Rudi Čajavec (company)

Rudi Čajavec (successively reincorporated under various names, including SOUR Rudi Čajavec) was a Bosnian electromechanical and electronics company, based in Banja Luka. Founded in 1950, the company was named after Rudi Čajavec, the first airman of the Yugoslav Partisan air force and People's Hero of Yugoslavia. It produced a wide range of products for the military and for the civilian market. In 1950, during the first Yugoslav five-year plan, the government of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia decreed the founding of the Fabrika vojne elektronske opreme i uređaja "Rudi Čajavec" () in Banja Luka. It was established in the same period as several other medium-to-large state enterprises in the city, which have remained in operation in the 21st century as joint-stock companies, namely: Krajina a.d (construction), Vitaminka a.d. (food), and Autoprevoz a.d. (transport). It was the regional counterpart of other major Yugoslav technological companies of the period, such as Gorenje, Iskra, and Ei Niš. Originally registered with the Yugoslav People's Army, the factory was reassigned to civil authorities by the Ministry of Defence, and in 1956, the local government, in the form of the People's Committee of Banja Luka (NOO Banja Luka), renamed the enterprise to Fabrika za elektromehaniku i elektroniku "Rudi Čajavec" (). In accordance with the principles of socialist self-management, the enterprise was subsequently reorganised as a self-managed holding entity, or SOUR (složena organizacija udruženog rada; ), comprising multiple OOURs (osnovna organizacija udruženog rada; ). During the systemic reforms of the early 1990s, it remained a non-privatised social enterprise in the form of a holding corporation, and after subsequent reforms following the Yugoslav Wars, it was reverted to a fully state-owned matično državno preduzeće (), MDP "Čajavec holding". In a controversial process, the holding was effectively dismantled by transferring its property to 24 constituent companies—former OOURs—which were privatised, and many of them were subsequently liquidated.