Foreign direct investment in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe: Motives and marketing strategies

As economic transformation swept the world in the last two decades, interest in providing theoretical explanations to economic emergence grew simultaneously. While scholars focused mostly on national development strategies such as import substitution and export promotion, little effort has so far been made to better understand firm behavior, particularly motives and strategies at the micro level. This chapter focuses on understanding the motives and marketing strategies of foreign firms operating in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. On the basis of data gathered from fieldwork in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia as part of a major two-year project, the chapter offers insights into why firms might invest in these economies, how they might interact with host governments, what strategic priorities they might follow, how they might approach markets and why, and what competitive battles they might engage in to succeed in these markets. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.