The spatial aspects of enterprise learning in transition countries

Abstract

This paper investigates the sources of enterprise learning under transition, using the results of a recent survey conducted in six Central and East European countries. The analysis identifies three possible and interacting ways of enterprise learning: (1) learning by doing; (2) learning from the environment; and (3) learning from networks. Then it examines the spatial variations of the factors affecting learning by contrasting capital regions with western border regions and all sampled firms. The paper concludes that enterprise learning in transition economies is a spatially selective process, as most structural and behavioural factors tend to favour capital regions. Consequently, transition policies have to incorporate certain types of regional policy into their core, as a supplementary and balancing force to market-driven structural and spatial adjustments.