Central European Business Review 2013, 2(2):25-30 | DOI: 10.18267/j.cebr.43

Central and Eastern Europe After the Boom: Time for a Strategy Change for Foreign Multinational Companies?

Arnold Schuh
Ass. Prof. Dr. Arnold Schuh, Director - Competence Center, for Central and Eastern Europe, Vienna University of Economics, and Business, Austria, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria, arnold.schuh@wu.ac.at

This conceptual paper contributes to the discussion of the effects of the Great Recession on strategies of multinational companies operating in CEE. The author argues that the original business model that guided the "going East" of Western companies is still valid. However, foreign investors have adapted their strategies for CEE in the aftermath of the crisis: they differentiate stronger between the individual economies, follow a more cautious and selective investment approach, rationalize product portfolios, test new cost-efficient organizational arrangements and consider increasingly "value-for-money" strategies to tap the mass markets.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe; strategy; economic crisis; multinational company
JEL classification: F23, M16

Received: March 6, 2013; Revised: June 15, 2013; Published: June 30, 2013  Show citation

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Schuh, A. (2013). Central and Eastern Europe After the Boom: Time for a Strategy Change for Foreign Multinational Companies? Central European Business Review, 2(2), 25-30. doi: 10.18267/j.cebr.43
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