Integration into the World Economy: Companies in Transition in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary

Grayson, L.E. & Bodily, S.E. (1996). Integration into the World Economy: Companies in Transition in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. IIASA Research Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: RR-96-019

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Abstract

The report analyses the behavior of firms and managers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary during their integration into the world economy. The conclusions are based on 23 case studies conducted in 1995. The investigators found a rapidly transforming mosaic of managerial behavior that both changed over time and varied from firm to firm in all three countries. They found no one pattern of behavior that could be labeled as prototypical. Success was determined, to a large extent, by the managers' flexibility to adapt to rapid -- and always uncertain -- changes.

Microeconomics, managerial behavior, and case studies that illustrate them are key to understanding how economics work. Macroeconomics, fiscal and monetary policies, and stabilization are indeed very important but, by a long shot, they do not tell the whole story. The transformation and integration literature is full of microstudies; far too few micro projects have been undertaken because they are so labor-intensive. The authors hope that there will be many more micro studies.

The report presents four categories of case studies: new firms, joint ventures, privatized companies, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

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