6th Grow East Congress 2014

“Local Heroes vs. Global Giants: Lessons from a Challenging Competitive Landscape in Central & Eastern Europe”

October 23, 2014

Congress Website
Program & Registration: http://www.groweast.eu/

Congress Venue
Festival Hall 1 & 2, Library & Learning Center, WU Campus, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna

Congress Theme
Fast growing firms from emerging economies are the new stars in the international arena. While most of the attention was given to BRIC or Asian firms so far, we would like to shed light on successfully competing firms in and from Central and Eastern Europe at this congress.

In the last two decades in all CEE countries local firms have emerged that succeeded in building a good position in the domestic market and often in foreign markets too. Challenged by the radical transformation of their economies and the entry of global industry leaders into their home markets these entrepreneurial run firms have found innovative ways how to tap market opportunities and outperform even international competitors. These local heroes give a hard time to local and Western competitors and force them to respond creatively too.

The 6th GROW EAST CONGRESS will present you insights from the latest research on those local heroes in CEE and competitive constellations in CEE markets. In several panels executives representing global industry leaders and local heroes will discuss their new business models, go-to-market-strategies in CEE and sources of their success.

Target Group
Owners, executives, marketing and sales executives of national and international companies and consultants with focus on Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, academics and business students with interest in doing business in CEE.

Congress Organizers
The GROW EAST CONGRESS is a joint project of Dr. Manfred Berger, former CEO of Draftfcb Partners and founder of NEUSICHT Think Tank, and Ass.Prof. Dr. Arnold Schuh, Director of the Competence Center for CEE at WU Vienna. This is already the sixth congress since 2007. The main goal of this congress series is to provide insights into the current developments in the emerging Europe and to highlight the challenges that international and local companies face when expanding into and competing in CEE markets. GROW EAST offers a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences between representatives of companies operating in CEE, academics and business students with a strong interest in the emerging markets of this region.

Interview Arnold Schuh with "Die Presse" (Oct. 10, 2014)

Executive Summary - 6th Grow East Congress 2014

Presentation Arnold Schuh on "Local Heroes - A New Breed of Competitors in Central & Eastern Europe"