Some 65 thousand companies in Slovenia attained 91.3 billion dollars of income in sales in the past year, which is four percent more than in the previous year. Of this, 33.8 billion dollars were generated in foreign markets; eight percent more than the previous year.
According to data from the GVIN portal, there are 172 companies funded by American capital among the 65 thousand companies active in Slovenia. However, the actual number is higher. Since some were founded by American companies operating in other countries, mostly European, not all American companies in Slovenia were included in the GVIN portal statistics.
We examined the operations of three established companies in Slovenia that receive American capital; Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires, Microsoft and IBM Slovenia.
Goodyear has invested 257 million dollars in Slovenia
Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires, with headquarters in Kranj, close to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, is one of the leading manufacturers of tires in south-east Europe and has been a subsidiary of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company since 1998.
The company has around 1,400 employees and manufactures and markets the Goodyear, Dunlop, Fulda, Sava and Debica tire brands for automobiles, pick-up trucks and other trucks, plus tires for industrial and construction machines, motorcycle tires and inner tubes. On average, 80 to 90 percent of tires manufactured in Slovenia are sold to European and other countries within the Goodyear sales network.
Goodyear’s Slovenian company is directly responsible for marketing and sales through different distribution channels (independent tire dealers, Vulco franchise and distributors) to the following markets: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo.
Since 1998, Goodyear has invested over 257.2 million dollars in the company. This continuous investment has made possible today’s modern, high-performance and fully-equipped plant, in which the largest high-tech tires are manufactured. This has yielded encouraging results, as Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires received the Ford Q1 certificate in 2015, among other accolades. This is a worldwide sign of excellent quality, and Ford awards it only to their best suppliers.
Microsoft will continue to grow in Slovenia next year
Microsoft has been present in Slovenia since 1994. They currently employ 85 people and cover Slovenia and Albania.
“Our customers are large, small and medium-sized companies in the private and public sectors. We ended the current business year at the end of June here at Microsoft and are satisfied with our achieved business results. We are also planning growth for the current year. This will be achieved with an innovative approach and improvement in processes and services, as well as in the digital transformation of organizations of all types and sizes. Without digital technology it will be difficult for organizations to keep up regardless of their size,” Microsoft stated regarding their achieved results and goals.
IBM Slovenia opened the first two IBM Data Centers in Slovenia
IBM Slovenia, which has 202 employees, operated well last year and attained all planned strategic goals. IBM Slovenia has been operating for almost a quarter century, and has been a presence in the Slovenian market through representatives for over 70 years.
IBM Slovenia consider the opening of the first IBM Data Center in Slovenia, the transfer of the latest cognitive IBM solutions into local space (cognitive computing, Watson), the signing of the intent on cooperation with the government of the Republic of Slovenia as some of the company’s major achievements over the past year.
IBM Slovenia achieved most income by selling hardware, technological solutions and software. They strengthened their market shares in key strategic fields - analytics, security and mobile solutions, and hardware. They also expanded and educated their network of business partners, who develop adapted solutions for customers based on IBM technology.