Background and Purpose: In the life cycle of a firm, business transfer represents the critical stage of development. Underestimating the complexity and longevity of this process can have negative implications for firms, their owners and wide network of stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to compare the attitude towards business transfer of entrepreneurs aged 55 and more in Croatia and Finland and provide policy recommendations for improvement of the national business transfer ecosystems. Methodology/Approach: Both surveys targeted entrepreneurs aged 55 and more using the same questionnaire, with some adjustments to Croatian business transfer ecosystem. Finish barometer was conducted through webbased survey among members of Federation of Finnish Enterprises. Survey in Croatia was conducted with combination of CATI and CAWI collection method by a professional data collection agency. Data collected was compared based on a demographic criterion, industry background, experience in business transfer, expected future of the company, support needed and biggest challenges. Results: The research results indicated a growing number of entrepreneurs in Croatia who will be interested in selling their firm once they withdraw from the business and less than expected family business successions. In Finland the most important challenges are related to business valuation and finding a successor or a buyer. Conclusion: For further development of business transfer ecosystem in Croatia it is recommended to focus on awareness raising activities, channels for matching sellers and buyers, promotion of takeover entrepreneurship and consultancy support for micro enterprises. In Finland results indicate the importance of investing continuous efforts in raising the effectiveness of the measures implemented.

Franchising is very popular growth model but despite the wide application of franchising in the developed countries of the world, its impact on the Croatian economy is still marginal. The purpose of this research is to identify the obstacles and challenges to a wider application of franchising in Croatia and generate policy recommendations for removing the identified obstacles. Obstacles and recommendations are identified on the basis of a conducted longitudinal qualitative research, the first phase of which was conducted in 2006, and second in 2014. The overall results of this research were presented in a form of PEST analysis and compared with the results of the 2006 research aiming to detect changes (improvements / deterioration) in individual areas of the research political, economic, legal and technologic factors of influence on the development of franchising in Croatia. Based on the detected changes, conclusions and policy recommendations were identified.The obstacles can be divided in two categories: franchising specific barriers and general business related obstacles for doing business in Croatia. Without removing most of these obstacles, it is unrealistic to expect high growth of franchising activities in Croatia in near future.

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Post-Weberian definitions see the state–individual relationship as a “do ut des” one. The state grants protection, education, medical care, and its citizens contribute labour, compliance, and taxes. When this does not occur, it is generally accepted that the citizens are deviating from state goals. However, there are cases where lack of compliance stems from the fact that society members do not feel protected by formal structures, and they rely on informal ones to replace, supplement, or even compete with state institutions. The starting point of this article is that this lack of support may result from enhanced labour mobility (and migration) across Europe, and may enhance the creation and persistence of informal practices. Taking advantage of two case studies, Romanian migrants to Spain and ethnic entrepreneurs in Croatia, we observe how governance is constructed and provide two novel interpretative frameworks. First, we explore the use of informality (informal practices) to suggest that apparently insignificant actions that are repeated routinely and without much thought, are a way to contribute to the construction of the political and that everyday governance should receive more attention. Second, we use this claim to argue that a better understanding of informality can help identify governance areas where interventions are more urgent. These are the spheres of public life where it is possible to identify a larger gap between the wishes of a state and the ways citizens actually act as they informally avoid or bypass its rules.

This article investigates the role of socio-institutional constraints to immigrant entrepreneurship in post-communist countries of the Balkans. The study focuses on Croatia, a country where the immigrant population is still limited, but due to recent EU membership and sustained economic growth, it is expected to increase soon. The article draws upon a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with immigrant entrepreneurs and relevant stakeholders (including NGOs and research institutes' representatives). The findings contribute to the mixed embeddedness and institutional theories, as the study demonstrates a growing potential of immigrant entrepreneurship in Croatia, but also persistent barriers connected both with formal and informal institutions in the country. Interestingly, the informal institutions often present even a bigger obstacle for entrepreneurs originating from less developed, non-European countries than the formal ones. This finding indicates a moderating role of social and cultural capital in assessing informal institutions. As the foreign population in Croatia is still very small, immigrants cannot reap the benefits of ethnic concentration and ethnic solidarity. Therefore, for most foreigners in Croatia the embeddedness in immigrant networks of social relations is very limited. Consequently, the shortages in social and cultural capital, combined with a very limited openness towards natives make the access to informal institutions in Croatia very difficult, which in turn discourages entrepreneurial initiatives among immigrants.