Analysis of internationalization trends in the construction industry with an overview on Croatian construction companies

Abstract Today’s level of globalization and intensifying of competition have resulted in increased number of companies that aim to internationalize their business, and internationalization is gaining more and more significance among the research community. There are not only many perceived benefits of conducting business activities outside one’s home country but also additional risks, challenges and barriers. Construction industry is specific in its nature as it is an extremely regulated profession. This presents an additional challenge to the construction companies seeking to internationalize their business. The goal of the paper is to analyze the current levels of internationalization on the global construction market and to gain insight into future trends, which are achieved by analyzing business data regarding the international construction sector and the data on international results of the Croatian construction companies. The paper first presents the development of the international construction market, followed by the report on the current state of the internationalization in the construction industry as well as on future trends. Finally, the paper presents an overview on the Croatian construction companies and their performance on the foreign markets and gives guidelines or potential growth strategies to participate on the foreign markets.