ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Japan's stagnating presence in Central European countries related to risk in the host countries. Throughout the 1980s, Japanese Daihatsu and other Japanese companies have been in keen competition to get a contract for the project with the Polish Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych (FSO). The chapter focuses on the reasons for European superiority over Japan in such competitions in order to investigate the stagnant presence of Japan's foreign direct investment in Central European countries. Although the statistics vary from one source to another, whichever statistic is used, the Japanese position in foreign direct investment in Poland is quite small. On 27 November 1986 the FSO Worker's Council announced their analysis of the case and supported Daihatsu, claiming that Daihatsu was offering a more advanced type of car and better financial conditions, including lower licensing costs, more favorable terms of loan repayment and better conditions for the export of cars made in Poland.
