Organizational and Structural Changes in Retail Trade in Croatia

Abstract

Organizational and structural changes in retail trade in the Republic of Croatia are viewed in the sense of the change of quality as the reflection of the attained level of development. In this paper, the author first explains the retail trade and its structure. In the analysis of organizational and structural changes in retail trade in Croatia, the author starts from the growth/decline of retail trade (indicators of the physical volume of realized turnover, the number of shops, capacities and number of employees), and then analyzes its development (qualitative changes) in last 20 – 30 years (structural changes in the realized turnover - concentration tendencies, in the forms of retail trade, in the formats of shops, development of co-operative forms, etc.). Structural changes in the Croatian retail trade have also been reflected in the development of new forms of firms/companies, new formats of shops, vertical integration of wholesale and retail trade, as well as on the new relations of cooperation of trade companies (e.g. of retail chains) with manufacturers. Key words: retail trade, concentration, shop, type of shop, retail form, the Republic of Croatia