The dissertation focuses on the impact the activities of entrepreneurial zones have on the economic components of the development of selected Croatian local self-government units. It provides an overview of the systematized scientific knowledge of entrepreneurial zones. It also defines the characteristics of the activities of entrepreneurial zones in the Republic of Croatia, the direction of their impact on economic indicators of the development of Croatian local self-government units and on the development of entrepreneurship. The dissertation analysed and identified the differences in the perception that business zone managers and the public have about the economic effects of entrepreneurial zones in selected local government units in the Republic of Croatia. According to the legislative framework, entrepreneurial zones in the Republic of Croatia are part of the entrepreneurial infrastructure, while theoretically they are part of the incubation infrastructure, which is part of the physical infrastructure as part of the entrepreneurial infrastructure. Entrepreneurial zones are the driver of the economic development of local self-government units, but also of regional administrations, in whose area they influence employment, through the entrepreneurship and all its accompanying effects, starting from the development of the entrepreneurial climate and the attraction of foreign investors. Entrepreneurial zones have their beginnings in Great Britain, but the concept has later been modified for the US economic system and it is defined by the political environment of every individual state. In the United States the name of the concept of entrepreneurial zone has changed during various presidential mandates, while the model has been modified to a lesser extent. The model exists simultaneously at state and federal level. The main aim of entrepreneurial zones is the revitalization of certain geographic areas by keeping, bringing or moving business entities, so the definition of entrepreneurial zones could be reduced to geographical areas in which business entities can achieve different benefits that mainly relate to different tax incentives or subsidies. The concept, as well as tracing its success, is much more elaborate and extensive in Great Britain, France, while the United States are the leader in the number of conducted researches. The first business, industrial zones on the territory of today’s Republic of Croatia appeared during the Dubrovnik Republic, while the modern forms emerged in the 1980s. Regardless of the various development programs for entrepreneurial zones which have appeared throughout the years, in practice, the terminology issue is still present. Other issues related to entrepreneurial zones were resolved by implementing the Law of Enhancing Entrepreneurial Infrastructure in 2013. The dissertation has introduced a new approach to measure the impact of the activity of entrepreneurial zones activity impact in selected local government units within the available data. The activity of entrepreneurial zones was calculated through the electricity consumption of business entities within it. The results show that the activity of entrepreneurial zones has a statistically significant effect on all forms of unemployment in selected units of local self-government in the Republic of Croatia. An increase in the activities of entrepreneurial zones reduces unemployment. Another indicator was the budget revenue of selected local government units, which showed that an increase in electricity consumption (an increased activity of entrepreneurial zones) has a statistically significant effect on the increase in local government budget revenues as well as on the budget balance increase. On the other hand, there are no statistically significant differences between revenue and budget balance in local self-government units with and without entrepreneurial zones. The question of the impact entrepreneurial zones have on the development of entrepreneurship in selected local government units has been explored through companies, crafts and free professions in the researched area. The results have showed that there is a statistically significant difference between local self-government units with and without entrepreneurial zones only when it comes to companies, while this is not the case with crafts and free professions. A possible reason is the predominant representation of companies in entrepreneurial zones. Surveys were used to identify discrepancies in the perception of business zone managers and the public about the economic effects of entrepreneurial zones in selected units of local self-government. The survey was sent to 161 local self-government units in the Republic of Croatia that have entrepreneurial zones (sample size – 95 % confidence level). The public, or the interested public, is represented by associations classified as economic in the Association Register. The research found that there was no significant difference between any of the set theses related to the perception of the managers and the public regarding the economic effects. However, it is difficult to reject the hypothesis due to the small number of public feedback. In other words, it is not possible to reject the hypothesis with 95 % confidence. By inspecting the test results for the needs of auxiliary hypotheses, it has been found that in most cases the managers and the public have a similar perception. To sum up, the activity of entrepreneurial zones affects the economic components of development and also the development of entrepreneurship observed from the companies’ point of view. Due to the small public return, it is difficult to confirm or to dismiss the difference between the perception of the public and the managers regarding the economic effects of entrepreneurial zones. However, everything points to the conclusion that there is no difference, as confirmed by the interviewed managers, who stated that entrepreneurial zones are positively perceived by the public, the local population. The dissertation also proposes a business model for entrepreneurial zones that would try to eliminate the weaknesses of the previous models by placing an emphasis on the Advisory Body as a support to business through synergies, as well as the financial discharge of all administrative levels thanks to European Funds. The model is based on the results of the theoretical and empirical part of the research based on the principles of the Quadruple Helix model.