Cengage Learning Economics of Change in East & Central Europe

The recent developments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are providing Western businesses with new opportunities and challenges as a potentially huge new market emerges. While most Western firms are busy debating the impact of the EC and how to develop their strategies to handle a single European market of 223 million people, they are often unaware of the emergence of the enormous opportunities available in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union with a market of 400-500 million consumers. This market is untapped in almost all sectors. Not only consumers, but also the state owned organizations, cooperatives and the emerging private enterprises want Western goods and technologies. The Economics of Change in East and Central Europe increases our understanding of the strategic aspects of international business in Eastern Europe by gathering together specially commissioned readings by specialists in both the subjects and countries dealt with. This enables the material to be presented from the perspective of both the host countries and the major sources. It gives analytical insights into the workings of international business within this market by combining empirical and conceptual contributions. The Economics of Change in East and Central Europe gathers together for the first time an international analysis of this entire area in one book. It will be of interest to students and researchers of international business and marketing as well as to all business practitioners who have an interest in Eastern and Central Europe. Review Statement of the Issues; Enterprise Culture and Institutional Change in Easter Europe; The Opening up of Eastern Europe: The Implication for West European Business; Economic Reforms, External Imbalances and Assessment of Risk in Eastern Europe; Business Strategy in Dramatic Environmental Change: A Network Approach for Analyzing Firm Level Adaption on the Soviet Economic Reform; Modernizing Hungary's Industrial Structure: The Contribution of the EC; Viking Raps; Creating International Joint-Ventures: Strategic Insights from Case Research on a Successful Hungarian-Japanese Industrial Enterprise; Facing Both Ways: Baltic Economies after Independence; Japanese MNC's Potential Partners in Eastern Europe's Economic Reconstruction; Norwegian Companies in Eastern Europe: Past Involvement and Reaction to Recent Changes; Developing a Network Position in the Baltic States: The Case of Statoil in Estonia; Investment in Eastern Europe: The Case of the Netherlands; Cooperative Ventures of German Firms in Eastern Europe; Understanding the Former Soviet Market: An Interaction Approach; From Centrally Planned to Market Economics: The Road from CPE to PCPE; The Internationalisation of Business and the Challenge of East European Development; Marketing Under Newly Emerging East-European and Soviet Conditions - Some Thoughts on what needs to be done; The Impact of Eastern Liberation on East-West Countertrade; The Prospects for Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe; Market Opportunities in Eastern Europe: MNC's Response; Synthesis - The Economics of Change in East and Central Europe About the Author Peter J. Buckley is Professor of International Business and Director of the Centre for International Business, University of Leeds (CIBUL), Leeds University Business School, UK.