The Potentials for Technology Transfer via Foreign Direct Investment in Central East Europe - Results of a Field Study

Foreign direct investment plays a particularly crucial role in the processes of technological catch-up in Central East Europe. Whilst most countries of this region have received considerable direct investment, the composition of kinds of subsidiaries is different between countries and hence the prospects for intense technology transfer will also differ between countries. This contribution aims to compare the potentials for internal and external technology transfer across countries of Central East Europe by analysing the management-relationship between subsidiaries and their parents and the market-relationships between subsidiaries and their host economy. For this, a firm-level database of some 458 subsidiaries in Estonia, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia is analysed empirically