Some Aspects of Cooperation between Hungarian and Austrian Small and Medium-Size Enterprises

The purpose of the paper is to present and discuss some characteristics of Hungarian and Austrian small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), which operate and partly cooperate in the Austro-Hungarian border region. The data were gained through a questionnaire survey. After an overview of the research methodology and respondents’ characteristics, the paper tackles the following questions: (1) whether and if yes, how the SMEs established the cooperation; (2) how they evaluate the efficacy of institutional support and (3) what they see as problematic areas in the course of cooperation. The paper concludes that there is need for further research to explore why (1) the majority of Hungarian SMEs which do not have an Austrian partner do not plan to establish any cooperation; (2) institutions play a negligible role in the establishment and maintenance of crossborder business relations; (3) SMEs accord little significance to cultural differences and cross-cultural knowledge