Transforming Former State-Owned Companies in Poland: The ABB Experience

• Main Authors: OBLOJ, Krzysztof, THOMAS, Howard
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1998
• Subjects: Eastern European Studies; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3873; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-2373(98)00016-4
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Asea Brown Boveri is one of the largest, and probably the most experienced, investors in Poland. It has made several acquisitions in different, even if somewhat related industries. In the case of each acquisition ABB had to restructure the management and turn a former state-owned firm into a lean market competitor. While overall the process was very successful, ABB learned a few tough lessons about the implementation of Western-style management systems in one of the most successful of the newly democratized countries in Eastern Europe. The most important was that the hard (structure and procedures) and soft (human resource) aspects of the acquired firms should be developed and framed simultaneously. Otherwise the restructuring process could paradoxically reinforce some of the common and unacceptable features of the management of the former state-owned firms.