Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia Look to Yugo Roots for Profit Growth

Franjo Bobinac, the chief executive officer of Slovenia’s Gorenje Group d.d., the largest appliance maker in the Balkans, is breaking through barriers erected during the Yugoslav civil war to boost his company’s profits.
Bobinac will speak today at the Southeast Management Forum in Slovenia’s Alpine resort of Bled with executives from the six former Yugoslav republics on cross-border trade. The countries split during the 1990s in Europe’s bloodiest war since World War II, a conflict that left the region lagging behind much of eastern Europe in economic and legal reforms. 

Companies, including Gorenje, Croatian food and cosmetic maker Atlantic Grupa d.d. and Serb refinery Naftna Industrija Srbije AD, say they’re reviving old ties to develop a new “Yugosphere.” Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia are in discussions to merge state-owned airlines, stock exchanges and railways to re-establish links and bolster their economies.

“I remember a time when politicians criticized companies that did business with the rest of Yugoslavia,” said Bobinac in a Sept. 13 interview. Executives want to promote “top-quality products from the time of a once-unified state,” he said.

News source: Bloomberg link: article