Privatization investment funds are the key feature of mass privatization programmes in transitional economies. This book offers a thorough survey of mass privatization programmes in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, supported with extensive empirical analysis. The study of 'top-down' privatization funds in Poland and 'bottom-up' funds in the Czech Republic and Slovenia offers different solutions to the problem of how to improve the governance of privatization funds. The authors argue that the institutional structure of closed-end investment companies and open-end mutual funds has not provided the right incentives to maximize the value for the shareholders. In addition too many regulations are in place in underdeveloped markets to protect new shareholders unaccustomed to exercising their ownership rights. Instead, the authors argue that they need to promote adjustment in fund portfolios and ownership structures in order to spur the development of capital markets and effective mechanisms of corporate governance.

This new edition builds a comprehensive picture of the microeconomic tools required to solve a wide range of problems by using an innovative combination of written, illustrative and mathematical analysis. It helps the reader to think like an economist - in particular demonstrating how individuals, firms and policy-makers decide their best course of action.

This book, the second of two volumes, brings together the work of Domenico Mario Nuti to highlight his significant and varied contribution to economics. Bringing together works from across Nuti’s career, his distinctive intellectual framework is exemplified in relation to discussions on the drivers of economic growth and development, the most efficient economic system, the organisation of firms, and how economies should be managed. This volume gives particular attention to Nuti’s views about how economic systems evolve, about the possibilities for various forms of economic democracy; and his analysis of East-West integration and globalization. The volume also contains a bibliography of his works.

Foreign investment has surged across emerging markets. This unique comparative study presents the first systematic evidence on the entry mode, business environment and their interrelationships in emerging markets. It integrates strategic management and economic policy analysis, and provides new insights for both business managers and government policymakers. The book investigates foreign direct investment (FDI) strategies in four important emerging economies: Egypt, India, South Africa and Vietnam. These countries liberalized their economies in the 1990s with the intention of attracting greater FDI inflows. This book assesses whether they have been successful in achieving this goal. The authors adopt a comparative perspective, and use a large enterprise survey plus three individual case studies in each country. They investigate the strategies of foreign direct investors, focusing on the relationship between the investment climate, the mode of entry (acquisition, greenfield or joint venture), company performance, and spillovers to the host economy. The book outlines how the interactions between international businesses and the local policy environment influence the entry strategies of firms. Academics and researchers with an interest in international business, emerging markets, economic development and strategic management will find this book informative and insightful.

Competition and Economic Integration in Europe explores the relationship between competition policy and economic integration in the enlarging European Union. It contains valuable contributions from academics and officials from inside and outside the European Union as well as offering a transatlantic perspective on the enabling effect of competition policy on deepening European integration.This book examines the importance of competition policy in the Europe Agreements signed with the Central and East European countries, whilst emphasizing that agreement on the adoption of competition rules is just one element in the complex process of accession to the European Union. The book argues that harmonization of competition policy along EU lines across the wider Europe is necessary to create a culture of competition among the European partner countries. The contributors examine the actual and potential roles of competition policy as a regulator of cross-border flows, an agent for the removal of trade barriers and as one of a number of measures to enable a move towards free trade. Competition policy is also advocated as a framework for business behaviour, in order to eradicate 'unfair' competition and as a foundation for the privatization programmes of governments. The book concludes with a postscript linking the argument of the book with the European Commission's Agenda 2000 report of July 1997. This book will prove invaluable to academics and students in the field of transition economics, the economics of the European Union, comparative institutions and industrial policy.

This work presents twelve case studies of foreign direct investment in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. The studies include major firms such as Skoda and Danone, as well as smaller ventures, and cover the same sectors for each country, thereby permitting useful comparisons and assessments of: the role of country, sector, technology, and firm-specific characteristics in determining the pattern and nature of foreign direct investment; the potential implications of FDI for the competitiveness of the investing firms; the impact of infusions of capital investments, technology, and managerial resources for the host economies; and the policy implications for host countries and relevant international institutions.

This book, the first of two volumes, brings together the work of Domenico Mario Nuti to highlight his significant and varied contribution to economics. Bringing together works from across Nuti's career, his distinctive intellectual framework is exemplified in relation to discussions on the drivers of economic growth and development, the most efficient economic system, the organisation of firms, and how economies should be managed. This volume gives particular attention to socialist economic systems, and the transition of former socialist countries to market economies. This book, through the inclusion of an introduction, aims to contextualise his ideas and illustrate their continued relevance. It will be of wide interest to students and researchers.

A central feature of modern Asia that trumps differences in economic and political systems is the web of close relationships running between and within business and politics; the connections world. These networks facilitate highly transactional interactions yielding significant reciprocal benefits. Although the connections world has not as yet seriously impeded Asia's economic renaissance, it comes with significant costs and fallibilities. These include the creation and entrenchment of huge market power and the attenuation of competition. They in turn hold back the growth in productivity and innovation that will be essential for further development. The connections world also breeds massive inequalities that may culminate in political instability. The authors argue that if Asia's claim to the 21st century is not to be derailed, major changes must be made to policy and behaviour so as to cut away the foundations of the connections world and promote more sustainable economic and political systems.

A central feature of modern Asia that trumps differences in economic and political systems is the web of close relationships running between and within business and politics; the connections world. These networks facilitate highly transactional interactions yielding significant reciprocal benefits. Although the connections world has not as yet seriously impeded Asia's economic renaissance, it comes with significant costs and fallibilities. These include the creation and entrenchment of huge market power and the attenuation of competition. They in turn hold back the growth in productivity and innovation that will be essential for further development. The connections world also breeds massive inequalities that may culminate in political instability. The authors argue that if Asia's claim to the 21st century is not to be derailed, major changes must be made to policy and behaviour so as to cut away the foundations of the connections world and promote more sustainable economic and political systems.

The subject of self-management - of companies in which the decisions are made by the work force rather than by the managers or owners - has long been of interest both to economists and to a wider audience. In this 1984 book Saul Estrin offers a comprehensive survey of how workers' self-management has influenced industrial structure and the allocation of resources in Yugoslavia, where a system of this type has operated since the 1950s. The book will interest economists concerned with the likely impact of workers' participation as well as specialists in self-management theory and the operation of the Yugoslav economy.