INDUSTRIJSKE, SLOBODNE I POSLOVNE ZONE – POJAM, ZNAČENJE I FAKTORI LOKACIJE INDUSTRIAL, FREE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL ZONES – DEFINITION, IMPORTANCE AND LOCATION FACTORS

Rad se bavi utvrđivanjem čimbenika koji utječu na izbor lokacija pojedinih industrija, odnosno industrijskih i slobodnih zona. Nastojalo ih se utvrditi anketirajući rukovoditelje i neke od vodećih ljudi pojedinih poduzeća. Dio ove tematike obrađen je 2007. u sklopu terenske nastave sa studentima 3. g. Posjećeno je nekoliko poduzeća te slobodnih i industrijskih zona u kojima su obavljeni strukturirani intervjui o lokacijama pojedinih tvrtki te zadovoljstvu njihovih korisnika tim lokacijama. Za svaku od lokacija karakteristični su specifični faktori koji su u velikoj mjeri odredili poslovanje navedenih objekata istraživanja. Drugi je zadatak ovog članka nastojanje da se razjasne pojmovi industrijska, slobodna, poduzetnička i ekonomska zona. Ključne riječi: industrijska zona, slobodna zona, poslovna zona, ekonomska zona, poduzetnička zona, lokacija industrije, faktori lokacije


Introduction
Industry represents one of more important factors of development at the level of countries, regions and cities. Therefore, the criteria for its location are often in the center of attention. Industry is one of the main urban activities, and a dominant one in many cities of the world. Besides construction and manufacture, it is a distinct "urban" activity which stands out by its large role in economy and urban employment. The founding of industrial, free, business, entrepreneurial and economic zones positioned in larger towns and cities, which provide favorable conditions for industrial development, has occurred in the last several decades. There is, of course, an issue of J. Lončar Geoadria 13/2 (2008) 187-206 navedenih zona, ali i poduzeća unutar njih. Izbor lokacije za smještaj neke industrije nikad nije lagan. Industrijske zone najznačajniji su morfološki oblik koncentracije industrijskih pogona u gradu. Unaprijed projektirana i realizirana industrijska zona privlačna je za uprave industrijskih i njima srodnih poduzeća jer se ne moraju brinuti o tome kako da dođu do terena i gdje su urbanističkim planovima takve zone predviđene. Ekonomske zone odnose se na specijalne zone u kojima se ne primjenjuju normalne trgovačke barijere, kao što su carine na uvoz i izvoz. Slobodne zone ponajprije označuju teritorijalna područja u kojima se poduzetnicima osiguravaju, osim prikladne lokacije i infrastrukturnih rješenja, i dodatne povlastice i olakšice. Poduzetničke su zone projekt Vlade RH kojim se želi poticati razvoj malog i srednjeg poduzetništva, prije svega tako da se osiguraju povoljnosti poduzetnicima pri gradnji poslovnog prostora na potpuno infrastrukturno opremljenom zemljištu.

Izbor lokacije industrije
Izbor lokacije za smještaj neke industrije nikad nije lagan. Brojni se faktori moraju uzeti u obzir kada se donosi odluka o lokaciji, kao što su: što će se proizvoditi, koje su sadašnje i planirane tehnologije proizvodnje, na koje se tržište cilja, koje bi akcije trebala poduzeti tvrtka kako bi zadovoljila ciljano tržište, koje konkurentne tvrtke position or location of such zones and businesses within them. The choice of a location of an industry is never an easy one. Industrial zones are the most significant morphological form of industrial facilities concentration in a city. An industrial zone planned and realized in advance is attractive for the management of industrial and similar companies since the process of finding the terrain for their facilities is very simplified (no need to worry about town planning schemes). Economic zones are special zones where the usual trade limits such as customs duties in export and import are not applied. Free zones are primarily the areas where, besides favorable location and infrastructure, the entrepreneurs are provided with privileges and preferences. Entrepreneurial zones are the result of Croatian government's project whose aim is to stimulate the development of small and medium-sized enterprises by providing benefits of infrastructure for the entrepreneurs.
Due to all the privileges and benefits, many entrepreneurs have decided to locate their businesses in such zones. More details and data about all of the mentioned zones are provided in the following text.

Previous research
The papers dealing with industrial, free, business and economic zones are neither very common nor extensive in Croatian literature. The papers focusing on this topic have mostly been published in economic and traffic, as well as architectural and geographic publications. Most of the papers are from the 1990s and it is hard to find newer papers of this subject, although the issue of industrial and free zones, as well as the issue of location of industries in general, are quite of interest in general. In the Republic of Croatia, where industry is still a significant factor of the economic development, this issue should be given proper attention.

Choice of industry location
The choice of industry location is never an easy one. There are many factors that are to be considered when deciding on location. Those factors include considering the product, the technologies to be used, market that product aims at, as well as the needed actions of a company to accommodate the market, J. Lončar Geoadria 13/2 (2008) 187-206 mogu ponuditi isto i gdje su one, koja je veličina (obujam) proizvodnje, koji su materijali, radna snaga, usluge i kapital potrebni za proizvodnju, gdje se oni mogu naći i sl.
According to Marinović-Uzelac (Prostorno planiranje, 2001) the classification of industries based on their location consists of the following: clean and unclean industry, dense and light industry, base and non-base industry, basic and service industry, and primary, secondary and tertiary industry. He also mentions the industries which can be positioned almost anywhere, although the assumption is purely theoretical. In order for such industries to function properly they need raw materials, energy-generating products, workforce, transportation, as well as contact with consumers and the overall market. However, they do not need much of the above-mentioned.
One of the most important factors influencing the location of industry is definitely the state of development of an area where a particular industry is to be located. Highly developed areas with appropriate infrastructure, sufficient workforce and benefits for the investors and entrepreneurs have an advantage over the less developed areas. However, the location of industry in underdeveloped areas is usually a turning point for such areas, and the possibility of accelerated development due to the attraction of other industries and the further economic development.
"However, the location of industries is essentially an urban one. The most favorable cities are those with populations from 10,000 up to 200,000, i.e. a group of larger, small and middle-sized cities. Great agglomerations should not accumulate those industries which do not develop the research or aren't needed in everyday life." "Similar to business trade, industry covers a relatively small part in an overall city area, but also includes a large share of employed population. Besides, industry is the most distinctive base trade of a city." (Vresk, 2002). Variety of industrial branches in a city is changeable. Thus, it can be said that the industrial production is both specialized (one or several branches) and diversified (larger number of branches). Generally, the diversification of industries often grows together with the city size.
The decentralization of industry is also important, namely in terms of its spatial reconfiguration in urban areas. "It is present in our cities since the post-war period and tends to be more and more emphasized. Industry is often decentralized into planned zones on the edges of a city or into remote towns in the region. J. Lončar Geoadria 13/2 (2008) 187-206 Industrijski pogoni mogu se u gradu pojaviti u više morfoloških oblika. To mogu biti: pojedinačne lokacije, lokacije s više industrijskih pogona te industrijske zone." (Vresk, 2002.).

Industrial zones
Industrial zones are the most significant morphological form of concentration of industrial facilities in a city. It is a part of city area intended for industrial production where a number of facilities have been built. Industrial facilities often share the infrastructure (railway, roads, gas pipelines, power lines, water-supply, sewage, telecommunications, etc.). Thus, industrial zone is rather spatial than a functional term. Industrial zones can arise spontaneously, but most often due to planning.
An industrial zone planned and implemented in advance is mostly very attractive to managements of industrial and similar companies since they do not have to worry about finding a site or analyzing the town-planning schemes. That specifically refers to a growing number of industrial companies which are forced to move because of administrative authorities and their actions.
"At the same time, the founding of industrial zones represents one of the strongest tools of municipalities, cities and regions for attracting industries in their areas. For the government or local authorities it provides simplification of procedure and a guarantee of applied zoning, development planning and environment protection.
The founding of contemporary industrial zones began in Great Britain, shortly after the World War II, as one of the actions for relieving London agglomeration. Shortly afterwards, France undertook a similar action in order to relieve Paris region, and Italy implemented it successfully since a large number of historical towns needed preservation and the systematization of industries in special zones, which could be located in the outskirts of many Italian middle-sized and small towns.
Prevelike industrijske zone nemaju pravog smisla. U razvijenim zemljama industrije velikih površina same sebi pripremaju zemljište i to su obično industrije kojima je smještaj određen posebnim planovima, odnosno dogovorima. Rijetko će se naći u SAD slučaj da se industrijsko poduzeće koje zauzima površinu veću od 10 ha smjestilo u industrijsku zonu. Definicija zone i 1884. Trafford Park in Manchester, founded in 1896, was also among the first ones. However, the whole century passed before the actual full swing of constructing planned and spatially well-organized industrial zones, especially before their perception as a mean of industry guiding and a method of area development." (Marinović-Uzelac, 2001) "Unlike zones, an industrial complex is a functional term. An industrial complex consists of a group of functionally interconnected industrial facilities which share the same location. Their functional connection can be manifested by production, market-oriented or other connections." (Vresk, 2002).

Size of industrial zones
"Although attempts were made to categorize industrial zones by size, standard sizes cannot be fiducially determined, let alone classified. Some authors include zones smaller than 100 hectares into a group of small zones, those between 100 and 500 ha into middle-sized zones and those larger than 500 ha into the large ones. Others tend to use different division and consider zones under 50 ha to be small, those between 50 and 100 ha to be middle-sized, and all larger than 100 ha to be the large ones. Thus, the varieties of classifications are considerable. However, the second of the mentioned divisions appears to be more realistic. A registering of zones in France has shown that most zone sizes are between 1 and 700 hectares, while the most numerous zones are those with areas ranging between 20 and 100 ha. The available literature contains many arguments about the optimal zone size. Thus, Robert Auzelle specifies the size according to the number of employers. According to him, when a zone reaches 5000 employers a new zone should be founded. Zones in Great Britain range between 12 and 100 ha. In the USA the optimal zone size is the one between 40 and 80 ha per 1000 residents. However, there is a zone in Illinois with a size of 7670 ha.
The average density of jobs in industrial zones in France and Belgium is around 60-70 workers per ha, with 20% of built-up area. It is quite similar to the density in Croatia.
There is not much point in oversized industrial zones. In the developed countries the industries which require vast areas prepare their own terrains and those are usually the industries whose locations are determined by special plans and agreements. Case of an industrial company which occupies an jest u tome da je to prostor na kojemu se nalazi više sličnih korisnika prostora. Zato u manje razvijenim prostorima industrijska zona ima posebno značenje, dok je u razvijenima ona više instrument ukupne orijentacije investicija." (Marinović-Uzelac, 2001.)
area larger than 10 ha being in an industrial zone is rare in the USA. The very idea of a zone includes the notion of an area shared between several similar users. Hence, industrial zones have a specific significance in the developing areas, while in the developed ones it provides a means to an overall investment orientation." (Marinović-Uzelac, 2001)

Economic free zones
This term refers to special zones where the usual trade limits like custom duties on imports and exports are not applied. The bureaucracy is minimized and a company located in such a zone may additionally be relieved of taxes. Such zones attract entrepreneurs, reduce poverty and unemployment and stimulate the economy of the area. Not only do economic zones have a positive influence on certain areas, but on the country in general since they induce new jobs, attract direct foreign investments, increase the export, stimulate the transfer of technologies, regional development and industrialization. Around 43 million people have been employed in approximately 3000 zones in 116 countries worldwide so far.
Economic zones were developed after the World War II to encourage the foreign investments, mainly in the Third World countries. Each zone is managed by laws and rules of the country in which it was founded.
From the companies' perspective, zones are the means of preservation of resources which they would normally have to spend while involved in the global trade. Hence, everyone benefits from these zones and the world's economy is continually stimulated.
The characteristics of economic zones are: location, infrastructure, stability of authorities, transparent laws and regulations, skilled labor force, social security and working conditions, specialization of zones, efficiencyofservices,logistics, information technology, telecommunications, etc. Consequently, economic free zones will remain a very important factor for the globally competing companies, as well as for the countries in which they were established.

Free and entrepreneurial zones
The term free zones is primarily used to mark the areas in which, besides with an adequate location and infrastructure, the entrepreneurs are provided with additional benefits and privileges. Those privileges are provided by the state of Croatia.
"One can argue that, in terms of their status, free zones can be considered economic enclaves, which provides them with a unique regime of benefits, privileges and stimulations used to attract foreign and domestic investments in certain economic activities." (Jedličko, 1992) "In Croatia, a free zone is a specially fenced and marked part of territory in which the economic activities take place in the vicinities of seaports, airports, river ports, international roads, and other areas which meet the conditions for a zone to be operative. Such a zone can provide a limitless stock depot, as well as a place of production and improvement of goods, their wholesale and trade intermediation, services and banking activities, other financial transactions, insurance and reinsurance of property and persons. Retail sail is not allowed in such zones. Its user can, however, carry out production and provide services. Banking and other monetary affairs, insurance of property and persons, as well as the re-insurance can only take place as a part of the user's base activity. The concession fee for zone founding is usually determined by the government: 50% of the fee goes directly into the national budget of Croatia, while the other 50% goes to the city or the municipality in which the zone is located. The activities which take place in a zone are not allowed to endanger the natural or the working environment." (The Free zones Law, 1996) "These zones can be found worldwide and with different names: Customs zone, customs free zone, duty-free export processing zone, export free trade zone, free economic zone, industrial export processing zone, joining enterprise zone, etc." (Ćurković, 1993) "After the World War II the number of free zones in the World increased considerably. in the period of 1964-1996 a number of zones were active in Croatia, mainly in seaports and river ports, but their national-economic results were quite limited. During their development, free zones have become an important factor of regional and national economic development. Their functions, mode of work, conditions and successfulness indicators have already reached a world standard, which eases Ekonomsko-politički interesi pojedinih zemalja i često kruti restriktivni ekonomsko-regulativni sustavi zahtijevali su u prošlosti, a i danas, da javne vlasti odobravaju određenim užim područjima u lukama i drugim prometnim raskrižjima režim povlaštenog poslovanja radi unaprjeđenja vanjske trgovine, razvoja industrije i raznih uslužnih djelatnosti te radi oživljavanja gospodarski zaostalih krajeva. One su, kao posebne enklave ili oaze, izdvojene iz carinskog i ekonomskog režima pojedine zemlje i dobivaju specijalni status slobodnih zona koje su izuzete od važenja dijela domicilnih zakonskih obveza uz određene uvjete." (Žuvela, 1997.) "Slobodne zone u Republici Hrvatskoj imale su u prošlosti dosta ograničene rezultate zbog podređenosti interesima tuđih režima i određenih vlastitih slabosti. Danas su stvoreni osnovni politički uvjeti da zone dobiju svoje pravo mjesto u gospodarskom životu zemlje, ali bi se više the objective rating of their efficiency. The national economic benefit of zones depends not only on the favorability of their location on frequent traffic intersections, privileges provided by the public authorities and the sufficient infrastructural logistics, but also on their flawless internal organization.
The economic-political interests of certain countries and the restrictive economic-regulative systems have often demanded from the public authorities to approve the regime of beneficial business activities in smaller areas in the vicinity of harbors and other traffic intersections, in order to upgrade the foreign trade, development of industries and the various services, as well as to revive the economically backward areas. They have been excluded from the custom and economic regime of a country as special enclaves or oases which gain special status and which, in case they meet specific conditions, do not undergo most of the local legislative commitments." (Žuvela, 1997) "Due to the subordination to the interests of foreign regimes and some other weaknesses of their own, the free zones in S druge strane, poduzetničke su zone uglavnom lokalnog obilježja. Obično je to dio teritorija neke općine ili grada koji je radi poticanja gospodarske aktivnosti infrastrukturno opremljen, a mjerodavna općina omogućuje dodatne pogodnosti (npr. komunalne olakšice i sl.).
Poduzetničke zone su projekt Vlade RH kojim se želi poticati razvoj malog i srednjeg trends of the country. However, other factors such as the favorable transport position of the country, experiences from the past, the interests of foreign capital and the business enthusiasm of the domestic entrepreneurs should be more valorized and considered." (Žuvela, 1997)  On the other hand, entrepreneurial zones are those which refer to local levels. Usually an entrepreneurial zone is a part of a municipality's or a town's territory in which the infrastructure has been built in advance and the municipality provides additional benefits with the aim of stimulating economic activities (like the utility relieves, etc.). Jedan dio usluga poduzetničkog inkubatora općeg je obilježja (administrativni servisi, računovodstvo, pomoć u vođenju i upravljanju poslovanja i dr.) i može se osigurati unutar samog inkubatora, a dio usluga može se obavljati i za vanjske korisnike. Cilj je poduzetničkih inkubatora ponajprije generiranje novih malih tvrtki na temelju inovacijskih ili poduzetničkih projekata koji se razvijaju u samom centru.
Poduzetnički su inkubatori financijski podržavani temeljem posebnog programa mjerodavnog ministarstva u onim sredinama u kojima se utvrdi ispunjenje potrebnih preduvjeta, odnosno postojanja poslovnog prostora za rad inkubatora, zainteresiranosti i potrebe poduzetnika za smještaj u inkubator te interesa lokalne sredine Entrepreneurial zones are also the project of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, aiming to stimulate the development of small and mid-sized enterprises, primarily by providing privileges in building a commercial establishment on a terrain fully equipped with infrastructure. The goals of entrepreneurial zones' development on the level of regional and local administration are a uniform development of the country and an increase of employment. The Government specifically encourages the entrepreneurship by stimulating the domestic production and increasing the number of entrepreneurial zones on approximately 20 zones per county. Important steps in developing entrepreneurial zones is taking care of the traffic connections within and outside of a zone, making sure that zone can expand in the future, and considering ecological factors and production needs.
The term "entrepreneurial incubator" is also worth mentioning here -such incubators gather small enterprises which are in their initial phase, or in a phase of growth, and do not have their own accommodation. It is the incubators that provide the entrepreneurs the usage of a business facility under very favorable conditions (nominal fee or no fee at all) for a limited number of years. Besides the business facility, the users benefit from business infrastructure, intellectual and business services, etc. After the period of incubation, they should become independent and should cede their place in the incubator to another company. Some of the entrepreneurial incubator's services may be general (administrative services, accountancy, business management assistance, etc.), and can be provided within the incubator itself, while other services can be provided for the external users. The primary objective of entrepreneurial incubators is to generate new small companies based on innovative or entrepreneurial projects developed within the center itself.
The entrepreneurial incubators can be legal entities or other organizational forms owned by the local authorities; they can also be private properties, or owned by other institution, etc. They are usually founded in order to reuse the existing business facilities (owned by the country, private ones, or owned by the local authorities) to stimulate the entrepreneurs. The incubators are financially supported by a special program of the official Department/Ministry in the areas with the fulfilled prerequisites, i.e. the existence of a business facility, interest and need of entrepreneurs for accommodation, as well as of the interest of a local J. Lončar Geoadria 13/2 (2008) 187-206 ili gospodarskih subjekata ili ostalih institucija za taj oblik organiziranosti.

Modern forms of zones
"Free industrial-export zones have lately obtained the biggest uplift in the world, especially in the developing countries. The first such zone was founded in 1958 in Ireland (Shannon), and the second in India (Kandla). Since the 1970s their number has been rapidly growing. The basic idea behind those zones is to attract the direct foreign investments and modern technologies in order to build new industrial facilities and upgrade industrialization and export of the developing countries, as well as to increase the monetary intake and the employment of the labor force, to improve the quality of a product and to lower the prices of domestic manufacturers so that their international competitiveness can be raised. The main purpose of industrial zones in the developed countries is to stimulate the development of industries of classic and high technologies, as well as the export increase in order to join the process of globalization more intensively. In most industrial zones in the developing countries the first phase of development was marked by the production of clothes and electronic products, and then the assembly of machinery, cars and other complex products. In the middle phase other industries begin to develop more (pharmaceutical, cosmetic, tobacco, metal, engineering, etc.), while in the current phase the newest high-tech industries are being implemented.
Banking free zones were formed in the beginning of the 1960s when many developed countries implemented restrictive regulations in their international financial systems, which resulted in their banks transferring some of their businesses into other countries where the mentioned regulations were not as strict. A banking free zone is a place where the banks from various countries conduct their activities with fewer limitations, but under the condition that they only use euro as a currency. The countries known to have implemented banking free zones are Panama, the Caribbean countries, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg. Such zones have been developed in London and Manila as well. Today they gain more and more ground due to an increase in the international exchange, the creation of global markets and the growth of world's circulation of capital.
Gore navedeni tipovi zona rezultat su njihova proširenja nakon 2. svj. rata na sve kontinente i provide a high-quality accommodation for rich clients with the highest demands, providing them with the most various high quality services.
Information zones (telezones) represent special information centers where information enter and are being processed. These zones provide telemarketing services and perform installation of informatics systems into companies, banks, hotels, etc. This type of free zones was implemented at the end of the 1980s in Jamaica and Dominican Republic, with the support of public authorities and large American telecommunications corporations. Transit zones refer to the zones located in transit ports with favorable transit or those with a function of temporary keeping of imported and exported goods for countries without the access to the seashore. They can be specifically organized to meet the needs of certain countries, or they can use the existing free port zones in the transit of their goods. Such examples are Genova (which functions as a port for Switzerland), Trieste for Austria, Rijeka for the central European countries, Buenos Aires for Paraguay, Djibouti for Ethiopia, etc.

Scientific-technological parks
Company zones, i.e., employment zones, represent specific areas in backward and depressed regions of certain countries where the attempts are made to increase the economic activity and the employment by stimulating entrepreneurs' initiatives and providing other benefits. The users in these zones are oriented towards the domestic market. Such zones have been implemented in Great Britain, Belgium and in three basins in France.
Complex free zones are those in which several types of trades, distributed in specific parts of a zone, are being developed simultaneously. They primarily include trade, industries, banking and tourism which provide one another with services, thus increasing the overall profit in the zone. Examples of such zones are Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.

J. Lončar
Geoadria 13/2 (2008) 187-206 The above mentioned types of zones are a result of the zone spreading which took place after the World War II and has affected all of the continents as a relief of restrictive economic and monetary regimes. They have become specific infrastructural institutions for accelerating the economic development and inclusion into the World's trade. They represent modern forms of adjustments of classic free cities, ports and trade zones to substantial technological, economic and political changes in the World. Generally, instead of the transportation, they are categorized into foreign-trade activities." (Žuvela, 1997)

Structured interview results
A total of 9 companies (manufacturers) has been interviewed, six of them being located in the industrial and free business zones, while the remaining three companies represent independent production facilities. The companies in question are the following: Perfecta, Krateks, Sirana Runolist, Drvenjača d.d., Nautical center Prgin, Felis, HS Produkt, BHS and Magor-Krapina. Additional information on each of the companies are given in the following table: As obvious, the companies included into the structured interview belong to various industrial sectors and production schematics (textile, wood, steel, foods, shipbuilding, etc.). The companies also differ in the number of employees, some of them having a few dozens and others hundreds of employed workers.
But the main purpose of this interview was to establish how the mentioned companies rate their current location of production, what has influenced its selection and what are the location's advantages and drawbacks.
It has been determined that not all of the companies have started with production in their current locations. Four out of nine companies have moved their production from other settlements, namely HS Produkt moved from Ozalj, NC Prgin from Primošten, and Sirana Runolist moved its production barely a hundred meters away from its starting location (in Krasno). Another exception is Perfekta which hasn't started with production until it moved to the industrial zone Sv. Križ Začretje. Before that, its activities included only sales of their assortment in Zagreb area.
Kod gotovo svih navedenih tvrtki proizvodnja se odvija samo na navedenim lokacijama. To, međutim, nije slučaj kod Drvenjače, koja svoje pogone još ima, osim u Fužinama, i u Vratima i Mrkoplju (od 1993.) One of the questions that we seeked an answer for was the duration of production on current locations of the mentioned companies. In four cases the production followed the founding of the companies (Sirana Runolist, Drvenjača, BHS and Perfecta). In the case of Felis, its production has been on the same location since 1954. Magor-Krapina has been using its location since the 1950s and Krateks uses the location of an old textile industry which dates back to 1929. HS Produkt uses a location which was established between the World wars and NC Prgin the one which exists since 1905.
the vicinity of the international borders, logistics, and the friendly attitude of the local communities which is very important because of the production depending very much on the relations with the surrounding area.
The managers of Drvenjača, which is a specific company, with production largely depending on the limited natural resources (wood), view their location as good. The companies HS Produkt and Sirana Runolist are relatively discontent with their locations, which is a consequence of insufficient and expensive infrastructure. In case of Sirana Runolist the reasons for the relative discontent are the unfavorable natural conditions and the lack of area for expansion. Some of the mentioned examples prove that the production within industrial zones is more cost effective and provides more advantages in comparison to independent managing.
The following table the companies have emphasized main advantages and limitations of their current locations of production. They have also rated (from 1 to 5) the level of their possibility to relocate their production, whereby 1 equals the inability to move, and 5 equals a substantial ability to move.
Obviously, most of the companies tend to mention more advantages than shortcomings of a location (with the exception of Sirana Runolist), which proves their contentment with their current locations. Most advantages refer to a high quality of traffic connections, infrastructure, the availability of workforce and the vicinity of the border (EU).
We have also enquired the possibility of expansion, i.e. starting of production in different location in the near future, as well as the possible future locations. Again, we have used the 1-5 scale whereby 1 means inability and 5 means high possibility of expansion of the production to other location. We have asked the participants to mention other towns in Croatia which they believe would provide the best location for their businesses. The research has shown that only one company strives to expand its business abroad (even out of Europe), while the others see their future specifically in Croatia. It is obvious that Croatia has got many advantages in comparison to foreign (global) locations which are perhaps more attractive for larger companies and corporation.

Conclusion
Industrial, economic, free and entrepreneurial zones provide great advantages for the countries in which they are founded, and this applies to Croatia as well. Many activities such as production, storage, banking and other financial services, insurance and reinsurance, forwarding, foreign trade, tourist services, etc. take place in such zones (especially in free zones), with the current domination of the industrial production.
Other terms which can also be found in literature and practice, but have not been elaborated in this article, are: entrepreneurial incubators -provide commercial spaces built in advance, and the logistical backup for starting entrepreneurs, while the development agencies are oriented towards the overall regional economic development; the associations, on the other hand, are a formal way of the entrepreneurial merging and are founded with the aim of promoting common interests and accomplishing common goals.
Considering the conducted research, I believe that it has provided us with interesting results referring to the perception of location and position of our companies within business and industrial zones and to business activities of companies related to other trades in Croatia. The research has shown that industrial, free and business zones have many advantages for attracting companies and entrepreneurs. Those advantages are the vicinity of important traffic routes and junctions, the vicinity of the international borders, the infrastructure built in advance, the possibility of low-cost terrain buy-out and the possibility for the eventual expansion in the future. All these advantages have been accepted by the entrepreneurs who have based their (successful) business activities upon them.