First insights into the transfer of marketing know-how from Western firms to enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe : a qualitative study

This paper reports the results of case study research into the methods employed by 12 large UK-based companies when transferring marketing know-how to Central and East European (CEE) joint venture partner firms. Propositions derived from transactions cost analysis and theories concerning the optimal means for transmitting technical information between organisations are applied to the data, and the usefulness of a number of collateral hypotheses are assessed. It is concluded that certain elements of transactions cost theory stand up well in the CEE business context, but that the practical devices adopted by Western enterprises when transferring marketing know-how to foreign CEE partners need to be improved.