The Electronics Industry in Central and Eastern Europe: A New Global Production Location

Resumen

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has emerged as a new global location in electronics industry. The paper analyses (i) which factors explain the emergence of CEE as global production location in electronics, and (ii) what management and policy lessons we can draw from the success of CEE electronics. Integration this industry has been driven by foreign direct investments and global production networks. Hungary has moved the furthest along this path, positioning itself as a major low-cost supply base in the region. Hungary, together with Czech R and Poland form the first tier of CEE countries with other countries being the emerging second tier in electronics industry. A remarkable success of central Europe in this sector rests on still slim foundations as further growth is far from ensured due to weaknesses in national innovation systems. This calls for industry specific innovation policy whose elements are analysed.