Poslovna infrastuktura kao instrument nove industrijske politike Republike Srbije

Abstract

The economic transformation of the Republic of Serbia that now lasts more than two decades has, due to numerous problems that arose in the previously mentioned period, resulted in numerous negative effects. Some of those such as deindustrialization and a drastic drop in the partake of industry in the country’s GDP have turned out to be the greatest problems as they demanded immediate attention. Furthermore, Serbia had to deal with problems that were a direct consequence of the global economic crisis in the first decade of this century. This is why the creators of the economic policy in Serbia have formulated a new industrial policy,which, besides its main goal – reindustrialization, has another and that is to be in line with the new concept of industrial policy of the European Union, defined in the Lisbon Strategy. Moreover, Serbia had to adjust its aims, instruments and measures of this new industrial policy to the global economic surrounding and current market mechanisms. The process of globalization which brings about the birth of a great number of global corporations, forces small and medium-sized enterprises to connect and form networks. That being said, the industrial policy of the Republic of Serbia, is more than anything else, directed towards creating a better business environment for the previously mentioned enterprises. The policy aims at developing competitiveness, enhancement of research and progress, cooperation and integration as well as making way for structural adjustments. An important element in the creation and enhancement of a favorable business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises is the business infrastructure it being a modern form of internal organization of industry production, i.e. a form of partial integration in the industry. This is exactly why the development of a modern business infrastructure has become an important element of this, new industrial policy. It stands for application of a series of measures and practical policies by public institutions in order to create a favorable and a supportive environment in which the already existing small and medium-sized enterprises can grow and new can be opened. The main aim of this research is to analyze the most important elements of a business infrastructure such as business incubators, clusters, free zones and science and technology parks in order to show how much these have contributed to implementation of the new industrial policy of the Republic of Serbia which in itself, has the aim of developing competitiveness of the industry and whole of the country’s economy. The development of business infrastructure in Serbia thus far shows that certain progress has been made but that in time that is ahead of us, we need more careful and better planning of development of certain elements of business infrastructure and continuous monitoring of the needs and requirements of small and medium-sized businesses. Furthermore, special attention should be placed on the quality of development of elements of business infrastructure as this is the only way to achieve significant results.