Research report on current business challenges for Western multinational firms in CEE

01/07/2020

The students of the Master Class CEE 2019-20 presented before their virtual graduation the final report of the project seminar on "Changing business challenges for Western multinational firms in Central and Eastern Europe in times of the Covid-19 pandemic".

The Master Class CEE identified in its research project six business challenges for Western multinational firms in EU-CEE 11: labor and skills shortage, the emergence of new competitors from other CEE countries and Asia, nationalist and protectionist tendencies in politics, a decline in the quality of institutions, a push to the necessary transition from a low-cost to an innovation-driven economy, and specific geo-political/economic developments posing a threat to the economies of CEE. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic postpones the labor shortage issue and will accelerate the digitalization of the economies and societies. In the other areas, regional players have rather to expect a reinforcement of the negative tendencies. The management of these regional players will have to pay more attention to the economic and political developments in the individual countries, upgrade regional management competencies in their organizations and consider the more comprehensive use of political strategies to protect the sustainability of their local businesses in CEE.

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