Typical Croatia

As a holiday destination Croatia has long since developed from an insider tip to a visitor magnet. Hundreds of sun-drenched islands in the blue Adriatic attract millions of holidaymakers to the country every year. However, since its independence the country has grown less strongly as a business location for manufacturing industry, a challenge that the HANSA‑FLEX subsidiary is successfully countering with an appropriate strategy.

It was a long and difficult road for Croatia from the declaration of independence and the accompanying gruesome war from 1991 to 1995 to EU membership in 2013. The story of the HANSA‑FLEX subsidiary in Croatia begins a few years after the end of the war with two sales agencies, which opened in Zadar and Dubrovnik in 1998. After two years of market analysis, in 2000 a branch office was opened in Split, which also became the company's first HQ. Over the following seven years the company expanded and opened four more branches throughout the country.

In 2009 it moved its headquarters to Zagreb - shortly before the global financial crisis also hit Croatia, where unfortunately it lasted until 2015. After the financial crisis finally came to an end in the country, the company was able to invest once more and established new branches. As the Croatian economy is heavily dominated by tourism and lacks manufacturing industry, the HANSA‑FLEX subsidiary pursues a strategy of focusing on services for all the relevant sectors – in particular the construction industry, which is of central importance for tourism. With currently 11 branches, 73 employees and an annual turnover of approximately 7 million euros, it is thanks to this successful strategy that HANSA‑FLEX Croatia is in a strong position. “We currently have a sufficient number of branches as well as three service vehicles to effectively support our customers throughout the country”, says Managing Director Mirko Mladina, adding: “We now need to expand our service portfolio with the aim of launching a new service every year.”

This year the Croatian subsidiary moved into its new headquarters in Zagreb. “This was a major step for us in terms of being prepared for the future,” confirms Mirko Mladina. The 5,700 m² site houses the production facility as well as the newly built HQ, offering 2,168 m² of space for a new cylinder centre and a production unit for power packs. The former Zagreb East branch has been integrated into the new location, and as result of the move is now in a position to offer more comprehensive customer services and a training centre. The administrative areas, such as HR, accounting and quality management, which were previously spread across two locations, are now also united under one roof.

The training centre plays an important role not only for developing the skills of the company's own employees, but also for training customers and international colleagues, emphasises Mladina, stating: “The special feature is that we also offer training for colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Serbia. As our colleagues from these countries understand Croatian, we can provide them with expert technical training here. And for some time now we have also been providing training courses in English at the request of colleagues from other countries."