THE IMPACT OF THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT REFORM
ON COMPETITIVENESS IN THE COUNTRIES
OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (PLUS ALBANIA)
Valentina Vučković – Faculty of Economics&Business, University of Zagreb, Trg J.F. Kennedy 6, Croatia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/EMAN.2020.343
4th International Scientific Conference – EMAN 2020 – Economics and Management: How to Cope With Disrupted Times, Online/Virtual, September 3, 2020, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; ISBN 978-86-80194-30-1, ISSN 2683-4510
Sažetak:
Značaj konkurentnosti za povećanje razvoja zemalja, industrija i poduzeća u literaturi je gotovo
općeprihvaćeno stajalište. Pritom, jedan od faktora koji se smatra ključnim za ostvarenje napretka
na ljestvicama konkurentnosti zemalja odnosi se na reforme poslovnog okruženja. Iako je veliki broj
zemalja postigao značajan gospodarski napredak kroz reforme prve generacije (liberalizaciju, makroekonomsku
stabilizaciju, privatizaciju), pravi izazov predstavlja učiniti koristi ovih reformi održivima u
dugom roku. Stoga su se reforme u većini zemalja počele usmjeravati na poboljšanje poslovnog okruženja
čime se prvenstveno nastoji uspostaviti „kooperativni“ odnos između države, tržišta i civilnog
društva. Glavni cilj ovog rada je stoga istražiti utjecaj reformi poslovnog okruženja na nacionalnu
konkurentnost, na uzorku zemalja bivše Jugoslavije, plus Albanija. Za potrebe analize, osim makroekonomskih
pokazatelja, usporedno se koriste baze podataka Svjetskog gospodarskog foruma (Izvješća
o globalnoj konkurentnosti), Svjetske banke (Doing Business serija izvještaja, World Development
Indicators, i Worldwide Governance Indicators), te EBRD-a (Transition Report). Empirijska analiza
utjecaja reformi poslovnog okruženja na dinamiku konkurentnosti provesti će se kroz ekonometrijsku
procjenu na panel podacima za odabrane zemlje.
Ključne riječi:
Konkurentnost, Poslovno okruženje, Reforme, Zemlje bivše Jugoslavije.
Abstract:
The importance of competitiveness for increasing the development of countries, industries
and enterprises in the literature is an almost generally accepted view. At the same time, one of the factors
that is considered key to achieving progress on the country’s competitiveness scales is the reform
of the business environment. Although a large number of countries have made significant economic
progress through first-generation reforms (liberalization, macroeconomic stabilization, privatization),
the real challenge is to make the benefits of these reforms sustainable in the long run. Therefore, reforms
in most countries have begun to focus on improving the business environment, which primarily
seeks to establish a „cooperative” relationship between the state, the market and civil society. The
main objective of this paper is therefore to investigate the impact of business environment reforms on
national competitiveness, on a sample of the countries of the former Yugoslavia, plus Albania. For the
purposes of analysis, in addition to macroeconomic indicators, the databases of the World Economic
Forum (Global Competitiveness Report), the World Bank (Doing Business series of reports, World Development
Indicators, and Worldwide Governance Indicators), and the EBRD (Transition Report) are
used in parallel. Empirical analysis of the impact of business environment reforms on competitiveness
dynamics will be conducted through econometric assessment on panel data for selected countries.
Keywords:
Competitiveness, Business environment, Reforms, Former Yugoslav countries.
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