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1 – 10 of over 1000Reviews the nature of retailing in Czechoslovakia today and seeksto explain the reasons for its present unsatisfactory state. Forty yearsof central planning removed the developed…
Abstract
Reviews the nature of retailing in Czechoslovakia today and seeks to explain the reasons for its present unsatisfactory state. Forty years of central planning removed the developed retail structures which existed in market‐oriented Czechoslovakia between World War I and World War II and replaced them with a state‐owned and‐controlled distribution system. The transformation of Czechoslovakia towards an open market economy, begun formally in January 1991, is expected to change fundamentally the nature of retailing in Czechoslovakia. Over the next ten to 15 years, retailing in Czechoslovakia will come increasingly to resemble that in the geographically and culturally related countries of Western Europe. In particular, market segmentation is already changing the structure of retailing in Czechoslovakia. First indications are that the most successful new formats will be large‐scale, price‐led supermarkets and small speciality shops selling fresh produce or fashion goods.
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This paper aims to analyze an important series of events in the history of marketing in socialist Europe and the internationalization of marketing thought and practice. Examining…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze an important series of events in the history of marketing in socialist Europe and the internationalization of marketing thought and practice. Examining the reception of the marketing concept in communist Czechoslovakia, the study shows the effective blockage of the implementation of marketing approaches by orthodox communist authorities. The paper demonstrates the distinctiveness and importance of the Czechoslovak case and provides a basis for integrating that experience into the larger history of marketing under socialism.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an extensive review of the most relevant Czech and Slovak primary sources including trade journals, manuals and textbooks in marketing and related fields, party and government documents and statements on commercial issues, and other important professional literature on domestic commerce.
Findings
The paper provides insights into the use of communist political power to suppress the use of marketing as contrary to the social and ideological goals of socialism. It identifies the rise of marketing approaches during a brief “marketing moment” following market-oriented economic reforms in 1965 and lasting through the “Prague Spring” of 1968. Following the restoration of orthodox communist control, new policies of “normalization” dictated the decline of marketing, which returned to its earlier status of near-invisibility. The suppression of marketing thought and practice lasted until the end of communist rule in 1989.
Originality/value
This paper analyzes an unexamined case of marketing in a socialist society and places the case in broader comparative context.
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During the last few years, political and economic change in Eastern Europe has naturally had a big impact on international affairs and this is also very much the case in a Nordic…
Abstract
During the last few years, political and economic change in Eastern Europe has naturally had a big impact on international affairs and this is also very much the case in a Nordic country like Sweden. The Eastern Europe research centres at The Stockholm School of Economics and Uppsala University have taken an active part and contributed to the debate. The special nature of East European affairs, with political, economic and ecological issues so tightly intermingled, has made people in general and the business sector more aware about the closeness of the Baltic States and Central and Eastern Europe. A wide range of positive and negative effects are discussed daily.
This study examines educational inequalities under socialism in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia to assess the extent to which egalitarianism was achieved and…
Abstract
This study examines educational inequalities under socialism in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia to assess the extent to which egalitarianism was achieved and whether there was restratification after the common retreat from egalitarian ideology and practices since the 1970s. Exploring the extent of parental influences in three key educational outcomes and their changes in four birth cohorts, the study finds remarkable stability across cohorts and across transitions. Contrary to expectation, the net effect of parental social capital (communist party membership status) is prominent only in the former Soviet Russia and Bulgaria, moderate in Czechoslovakia, and negligible in Hungary and Poland. On the other hand, the effect of parental cultural capital is consistently strong but its influence is somewhat weaker at higher transitions. Its inclusion also dramatically reduces the effect of parental education and father’s occupation, suggesting that a significant extent of intergenerational transmission of educational inequality is mediated through parental cultural capital rather than human capital per se.
This paper aims to provide a description of the language of advertising in socialist Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) and to offer an understanding of its nature. It focuses on…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a description of the language of advertising in socialist Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) and to offer an understanding of its nature. It focuses on significant linguistic characteristics of the discourse and on the means of argumentation and persuasion.
Design/methodology/approach
Linguistic investigation of the grammar and pragmatics of language used and content analysis studying the lexical level of ads while also considering the broader context in the way of discourse analysis.
Findings
The paper shows that statements are the most frequent utterance type across all the decades and appeals, which one could associate with a direct and strong addressee orientation (and, perhaps, authoritarian system, too), are only present marginally. Concerning what is advertised, the promotion of manufacturer/seller is frequent compared to specific products. A category of product type was relatively important, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike capitalist advertising, socialist promotion shows also instances of socio-educational and state-political promotion.
Originality/value
As no such study was conducted so far, this paper shows that Czechoslovak socialist advertising constructed an imagination that was very much dependent on consumerism just like advertising in Western capitalist countries, and at the same time, it was reflecting specific socio-political circumstances.
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T. Angelus, M. Kecskemeti and G. Arato
The mortality rate attributed to hernias in 24 European countries in the last decades are analysed in the interest of quality assurance in health care. Ranking countries according…
Abstract
The mortality rate attributed to hernias in 24 European countries in the last decades are analysed in the interest of quality assurance in health care. Ranking countries according to the mortality rate and to the distribution of deaths by age groups gives an acceptable and appropriate method for the assessment of both the health situation and the health services in different countries.
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Continues the discussion begun in part one of the article(Structural Survey 10.1) with some of the problems faced byCzechoslovakia following the separation of that country from…
Abstract
Continues the discussion begun in part one of the article (Structural Survey 10.1) with some of the problems faced by Czechoslovakia following the separation of that country from the old Soviet Union. Reviews the post‐war construction industry, concluding with a suggestion of the development opportunities awaiting developers, particularly in Prague, though counselling caution.
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Barbara Emadi‐Coffin and Mehrdad Emadi‐Moghadam
The recent process of the transition to market systems in the CentralEuropean economies has had profound effects on both trade and domesticoutput. Two of the by‐products of the…
Abstract
The recent process of the transition to market systems in the Central European economies has had profound effects on both trade and domestic output. Two of the by‐products of the transition, the fall in the volume of intra‐COMECON trade as well as the deliberate tightening of the fiscal stance in the economies of these countries, have contributed significantly to a fall in the level of manufacturing output, particularly in the case of the former Czechoslovakia. Examines the implications of the behaviour of the trade account and of government fiscal policy for the domestic manufacturing sector in former Czechoslovakia between 1990 and 1992. Industrial restructuring was extreme, leading to increased reliance on imports: however, the contraction in the manufacturing sector may have kept wages pressures and inflation low, as well as attracting foreign investment, leading to a relatively successful transition for the Czech Republic.
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Ed Clark and Anna Soulsby
Our aim is to be as current as possible. What follows is a very broad overview of the ideas and intentions of the proposed paper, rather than a precis of a paper already prepared…
Abstract
Our aim is to be as current as possible. What follows is a very broad overview of the ideas and intentions of the proposed paper, rather than a precis of a paper already prepared. We indicate the research background of the paper, allude to the principles of the theoretical framework we are developing, and describe the nature of the intensive case study that is to be carried out in Czechoslovakia in April 1992.
Marios I. Katsioloudes and Phillip W. Balsmeier
The three Central European countries (CE‐3), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, are gradually opening for direct investment. The opportunities are there for the U.S. investors…
Abstract
The three Central European countries (CE‐3), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, are gradually opening for direct investment. The opportunities are there for the U.S. investors, who need to be well aware and informed about the economies of the CE‐3, the business characteristics, the mentality of the people, and the successful companies already established there.