This paper explores differences and similarities in a few basic value orientations in Eastern and Western European countries. Since knowledge about Eastern European countries is scarce or even lacking, no clear hypotheses with respect to these differences and similarities are formulated. The only very broad expectation was that in general Eastern European countries would be less modem and consequently less individualised than Western European countries. The data used to explore these differences and similarities are gathered in 1990 in the European Values Study, covering all Western European countries and many countries in Eastern Europe. Value orientations are compared in the domains of religion, morality, politics, work, family, marriage and sexuality. The comparisons did not yield strong evidence for the assumed backwardness in modernisation of Eastern Europeans. As far as work orientations are concerned. Eastern Europeans are slightly more traditional, whereas in orientations regarding marriage, family and sexuality most Eastern Europeans express more modem preferences than many Western Europeans. Further, Eastern Europe appears to be a rather heterogeneous area, as is, of course, the case of Western Europe, too. Both areas are no cultural entities which can be separated clearly from each other. They appear far from homogeneous. Previous studies demonstrated that there still exist profound cross-national differences in Western Europe and the results presented in this paper yield a similar conclusion. In general, Northwestern European countries are more individualised than Southern European countries. In Eastern Europe Polish society appears to be least modem in many respect. An important conservative factor seems to be the Catholic church, for countries in East and West in which the Catholic church is still dominant and in a privileged position, are least modem.
In the 1989-1993 period, a profound revolution transformed the car market in Poland. In parallel to an economic bust and a drop in real incomes, the number of registered passenger cars grew by. Most of the newly registered vehicles were second-hand, privately imported cars from the West. This lead to a 10% increase in the share of Western cars in the total of privately owned cars. An influential factor behind this private import was the stereotype of "Western equals better" - this being regardless of brand, playing a secondary role. All Western brands are rated higher than in domestic and East European. The stereotype of a monolith group of "Western better" is now becoming differentiated by individual brand image. The public opinion's favorites are Mercedes and BMW, also highly regarded are other brands held to be German. The transformation in Poland led to a change in brand perception and consumer behavior. FIAT's investments led to an appreciation of domestically manufactured cars. German brands continue with their stable high standing, and Japanese and French brands clearly improved their image. East European brands are depreciated. The distinction into "domestic inferior - imported better" is subsiding. The emotional approach is losing ground to rational behavior. Buying decisions are most strongly dependent on price, exploitation costs, safety concerns. When those values are more or less equal - it is the brand image that decides.
The paper discusses the benefit of the introducing of the health insurance system in the Czech Republic. It explains the role of particular subjects of the system : government, health insurance companies, providers of the health care and clients. These findings are partly based on the secondary data. The paper also summarizes the results which were obtained through the primary research. The survey with standard structured questionnaire has been led in Moravia region (the important part of the Czech Republic with 3 million of inhabitants) last year. The sample size was 609 respondents. The quota sampling was formed in respect of the sex, age, education, place of living and gross income of household.
This paper discusses the assumptions implicit in much advertising used in Western European countries and how these are not always appropriate to what are often new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. In the same was as all Western European countries cannot be considered similar and may require different advertising, the same is TRUE when considering markets further East. It examines what are the sources of acquisition of knowledge, such as TV and films (often American), what can be taken as shared knowledge and what cannot, and how this is likely to affect understanding and interpretation of the images presented in advertising. Examples are given from recent research carried out in a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
As a result of the combination of the "Culture of the Jars" and the mechanism of transferring of state funds to the private sector there were: - impossible food prices, but the people feed themselves - solvent demand in goods for long-term use - political and social passiveness of the population - extraordinary tranquillity That is also the reason why in the eyes of many foreigners, Bulgaria looks like the "Sleepyhead of the Balkans", like an incredible country. The sacrifice and the self-sacrifice of a whole generation (the older people) is one of the major reason for this. And so 0 the economic reforms are not coming, there is no large-scale privatisation, the employment rate skyrockets, the state enterprises stop operation one after the other, the buying power of the salaries decreases in times and there is no reaction to all that. For example, You would like to buy a losing enterprise or not functioning at all. As the enterprise is state, You address Your offer to the relevant state department. You make a very good mutual advantageous offer. Nobody else wants to buy this enterprise. It doesn't mean, however, that You are going to accomplish a deal. In most of the cases an enterprise of that kind is part of someone's scheme of transferring budget funds to his private firm. The person (or persons) empowered politically to hold themselves in this situation have enough power to send your offer in the dust- bin. In short Your "mutual advantageous" offer is not properly addressed to those who really own the enterprise and make profit out of it.
A lot has already been said here about changes. Changes in the economy, in aspirations and social values, changes in attitudes, changes in consumer behaviour, changes in producersâ behaviour. Retail and wholesale trade belonged to the areas where the radical developments of the early 90âs changed the situation dramatically. The Czech Republic can be given as an example. In the past, the patterns of Czech retailing corresponded with the state of the whole economy - low amounts of selling space, inconvenient retail structures and the consumer in an inferior role. After the fall of the communist regime a principal economic transition started. Privatisation has entirely changed the ownership structure and both the retail and wholesale network have become enormously fragmented. Now a re- concentration process has been started. These developments go hand in hand with changes in the quality of retail supply and are supported by a large influx of international chains.
The author, in this paper, will draw on his experiences in Poland acquired since January 1994 highlighting the difficulties his company has faced since acquiring a business at the beginning of 1994. The business, a dairy in Slupsk, North West Poland, will be used to illustrate what progress has been made in changing management of that business and what is still required to be done. The author will, where appropriate, make comparisons with another Polish business where his company has formed a partnership with local government.
Czech and Slovak consumers' attitudes toward brands have undergone a massive shift since the opening of the market, becoming significantly more sophisticated and critical over the last five years. Compared to extremely price-sensitive and conservative purchase habits measured in 1991 present consumers have become more oriented to quality and expense, experimental with untried and Western brands, and discerning of price/quality relationships and differences between products. However, there is evidence to suggest that this shift is over: now that the market is stabilizing, a leveling off can be seen in consumers' attitudes. They are no longer consumers in embryo, but have the makings of mature, discriminating decision-makers. Basic consumer types have emerged with distinctive attitudes, which should continue to solidify given continued experience with increasing selection and advertising. AISA implemented a five-part general study measuring the consumer population's attitudes to FMCG brands and increased selection in the marketplace. Based on the findings, we were able to construct a consumer typology based on commonalities in attitudes toward the following dimensions.
This paper is devoted to a discussion of the influence of high inflation economies dominated in most countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union on the choice of marketing strategy and the ways to measure the speed of inflation. The first section of the paper outlines the distinction between objective and subjective aspects of inflation and discusses the main consequences of the two on the choice of marketing strategy. It shows that if objective inflation operates on a macro-economic level and affects the general marketing environment, the subjective speed of inflation (inflationary expectations) has an impact on patterns of consumer behavior and other psychological variables. This paper reviews different approaches of measuring the objective and subjective speed of inflation from the early method up to including new techniques. The empirical background consists of a series of cross-section and panel studies conducted by the Institute for Comparative Social Research (Moscow, Russia) between 1991-1994. New ways to overcome traditional difficulties of measuring objective inflation using the Consumer Price Index are introduced.
The paper aims at providing an overview of the results of the transformation process after five years, with the emphasis on failures rather than on achievements. The bias is deliberate, aiming at better exposing problems and resulting policy challenges currently confronted by the transition countries. The analysis is limited to six central European transition countries, chiefly because both their history and recent economic performance have been shaped by broadly similar factors, in contrast to the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia. Expectations raised by the collapse of communism are briefly summarized in section 2 and are followed in section 3 by a discussion of main outcomes of the transformation process. Section 4 concludes.
This paper is analysing the micro-economic behaviour of households in seven post- Communist societies: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The first chapter of the paper is describing the structure and the activities of the Austrian Paul Lazarsfeld-Society, the second chapter is describing the cross-national and annual survey-research-programme NEW DEMOCRACIES BAROMETER, which forms the data basis of this paper. The third chapter deals with the economic situation of households in 1994 compared with the situation under the command economy before 1989 whereas the fourth chapter is describing the subjective satisfaction with the economic situation of the household in 1994. Chapter 5 is analysing the financial situation of post-Communist households in general, a specific theme of the actual financial situation is dealt with in chapter 6 which is explaining how households are getting by with a regular income within the official economy. The concluding chapters deal with micro-economic expectations for the future: chapter 7 is describing the expected economic situation of the household in five years time, whereas chapter 8 is rounding up the paper by showing the extent of optimism and pessimism on the micro- economic level in post-Communist societies.