Central European transition economies' multinationals

When discussing the transition to a market economy, outward foreign direct investments (OFDIs) have, with few exceptions (Svetličič’s two ACE projects, ² Andreff 2002, 2003; Kalotay 2003; Liuhto and Jumpponen 2003), been almost left out of consideration. Nevertheless, since 1997 firms from more advanced transition economies (TEs) have started investing abroad, even though they were not devoid of any previous experiences from the socialist period (Hamilton 1986; McMillan 1987). Such activities were more an exception than the rule. The motives were quite different from those of ‘normal’ internationalization. The situation has changed recently, but most attention has shifted to emerging economies’ multinationals. It almost looks as if emerging economies’ outward internationalization is a completely new phenomenon. Yet the origin of such multinational companies (MNCs) can be traced back nearly a century in history. Third world ³ (TW) multinational companies ⁴ (TWMNCs) or investing abroad by firms from developing countries (LDCs) started to attract attention back in the 1980s (Kumar and McLeod 1981; Wells 1982, 1983; Lall 1983; Dunning 1986; Khan 1986; Svetličič 1986, 1987). Moreover, such companies became part of the ‘official’ development strategy of developing countries in the context of enhancing their economic and technical cooperation. Such forms were also regarded as part of their strategy towards Western MNCs. Articles on South-South investments emerged (Svetličič 1987; Svetličič in cooperation with Rojec 1987; Aykut and Ratha 2004).