The How the East was Won Impact of Multinational Companies in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

MNC's have not received a good press in recent years.This book attempts to redress the balance of the argument by showing the extraordinary and positive impact of MNC's in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet union during the transition to free market capitalism. The book also attempts to answer why the impact of MNC's in Eastern Europe should be different to the less commendable experience in Africa and Latin America, and whether MNC's reinforce the power of corrupt rulers.In concluding that MNC's are not necessarily the enemy of development but can be instrumental to progress, the book draws on lessons from 21 East European transition countries to show how the economic power of MNC's can be harnessed elsewhere in the developing world.

Paul Lewis has lived and worked in Eastern Europe for almost ten years as a businessman and journalist. For the past six years he has worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit (sister company of The Economist) as the managing editor of a business operations report.