The role of small firms in the industrial development and transformation of Czechoslovakia

This article presents an analysis of the role of small firms in the formation and reform of the Czechoslovak manufacturing sector. It attempts to give an understanding of the industrial structure formed under the past regime within the framework of the mass production paradigm. As manufacturing productivity gradually declined over the past 25 years and small firms have been virtually eliminated, systemic preference has been given to the development of large monopolies. Consequently, a monolithic coalition structure of enterprise managers, state bureaucrats, and political nomenklatura has arisen and continues to present itself as a serious hindrance to economic transformation. While small firms have the potential to play a critical role in the democratic marketization of Czechoslovakia, current government preoccupation with the rapid privatization of the state sector risks damaging the development of a balanced distribution of firm size and, in turn, the revitalization of the society.