Vincent Edwards

Independence and Co-Operation Among Small Businesses: The Case of the Turkish Shotgun Industry in a Period of Recession

Purpose – The article seeks to explore the importance of entrepreneurial behaviour and inter‐firm co‐operation for small firms seeking growth in a volatile, recession‐hit environment. Entrepreneurial behaviour is defined as seeking opportunities, developing new products and entering new markets. Strategic thinking and strategy type determine behaviour. Inter‐firm co‐operation includes both horizontal and vertical relationships.Design/methodology/approach – A case study of co‐operating firms and questionnaire survey of independent firms were conducted in the Turkish shotgun industry.Findings – Small firms engaging in co‐operation and applying prospector/analyser‐type strategies achieve greater success and growth than independent firms in the same industry. Moreover, co‐operation includes socio‐psychological, strategic and network dimensions, which are essential factors for success and growth.Research limitations/implications – Since the sample comprised only one case and a small number of independent firms...

Organisational leadership in transforming economies: leadership, management and national culture in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Der Artikel zeigt die Ergebnisse einer Umfrage unter Managers in sieben Landern Ostmitteleuropas im Bereich von Fuhrung und Management, dem Ausmas an Achtung Untergebener gegenuber Vorgesetzten, Arbeit und Freizeit und ethischen Belangen auf. Bei der Diskussion der Befunde wird besondere Aufmerksamkeit auf Gemein-samkeiten und Unterschiede in den Antworten der Manager aus den verschiedenen Landern gelegt.

Czech and Slovak management

At the end of the Second World War in 1945 the former Czechoslovakia had proportionately one of the largest communist parties in Europe. A distinctive feature of postwar Czechoslovak history has been the attempt of communists in the former Czechoslovakia to create a form of democratic communism, a process culminating in the Prague Spring of 1968. The crushing of the Prague Spring in 1969 by the armed forces of the Soviet Union and various other Warsaw Pact countries resulted in the widespread rejection of communism by the Czechoslovaks.

Management in the countries of the former Yugoslavia

The development of management in the successor states of the former Yugoslav Federation has been strongly influenced by the respective states’ historical, cultural and economic legacy as well as by their experience of the break-up of Yugoslavia since 1989 (Edwards, 2000).

Management in Central and Eastern Europe: the legacy of the past

1989 was a watershed for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and subsequently for the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU), as the all-embracing system of state socialism collapsed. State socialism had comprised a political system, an economic system as well as a particular form of social system: all of these elements impacted directly on the lives of individuals. In this the ruling Communist Party (whatever it actually called itself) played the leading role. This collapse of the system was not sudden, but the culmination of a process of decline and change. Although based on an ideal model of a socialist society, the system had over the years been adapted and modified to sustain its viability and promote its survival. In the end the system in CEE and the FSU succumbed to a combination of internal contradictions and external pressures. The socialist system, however, has left its legacy on the countries of the region; it could hardly have been otherwise after 75 years of communism in the Soviet Union and 45 years in the rest of CEE.