RESULTADOS PROGRAMACIÓN Capacidad de

This section will outline the respondents’ prior skills and experiences in Croatia, and consider whether these activities influenced their subsequent work and business activities in Australia, when viewed from the perspective of the respondents. It is again noted that the two waves of immigration from Croatia (pre-1990s and post-1990s) both occurred when there was economic and social upheaval occurring in Eastern Europe. It is also unlikely that there was any overriding economic strategy behind the decisions to leave their home country – rather it was a case of survival and a desire to start a new life.

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The data shows that the most common work experience among the interviewees prior to emigration was farming, with nine of the 35 respondents specifically reporting that they assisted their parents with farming work in Croatia before their move to Australia. This is not a surprising finding, since in Croatia, as with many counties with significant agricultural areas, farming activities tend to be family-operated. In addition, no previous labour skills are required since they are learned on the job. Indeed, it is common for a farming family to require their children to work on the farm to keep it viable, as indicated in the following quote:

Back home I finished four years of primary education and helped parents on the farm. That’s how we lived down there (Case No 32).

Perhaps it is worth mentioning that after World War II Croatia was largely a rural and underdeveloped country, predominantly in the hands of the military and the police. It had a brutally enforced command type economy, largely funded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Almost 30% of the population was working in agriculture during the 1970s and onwards (Teichova & Matis, 2003). The economy was mainly in the hands of the state, and the population were required to work in collectives, with privatisation being very much restricted. In such a situation, there were upper limits established regarding what an individual could have under his or her control, and the management of socially-owned enterprises was appointed by secretly held ballots, with appointees being members of the Communist Party (Teichova & Matis, 2003).

As a consequence of this situation, it is not surprising that entrepreneurial skills or experiences were suppressed, or never existed, for either of the groups. It appears then that any impetus for entrepreneurship would have to be preceded by a rupturing of the collectivist way of thinking before people could adopt an individualistic approach. This was only possible when they reached Australia, implying that the probability of them becoming entrepreneurs would have been remote had they remained in Croatia as indicated by the quote below:

Surely, we have a good life here. Our business is prosperous, hopefully will continue this way. We were lucky, had we stayed home we would have struggled and most likely would have worked for a wage and wouldn’t make ends meet (Case No 7).

Another large group of interviewees, totalling eight of 35, indicated that they had difficulties finding work in Croatia and did not have suitable family enterprises to fall back on. These

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circumstances suggest that they had no real employment alternatives except to search for a better life, possibly by leaving for another country:

Back home I was doing nothing; finished high school and had no work (Case No 6). I was unemployed, there was no work (Case No 4).

In Croatia, foreign debt had skyrocketed in the late 1970s, severe austerity measures were imposed by the State (Boughton, 2001), unemployment reached over one million persons (14%), basic goods and services were in short supply, and earnings fell by 25% (Boughton, 2001). It is not surprising that at this time there was a mass exodus of people to the West, as indicated by the responses below:

The life back home was hard and intolerable. There was no work and people were struggling (Case No 27).

Not just was there no work there but we could not get items necessary for normal living; there was no fuel and we could drive our car only every second day (Case No 35).

People were clearly struggling for survival. This situation continued until violence finally erupted which ultimately led to the Balkan’s War in the 1990s. Such conditions indicate that, again, the catalyst for entrepreneurship probably did not arise from immediate experiences in the home country. What is clear is that, for people who had learnt to live in a socially-created society where collectivism is a norm, they would have had to radically change their previous way of thinking in order to adopt a new ideology of individualism.

Increasingly, it became clear that the answer to the research question regarding the source of the entrepreneurial spirit released within these migrants most likely lies in the circumstances of the new land and the new environment. Therefore, observations that Croatians run very successful businesses may thus be due to the environment in Australia coupled with the encouragement from other co-ethnic members.

For most of the respondents, there was a feeling that settling into a culturally different country, where the language and societal expectations were completely different, made it harder to transfer their employment skills. Most respondents felt that they had to start from scratch when building their lives in Australia, taking work in any industry where they were given an opportunity regardless of their prior experience.

Given that, only a small number (2) of respondents came with previous entrepreneurial experience, it appears that having no previous business management experience has not been

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an obstacle for this group in setting up a business in Australia. Further there is very little evidence of management or professional employment experience among this cohort, and once again this does not seem to have been a significant hindrance to becoming self-employed. In summary, the reported work experiences and background of these immigrants prior to arriving in Australia does not seem to have directly influenced their eventual successful self- employment behaviour. Therefore there is a need for further investigation of the factors that may have influenced the decisions for these respondents to become self-employed.