Dynamics of Management Practices in Eastern Europe : The Case of Bulgaria

This paper introduces a new conceptual model for comparative research of management practices and social transformations in the context of the transition societies in Eastern Europe. The objectives of the research were: to develop an overview of the management system in Bulgaria before 1989 and its transformation during the transition; to investigate the variation in managerial practices in the new market conditions, and to test a typology of managerial roles and their transformation under different ownership. East European countries, as a consequence of their path-dependence on similar experience under the Socialist system of central planning, are expected to have similar managerial practices across the region. This paper attempts to provide a new conceptual model for testing such a proposition, and an in-depth analysis of two managerial cases from Bulgaria in order to reveal factors that create variations from the main trend. Our analysis of the transformation of management practices in Bulgaria has revealed the role played by managers’ dispositions and their specific responses to economic and political factors and institutional changes. Moderating variables in this research are the age group of the manager, size of the business, type of production technology and ownership. Six profiles of managers are defined. Through these profiles we explain the transformation of the professional/technocrat into a new type of manager/entrepreneur