ?evapi - kebab served in a hot flatbread, which never left enough market space for McDonald's hamburgers. But can everything be attributed to just a small defeat, the defeat of globalization over the national cultural good?

Media reports indicate that this is one of the key factors, but not the only one. The decision to withdraw the franchise by the corporation's headquarters in the USA was because of irresponsible business management, accumulated debts, but also the luxurious life of the director and leasing Bentley cars at the expense of the company. According to the words from the headquarters of the McDonald's company, by withdrawing the franchise they want to prevent damage to the brand's image.??McDonald’s also said they have no plans to award the franchise in Bosnia to anyone else.??So, for now Bosnian’s will have to do without their fix of Big Macs.

What challenges has the transition from Kuna to euro brought for Croatia?

Croatia, as part of the EU and their commitment on joining, started the process of replacing the Kuna with the euro, officially on 1st January of this year. To facilitate the transition from one currency to another, the state mandated that retail prices be displayed in both currencies in the lead up to the change.??This was to give citizens the chance to adapt.??From the 1 January there was a grace period of 2 weeks where there was the possibility for people to make payments in both currencies and for all those with Kuna till the end of the year to exchange them for euros in Croatian banks without commission.

However, the process of introducing the euro pushed some economic entities to increase their prices in the period from the 1st to the 3rd of January this year?around 10%.??The government emphasized that this procedure is unjustified, because in a period of 3 days the prices could not change by this amount. They also called on businesses to return the prices to the level they were at the end of 2022, stressing that this practice only harms the citizens, the economy, and the state. The state has also put in place mechanisms and fines that will suppress such actions of businesses.??So far, they have found that 40% of businesses reviewed had unjustifiably hiked the prices and fined them 234,000 Euros.??The fine for companies is 26,000 euros and up to 1,090 euros for individuals.??The government hope by sending a clear message on unjustified price rises that it will help keep inflation under control.

The Croatian Talent in the technological industry draws in Indian Unicorn

While many technology companies in Croatia are looking for headquarters for their companies outside their homeland, the Indian "unicorn" Amagi is opening its research and development center in Zagreb. Amagi represents one of the world's SaaS leaders that provides content broadcasting services in the "cloud" and offers targeted advertising solutions for broadcasting on TV and streaming platforms in over forty countries. According to the company, what prompted them to open their first research and development center outside India was cooperation with experts from Croatia. In addition, they stated that they were additionally determined for Croatia by a high level of productivity and a good balance between private and business life. Amagi emphasized that on the global technological map, Croatia represents a country of top talents, so they are convinced that cooperation is the key driver of further growth and success.

A New Era for Croatian Innovation: 40 million Euro Venture Capital Fund

The venture capital fund, whose value is 40 million euros, should start operating in Croatia in 2023. The fund will aim to finance commercialization projects of innovative technological and scientific solutions of universities, research institutes and startup ecosystems, and at the same time contribute to greater cooperation between the scientific community and the economy. The fund will also play a significant role in the transfer of technology and the implementation of patents, which was neglected in Croatia in previous years. Also, the work of the Fund will additionally contribute to a greater commitment to technological solutions and the development of deep-tech startups, which will ultimately attract the attention of investors.