Shipbuilding as a production process characterized by two essential qualities: extreme complexity of the production process and the end product, and to express the impact of global markets and the ability of management staff to recognize global trends and adapt to the shipyards businesses in accordance with international requirements. The first element ("know-how") has traditionally been present and recognized in the domestic shipbuilding sector. Another element persistently fails to come to the front (with honorable exceptions). During the last 30 years, the world has been through a drastic change in the shipbuilding market. Europe, as a famous manufacturer of ships was toppled from the first place in the production. In its place settled, China, Japan and Korea. And there isn’t a chance that the situation will change in the near future. However, the world economic crisis of 2008 has affected not only the Croatian shipbuilding sector but also had a significant impact on the most competitive shipbuilding industry in the world. Moreover, an additional problem is the EU regulations that required the privatization and restructuring of the shipyards within the integration, including Croatia as the new member. The analysis also indicated that the Croatian shipbuilding industry has potential, but would have to use high-tech market segment of specialized ships. The European Union has already moved in that direction, and invested great efforts to invest in training of staff, and allocate funds for innovation and technological improvements.