Retail business development: internationalization in Croatia, Lithuania and Poland

Abstract

An increasing number of retail companies are experiencing accelerated internationalization. Many global retailers are seeking to enter and explore new foreign markets. New market conditions after the transformation from the centrally planned to market economy in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe led large retailers from the developed economies to reconsider their international strategies and to include these potential markets into their business strategy. The post-communist economies are of interest for global retailers, despite the challenges they may face on these attractive markets. This paper aims at exploring main development trends of business internationalization in the area of retail in Croatia, Lithu-ania and Poland. Based on the critical literature review and using a comparative analysis the international-ization of retail in the selected countries is analysed. The initial results suggest that the internationaliza-tion process in retail is accelerating at all three markets. This tendency causes new challenges to domestic economies and is regarded a good subject for future research.