Chapter 2: Croatia

(continued)

3.5 Information Channels for Business Opportunities

Environmental professionals receive business information mainly through personal contacts, from fairs and trade shows and from environmental publications. Other major information sources included the State Directorate for the Environment, the daily press and local authorities. Professional associations and the Chamber of Commerce were mentioned by approximately 40 percent of the respondents as information sources. Table 3.9 shows the percentage of survey respondents who said they receive information about business opportunities through the listed channels.

TABLE 3.9: MOST IMPORTANT CHANNELS OF INFORMATION ABOUT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Information Channel	% of Respondents

Personal contacts	97%
Trade shows and fairs	68%
Environmental publications	63%
Environmental Ministry (state directorate)	56%
Daily press	56%
Local authorities/municipalities	55%
Conference attendance	46%
Business publications	43%
Chamber of Commerce	42%
Direct mail	41%
Professional associations	40%
Ministry of Economics/Trade	28%
University/Academy of Sciences	26%
International organizations	23%
Broadcast fax service	18%
E-mail	8%
Commercial banks	7%

Conference attendance received moderate response as a way to receive business information, and, as Table 3.10 shows, 41 percent of the respondents participated in more than 3 conferences annually. As shown in Table 3.11, the major reasons for attendance were to meet others in the same field, to learn about new project opportunities, to market a firm's products, to find potential partners and to participate in professional training.

TABLE 3.10: ANNUAL CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
Number of Conferences Attended Annually	% of Respondents

None	17%
1-2	42%
3-5	35%
6-10	4%
More than 10	2%

TABLE 3.11: MAIN REASONS FOR ATTENDING CONFERENCES
Reasons	% of Respondents

Meet others in the same fiels	69%
Learn about new project opportunities	66%
Marketing firms products	56%
Find potential partners	56%
Participate in professional training	55%
Participate as speakers	32%

The top environmental publications reach a fairly broad audience in Croatia. The most popular environmental publication, Gospodarstvo i Okolis, is read by 38 percent of environmental business professionals. Readership of other environmental publications is shown in Table 3.12.

TABLE 3.12: READERSHIP OF ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLICATIONS
Publication	% Who Read

Gospodarstvo i Okolis	38%
Okolis	21%
Hrvatske Vode	16%
Zubor	10%
EGE	6%
Atmospheric Environment	3%
Energetika	3%
Europe Environment	3%

Business publications had a slightly lower readership among environmental business professionals, and the top business periodicals did not reach a particularly broad audience in this field. The most widely read business publication was Banka (read by 16 percent of survey respondents), followed by EGE (read 8 percent). Readership of business publications is shown in Table 3.13.

TABLE 3.13: READERSHIP OF BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS
Publication	% Who Read

Banka	16%
EGE	8%
Info	3%
Kapital	3%
RRIF	2%
Economist	2%
Profit	2%
Info	2%

The top two newspapers read by survey respondents were Vecernji and Vjesnik, each read by 23 percent of respondents. Readership of newspapers is shown in Table 3.14.

TABLE 3.14: READERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS
Newspaper	% Who Read

Vecerni List	23%
Vjesnik	23%
Slobodna Dalmacija	4%
Privredni Vjesnik	1%
Nacional	1%

Environmental professionals were also asked to name the most important business associations. Associations commonly mentioned included the Croatian Water Pollution Control Society, the Croatian Association of Energy Experts, and the Association of Recyclers. The list of associations is shown in Table 3.15.

TABLE 2.20: MOST IMPORTANT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Association	% of Respondents

Croatian Water Pollution Control Society	10%
Croatian Association of Energy Experts	4%
Association of Recyclers	4%
Drzavna uprava za zastitu okolisa	3%
Hrvatska Gospodarska Komora	3%

REC * PUBLICATIONS * EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL MARKET 2 * CROATIA