DOI: 10.32725/978-80-7394-976-1.21

From living room to boardroom of a multinational company (A note on internationalization of small and medium-sized companies from Central and Eastern Europe)

Soňa Ferenčíková, Janka Pásztorová, Tatiana Hlušková

University of Economics in Bratislava, Department of International Trade, Bratislava, Slovakia, sona.ferencikova@euba.sk

University of Economics in Bratislava, Department of International Trade, Bratislava, Slovakia, janka.pasztorova@euba.sk

University of Economics in Bratislava, Department of International Trade, Bratislava, Slovakia, tatiana.hluskova@euba.sk

Our paper focuses on one way of internationalization of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) – their acquisitions by multinational companies. We address the question if the development of the companies established in CEE as start-ups (many of them first as micro-companies created literally in the living rooms) has been developed enough to become attractive acquisition target for multinational companies (MNCs) as open innovation resources. The basis for our work is the literature review of the available research. Unfortunately, conclusive, or large-scale studies about CEE SMEs and startups as open innovation sources are currently not existing. Therefore we have first focused on the single-country studies or research on open innovation from CEE: we use secondary data to draw a theoretical picture, explain the background and relations between the innovations, acquisitions and SMEs´activity based on the experience and studies from CEE.

Klíčová slova: SME acquisition, internationalization, open innovation, Central and Eastern Europe

stránky: 136-144