INWARD INVESTMENT, REGIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT INEASTERN AND CENTRAL-EUROPE - ENTERPRISE CASE-STUDIES FROM SLOVAKIA

Inward investment has been accorded a central place in the 'transition ' programmes of East and Central European economies. This article seek s to examine the uneven regional development impacts of inward investm ent in Slovakia through a series of enterprise-level and regional case -studies. The article contests the claims of the proponents of the rol e of inward investment in transition which suggest that a positive set of impacts will arise out of new corporate structures resulting from foreign investment. Through examining the locally specific impacts of inward manufacturing investment in relation to different corporate str ategies, technology transfer and modernization, labour-market transfor mation and local supplier subcontracting, the article argues that reli ance upon inward investment may not be the 'god-send' that many sugges t it will be and that there is enormous diversity in the local impacts of new investment. The article concludes with a consideration of the role of inward investment in Europe's eastern periphery.