The FDI-based economic development policies in East-Central Europe and the strategies
of transnational firms seeking cost-efficient production locations close to the main
markets of the EU have led during the last decades to the integration of the region
into different global/regional production networks, mainly in the form of locations
for industrial production. While the intensity of re-industrialization largely determines
economic growth and spatial socioeconomic inequalities outside metropolitan regions,
the long-term success of this model, which tends to result in a dual economy, dependent
development, and the ‘middle-income trap’, has been challenged. According to the GPN
literature, which comprises the main theoretical basis of our research, the means
of integration is the key to understanding the potential outcomes of this economic
model. The process seems to depend on the quality of global-local interactions based
on enterprise strategies and multi-level regional assets and agency.Our article focuses
on making a comparative analysis of two transnational companies in a small peripheral
town and uses the concept of strategic coupling as the analytical framework for the
interpretation of the global-local interactions and their developmental outcomes.
Based on secondary and primary sources, we examine the key assets and actors in the
local environment, follow the development (upgrading trajectories) of subsidiaries,
and analyse the dimensions and depth of their local/regional socioeconomic integration.
We contribute to the special issue’s main objectives through our case study that reveals
strategic coupling dynamics and quality and discusses the chance of more advantageous
developmental outcomes in a peripheral location with limited and diminishing local
(human) assets.
