Search results

After the collapse of communist and socialist regimes at the beginning of 1990s, a number of Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies started their journey into capitalism by establishing private property and capital markets. As a result, a number of stock markets have since been established in the region. Since then, they have displayed considerable growth in size and degree of sophistication, and they have attracted the interest of academics for a number of reasons. First, these markets provide a possibility to re-examine existing asset-pricing models and pricing anomalies in the conditions of the evolving markets. Market efficiency of the CEE markets is tested in Ratkovicova (1999) and Gilmore and McManus (2001); a version of the CAPM is tested in Charemza and Majerowska (2000); Mateus (2004) explores the predictability of European emerging market returns within an unconditional asset-pricing framework while the January-pricing anomaly is studied in Henke (2003). Second, in the light of growing interdependencies between world equity markets due to enhanced capital movements, numerous studies have investigated the extent to which emerging European stock markets are integrated with global markets, and the extent to which they are subjects to global shocks (Gelos & Sahay, 2000; Gilmore & McManus, 2002; Scheicher, 2001). Among the CEE markets, those of the Vysegrad countries (Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic) have attracted most of the attention of the academics due to their economies faster growth relative to their regional counterparts (Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Baltic countries), in addition to political stability and their (successfully realized) prospects of joining the European Union (EU).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and the likelihood of subsidiaries exporting on an intra‐regional basis to European markets.

The paper defines the strategic development of subsidiaries as increases in autonomy, embeddedness in host locations and use of networks and host country sourcing. The location of subsidiaries in industrial clusters is also considered. Use is made of multinomial probit analysis of a survey of 391 UK‐based subsidiaries to identify the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and supplying European markets.

The study finds some evidence that there are links between increasing networks and supplying European markets, but there is no evidence that developing host country sourcing is associated with European supply. Location in an industrial cluster is consistently associated with supplying European markets, and autonomy also appears to be closely associated with supplying European markets.

Extension of the research is required to other regional trade blocs such as Mercosur and North American Free Trade Agreement. The role of networks and the links to location in industrial clusters require further exploration, and future research needs to include the services and knowledge‐intensive sectors.

The paper adds to the understanding of subsidiary development in the context of intra‐regional trading and thereby expands the literature on the regional strategy of multinationals. It highlights the importance of different types of autonomy for encouraging intra‐regional trade by foreign‐owned subsidiaries, and the central role of location in industrial clusters.

Yusaf Akbar is Associate Professor of International Business at the Southern New Hampshire University, United States. His teaching and research interests are in foreign direct investment, public policy and strategy, and his geographical area interests are in East and Central Europe. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of World Business, Thunderbird International Business Review and World Competition. Yusaf has been Visiting Professor at various schools around the world, including the American University in Bulgaria, ESSCA, the KMBS, the MIB School of Management-Trieste, and Thunderbird.