摘要：Almost two decades after the war, Kosovo is an import-based consumption economy. Its weak exportdoes not get any closer to imports, and this makes the country dependent on foreign assistance and remittances.The structure of the economy, with trade as a dominating undertaking, a sustenance-based agricultur,e andvery limited production facilities, is a very fragile ground for economic development. Incentives to attractFDI were not competitive with neighboring countries and the country development is still lagging behind. Inthis respect, the lack of a proper marketing and business approach is present too. Theory and practice fromdeveloped countries show that firms that want to increase sales produce what is needed or/and wanted fromcostumers. In most of the market economy countries, when one wants to engage in business, the first step tostart is market research; this rarely happens in Kosovo, people go in business almost ad hoc. Evidence showsthat firms do neglect marketing by being mainly sales-oriented; they do produce what they think is good forthe costumers and then use lots of resources to convince them that this is what they need. In general, this paperanalyses the dynamics of economic development in Kosovo in post-conflict time, the government effortsto change the economic structure, its constraints with emphasis on perception of marketing and the role ofconsumers for SMEs in the country. In particular, the paper tries to explain why companies need to changetheir way of doing business; hence, it recommends the change of their business approach. The research, donewith 200 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kosovo, shows there are rather few firms that understandmarketing and through it fight competition and strive to establish long-term relationships with their customers.
