The ins and outs of doing business in Europe: Germany, France, Russia, and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of top management’s understanding of product quality in Bulgaria since the end of communism. The study examines three specific areas: top management’s understanding of the term “quality”; top management’s understanding of the relationship between quality and business performance; and top management’s understanding of the impact of job position on quality. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on a quantitative research approach by using data from a survey of 186 companies in Bulgaria. Findings The paper suggests that senior managers in Bulgaria continue to base their understanding of “quality” on a single approach (*a characteristic of the communist era), with the product-based and the user-based approaches currently being the two most common ones. At the same time, surprisingly enough, this study claims that senior management in Bulgaria is currently well aware of the importance of quality as a dimension of firm’s competitiveness, and is also highly conscious of its roles’ impact on product quality. Research limitations/implications The results of this study are exclusively based on the case of Bulgaria and must be treated with caution in the case of other former communist states from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Practical implications This paper has relevance for both managers and companies doing business in Eastern Europe. Originality/value This is the first paper to provide detailed analysis of the evolution of the understanding of “product quality” in CEE since the end of communism. Moreover, this paper applies, for the first time, Garvin’s five approaches to defining quality within a practical context.

Download Full-text

Primary Mortgage Market Development in Emerging Markets – Is the Central and Eastern Europe Experience Replicable in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Housing Finance in Emerging Markets ◽

10.1007/978-3-540-77857-8_7 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 169-210

Author(s):

Friedemann Roy

Keyword(s):

Emerging Markets ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Central And Eastern Europe ◽

Mortgage Market ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Market Development ◽

Sub Saharan

Download Full-text

Cross-Border E-Commerce Payments

Cross-Border E-Commerce Marketing and Management - Advances in Electronic Commerce ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-5823-2.ch004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 78-97

Author(s):

Noor Nahar Begum ◽

Md Masudul Hassan

Keyword(s):

Emerging Markets ◽

National Security ◽

Economic Life ◽

Rapid Expansion ◽

The Internet ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Cross Border ◽

Doing Business ◽

The World ◽

Internet Connections

The rapid expansion of the internet provides the world great achievements both in social and economic life. E-commerce has become one of the serenest ways of doing business and has a persuasive impact on the economy. It is the set of transactions that have been conducted through internet connections and computer networks. This chapter aims to look at the cross-border e-commerce payments. Specially, the chapter has focused on the trends in e-commerce payments, methods of online payments, effects of cross-border e-commerce, factors affecting cross-border e-commerce payments, friction of cross-border e-commerce system, drivers and impediments of cross-border e-commerce, growth of cross-border e-commerce in emerging markets. Moreover, this chapter shows how information has become the blood of e-commerce. It has extensive effects on the economy, society, and indeed national security.

Download Full-text