Relocation of manufacturing and services activities to the New Member Countries : the case of Hungary

Relocation is recently one of the most widely discussed problems, especially in the old member states of the European Union. At the same time, developments in the target countries of relocation are less widely discussed. Hungary, with other new EU member countries, is one of the net target countries of relocation especially from the most developed EU-15 countries. Because of the specificities of this phenomenon, macrodata can be used only to a limited extent and it should be complemented with case study evidence and company level analysis. We compiled a comprehensive relocation database, collected for Hungary for the eight-year period between 2003 and 2010. We analyse this database and compare the results with those of the literature. We examine the nationality of relocating companies, the sectors and foreign locations affected and the job creation/loss impact. Moreover, we make an attempt at analysing the changes in relocations during the crisis years. -- relocation ; Hungary ; multinationals ; offshoring ; offshore outsourcing ; crisis