The 2004-2007 enlargement and its impacts on the New Entrants

Résumé du document

The fifth enlargement of the European Union on May 1, 2004 has led to the accession of ten countries of Eastern Europe. It has been an ambitious decision as these countries had experienced very diverse economic, social and political developments compared to the EU-15. These enlargements directly originate from the collapse of communism and Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. These ten new countries represent 15% of the population of the enlarged EU and 19% of its surface. They also represent 4% of the total GDP, but their rate of growth is high. The EU market has widened: the internal EU market expanded from 380 to 454 million people and has now become the first world market, along with the first economical world-power. This enlargement has taken a very long time to settle as it raised many questions about the benefits and the disadvantages it could bring to both the EU and the new entrants. This enlargement has involved many changes for the new eastern members on the economical, political and social aspects.

Extraits

[...] Moreover, the manager will have to give them defined agendas, else they won't respect delays. The manager can't be too passive, if the manager isn't strict enough, he won't be respected. Nevertheless, he has to be in good relations with his employees; they won't be productive if they don't appreciate the place where they work and if they feel that their manager don't trust them. With these recommendations, Google can easily success in Bulgaria, a place where it can extend its domination on the World web. [...]

[...] That could also mean an opening in the rest of Eastern Europe for the future. Indeed, all these countries have a similar culture and way of working. II / Hofstede's cultural dimensions Bulgaria, like the other ex-members of the COMECON, has to substitute the totalitarian system of the past with democracy and free market. That's why it's important to understand the factors that determine effective leadership and influence the culture in the economy. Individualism: Slavic people are stereotyped to be very collectivist. [...]

[...] Therefore, each market must be analysed in details before to take a decision. Economy, political stability, level of life for example must be analysed, but there is a factor which maybe has more importance than the others, the culture of the country. In order to be successful in a certain region or country a company must build an awareness of cultural differences. Cultural differences can be found in communication (spoken, written or silent langua²ge), information and task processing, risk-taking behaviour, relationship preference, work motivation, religion and social stratification. [...]

[...] In this article, he wrote “When a million-dollar mistake earns a pat on the back, it's obvious this isn't your normal corporation”. Indeed, at Google, employees must dedicate 20% of their time to accomplish a personal project; it's the 80-20 rule. When the project of an employee is over, it's evaluated by the other employees. That's how many projects are born, like Google News for example. But, with a so big part of freedom, employees can make mistakes. That what happened to Sheryl Sandberg who's in charge of the advertising system. [...]

[...] On the other hand, indoctrination of westernized behaviour through media and entrepreneurship is now pushing the country along the road of higher individualism and social fragmentation. Power Distance: Bulgaria had experienced serious changes in behaviours and values related. The power used to be centralized and the country had a serious lake of democratic traditions. Therefore the tradition of respect for authority is still strong in that society. Current democratic reforms may eliminate political power over economic behaviour and give society a higher level of economic freedom ad freedom of opinion. [...]