CHANGES IN THE FINANCIAL RESULTS OF CORPORATIONS IN CITIES IN EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

Major corporations represent an important aspect of economic life that affects the rank of a city on the international stage. The purpose of the study is to determine the financial results and sectoral differentiation of cities home to the largest corporate headquarters in the region often described as Eastern Europe. This determination was made based on revenue and net profits generated by 500 major corporations with their headquarters in Eastern Europe in the years 2008 and 2015. Research has shown that revenue and net profit of key corporations in the region slightly increased despite the downturn triggered by the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. The largest number of firms and also the best financial results were noted in Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest. At the same time, the close proximity of the original 15 EU states yields a positive impact on corporate presence – the number of corporations increases with decreasing distance to the former EU boundary. History also plays an important role in the presence of major corporations in Eastern Europe. The largest number of corporations are found in countries that were independent prior to 1990. The next largest group of countries in this study consists of states formerly part of the Soviet Union. Finally, the smallest number of large corporations are found in countries formerly part of Yugoslavia.

Keywords

• headquarters
• central europe
• cities
• corporate finance