Cluster "Slavonian Basket" As The Backbone Of Tourism Development In The Region Of Slavonia

Today clustering can be defined as connection established between business entities to achieve common goals, including networking on geographical, horizontal as well as vertical level. Looking at the world level, organizational networking is becoming the dominant organizational form of the 21st century. In doing so, and in order to get substantial support from the state and public sector, besides economic subjects, various institutions such as government organizations, universities, etc., join clusters, thereby, along with the economic, dimension, the social dimension of it gets promoted. In the tourism sector, the term "networking" usually refers to the cooperation between economic subjects with each other, but with the state or the public sector, too, which is, among other things, determined by demand uncertainty, supply instability, a compelling need for rationalization of costs, better use of human resources , greater efficiency of marketing activities and other. When it comes to the region of Slavonia as a tourist destination, as an example of good practice can be pinpointed the Tourism Cluster "Slavonska kosarica“, which was founded in 2011 as a part of the activities envisaged by the Master plan for Tourism Development of the City of Slavonski Brod, created by the Zagreb Institute of Tourism. In 2012 it became the regional cluster and it networks today more than a hundred producers of food, beverages and handicrafts; tourism service providers, as well as public institutions from five Slavonian counties. The objective of this paper will be, to determine through the primary research, conducted among the members of the cluster, if membership in the cluster, for which paying of the annual membership fee by each member is condition, justifies expectations of the networked subjects, and in which segment, when it comes to joint marketing activities, memebers expect increased efficiency.