Chapter 6: Slovenia

(continued)

6.7 Major Foreign Suppliers in the Environmental Technology Market

Perceptions of Environmental Technologies from Selected Countries

The following scale was used in rating: 5 = excellent reputation, 4 = good reputation, 3 = average reputation, 2 = poor reputation, 1 = very poor reputation, blank = no opinion.

The figures in brackets indicate the number of responses received, which vary because respondents had differing levels of exposure to each environmental sector and to suppliers.

Overall, German technologies were the best rated among the foreign products on the environmental technology market. They were rated best in all areas. The next best rated products were technologies from Austria and the US, while in the water sector suppliers from The Netherlands, and in air sectors suppliers from Japan received high rating for technologies. High ratings for some other suppliers (i.e., Great Britain, Canada, and Denmark) cannot be given substantial consideration because they were all obtained on the basis of only one response.

German, American, Japanese and Austrian technologies were ranked particularly high in the air sector. In the water and wastewater category, technologies from Holland and Germany were ranked high, followed by products from Austria and France. German and American technologies were best rated in the waste sector, while German and Scandinavian technologies were highly rated in the energy sector. Finally, American, German, and Scandinavian products were rated highly in the Noise, Vibration, and OHS sector.

The number of responses in each category is also significant, since it indirectly reflects the availability of foreign technologies on the market (and the perceived level of foreign activity). The distribution of responses indicates that in the opinion of the interviewed experts, foreign activity was highest in the water and wastewater sector, followed by the air protection and waste management sectors.

It is important to note that the above question focused on perceptions of foreign technologies depending on the country of origin, rather than on the respondents' actual familiarity and/or experience with specific foreign companies and products. The following section presents the answers to a more specific question concerning familiarity and actual experience with specific foreign companies.

Major Foreign Suppliers in the Market

It may be worth noting for comparison that according to the 1997 REC survey, 13 percent of surveyed Slovene environmental businesses operated joint ventures with foreign partners. The three most important countries in this respect were Austria, Germany, and Croatia.

In conclusion, German firms seem to hold the lead in supplying Slovenia's environmental technologies in terms of both quantity and quality. However, Austrian and American suppliers are close behind, and are considerably ahead of other countries. No firm is considered dominant in any product line; thus, there are opportunities for any firm able to provide a quality product at competitive Western prices.