| Research Abstract |
When we are going to compare the enterprises in the former Soviet Countries with those in the Central and East European countries, we can do so from several points of view. The investigator has ever compared those from general point of view (Shizuko KATO, "Business and management in the Former Soviet countries and the Central and East European countries" in : Toshio TAKAHASHI (ed.), Comparative management, Zeimukeirikyoukai,2003). In this research project, the investigator tried to make comparison, focusing on two topics; (1) what are the relationships between business and society? (2) to what extent have small and medium sized enterprises (SME) grown up?
(1) One of the main differences between the enterprises in the former Soviet countries (for instance, Russia) and the Central and East European countries (for instance, Poland) is that the former Soviet enterprises are more closely connected to government and public administration, and tend to concentrate their effort on rent-seeking activity. In Russia such a tendency first appeared in the Yel'tsin presidency. But recently we can find some symptoms of positive changes in the Putin presidency.
(2) While many authors have already mentioned the importance of SME development for the transition economies, current situation of SME development is considerably different from country to country. Based on our comparative research of SME development in Russia, Poland, Hungary, and China, we can say as follows: (1) The quantitative development of SME itself cannot secure the economic development, and the quality of SME is more important. (2) The situation of SME development in each country is closely related to the country's macroeconomic situation, social and cultural environment, the way how its planned economy functioned in the socialist period, and so on. (3) SME support policy should be different among countries.
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