Geographical imaginaries of the ‘New Europe’ and the ‘East’ in a business context: the case of Italian investors in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine1

1. Funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation, Off Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Doctoral Research Travel Award from the University Center for International Studies (presently called the Center for Global Initiatives) of the UNC-Chapel Hill, Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate School of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this paper draws on empirical research undertaken between 2005–2006 from a project entitled The Relationship between the Processes of Outsourcing of Italian Textile and Clothing Firms and the Emergence of Industrial Districts in Eastern Europe.’

Abstract

A large literature in cultural geography, history, and sociology has discussed the different, constantly shifting, and mutually defining constructions of ‘Europe,’ ‘Eastern Europe,’ and more recently the ‘New Europe,’ focusing mostly on examples from the media, politics, and sometimes the arts. However, the literature has done little to analyze the construction of notions of Europe, and the role they play, in the realm of business. This paper begins to explore the connection between cultural understandings of Europe and investment decisions. Specifically, it follows a group of investors from Italy, showing the ‘cultural clashes’ they encountered in setting up business operations in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine. The paper is developed in three steps. First, the relevant cultural and economic geographical literatures are reviewed. Second, the historical progression of Italian investment since the 1990s is discussed in relation to broader economic changes in Italy and the New Europe. Third, investors' changing perceptions of the ‘New Europe’ are discussed in the framework of the consolidation of Italian investments in the region.

Keywords:

• cultural geography
• economic geography
• New Europe
• foreign direct investment
• cultural economy

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dr. Gregory Easson, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi, and Lily Axelrod for the swift and efficient cartographical support.

Notes

1. Funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation, Off Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Doctoral Research Travel Award from the University Center for International Studies (presently called the Center for Global Initiatives) of the UNC-Chapel Hill, Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate School of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this paper draws on empirical research undertaken between 2005–2006 from a project entitled The Relationship between the Processes of Outsourcing of Italian Textile and Clothing Firms and the Emergence of Industrial Districts in Eastern Europe.’

2. Nineteenth-century European novels provide good examples of those constructions: Conrad's Heart of Darkness – savage Africa; Kipling's Mowgli – mystic India; and in Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter, the Russian author reproduces (ironically) an Orientalizing discourse by describing Russia as ‘barbarian.’

3. Because their customers paid their orders in Euros, and wages were paid in the local currency.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christian Sellar

Christian Sellar is Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy Leadership, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA