In the first part of the seminar, Professor Jan Brinckmann presented results of his research on the role of business planning and alternative activities in successful launching new ventures (topic: "What business opportunities are worth pursuing? The role of business planning for creating a new venture success").

According to Professor Jan Brinckmann, young entrepreneurs have two basic questions: "How can the existing business opportunities be found?" and "What steps need to be taken to implement these opportunities?" These questions have formed the basis for a series of studies on the role of business planning in the development of new firms. In particular, Jan Brinckmann and other researchers (2010) found that business planning had a stronger impact on the performance of companies in cultures with a low degree of avoidance of uncertainty, and is a more effective tool for already established small and medium-sized businesses than for newly established enterprises.

The results of the research showed that business planning contributes to large investments in new business, but doesn’t affect its growth in any way. Сommunication with clients positively affects the development of new business, but doesn’t stimulate the attraction of investments. This research is especially relevant in the light of the popularity of the model "Consumer Development" and an endless research discussion about the importance of business planning for the creation and development of new entrepreneurial firms.

Jan Brinckmann

Gerhard Schneider

In the second part of the seminar, Dr. Gerhard Schneider presented a report on how multinational companies cope with adverse institutional conditions with the help of available political abilities (topic: "Coping with Institutional Backsliding: The Transferability of Political Capabilities in the Case of Post-socialist Hungary").

As a result, roles of different types of political abilities of multinational companies and local firms were compared in terms of the new institutional conditions of doing business in Hungary. Under the new conditions, local companies have much more advantages and opportunities for using political resources than affiliated companies of multinational corporations. Based on these findings, hypotheses can be formulated for further empirical research on the possible transfer of political abilities to other institutional conditions and strategies which allow multinational corporations to cope with the uncertain political situation in the host countries.