Industrial Transformation in Europe
Process and Contexts
- Eckhard J Dittrich - Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
- Gert Schmidt - University of Erlangen-Nüremberg
- Richard Whitley - Manchester Business School, UK
Focusing particularly on central and eastern Europe, the contributors examine the economic management activities of state agencies in the move from command to market economies and the attempted creation of viable firms for such economies. They look at the changing roles of different interest groups and the various forms of corporatism which are emerging. They also explore various aspects of the restructuring of work systems, including the building of new forms of labour relations in post-socialist Europe. The role of foreign capital and multinationals in shaping host government industrial strategies is addressed, and the ways in which relatively successful industrial regimes can suffer from a lack of flexibility in the face of outside forces are also discussed.
`The papers in this book make a notable contribution to our understanding of the transformation porblems faced b;y East European economies. They also offer a convicing critique of ht goals and methods pursued by many Western experts who have rushed in to leave their mark on the transformation proces' - Economic and Industrial Democracy
`The range and extent of the empirical material on which these chapters draw is impressive, as are the analyses offered by the contributors. There is no doubt that the book fills a gap in a field where there has been a relative lack of cross-country comparative studies.... The most important point is that the book demonstrates both the significance of institutional legacies and the variety and diversity of transformational processes andtheir contingent nature' - Europe - Asia Studies