Service activities such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, business auditing, distribution, trading, and other services have been at the forefront of the transformation process in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. These reforms, though far from complete, are now sufficiently advanced to draw lessons and to identify strategic options for foreign service firms expanding in the region. In this volume, leading analysts and practitioners offer an appraisal of the service markets and the challenges related to foreign entry into the services sector in Central and Eastern Europe during the "second wave" of transformation. What is the emerging pattern of change? What is the outlook for promising business in the area of services? Which entry strategies have proven particularly successful? How do the leading service providers from the West deal with the challenges confronting them in service markets of the region?

This collective volume used case studies, field research and industry studies to consider strategic options for foreign service firms in East Central and Eastern Europe for the late nineties and beyond.