Our paper explores the recent trends in outward processing (OP) of German firms in former centrally planned economies (CPEs). We argue that OP is an interesting alternative to cross-border trade and equity foreign arrangements. We present the theoretical framework to understand OP as well as...

The paper is intended to explore the prospective direction of structural adjustment in eastern Germany in the light of recent developments. The authors do argue that the Mezzogiorno-picture, a completely de-industrialized region between the Elbe- and the Oder-river, is not convincing. In the...

The paper offers a vision of the future of cross-border activities between Germany and the Central and East European reform countries. It provides a comprehensive theoretical framework and it presents some stylized facts. It focuses on three prominent areas: trade in goods and services,...

Several studies have emphasized the links between trade reorientation and industrial restructuring in transition countries. In these studies trade has usually been considered as transactions among unrelated enterprises in different countries. However, an important and steadily growing share of...

This paper deals with the interactions between outward investments of western multinationals and export performance of their affiliates in transition countries. It argues that multinationals make an important contribution to increasing, diversifying and up-grading trade, because they are able to...

In dem Aufsatz wird versucht, einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem derzeitigen strukturellen Wandel in der ostdeutschen Industrie und dem Grad der Handelbarkeit der dort produzierten Güter herauszuarbeiten. Dieser Idee liegt die These zugrunde, daß der Produktionseinbruch und der Preisverfall um so...

Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in den neuen Ländern ist im Begriff, sich immer mehr auszudifferenzieren. Standorte, die im Windschatten der Wachstumsknoten liegen, haben dabei das Nachsehen. Der Nordosten Brandenburgs ist einer dieser Standorte. Um zu einer Arbeitsteilung mit den benachbarten...

The process of selling a state-owned company in former centrally planned economies (CPEs) differs greatly from that of buying a private company in western market economies. While a private seller is normally interested in selling his portfolio expensively, a privatizing agency in CPEs has...

In a transforming economy there is a common legacy of most companies: their low competitiveness as the result of an obsolete capital stock and overmanning, insufficient product quality that does not satisfy demand, distorted specialization patterns, high and partly ill-designed integration,...

It is often argued that the process of globalization has mainly favoured large-scale multinational companies which are able to organize their business efficiently within internal hierarchies. However, globalization has not only pushed cross-border intra-finn transactions but also other...