ABSTRACT
The Hungarian glass industry had a only one firm until 1988, a conglomerate called Glass Industry Works. When this report was written, the firm was under liquidation because the management and the main creditors, mostly banks, had been unable to agree upon any feasible program for the settlement of Salgglas's debts. As a matter of fact, privatization had been of prime importance ever since it became clear that Salgglas would be unable to finance those investment projects necessary to maintain the firm's presence on key markets, that the minimal legal and institutional framework necessary for privatization existed in Hungary. The SPA suggested an open tender for Salgglas's privatization, but the Belgian-Japanese group insisted on exclusivity even in negotiations. The structure of inventories at Salgglas showed the side of the coin, that being the lack of success of the marketing efforts of the new management; there had been a permanent increase in the share of finished products in the firm's inventories.
