Institutional Change & Industrial Development in Central

Based on fresh and independent empirical research the book points at serious problems of the CEE industry. Evidence from manufacturing, from the energy sector, from the science and technology system and from the small business sector is brought together in this volume. It is shown that in CEE industry, product development is limited, environmental concerns not sufficiently considered, qualifications are frequently found inadequate and management practices not responding to the new requirements. From different scholarly viewpoints it is argued that due to persisting institutions and attitudes from the communist past and before, the innovative potentials of the CEE industries are left widely in-exploited and therefore competitiveness is not sufficiently increased despite liberalization and privatisation. Profound changes are needed in the technological infrastructure, in management practices and in the local and regional environment to enable new technological capabilities to develop and thus to save CEE from a role as "international subcontractor."