Interview with Ivan Ćesić
Interview by: Marija Birtić
Faculty of Economics in Osijek
Postgraduate study of Entrepreneurship

1. How did you decide to enter this field in particular?

As you have already mentioned on your web sites, already as a student of Croatian language and literature I was particularly bothered by a level of illiteracy of a great number of magazines in the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, in addition to my studies I started to diligently analyze Croatian language, all the finesses related to the syntax, stylistics, grammar and orthography. Already as an ABD student I started to work as an external associate – language editor for the most eminent Croatian publishing companies.

After shorter career in education and work in the International institute of literature I established the Center Lektor, unprofitable organization the goal of which was to promote literacy in Croatia. After some time I realized that job wasn’t as fulfilling as I expected so I decided to enter the entrepreneurial waters. Since I am specifically specialized in language editing of the texts in Croatian language, and since I personally knew a great number of language editors and translators, the decision was obvious.

2. What is the pillar of your business activity?

Although, initially I believed that the pillar of our business activity would be language editing of the texts, taking in consideration a great number of magazines and publishers in Croatia, today there are incomparable more requests related to translating. Therefore, the pillar of activity of the Centre Editor plus is definitively translation, written as well as the oral.

3. What can you say about the developmental path of EDITOR plus?

The initial idea was to translate certain titles into Croatian language which would, in addition to the top quality translation, guarantee the top language editing, and accordingly a high level of literacy of the translated titles. However, it soon turned out that, on our market, there was much larger demand for translating than I originally thought. Thus, already in the first eighteen months we increased the number of languages from and into which we translated to 30. Today Centre EDITOR plus does translation from and into 38 world languages, which is currently, as far as I know, the most complete offer in the market of the Republic of Croatia. In addition to that, we included in our offer the certified translations, i.e. translations by court interpreters (today we do certified translations from and into 35 world languages), as well as oral translation (simultaneous and consecutive) and graphic prepress. Thus we are able to perform all the pre-pres activities – from translation, language editing and proof reading to page break and cover design. From the very beginning, we are recognized as a company that has extraordinarily serious approach to each job and a company that, in addition to the top quality also guarantees meeting the deadlines; thanks to that we soon won over a certain number of big and very important clients. Today, EDITOR plus has more than 150 permanent clients which also speaks a lot in favor of the quality of our work.

4. Difficulties in doing business?

As far as difficulties in doing business are concerned, there is not much to say. Maybe, the only problem is collecting charges, which is rather typical for Croatia. Sooner or later, almost all companies are faced with that problem.

5. Who do you work with on the Croatian market?

On the Croatian market, we work with a certain number of big companies. I am particularly proud that the quality of our work has been recognized by Pliva, VIPnet, Ledo, Castrol Croatia, Coca-Cola Beverages Croatia, Adriatica.net… Almost all segments of doing business occasionally need translation. In Croatia, the increase in the number of marketing agencies is evident and therefore we receive quite a lot orders from that sector. I would commend their wish for having their text edited – stylistically, grammatically and orthographically refined – prior to their publication. Thus, in addition to the occasional translations, they often require language editing as well. In that respect I would like to mention Unex, Pleon Dialog, Tridvajedan corporate communications and McCann Erikson Croatia. We also work with a considerable number of law offices from all over Croatia, as well as middle and small size companies.

6. Do you have any foreign partners?

In the sense of business partnership we didn’t have foreign partners so far, although there have been some requests lately. However, we have a certain number of foreign consignees. Those are companies from Italy, Germany, Austria, Great Britain and Slovenia.

7. How do you position your self on the market?

The very quality of our work is more or less responsible for our positioning. There are also some marketing activities; however I prefer “mouth to mouth” marketing which implies recommendations of our satisfied clients. One satisfied client often means dozens of new clients.

8. How do you fight the competition?

I wouldn’t use the term ‘fight’. I personally stick to the rule “appreciate and don’t underestimate the competition”. I also believe that competition is good in motivational sense because it urges you to constant development, growth and improvement – there is no time for rest, or for being lulled. The ever growing number of our new clients confirms that formula “top quality and meeting deadlines at reasonable prices” was proven very successful and we firmly stick to it.

9. What are the main strong points of your business?

The main strong points in our business are “top quality and meeting deadlines at reasonable prices”, in addition to individual and professional approach to each client and order. I would like to point out our ability to translate and process large quantity of text in relatively short time.

10. What are your weak points and how do you plan to turn them into the strong points?

I can’t think of any of the weak points now. Since we do the majority of our business over the internet the weak point might be the fact that in Croatia, a certain number of companies still aren’t adequately equipped.

11. References?

Our list of references is available on the official web site of the Center www.editorplus.hr and it is quite long. Therefore, I will mention only few (in addition to the already stated) companies and institutions: Atlas Airtours, Brodarski institut, Dalmacijacement – RMC Group, EUROHERC insurance Ltd. Zagreb, Croatian Privatization Fund, Zagreb City Libraries, Končar – Electroindustry, Konstruktor engineering, Konzum d.d., Kreditna banka Zagreb, METRO Cash & Carry, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water management, Privredna banka Zagreb, Sunce Insurance, Sunčani Hvar d.d., University of  Zagreb (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing), Tourist Board of Primorsko-Goranska County...

12. Vision of development?

According to all the above stated, it is evident that the Center EDITOR plus grows and develops above the expectations. In times to come, we see our great opportunity when the Republic of Croatia joins the European Union, as the market then would considerably expand. Actually, the real business expansion that would result in some greater changes is not expected until then.

13. Goals?

When we talk about the goals we have set, first of all we wish, in addition to the existing clients, to win over and keep new clients, from Croatia as well as from abroad. We wish to be recognized as the leading translation center in the Republic of Croatia and wider region.

14. Number of the employees and associates?

The number of the permanently employed hasn’t increased considerably; however the number of external associates – translators, language editors and designers – today exceeds 400, in the Republic of Croatia and all over the world.

15. Is there anything else you would like to point out in relation to your company and business activities?

I believe this interview includes more or less everything that could be interesting to the visitors of your web sites. The complete reference list and all additional information related to the functioning and services of the Center are available on our web-pages www.editorplus.hr.

May 22, 2007