ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on four Hungarian enterprises in four distinct industrial sectors to illustrate the course of action each company has taken to “reinvent” itself. First, Tungsram, a formerly state-owned enterprise with a 100-year tradition of making lamps and lighting devices that has become a majority-owned subsidiary of General Electric company. Second, Videoton, a 50-year-old manufacturer of industrial and consumer electronics. Third, Peko Steel Works, a new, small steelmaker trying to rise from the ashes of an old, large one. Fourth, Graphisoft, a small, new enterprise, offers computer-assisted drafting software for architects. The future of the Hungarian economy and its enterprises will depend much on the commitment of political leaders to reform measures. In 1980, a few enterprising mathematicians, fed up with bureaucratic state enterprises, established a computer software firm in Budapest. The chapter looks at marketing in a new context–how the marketing concept is evolving in Hungarian enterprises.
