Globalisation and Organisational Innovations – the Transformation Process in CEE-Countries

Csaba Makó

In the last decade, academics and policy makers were engaged in a keen debate about the social-economic and cultural impacts of globalisation, without clarifying the meaning of the widely utilised term. The introduction of the paper focuses on the issue of globalisation in the economy and tries to make a distinction between such processes as internationalisation, multinationalisation and globalisation.

Following this methodological introduction, the author's ambition is to identify and evaluate the first decade of the transformation process in the Central and Eastern European region from the perspective of globalisation. Using his own and other empirical experience on the motifs and impacts of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and the cross-border operations of multinational corporations, the paper identifies the cycles of the transformation process. In this respect, such distinction was made among the possible cycles:

  1. "destruction" of command economy structure
  2. "reconstruction" of the market economy consistent structures
  3. "creative" cycle of the transformation economy

The "core" characteristic of the creative cycle of the transformation process in the post-socialist economies is their integration into the global economy via the logic of the innovation. Seen from this perspective, the first decade in the new millennium would play a crucial importance. To attract and keep in long-term perspective the high-value added or R&D activities both in the production and the service sectors in the CEE region would require roles and orientation in the communities of both academics and policy makers. Creating and maintaining the critical mass of the necessary skills and knowledge in the post-socialist economies would present one of the most crucial challenges for various social and economic actors at both national, regional and local level.