STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS Low costs and threat of terrorism, crime and violence. Wasteful budgetary spending, low public trust in politicians, lack of transparency, regulative burden on business freedom. Improving the ethics, increasing transparency, introducing informatisation. Political changes. INFRA- STRUCTURE Well developed highway and Underdeveloped local roads, lack of sustainable planning. Increasing investments in ports, railways, airports and other transportation infrastructure. MACRO- ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT Low annual inflation rate. Low GDP growth rate, slow recovery from global crisis. Decreasing accumulated government debt, decreasing trade balance deficit. Volatile external environment, fiscal vulnerability. HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING Competitive advantages are mathematics and science education. Low awailability of research and training services. Educational reform focused on flexible skills based curriculum. GOODS MARKET EFFICIENCY Short business registration period, relatively low profit taxation. Expensive agricultural policy, overregulated business environment, weak local competition. Reducing standard VAT rate, developing business climate, protection against monopolies and cartels, implementing privatisation. LABOR MARKET EFFICIENCY „Brain drain“. Increasing labor market flexibility by easy rule on hiring and firing workers. Political changes. FINANTIAL MARKETS AND DEVELOPMENT Low venture capital availability. Easier loan acess for entreprenurial activities and investments. External TECHNO- LOGICAL READINESS Low technology absorption in firms. Increasing forreign direct investment for new technologies. BUSINESS SOPHISTICATION Low number of quality suppliers, low production process sophistication. Cluster development, specialisation, establishing economic diplomacy. INNOVATION Quality of scientific research institutions. Low level of collaboration in research. Developing closer ties between industry and university. Source: made by authors CROATIA SWOT
The historical legacy and political, market and financial circumstances resulted in one main national airline, Croatia Airlines, also a member of Star Alliance. Airport Traffic Statistics (year) 2015. 2014. 2013. FREIGHT (t) 7 766 7 567 7 569 PASSANGERS ('000) 7 175 6 703 6 304 Source of data: PRIORITIES OF AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR: Modernisation of Zagreb as the core airport of the Republic of Croatia and the Dubrovnik Airport due to need to improve accessibility of the Dubrovnik region, Adaptation of the relevant airports to the required safety and traffic management European requirements, to cope with the demanding seasonal peaks and to prepare airports to the potential adhesion of Croatia to the Schengen treaty, Increase the sustainability of the aviation system by performing a reorganisation of the sector, increasing the efficiency of the maintenance of the airports and reducing the environmental impact, Improve the accessibility to airports, especially by means of public transport. URBAN, SUB-URBAN AND REGIONAL TRANSPORT NETWORK In 2015, road transport accounted for 71% of all passanger transport (29% railways) in category of inland transportation. An increase in the number of registered cars, passenger car mileage and the general use of passenger cars has been observed at the same time as usage decrease of public transport options. The predominance of private transport is made evident by the big traffic jams on access roads towards urban centres, which contribute to increased pollution and noise level, lack of parking space and rising costs for citizens. At present, public transport in the Republic of Croatia is not integrated, as there are no coordinated timetables or single tickets for different modes of transport. Intermodal terminals, which enable transit from one mode of transport to another, do not exist or are extremely rare. On certain lines, bus and rail carriers have "parallel routes". The