Post-socialist segmented capitalism: The case of Hungary. Developing business systems theory

Abstract

The article uses business systems theory to analyse post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on Hungary. The article briefly reviews five models of post-socialist capitalism — liberal market, coordinated market, heterarchy, neo-colonial and comparative business systems. The article identifies four critical features of postsocialist transformation: asset ownership, capital accumulation, access to local, national and international production systems and the degree of differentiation between state and economy. Four groups — state, privatized, de novo and international — are identified in Hungary, whose business system is segmented, exhibiting a low level of integration. This segmentation is linked to the legacies of socialism, the political history of the transition, including the international context, and uneven post-socialist economic development. The article closes with a plea for `more history and less systems' in the comparative analysis of capitalisms.

The phenomenon of young talent management in Russia—A context‐embedded analysis

“…These contradictory results may be explained by the types of companies considered in the various studies. Martin (2008) identifies various segments in post-socialist capitalism, namely, stateowned enterprises, privatized companies, de novo enterprises (established during the transformation period), and international companies (subsidiaries of foreign MNCs). These segments vary in terms of their embeddedness in the pretransformation socialist system of employment relations, the result of which is a continuum within which state-owned enterprises are deeply embedded and the international segment is only embedded to a very small degree.…”

Coping with Autocracy: Corporate Political Activity, Institutional Duality, and MNE Local Firm Rivalry During 'Institutional Backsliding'

“…We aimed at constructing a sample of companies from various sectors -including export-orientated and domestic ones -as well as containing the different ownership types that are commonly distinguished in the transition literature (SOEs, privatised incumbent firms, foreign new entrants, and domestic newly-established (de novo) firms (Martin 2008, Peng 2003.…”

Shadows of the Past

“…First, future studies should also compare firms from only two or three countries, which would provide the opportunity to go into more detail on the specifics of employee participation in firms and the role of communist heritage in these countries in the reproduction of institutionalized behaviors. Second, in order to evaluate the impact of past and current business systems and the interplay between different layers of business systems, a more in-depth conceptualization and measurement of business systems is required (see also Martin 2008). This could result in a four-level model covering (first level) the capitalistic or communistic past; (second level) country-specific effects, such as institutions that affect direct democracy at the workplace; (third level) firm-specific characteristics; and (fourth level) establishment-level characteristics.…”