Marketing analysis of the attractiveness of Bosnia and Herzegovina for foreign investors and role of marketing in their attracting

Abstract

Nowadays, with an ongoing globalization, there is a specific form of competition between locations (countries, regions, municipalities and cities) in attracting people (especially highly educated and talented ones), companies and investors, tourists and visitors, organizers and participants of various events, as well as other stakeholders that have a positive impact on economic activities, increase of revenues and development of these locations. Focus of this paper is on segment of the place marketing which is related to attraction of foreign investors and identification level of BiH attractiveness in comparison to competing countries. On basis of results of relevant studies, countries which could be considered as competitors of BiH in the narrower and wider sense in attracting of foreign investors were identified. Also, factors which foreign investors consider as the most important in process of evaluation of respective countries and deciding on a location for investment were identified. Comparative analysis of eight countries by applying six criteria pointed to relatively poor position of BiH and therefore it was suggested that it is necessary to improve factors that to a great extent determine decision of foreign investors on the choice of the state. It is not possible to achieve a significant influence on some of these factors (e.g. market size), while on the other factors (e.g. legal framework related to investment and business) it is, which is under authority of state i.e. its entities. In this sense, recommendations for improvement of relevant factors that could increase attractiveness of Republika Srpska and BiH as investment locations and increase inflows of foreign direct investments were provided.