scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK QUALITY ON THE OWNERSHIP STRATEGY. EVIDENCE FROM EU FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantinos CHOROMIDES

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered by scholars as a critical factor for economic growth and development. The recent economic crisis in the European Union (EU) has brought up again the discussion of the key drivers specific to the attraction of FDI. In addition to strict economic factor, the literature emphasises the role of institutions in a country as determinants in attracting FDI inflows. This study is one of the first to address the ownership strategy of multinational enterprises from the EU region undertaking FDI in former transitional economies in South (SEE) and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) using the concept of the quality of institutions. An analysis of the impact that the quality of market supporting institutions in determining ownership structure has of foreign affiliates in former transitional economies is attempted using an econometric model on institutional, regulatory, country specific and company level data based on a sample of 285 EU companies undertook FDI in 4 South and Central Eastern European countries during 1995-2015. We apply and advance the institution-based view of strategy by integrating it with resource-based and transaction cost considerations, incorporating three of the most important theoretical paradigms of international business studies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (29) ◽  
pp. 7-17
Author(s):  
Agata Maria Górniak

The purpose of this article is to study the occurrence of the Lucas paradox in the region of Central-Eastern Europe. According to the research conducted by Robert Lucas (1990), the direction of the international capital flows is different than the neoclassical theory suggests. The capital does not flow from the richer, high-income economies to the poorer, but rather stays in those with the higher capital resources or flows to the other ones with similar level of GDP. The paper verifies whether the paradox appears in the region, in the way that it examines the impact of the GDP on the FDI inflows. Additionally, the study implements few basic models with factors that may potentially resolve the puzzle of the capital flows. The study method is based on panel data estimations, initially using pooled OLS, and subsequently using fixed or random effects models as appropriate. The examined economies are the member states of the European Union, from the region of Central-Eastern Europe, and the examined years are 2000-2018. Based on the literature, and the widely emphasized need for differentiating between the types of international capital flows, the article focus is on the foreign direct investment only, as they constitute large part of the whole global capital flows. Results of the research confirm the presence of the paradox in the region in the examined period. Even though the estimation of the additional models helps to remove the effects of the paradox for the region, it does not fully explain under which circumstances the neoclassical theory would be applicable. None of the applied models reverses the sign of the GDP variable to negative, keeping it statistically significant at the same time.


Author(s):  
I. Kobrinskaya ◽  
◽  
B. Frumkin ◽  

The article is based on the hypothesis about the transition of the development of international processes from the stage of uncertainty to the stage of the negative certainty – the increase and synergy of the impact of negative factors in the environmental, climatic, epidemiological, socio-economic, technological, and security spheres against the background of worsening geopolitical contradictions and confirmed by the crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic. The article examines the dynamics of socio-economic and political development and the changing role of the Central-Eastern European region. Having strengthened their positions in the European Union through adaptation to EU policies and norms, by the mid-2010s the CEE countries began to pursue an increasingly independent course. By 2020 their policy became one of the factors hindering the further deepening of the EU integration, primarily in the foreign policy sphere, and the process of federalization of the Union. The analysis of the state of public opinion conducted in the article testifies to the dualism of the perception of citizens of the CEE countries of the EU membership. High support for the EU is combined with frustration at the partial loss of national sovereignty, which is actively used by nationalist political forces in the region. During the early months of COVID-19 pandemics the countries of the region performed better than the EU as a whole, which created prerequisites for reformatting the position of the CEE countries in the EU. The enormous resources provided by the EU to Central-Eastern Europe to overcome the crisis and move towards sustainable development serve as a tool for even deeper economic and political integration of the CEE into the EU. Conditionality of support for the implementation of the EU strategies could have an impact on the CEE countries that is very similar to the period of their accession to the integration grouping and lead to the next stage of desovereignization. Meanwhile, for the European Union closer binding of the CEE countries allows not only to take another step towards federalization, but also to strengthen its actorness in world politics and the global economy.


Subject Alleged discrepancies between the quality of foods on sale in the western and eastern EU. Significance Governments in eastern EU member states are recycling long-heard rumours that multinational food brands sold there are of poorer quality than in western states. Tests by some national authorities appear to confirm these fears. Such practices would not be illegal, but they exacerbate broader worries about second-class citizenship in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE), compounded by uncertainty over the direction the EU will take in coming months. Impacts The east-west divide will deepen as a new front is opened ahead of a likely EU reform push later this year. CEE’s political significance will receive a momentary boost as countries show a united front on one of only a handful of issues. A reaction against multinationals from within the EU could make protectionism more respectable elsewhere in the world.


2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taras Kuzio

The Ukrainian opposition faced one of the greatest degrees of state-backed violence in the second wave of democratization of post-communist states with only Serbia experiencing similar cases of assassinations and repression of the youth Otpor NGO. In the 2004 Ukrainian elections the opposition maintained a strategy of non-violence over the longest protest period of 17 days but was prepared to use force if it had been attacked. The regime attempted to suppress the Orange Revolution using security forces. Covert and overt Russian external support was extensive and in the case of Ukraine and Georgia the European Union (EU) did not intervene with a membership offer that had the effect of emboldening the opposition in Central-Eastern Europe. This article surveys five state-backed violent strategies used in Ukraine’s 2004 elections: inciting regional and inter-ethnic conflict, assassinations, violence against the opposition, counter-revolution and use of the security forces. The article does not cover external Russian-backed violence in the 2004 elections unique to Ukraine that the author has covered elsewhere.


Subject The impact of ECB and US Fed policy on monetary policy in Central-Eastern Europe. Significance The pressure on central banks in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) to tighten monetary policy is easing slightly. The ECB offset its decision to terminate its quantitative easing (QE) programme in December with a pledge to refrain from raising interest rates until the second half of 2019. However, there is domestic pressure for tighter policy in some of the CEE region. This is most pronounced in Romania, where the National Bank (NBR) has already raised interest rates three times this year to counter a surge in inflation. Impacts The increasing divergence between US and European monetary policy is likely to push the euro down against the dollar. The dramatic escalation in tensions over global trade will keep German investor confidence at around its lowest level since 2012. OPEC and Russian attempts to reverse supply curbs and fears over the fallout from a full-blown trade war will curb further fuel price gains.


2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury E. Fedorov

The accession of the CEE states to NATO and the European Union has put an end to the geopolitical ambiguity and implicit insecurity in the region between Russia and the socalled ‘Old Europe’. Instead of being an area of great powers’ rivalry, elements of ‘buffer belts’ lacking meaningful strategic options, objects of raw Nazi-Soviet deals, or zones under Russian occupation and domination, the three Baltic States and the Visegrad group countries became full-fledged members of the European Union and were given NATO’s security guarantees. By the middle of the 2000s, one would conclude that traditional geopolitics had ended in this region. However, the changes in the strategic situation in CEE have not changed the deep rooted moving forces and long-term strategic goals of the Russian policy toward the region.Moscow seeks to have the position, as its official rhetoric says, of an ‘influential centre of a multipolar world’ that would be nearly equal to the USA, China, or the EU. With this in view Moscow seeks for the establishment of its domination over the new independent states of the former USSR and for the formation of a sphere of influence for itself in Central Eastern Europe. If it achieves these goals, then Europe may return once again to traditional geopolitics fraught with great power rivalries and permanent instabilities radiating far beyond CEE borders. Yet a few questions remain. Has Russia come to the conclusion that attempting to restore its privileged position of influence in Central-Eastern Europe is wrong? Has Russia enough power to threaten the CEE countries? How credible are NATO’s security guarantees? How may Russian behavior in CEE affect a wider European geopolitical context? These questions are appropriate in the light of Russia’s ‘resurgence’ as a revanchist power and because Russia is, and most probably will remain in the next five to ten years, a weighty economic and strategic factor in areas along the Western borders of the former USSR.


Author(s):  
György HAJNAL ◽  
Iga JEZIORSKA

Collaborative governance research and practice seem underdeveloped in Central-Eastern Europe compared to its Western counterpart. Recently, one can also observe a turn from liberal values in CEE. Taking states’ important role in shaping collaborative governance as a starting point, this paper includes a theoretical ambition of developing a classification of collaborative governance regimes. Furthermore, through qualitative analysis of drug harm reduction policies in Visegrád countries, it aims to contribute to the understanding of how illiberal governance affects collaborative governance. The results show that the impact of illiberalism on collaborative governance regimes does not appear uniformly across different policy areas.


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