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.
In our paper we focus on the economic situation of Polish families observed in the consecutive waves of the household budget data collected by the Central Statistical Office within the period of 1987 - 1993. The available data put various limits on our investigation. It is a common sense that in all turbulent economic systems a substantial part of GNP (estimated sometimes up to 20 or 30 %) exists beyond the scope of the official statistics. Incomes were under reported on a significant scale under the old economic regime but distributional effects of the under-reporting have probably changed. Another deficit of the Polish household budget surveys is a limited coverage of the total population. Up to 1993 Polish households were stratified by the sampling procedure in four socio-economic group: workers (employees), farmers, mixed households (households receiving incomes from farm and employment) and pensioners. In the consequence, households with heads being a self-employed person in the private non-agricultural sector (and few other categories of minor importance) were excluded from the surveys. The excluded groups add up to approximately 12 % of population in the end of 80's. The re-weighting procedure we use in our investigations cannot set off a total bias caused by the incorrect sample procedure.
This paper presents the attempt to launch a periodic consumer survey programme within the conditions of free-market economy build in contemporary Poland. The consumer survey approach is based on a theory of psychological economics developed in the forties by George Katona. It explores relationships between attitudes of consumers and macro- economic trends determining business cycles. The extend to which such macro-economic factors as the level of consumer goods production depend on consumers appraisal and moods can itself be the measure of the role of free-market mechanisms in economy. To check if in today Poland one can notice performance of this kind of mechanisms an analysis was carried out in which assessments of consumer confidence made by DEMOSKOP over a period of 37 months were compared with the data, published monthly by the Central Statistical Office - GUS, concerning retail sales and industrial production. Some of the results of the analysis are presented in this paper. They justify the statement that the Polish economy has begun to adopt free-market rules in some areas while in another ones it still remains depending on administrative rather than consumer decisions. The brief discussion of the problems met by an attempt to apply an approach of psychological economics to contemporary Polish conditions ends the paper.
This paper describes the development of the model to deal with changes in one of the organisations so far studied in Slovenia. It has been an achievement of the type of model used that this process could all be accommodated. However, it emerged that for satisfactory results it was necessary to incorporate processes outside the enterprise itself, in the external environment: political, legal, social, economic; it was also clear that the severe market challenges faced by the organisation were of influence in dictating the speed of change and providing a rationalisation of it, but did not appear to have influenced its direction to the extent or in a way that would be expected in a Western corporate situation.
Undoubtedly, when real regional peace is achieved the Arab countries will face fierce competition from Israel's financial, manufacturing and services corporations. This threat must be realized and plans must be developed by Middle East countries to respond and identify ways in which they can, in turn, benefit from the opportunities created to promote themselves in a larger marketplace. A marketplace that will also include Israel. But do they really have any other choice? We know the answer and we are expected to play our role: induce change.
The Gulf War had a profound impact on Saudi Arabia's political climate as well as its economic and market structures. Macro-economic dislocations have included sizeable budget deficits and dwindling financial reserves, not only due to the direct costs incurred during the war but due to substantially increased military spending since the war. Other developments have included a change in the composition of the expatriate workforce due to the government work permit policies, which had a particularly marked impact on the retail trade. Economic recovery has been unexpectedly buoyant, largely driven by private sector confidence. As a result, prospects for marketers look as promising as ever as attested by strong consumer as well as institutional demand for products and services. The paper will discuss demographic, macro-economic as well as market related changes since the Gulf War and will draw on the results of research carried out by MEMRB on: the changing structure of the retail trade and prevailing retailer attitudes' consumer beliefs and attitudes towards key socio-economic issues Through this period of rapid change market research has played a vital role in assisting companies come to grips with the changing political, social as well as economic landscape, providing vital input for the formulation of business strategy.
Assuming a minimum of peace and political stability can be achieved in the Middle East, free-market economic strategies should be implemented. These should include, among others, privatisation programs of State enterprises, coupled with development of stock exchanges to drain both domestic and foreign capital, similar to the successful programs recently carried out in countries as different as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, India, South Korea, Taiwan or Thailand for instance. The following areas appear to offer promising development opportunities: -Tourism, Industry, Finance, Communications.
Major economic changes are taking place in Poland, as in other East European countries. Privatisation of state owned enterprises is one of the most important elements of the economic reforms. Privatisation by means of Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the flagship of the property reforms in Poland. Although this method of privatisation concerns only a relatively small number of companies it is the most spectacular part of the whole process which has a major impact on the success of the entire Polish economic reform.
The paper is divided in two parts. The first part discusses the estimations of the economic and social consequences of the transformation process in the Central and East Europe given by the residents of that region. Majority of the region's inhabitants feel the decline of their country's economic situation as well as of their family's financial, situation but they still prefer the economic reform towards the market economy. The second part of the article describes the economic values of the Lithuanian population. The concept of the potential entrepreneurship is introduced in this part and the typology of the Lithuanian population based on that concept is presented. Data used for the analysis of the economic values and for the classification were obtained from the studies of the quantitative nature conducted by the "Baltic surveys" company in 1990-1993. Four types of people according to their attitudes towards the different kinds of activities and prefered sphere of the activity are described. Special attention is devoted to the issues of the privatization and involvment in the reform. Influence of the socio-demographic variables on the potential entrepreneurship and individual activity is discussed. Analysis of the data obtained from both international comparative and regular Lithuanian surveys show that in spite of the hardship in the every 7 day life the majority of the Lithuanians support the economic reform. Younger group is more enterprising and future-oriented than the older group in Lithuanian society.
Understanding transitions in the Russian economy was examined from two different perspectives: 1. the perceptions and attitudes of the people towards that transition and 2. the nature of the values and self perceptions of those people that allow one to understand what to expect from those people. This dual process is proposed as a way to more fully understand the issues, this study is presented as a model for further investigation of societies in transition. The Russian people are far more concerned about their material well being than with political issues. Their primary concerns were with policies that create severe inflation which prices goods out of the reach of the majority of people. Many people need, first, the basic necessities of food, housing, clothing, health care and furniture. They reported that they could not afford the basic goods and services. Still, among these concerns about inflation and meeting their basic needs, there was an overwhelming support for the privatisation of land ownership and the encouragement of small businesses, foreign investment, and the development of cooperatives. When the values and self perceptions of these people were examined in relationship to these fears, concerns and the support for emergence of an enterprise system with privatisation and business development, consistent profiles describe how the fears and hopes exist side by side. The emergence of a free enterprise system touches a core aspect of the Russian people: freedom. There is a freedom from fear and a freedom to improve that lies at the core of the Russian aspirations. Privatisation holds hope. Support of small businesses, investments and cooperatives provides opportunity. Against fears and the threat to the security of the Russian people stands a parallel hope and expectation of freedom from fear and real opportunity. The current problems must be overcome and fear may drive a societies response to our questions; but, if there are those with some hope and a desire for freedom, the transition may have the support that is needed to withstand the immediate fears and concerns.
After the political and economic opening of Eastern Europe towards the West, many companies which wanted to become active in these new markets asked quite quickly for market data. If any qualitative or quantitative market data on farm structures, decision-making procedures, relations of the agricultural sector to preceding and following sectors were available at all, due to quick changes of old farm structures, this information could only be used as initial data for planning. Due to the radical changes in the new federal Lander the demand for actualized data is relatively high. Market research has to face new challenges because the basic situation for carrying out market surveys in Eastern European countries is different from that in Western Europe and because market research has to react flexibly to continual changes. The experiences taken as a basis by PRODUKT + MARKT for carrying out agricultural surveys in Eastern Europe are shown by the example of the former GDR. Planning of market research projects is made in 3 steps: 1- Analysis of the status quo of the population ( = structure of agricultural producers cooperatives) in November 1989. 2- Continuous observation of the restructuring process and extrapolation of structured data. 3- Adaptation of the market research instruments - as they are used in West Germany - to the respective situation in the former GDR,
This paper examines the long term potential of the development of consumption of agricultural inputs in East Europe and contrasts that with the potential development in the EC. The input sectors considered are, animal feed, animal health and veterinary products, fertiliser, machinery, agrochemicals and seeds. The time horizon considered is 2000 to 2005 beyond the current and short term turmoil and set-backs. Animal health and agrochemical products are likely to demonstrate the largest shift in balance of relative size of market in favour of the East. In contrast seeds will not change markedly in the balance between East and West. Some greater emphasis of fertiliser towards the East may be expected. Animal feed use will change its balance with a greater relative emphasis on the EC. Input manufacturer strategists also have to take into account farm structure developments and their impact on distribution needs. The pattern of reducing tariffs on trade and increase ad hoc use of non-tariff, technical barriers to trade will be dynamic and difficult to predict in detail. Downstream food chain revitalisation will also play an important role in impeding or encouraging agricultural input use. The conclusion is that resource allocation for long term strategy realisation can be more refined than a pure chance decision and evaluation of the politics and economics is worthwhile.