Internationalisationofthe cee Region:
AnIntroductiontotheThematicIssue
ŁukaszPuślecki
PoznańUniversityofEconomics,Poland
lukasz.puslecki@ue.poznan.pl
PiotrTra ¸pczyński
PoznańUniversityofEconomics,Poland
piotr.trapczynski@ue.poznan.pl
TheaimofthepresentissueoftheManaging Global Transitionsjournal
istoprovideacontributiontoexploringoneofthekeyaspectsrelated
tothejournal’spositioning,expressedinitsverytitle:transition.Infact,
theentireregionofCentralandEasternEurope(cee),itseconomiesand
firmshaveundergonesignificantchangessincethe1990s.Internationali-
sationhasbeenbothoneofthekeydriversofthisprocess,andasymptom
thereof.Awaveofprivatisationopportunities,aswellaslargeconsumer
marketswithcomparativecostadvantageshaveattractedmultinational
enterprisestotheregion.Atthesametime,however,theregionitselfhas
beenasourceofanewbreedofmultinationals.Whilethetransitionpro-
cesspersehasgraduallybeenlosingoninterestamongstcee-relatedin-
ternationalbusinessstudies,thereisstillsignificanteconomicdiversity
of(post-)transitioneconomiesandfirms.Thisallowsexploringboththe
specificityoftheregion’semergingmultinationalfirmsandtheirmotives
andstrategies,aswellastheimportanceoftheregionfromtheperspec-
tiveofmnesdefiningtheirregionalvaluechains.
Thepresentissueisacollectionofcontributionssubmittedtothe
internationalconferencefocusedaroundinternationalbusinessinthe
ceeregionentitled‘CompetitivenessoftheceeRegionintheGlobal
Economy,’ organised by theceeChapter of the Academy of Interna-
tionalBusiness(aib-cee)inBudapeston9–11October2014.Thepa-
persbelongtotwooverallcategories.Thefirstonerevolvesaroundde-
terminantsofoutwardandinwardfdifromandintotheceeregion,
wherebythestudieslinkfditofirmcompetitiveness.Thislattercon-
ceptisalsoaleadingmotiveofthesecondpartofthisissue,whereby
differentaspectsoftheinternationalcompetitivenessofmodernmnes
arediscussed,withaspecificfocusoninter-firmcooperationandthe
conceptofstructuralpower.
ManagingGlobalTransitions13(2):97–100

98 Łukasz Puślecki and Piotr Tra ¸pczyński
Thefirstcontributiontotheissueentitled‘EstablishmentModeChoi-
cesofEmergingMultinationals:EvidencefromPoland’isauthoredby
Marian Gorynia, Jan Nowak, Piotr Tra ¸pczyński and Radosław Wol-
niak.Theirquantitativestudyidentifiesandinvestigatesthedetermi-
nantsoffdimodesinthecontextofoutwardforeigndirectinvestment
(ofdi)undertakenbyfirmsfromPoland.Theanalysiscoverstheinter-
facesbetweenselectedhost-countryvariablesandfirmresourceswith
fdimodes.Aconceptualframeworkforfdimodedeterminantsispre-
sentedasabasisfortheensuingempiricalanalysis.Theresearchhypothe-
sesbasedonpreviousresearcharesubjectedtostatisticalverificationus-
ingsurveydataof60Polishforeigninvestorscollectedthroughout2013.
Themainfindingsshowthatanincreaseofprevioushost-countryexpo-
sure,aswellashost-countrymarketattractiveness,favourthechoiceof
green-fieldmode,whilethelackofsuchexposureandtherelatedknowl-
edgefavoursacquisitions.Moreoverthesaidgreen-fieldoperationstend
tobelocatedinpoliticallystablemarkets.Thepossessionofintangible
resourcesturnsouttobeirrelevantforfdimodechoice.
ThesubsequentpaperbyMałgorzataSzałucka,‘DoesLocationReally
Matter?TheInfluenceofthefdiLocationOnEnterpriseCompetitive-
ness:TheEvidencefromPolishEnterprises’isyetanothercontribution
totheinternationalisationofanemergingcountry,basedonthecontext
ofPolishoutwardinvestors.Thestudybuildsonthepremisethatacom-
pany’scompetitivenessdependsonthelinkagesbetweenitsresourcesand
capabilitiesandlocation-specificfactorswherethecompanyrunsitsac-
tivities.Companiescombinetheadvantagesofparticulargeographiclo-
cationswiththeirresourcesandcapabilitiestoenhanceexistingandde-
velopnewcompetitiveadvantages.Theaimofthispaperistoevaluate
theimpactofinternationaloperationsintheformofforeigndirectin-
vestmentsonthecompetitivenessoftheinvestingcompaniesaswellasto
identifyareasofgreatestbenefitsderivedfrominternationalinvolvement
basedonthelocationoftheirforeignaffiliates.Thepaperpresentsresults
ofafieldsurveycarriedoutin2012throughdirectinterviewsamong
Polishcompanies–directinvestors.Theresearchresultsrevealedthat
theforeignactivitiesofPolishenterpriseshaveapositiveinfluenceon
theircompetitiveness,howeverthefdiimpactisnotsoclearasitwas
expected.Theempiricalfindingsalsoprovedthatthelocationoftheir
foreignaffiliatesdidnotinfluencesignificantlythescaleandnatureof
benefitsfrominternationalactivitiesintermsoftheChi-squareanaly-
sisapplied.However,weobservesometendencies,basedontheimpact
ManagingGlobalTransitions

Internationalisationofthe cee Region 99
index,indicatingsomedependenciesbetweenthelocationofforeignaf-
filiatesandthefieldsofthefdiimpactindentifiedinthecompetitivepo-
tentialofinvestingcompanies.
Thethirdpaperdevotedtofditurnstotheinwardperspective,i.e.
fdiinflows into theceeregions and their determinants. Agnieszka
Dorożyńska and Tomasz Dorożyński in their article entitled ‘Human
CapitalandfdiinCentralandEasternEurope’setouttoassesstherole
ofhumancapitalinattractingfdiinthelightofselectedempiricalstud-
iesconductedinPolandandglobally.Theliteratureonfactorsdetermin-
ingfdilocation,includingthoserelatingtotheimportanceofhuman
capital,isdominatedwithstudiesatnationalorsupranationallevel.At-
tractingforeigninvestmenthasbecomeakeycomponentofnational
strategiesfortheceecountries.Thepapermakesanattempttoassess
therelevanceofhumancapitalforfdiinflowatregionalandlocallev-
elsinPoland.Atthesametime,resultsofanalyseswerecontrastedwith
quantitativesurveysconductedinCentralandEasternEurope.Investing
ineducationandhumancapitalisimportantforcreatinggoodclimate
forinvestment.Evidenceshowsthatachievingacertainminimumlevel
ofeducationisthepreconditionforacountrytoattractandmaintain
foreigndirectinvestmentandmaximiseindirecteffectsconnectedwith
humancapitalandresultingfromthepresenceofbusinesseswithforeign
capitalandmaximiseindirecteffectsconnectedwithhumancapitaland
resultingfromthepresenceofbusinesseswithforeigncapital.Itshould
betakenintoaccountthatsuchaminimumisdifferentfordifferentsec-
torsoftheeconomy.ResultsofthestudyconductedintheLodzRegion
demonstratedthathumancapitalisanimportantfactor,whichattracts
fditotheregion.
Thefourthcontributiondrawstheattentionofthereadertothepo-
tentialbehindinter-firmcooperationasakeydeterminantoffirmcom-
petitiveness.ŁukaszPuśleckiandMichałStaszków,authorsofthepa-
percalled‘NewCooperationModes:AnOpportunityforPolishBiotech-
nologicalClusters,’provideareviewofnewcooperationformsbetween
companies,referringtothelatestdatafromtheasap(theAssociation
ofStrategicAllianceProfessionals).Potentialcooperationbetweencom-
panies,universitiesandresearchinstitutesinthefieldofbiotechnology
inPolandbasedonamodelofopeninnovationalliancesarepresented.
Biopharmaceuticalcompaniesarelookingfornewandinnovativepaths
ofdevelopment.Theytrytoimplementnewstrategiestotransfertheir
researchprocessestoahigherlevel.Toachievethis,biopharmaceutical
Volume13·Number2·Summer2015

100 Łukasz Puślecki and Piotr Tra ¸pczyński
companiesoftenuseopeninnovationmodelasanadditionaltoolforde-
velopingnewproducts.Thankstothecooperationwithuniversitiesin
theframeworkofopeninnovationalliances,theycansignificantlyreduce
therisk,thecostofresearch,andmostofall,throughjointworkwith
academicresearchersonidentifyingdiseasemechanismsandondevel-
opmentofnewdrugs,theyareabletocreateimprovedandappropriate
medicaltherapyforpatients.
Finally,MagdalenaŚliwinskainherpaper‘TheStructuralPowerofEn-
terprises:BeyondtheNotionofMarketPower’aimstoconceptualiseof
thenotionofenterprises’structuralpower.Itallowstodrawtheattention
totheprocessofdiversificationofenterprisesandbuildingofcomplex
andmultidimensionalownershipstructuresaspossiblesourcesofthein-
creaseinthecompanies’powerandthepossibilityofitsuseandabuse
inordertolimitthecompetitionandperformbetteronthemarket.The
conceptofstructuralpowerisapartofthescientificdiscussiononthe
sourcesandpossibilitiesofusingenterprises’marketpower,andfitsinto
thecurrentresearchononeofthefundamentalproblemsofeconomic
theory:howtoprotectcompetitioninternationallyand,therefore,deter-
minethelimitwhenthenaturalanddesirablebehaviourofenterprises
aimedatincreasingtheirinternationalcompetitivenessbeginstodistort
competitionandadverselyaffecteconomicdevelopment.Theanalysis
showsthatthepotentialinfluenceonothermarketparticipantsmayarise
notonlyfromthefirm’spositionontherelevantmarketandotherfactors
relatedtoitsspecificity,butalsofromthevarioustypesoflinkagesbe-
tweenfirms.
Thispaperispublished underthetermsoftheAttribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (cc by-nc-nd 4.0)
License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
ManagingGlobalTransitions