ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the European Union’s PHARE-Struder programme. The reach of business networking as well as the number and interdependence of the actors involved are on the increase. The transformation of the economies of Central and Eastern Europe that started in 1990 has entailed, on the one hand, their ever broader inclusion in global industrial networks, and on the other, the creation of several types of new local networks. The case of the Polish Copper Combine shows that while the transformation process has caused a transition from a strongly hierarchical to a network-like structure, such a network is not a tertium datur between a hierarchy and the market. The network embraced not only money flows, but also the relations of opinion-giving, co-ordination, assessment, and control. For graphic reasons, the figure only includes major elements of the network connected with the principal fund – investment grants for small and medium-sized firms.
