Internationalization of Japanese Multinational Corporations in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The paper focuses on the internationalization activities of Japanese MNCs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) analyzing data on national level considering Japan's modes of market entry in the CEE region and some of the countries in it. Major trends and the development of Japanese internationalization in CEE are presented. Individual mini case studies contribute to the analysis using the experience of several major Japanese MNCs that have invested in the region. The goal of the paper is to uncover the specifics of the internationalization process of Japanese corporations in the CEE region. Main characteristics of the penetration of Japanese MNCs in CEE are unveiled and discussed in the concluding part of the paper. The management implications and conclusions from the study are discussed further in the final part of the paper.     

Foreign Direct Investment in Hungary

Abstract

When in 1989 the markets in Central and Eastern Europe opened, western firms were quick to move in. Hungary treated foreign firms equal to domestic ones in the privatization process. It attracted most foreign direct investment in the region. Now, other countries are likely to follow the Hungarian path and allow foreign firms to take over domestic firms. This contribution discusses the experience of six Dutch multinational firms in Hungary and discusses whether these can be useful for expansion into other countries in the region. The results indicate that firms easily underestimate the cost of reconstructing acquired enterprises and that building a market position is more expensive than anticipated.     

Eastern and Central Europe

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to help explain the impact of cultural variables on privatization and market entry strategies in several of the transition economies of Central Europe. The geographic area focus is on the former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The cultural legacy of communism involves the need to fundamentally change core values. Democratic capitalism requires a cultural re-orientation. The authors seek to examine the implications of cultural impediments and opportunities and to show how successful strategic management seeks to function in a dramatic value transition. Finally, the analysis underlines how each country as well as individual management teams have made progress under the new circumstances.     

Regionalization in Central and Eastern Europe

SUMMARY

Regional players among the MNCs operating in Central and Eastern Europe have to decide if they should regard their businesses as a collection of individual markets or as a homogeneous region. The purpose of this paper is to examine if and how regionalization concepts have actually been implemented by foreign MNCs in CEE. The analysis focuses on the preconditions for the emergence of a regional strategy, on the identification of the main areas of regional integration, and the relationship between strategy and organizational structure. By using a longitudinal case study approach a better insight is gained on how regional strategies have emerged during the internationalization process of the firm and, if they have emerged, in which way they have manifested themselves in business decisions. The findings raise new questions about the regionalization construct with regard to the operationalization of regionalization, the relationship between strategy and structure, and its applicability to services.     

Strategy Review for Central and Eastern Europe: Strategic Responses of Foreign Multinational Corporations to the Recent Economic and Financial Crisis

The economies of Central and Eastern Europe were hit particularly badly by the global financial and economic crisis of 2008–2009. This raises the question of whether the severe economic downturn had any effect on the strategic orientation of foreign multinational corporations operating in Central and Eastern Europe. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the discussion of the effects of the recent crisis on strategies of multinational corporations. The crisis brought the successful economic catching-up process of the reforming countries over the previous decade to an abrupt halt, shattering the image of Central and Eastern Europe as a growth region. Multinational firms are now in the process of reviewing their original internationalization strategies for the region. The author argues that the business model that guided the expansion into Central and Eastern Europe still remains valid.     

Strategic Responses of Multinational Corporations to the Opening of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: And Their Impact on Competing Developing Countries

No abstract available for this article.     

Market Entry and Marketing Strategies for Eastern Europe

No abstract available for this article.     

The Use of Cases in Teaching Business Courses in Central and Eastern Europe and the United States

Abstract

The extent of case methodology use in teaching business courses in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the United States (US) differ. This paper discusses the reasons for these differences utilizing the available literature and the author's recent experiences in teaching business courses in CEE under the Fulbright Scholar Program. It also presents a framework for developing and delivering case-based business courses with the objective of maximizing teaching effectiveness.     

Global Consistency Versus Local Responsiveness: Deutsche Telekom's Human Resource Management Strategies in Central and Eastern Europe

This article analyses the competing demands faced by Deutsche Telekom for global consistency and local responsiveness as it attempted to coordinate its human resource management strategies across its Eastern European subsidiaries. It considers the degree to which the former economic and political histories of Eastern Europe continue to influence and/or constrain multinational corporation strategies and practices in the post-2000 era. Institutional path dependency, strategic international human resource management, and international industrial relations theories are used to assist in analyzing the data. The study concludes that managerial constraints associated with the historical and economic legacies of these former socialist countries are rapidly declining, thereby allowing multinational firms to implement “Western-style” human resource management strategies. It further suggests that industrial relations institutions at the European Union level, rather than individual country level, have the greatest potential to impact on international human resource management strategies in the region. Multinational corporations should therefore engage in more-integrated strategic international human resource management and international industrial relations approaches.     

On Determinants of Japan's Foreign Direct Investment in Eastern Europe

Summary

The paper takes issue with some untested but often repeated assertions that Japanese FDI positions in Eastern Europe are weak. Japan's economic relations with Eastern Europe, including FDI, should be understood in the context of Japan's global economic relations. Therefore, it might not be appropriate to approach the question armed with absolute FDI numbers only. So, the author proceeds to empirically test some of these assertions by calculating directional trade ratios and directional FDI ratios! As a result of his approach, he claims that Japan's FDI position in Poland is not significantly weaker compared to its trade position or to other advanced countries' positions. The paper also suggests that, although Japan's FDI in Poland has been undoubtedly stagnant, the larger problem is that the Polish FDI environment is still problematic due mainly to repayment risks and rather low levels of real per capita income.     

Knowledge Management in Central and Eastern Europe Through Network Development and Boundary Spanners

ABSTRACT

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have become a popular research venue due to their transitioning into market based economies. For international business scholars this represents a unique opportunity, as one of the key driving forces is the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Due to the market's great potential, many multinational enterprises are entering CEE countries and realizing that a transfer of market knowledge (i.e., customer tastes, distribution methods/channels, etc.) from the host country to the multinational, as well as from the multinational to the host country (i.e. technology, management/marketing capabilities, etc.), is essential.

The lack of host country skills have made knowledge transfer difficult. Also, the tacit nature of some of the most important knowledge embedded within the host country's organization and the multinational makes knowledge diffusion a daunting task to manage. However, successful knowledge management will assist in positive performance measures so researchers are examining knowledge management and its constructs (acquisition, transfer, conversion, and application).

Our research explores the linkage between knowledge management and performance in host country firms in a CEE country, Croatia. We also explored antecedents of successful knowledge management that of networks and human resources (boundary spanners). Finally we explored whether cultural distance moderates these relationships in the knowledge management process.     

Foreign Direct Investment in Central America

Summary

Foreign Direct Investment has gone through three distinct phases in Central American history. First, it was mainly in the form of agricultural development during the agricultural export-led growth era. The import-substitution era saw manufacturing enter as well. The non-traditional export promotion strategy currently in place attracts firms seeking to use the region as a platform for exporting outside the region. Modern FDI generates greater linkages with the rest of the economy than in the past. However, remittance of profits is still large and problematic.     

Trade and Market Liberalisation in Eastern Europe

SUMMARY

The question of why multinational companies (MNCs) choose to locate in one region rather than another has been an important topic in IB research for many years, but has recently received even more attention. This paper presents the results of an econometric investigation of the locational determinants of Italian firms in Central and Eastern Europe. Italian firms have been very active investors in the CEE countries. Our results broadly confirm the findings of previous studies, but we also find that both trade liberalisation and market liberalisation are important influences upon the location decision. If the CEE governments wish to attract further (Italian) foreign investment, then further liberalisation of their domestic economies should be a policy priority.     

Opportunities for Development in the Peoples Republic of China

No abstract available for this article.     

Too Small or Too Big to Survive: Foreign Direct Investment and Divestment in Breweries

The paper focuses on both the economic and noneconomic multilateral relationships inside and outside the TNCs’ own business networks in the processes of the firms’ internalization on the example of foreign direct investment and divestment in breweries in the UK and Poland. The mode of TNCs’ entry in breweries in the mature economy of the UK and transformation economy in Poland is less country specific and more associated with the international environment of network relationships. The paper presents both structures of the international networks connections as well as the ways they have been created. The system analysis is used.     

Mapping the evolution of the impact of economic transition on Central and Eastern European enterprises: A co-word analysis

Here we use co-word analysis on extant literature to map the intellectual structure of research addressing the impact of economic transition on Central and Eastern European enterprises during the 1989–2013 period. We collected and analyzed 2053 scholarly papers from the most comprehensive management databases, which were then used to develop. This paper contributes to the economic transition literature by providing an empirically derived framework based on the extant literature. This framework describes the main factors affecting enterprises during the transition process, the relationships among these factors and their evolution.     

The Impact of Changes in the Political and Economic Environment on Foreign Direct Investment Opportunities in Romania

Abstract

This study reports findings of a survey including 139 Finnish and 97 Austrian companies active in Eastern Europe. The study focuses on two major areas in the firm's business activities in Eastern Europe, namely on market strategies-the timing of market entry, market selection, entry modes and motives-and company performance. The number of market entries has increased after the transition, but the majority of business activities still take place in geographically-close countries. Companies have gradually started to use more high-commitment modes of operation, but contrary to our expectations, high commitment modes were also frequently used in more unstable markets. Company performance in Russia and especially in other countries of Eastern Europe was in general clearly lower than in domestic markets and foreign markets in general. Against expectations, firm size, dependence on international markets, length of operation, and mode of operation in Eastern Europe did not significantly influence the performance. However, firms which concentrated on Russian markets on a continuous basis performed much better than other firms.     

国际营销STP战略及4P策略分析——以德国大众汽车集团为例

目标市场营销又称STP营销或STP三步曲,即市场细分、选择目标市场和市场定位。营销大师菲利普.科特勒认为当代战略营销的核心,可被定义为STP。在市场营销组合观念中,4P分别是产品（product）,价格（price）,渠道（place）,促销（promotion）。德国大众在中国的成功与其结合了中国市场准确制定出相应的STP战略和4p策略密不可分。     

服务业外商直接投资与服务业经济增长:理论与实证研究

本文在剖析服务业FDI促进经济增长作用机制的基础上,对服务业FDI与服务业经济增长的关系进行实证研究。研究结果显示,服务业FDI对服务业经济增长具有显著促进作用,表明服务业FDI通过产业聚集效应、公共服务创造效应以及服务贸易效应对服务业经济的发展施加积极影响。另外,服务业国内投资对服务业经济的拉动作用还有很大的提升空间,在服务业发展过程中应重视与提高内资对服务业发展的作用,实现服务业FDI与服务业国内投资对服务业经济增长的协同推动。     

东部经济地带利用外商直接投资的区域差异研究

外资在我国主要集中于东部经济地带,尤其是广东、江苏、上海、福建、山东、辽宁、浙江、北京、天津等。东部经济地带外资来源地及产业投向均有较大的差异,利用外资越多的省份,外商直接投资的宏观经济效益越显著,各省外商直接投资与其他经济指标的相关程度有别。文章提出东部经济地带今后引进外资应该注意与产业升级相促进,尤其要避免政府行为的恶性引资竞争。