POSLOVNI ĐIR Marinko Došen

Guest Marinko DošenHosted by Ljubica VukoMay 3, 2026

Marinko Došen

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Marinko Došen leads AD Plastik Group, a company that designs and manufactures automotive components. His tenure has seen the kind of extremes that test any leader: a record-breaking 2019, followed immediately by the unprecedented disruption of 2020. This rapid shift, from what Došen describes as a “historically best year” to a global shutdown, offers a rare look at how a high-volume, high-stakes manufacturing business adapts when its entire customer base halts production overnight. The automotive sector, Došen explains, is “an industry of very high adrenaline,” where constant adaptation is a condition of survival. He details the swift decisions made to preserve the company's health and competitive edge when major clients paused operations for 40 days. This conversation reveals the specific moves a global manufacturer makes to weather a crisis, from leveraging government support to strategically de-risking international markets. Readers will consider how a company maintains its edge when the external environment shifts dramatically, and what it means to build a resilient business across multiple geographies.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

The contrast between 2019 as a “historically best year” and the immediate, unforeseen challenges of 2020 highlights how little a strong past performance guarantees future stability. In an industry Marinko Došen calls “high-adrenaline,” every peak is just the prelude to the next unpredictable shift, demanding continuous adaptation.

When major customers halted production for 40 days, AD Plastik used the forced downtime to improve ongoing projects. A crisis-induced pause isn't just about survival; it's an opportunity to sharpen capabilities for when demand returns.

During the complete lockdown, AD Plastik did not reduce its workforce, instead utilizing government job retention subsidies for March, April, and May. When facing an abrupt, industry-wide halt, quickly accessing public support can be the difference between preserving a team and losing institutional knowledge.

AD Plastik is Croatia's top exporter to France, not because it has factories there, but because over 50% of its contracts are with French-headquartered clients like Renault-Nissan and Stellantis. The map of your largest export market is often defined by your customer's headquarters, not your own physical footprint.

In Russia, AD Plastik's factories employ local labor, source materials domestically, and supply only Russian car manufacturers. This full localization, Došen explains, makes the operations “hedged both at input and output,” insulating them from international transport disruptions or other external market shocks.

Despite operating at only 50% of its capacity from five years prior, the Russian market still ranks immediately behind Germany, France, and Italy in vehicle production and sales. A market's true potential isn't just its current performance, but its installed capacity relative to its current output, signaling significant room for growth.

Comparing its operational environments, Marinko Došen observes that Croatia is “one of the more expensive” countries for industry support and cost burden. A company's deepest roots in its home country don't negate the need for a competitive local cost structure when operating across multiple nations.

For AD Plastik, innovation is not a choice but “an obligatory condition” for survival in the automotive industry. When your customers are constantly developing safer, more environmentally friendly vehicles, your own R&D must be tightly coupled with theirs, driven by their pace of change.

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