VRIJEME JE ZA GOSPODARSTVO Petar Šimić

Guest Petar ŠimićHosted by Darko BukovićMay 3, 2026

Petar Šimić

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

For many businesses started in Eastern Europe after 1989, the nineties represented a blank slate, a chance to build from scratch. Now, three decades later, these companies face a new challenge: succession. Petar Šimić, CEO of Primaco, stands at the heart of this transition. He leads one of Southeast Europe's prominent logistics firms, a business his parents founded during that initial wave. But his path was not simply inherited. Before joining Primaco in 2009, Šimić honed his skills as a consultant at Deloitte, bringing an outside perspective to the family enterprise during its critical consolidation phase. The conversation explores the unique dynamics of second-generation leadership, the often-overlooked value of hard-won experience over readily available information, and the societal perceptions of business failure in Croatia. You will walk away with a clearer understanding of what it takes to evolve a legacy business, and why some leaders choose to step into the founder's shoes while others do not.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Petar Šimić's background as a Management Consultant at Deloitte, working on restructurings and due diligence for larger companies, gave him a clear starting point when he joined Primaco. Your own external experience is not a detour; it's the structured training that prepares you to lead a family business, making you an operator, not just an heir.

Petar quotes the proverb: 'Only experience is true knowledge. Everything else is just information.' In an era where information is abundant and easily accessible, the ability to make rapid decisions without extensive preparation is what truly separates experienced leaders from those who merely consume data.

The businesses founded in Eastern Europe during the 1990s faced a unique, 'pioneering time' with little existing knowledge or experience, as Petar notes. The fact that any of those companies survived to be listed among the top 100, as Lider magazine once did, underscores a resilience that cannot be replicated in established markets.

Primaco began in the 90s by diversifying into multiple activities like retail, wholesale, and logistics, because competition was scarce. Petar explains that as markets mature and competition grows, a business must narrow its focus to what it does best, even if it means divesting parts that once enabled initial expansion.

Despite statistics from experts like Boris Vukić suggesting over 60% of children do not wish to continue a family business, Petar states he 'never allowed' his parents to consider selling. Your personal conviction and readiness to lead can override the conventional challenges of succession, making a pre-designed path less relevant than your own resolve.

Petar distinguishes between the first-generation founder, who must be 'a manager, a leader, a salesperson, a porter, and a cleaner if needed,' and the second generation, who 'doesn't necessarily have to be all of that.' The critical step in succession is for both generations to recognize the unique strengths and desires of the heir, rather than forcing them into an identical mold, to avoid doing harm to the business.

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