Enterprise Restructuring In The Transition

Over the last decade, more than one hundred fifty thousand large enterprises in twenty seven transition countries have encountered revolutionary changes in every aspect of their political and economic environments. Some enterprises have responded to the challenge, entering world markets with great dynamism and becoming indistinguishable from their competitors in mature market economies. Others remain mired in their past, undergoing protracted deaths, delayed at times by their slippage into a netherworld of barter and ersatz money. Thus the revolutionary changes in transition countries have been matched by great variation in the degree to which enterprises have responded successfully to events. To assess the effectiveness of the different reform and privatization strategies, empirical research on transition countries has examined enterprise level data to ascertain whether enterprises have responded productively to changes in ownership and to other reform measures. This volume provides a general assessment of the evidence generated by these studies. In providing the assessment, it: discusses the general context of the studies; assesses the evidence on whether state-owned or privatized firms undertake more economic restructuring; studies the effects of restructuring on different types of owners; focuses on the role of managers; analyzes the effect of greater discipline in the government's reaction to enterprises in distress; examines how variations in product market competition affect enterprise restructuring; and examines the role of the institutional and legal framework. This publication will be of interest to policy makers and readers interested in gaining an overview of the current state of the evidence.

This title was first published in 2001. This work features different companies and their change in situation between 1990 and 1997. The author focused on changes in each company's vertical integration; its integration with and relationship to its investor; changes in its human resource policies and the general handling of labour shedding; changes in its product range, production methods, product markets and competitive situation; and the regional effects of FDI and changes in the company's procurement policies. The study comprises mainly of manufacturing companies with a few construction companies included to examine issues arising from localized company operations.

This volume is primarily concerned with the first key component of transition: restructuring—the changing behavior of firms and their complex interaction with the labor market, most particularly with unemployment. Chapter 1 gives an overview of firm behavior, restructuring, and the labor market in the transition. Chapter 2 focuses on the effect of output, ownership, and legal form on employment and wages in Central European firms. Chapter 3 explores employment and wage setting in three stages of Hungary's labor market transition. Chapter 4 considers enterprises in the Polish transition. Chapter 5 explains labor market flows in the midst of structural change. Chapter 6 explores the role of unemployment and restructuring in the transition, and chapter 7 presents a numerical model of transition. Emphasis is placed on the Czech and Slovak Republics, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.

Recent empirical and theoretical work on the transition economies has emphasised the importance of internal bargaining and incentives. This paper constitutes, the first attempt to systematise the large and growing body of case studies of enterprise restructuring in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia and the Czech Republic. We begin from a framework in which the incentives and constraints on managers are crucial for the success of transforming enterprises into value maximising firms. The forms of, and the constraints on, active behaviour are examined for each enterprise across the dimensions of internal organisation, product and labour markets and investment.

A wide gap still exists between Western concepts and their application in the ex-socialist countries during transition. Most Western models in financial management make assumptions about the efficiency and stability of markets and the signals that can be obtained and also assume that traditional accounting information is available and can be used for management purposes. A new paradigm is needed to manage the finance function in a transition economy experiencing hyperinflation since stamdard assumptions are not valid in most ex-socialist countries. This book describes the adaptations of financial techniques as it reviews standard financial concepts and tools, adjusts them when necessary to the unique conditions in the ex-socialist enterprises, and then presents the restructuring context and some strategies that are based on the application of these tools.

This book tells the story of what might have been considered an unlikely source of dynamic change in Russia - formerly state-owned manufacturing enterprises and their managers. Based on interviews conducted over a six-year span with managers at 47 manufacturing, light industry, consumer durable, and food processing firms in four Russian cities, the study documents the real world challenge of turning hidebound, often dysfunctional manufacturing operations into thriving companies. With analytical rigor and theoretical creativity, this work will dispel some common misconceptions about the Russian economy and make a contribution to the literature about management, company strategies, and corporate governance.

Enterprise Restructuring and Foreign Investment in the Transforming East: The Impact of Privatization explores the dynamic interrelationships between enterprise restructuring and foreign investment in transition economies of postcommunist countries, especially those of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This important book offers investors and international businesses a continuum from theory to praxis as it discusses theoretical and methodological issues and empirical and practical implications of economic relationships to show how these interrelationships manifest themselves in prevailing trends, policy tradeoffs, and business strategies. Contending that the transformation to a state-owned enterprise to a capitalistic corporation involves more than reacting to economic incentives, Enterprise Restructuring and Foreign Investment in the Transforming East examines why enterprises need access to capital markets, finance investments, and acquire new capabilities in order to successfully compete in a market economy. Some of the strategies you will find that relate to common elements of the restructuring process include: a shift to a less hierarchal organization structure the adoption of Western financial management and accounting practices the introduction of stricter budget constraints the evolution of the marketing function and the rationalization of product ranges according to market needs Informative and intelligent, this book offers you a firsthand look at the complex and critical topic of restructuring as it relates to the realization of benefits of privatization at both the micro and macro levels. Using a case study approach, Enterprise Restructuring and Foreign Investment in the Transforming East gives you in-depth knowledge of the actual empirical/practical processes as they have been experienced in transition economies.