Business operations in transition countries are subject to numerous obstacles. This study uses enterprise-level data collected by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to analyze which potential obstacles are the greatest impediments and how firm and/or...

Transition requires the reallocation of resources across activities through closure of inefficient firms and the creation of new firms. It also requires restructuring of existing firms where improvements in performance are feasible. Both processes are closely tied together and are aimed at...

This theoretical study attempts to sketch an initial picture of diversified micro- enterprises (0-9 employees) in transitional economies, such as those in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). A framework of political, economic and legal...

Governments throughout Eastern Europe have been singularly unsuccessful in dealing with large loss-making SOEs. A more promising approach would create an incentive framework and legal environment where the SOE's major non-government creditor can take the lead in initiating restructuring and the...

How do new and foreign firms achieve superior productivity? Do they conduct more and better R&D? Or do they distinguish themselves through computerization and organizational capital? We investigate the determinants of and returns to several types of investment, using a panel of over 40,000...

We compare organizational forms (U-form and M-form) in coordinating changes such as innovations in business firms and reforms in transition economies. In our model, organizational forms affect the information structure of an organization, and thus the way to coordinate changes and to experiment...

We present a model to explain why in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe an important output fall has been associated with price liberalization. Its key ingredients are search frictions and Williamsonian relation-specific investment, implying that new investments are made only...

This paper discusses the mechanisms of corporate governance in a centrally planned economy, following Kornai’s classical work on the Socialist system. We evaluate the role of different co-ordination mechanisms used in central and east European countries. A critical analysis of the five...

Increased international competition poses challenges to companies' organizational practices, including human resource management. For multinational companies operating simultaneously in diverse local conditions this challenge implies a decision between either opting for universal best practices...