IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v12y2024i2p43-d1336064.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revitalizing from Ashes: Economic Development and Business Resilience in the City of Vukovar

Author

Listed:
  • Jakša Puljiz

    (Institute for Development and International Relations, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Marina Funduk

    (Institute for Development and International Relations, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Ivana Biondić

    (Institute for Development and International Relations, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

The paper examines a paradigmatic example of post-conflict economic development of Vukovar, Croatia. It represents a pertinent case study for localities encountering analogous challenges, most notably urban areas in Ukraine in the near future. The war that broke out in 1991 brought significant human casualties, population displacement, and extensive destruction of residential, social, and economic infrastructure. The completion of the peaceful reintegration of Vukovar into Croatia’s legal system in 1998 marked the beginning of the socio-economic revitalization process. The research scrutinizes the primary impediments and prospects for Vukovar’s economic growth, probing why substantial investments in reconstructing housing, transport, communal infrastructure, and fiscal incentives for businesses have not paralleled its economic performance. It concentrates on the local business climate and influential factors as potential explanations for this discrepancy. The topic was designed as a case study and was covered by document analysis, survey method, and semi-structured interviews. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study collates perspectives from entrepreneurs and business support institutions. The results confirmed that reconstruction of housing and social infrastructure is necessary, but more conditions are needed for successful post-conflict economic development, and that the business climate in lagging local units highly depends on state- and locally designed business-support measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Jakša Puljiz & Marina Funduk & Ivana Biondić, 2024. "Revitalizing from Ashes: Economic Development and Business Resilience in the City of Vukovar," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:12:y:2024:i:2:p:43-:d:1336064
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/2/43/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/2/43/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Károly Fazekas, 1996. "Types of Microregions, Dispersion of Unemployment, and Local Employment Development in Hungary," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 3-48, June.
    2. Charlton Andrew & Davis Nicholas, 2007. "Does Investment Promotion Work?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Gregg A. Lichtenstein & Thomas S. Lyons, 2001. "The Entrepreneurial Development System: Transforming Business Talent and Community Economies," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(1), pages 3-20, February.
    4. Jan Drahokoupil, 2008. "The Investment-Promotion Machines: The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment Promotion in Central and Eastern Europe," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(2), pages 197-225.
    5. Ines Kersan-Skabic & Lela Tijanic, 2014. "The Influence of Foreign Direct Investments on Regional Development in Croatia," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 16(2), pages 59-90, December.
    6. Jadranko Bendeković, 2000. "Privatization In Croatia," Ekonomski pregled, Hrvatsko društvo ekonomista (Croatian Society of Economists), vol. 51(1-2), pages 55-90.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fortunato Michael W-P & Alter Theodore R, 2011. "The Individual-Institutional-Opportunity Nexus: An Integrated Framework for Analyzing Entrepreneurship Development," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-36, January.
    2. Nicholas A. Phelps & Andrew Wood, 2018. "Promoting the global economy: The uneven development of the location consulting industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(6), pages 1336-1354, September.
    3. Brada, Josef C. & Gajewski, Paweł & Kutan, Ali M., 2021. "Economic resiliency and recovery, lessons from the financial crisis for the COVID-19 pandemic: A regional perspective from Central and Eastern Europe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. repec:rri:wpaper:200902 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Michael Fortunato & Diane McLaughlin & Theodore Alter, 2011. "The Individual-Institutional-Opportunity Nexus in Entrepreneurship: Bridging Perspectives in Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1504, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Klapper, Leora & Sarria-Allende, Virginia & Sulla, Victor, 2002. "Small and medium size enterprise financing in Eastern Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2933, The World Bank.
    7. Gál, Zoltán, 2019. "Az FDI szerepe a gazdasági növekedés és a beruházások területi differenciálódásában Magyarországon [The foreign direct investment role in Hungarys economic growth and territorial differentiation of," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 653-686.
    8. Chris Phelan & Richard Sharpley, 2012. "Exploring entrepreneurial skills and competencies in farm tourism," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(2), pages 103-118, March.
    9. Karoly Fazekas, 2000. "The impact of foreign direct investment inflows on regional labour markets in Hungary," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 0008, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    10. Morgan P. Miles & Mark Morrison, 2020. "An effectual leadership perspective for developing rural entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 933-949, April.
    11. de Jong, Gjalt & Phan, T. Binh & van Ees, Hans, 2011. "Does the meta-environment determine firm performance? Theory and evidence from European multinational enterprises," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 454-465, August.
    12. Mitsuo Inada, 2022. "Promotion or liberalization: The effect of targeted investment policies on foreign direct investment inflows," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 489-505, December.
    13. repec:rri:wpaper:200904 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kazunobu Hayakawa & Hyun-Hoon Lee & Donghyun Park, 2014. "Are Investment Promotion Agencies Effective in Promoting Outward Foreign Direct Investment? The Cases of Japan and Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 111-138, June.
    15. Rutvica Andrijasevic & Devi Sacchetto & Ngai Pun, 2020. "One firm, two countries, one workplace model? The case of Foxconn’s internationalisation," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(2), pages 262-278, June.
    16. Peter Huber, 2009. "Regional Labour Market Disparities in an Enlarged European Union," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Paul Blokker & Bruno Dallago (ed.), Regional Diversity and Local Development in the New Member States, chapter 5, pages 122-165, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Gonzalo Maldonado-Guzmán & Sandra Yesenia Pinzón-Castro & Rubén Michael Rodríguez-González, 2020. "The Impact of Information and Communication Technology in Mexican SMEs Growth," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(2), pages 1-5.
    18. Knoerich, Jan & Vitting, Simon, 2021. "The distinct contribution of investment promotion agencies’ branch offices in bringing Chinese multinationals to Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    19. Heike Mayer, 2010. "Catching Up: The Role of State Science and Technology Policy in Open Innovation," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 24(3), pages 195-209, August.
    20. Goetz, Stephan J. & Fleming, David A. & Rupasingha, Anil, 2012. "The Economic Impacts of Self-Employment," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 44(3), pages 1-7, August.
    21. Kazunobu Hayakawa & Hyun-Hoon Lee & Donghyun Park, 2014. "Do Export Promotion Agencies Increase Exports?," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 52(3), pages 241-261, September.
    22. Daniel Cukier & Fabio Kon, 2018. "A maturity model for software startup ecosystems," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:12:y:2024:i:2:p:43-:d:1336064. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.