Integrating Central European countries in multinational firms' production networks, and the consequences

Since the late 1980s, Central European countries have adopted a strategy fo r integration in the world economy, particularly through international inve stment. How have the investments made by multinational firms in Central Eur ope helped industrial structures converge with those in developed European lands ? It is hypothesized that the degree of attraction exercised by Centr al Europe can be understood only as part of multinational firms' production strategies and in the context of international competition. These firms ar e committed to globalization strategies that lead them to see this zone as a full part of Europe and to include it in their international networks of production. Under this model of territorial integration as a "partial encla ve", the results are mixed. Published information and a survey of about fif ty firms conducted by the authors in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic corroborate this hypothesis.