ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the behavior of Hungarian enterprises during 1991–92. The findings are based on interviews with six Hungarian firms: Budaprint; Gedeon Richter; The Hungarian National Oil and Gas Trust; Müszertechnika; Szim; and Taurus. These firms encompass a broad range of problems and characteristics typical of Hungarian industry. Because the firms were strongly influenced by domestic and foreign shocks, the chapter precedes the case studies with a description of the economic and policy environment in 1991–92 and draws some general conclusions from the interviews. The changes in the macroeconomic situation during 1991 point to the strong commitment of the government to keep monetary developments and the external balance under strict control at the expense of the entrepreneurial sector and households. Firms, such as Szim and Taurus, had domestic deliveries that were tied to the exports of other Hungarian firms, the exports of buses by the Hungarian bus maker Ikarus in the case of these two firms.
