Beyond Market Entry: What Sustainable Growth in the Western Balkans Looks Like

Establishing operations in a new market is only the beginning. The real measure of success is whether a company can grow its team, expand its partnerships and contribute to the development of the wider business environment.

In this video, Veljko Petrović, Regional Manager at Transcom, reflects on the company’s experience of operating and growing in the Western Balkans. His perspective illustrates why the region should be viewed as more than a cost-effective outsourcing destination. It is an increasingly mature business-services ecosystem in which international companies can build long-term operations and actively participate in shaping the market around them.

From presence to measurable growth

Opening an office creates a presence. Building a capable team and continuously expanding operations creates lasting economic value.

Transcom’s experience demonstrates how an initial investment can develop into a broader regional operation supported by local talent, institutional partnerships and a growing network of business-services organisations.

This distinction matters for investors evaluating potential nearshoring destinations. A market may offer attractive operating costs, but long-term competitiveness also depends on whether companies can recruit effectively, retain people, develop leadership and scale their activities over time.

The Western Balkans increasingly offers the conditions required to support that progression.

Growth depends on collaboration

Companies do not operate in isolation. Sustainable sector development requires cooperation between employers, industry associations, public institutions and other stakeholders.

Petrović highlights the importance of partnerships and Transcom’s involvement with organisations such as ABSL. Cooperation of this kind allows companies to address shared challenges, represent the needs of the industry and contribute to improvements in the wider legislative and business environment.

For international investors, this is an important indicator of market maturity. It shows that companies entering the Western Balkans are not simply accessing an available workforce. They are joining an ecosystem capable of organising around common priorities and working collectively to create better conditions for future growth.

A region with the capacity to evolve

The Western Balkans’ nearshoring proposition is often discussed in terms of proximity to European markets, competitive costs and talent availability. These remain important advantages, but they do not tell the entire story.

The experience of companies already operating in the region points to something more substantial: the ability to establish operations, expand teams, build local partnerships and help influence how the sector develops.

That capacity to evolve is what separates a temporary outsourcing location from a sustainable business-services destination.

For companies considering their next European nearshoring investment, the Western Balkans offers more than a place to operate. It offers an opportunity to grow alongside an emerging and increasingly connected regional ecosystem.

Watch the video to hear Veljko Petrović’s perspective on Transcom’s experience in the Western Balkans and what meaningful, long-term growth in the region looks like.

Discover more insights and download the full Western Balkans Nearshoring Report at westernbalkansreport.manpower.ba.

RECONOMY is an inclusive and green economic development program of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), implemented by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkan countries.The Report is done in cooperation with Manpower offices in South East Europe who provided market research and analytics.