Discussion Papers 1988. 
Spatial Organization and Regional Development
70 
Gyorgyi BARTA 
CYCLES OF CHANGES IN INDFSTRIAL ORGANIZATION 
FROM THE  196o!,  TO THE PRESENT. 
REGIONAL ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES 
Introduction 
Although an organization constitutes just the 
form and framework of the contents, the politico- 
economic leadership of Hungary still considered 
economic organization a basic means to solve /at 
least partly/ the economic /and political/ problems 
and to achieve the objectives of its t/ansformation 
after 1945. It cannot be denied that if an economic 
organization does not comply with the level of eco-
nomic development or if the structure of economic 
organization does not fit into the economic tasks, 
the economic structure will probably not promote 
economic development and realization of specific 
objectives. 
The economic development of Hungary and other 
socialist countries has been accompanied by per-
sistant change in economic organization over the 
past 40 years and the transformation of economic 
organization is still an important concern today. 
During the past four decades, different periods 
of change in economic organization can be distin-
guished. In industrial organization, changes have 
occurred since the 1960s; while in agriculture 
and the tertiary sector processes of a similar 
nature and intensity have also occurred, but some-
what later. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
71 
The three characteristic periods of the last 20 or 
25 years were as follows: 
- the early 1960s, which was an era of drastic 
organizational amalgamations; 
- the period from 1972 to  1977,  when organiza-
tional acquisitions became dominant. Between 
these two periods mentioned, the system of 
the new economic mechanism was introduced 
/1968/, which, for different reasons, either 
slowed down or stopped the earlier tenden-
cies; but did not cause substantial changes 
in the organizational system and so cannot 
be regarded as an independent era; 
-
the third period started in the late 1970s 
and continues at present. In this period, 
the /re/centralization efforts of previous 
years are criticized strongly and official-
ly. Slight signs of decentralization can 
already be noticed, but deep reform of in-
dustrial organization has not occurred. 
In this paper, priority will be given to one aspect 
of organizational changes, namely their regional  
aspect. Enterprise organization has significance 
for regional development and this can only be 
understood when approached from the point of view 
of the regional system rather than from a focus on 
the enterprises themselves. 
2. The period from the 1960s until the introduc-
tion of the system of the rew economic mecha-
nism 
a/ Centralization of industrial organiza-
tion 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
72 
In the early 1960s, the politico-economic 
leadership of Hungary took up the question of the 
introduction of a fundamental economic reform 
with the aim of replacing, first of all, the man-
agement by directives /the so-called commanded 
system/ with indirect management. In this new  ECO+ 
nomic system, the market is given an increased im-
portance and the economy would be gradually managed 
by a regulation system. Enterprises acting not mere-
ly as places of production would become independent 
to a significant extent and the level of decision 
making would be largely at the enterprise level 
instead of the management organizations of indus-
try /i.e., board of directors of industry, minis-
tries, central and local party organizations/. 
The politico-economic leadership made efforts to 
make industrial organizations as simple as possible 
fearing that it wculd be unable to control or in-
fluence activities of enterprises in the period 
following the introduction of the reform. The mer-
ger of enterprises was stimulated and as a result 
certain economic branches could be reduced to one 
or just a small number of trusts or large enter-
prises /this was the case in the chemical indus-. 
try producing cosmetics and household goodE, 
vegetable oil production, and the sweets, rubber, 
and lime and cement industries/. 
Organizational changes typically were brought 
about by external pressure and not the result of 
enterprise managers decisions. This process was 
launched as a campaign and mergers were often im-
plemented when it was not justified at all by the 
interests of production /e.g., in light industry/. 
In certain branches of industry /e.g., the engi- 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
7 3 
neering industry/, houever, where centralization 
of rroduction could have had favourable effects on 
production, this was not realized in parallel with 
organizational centralization, mostly because of 
lack of capital. As a consequence, the advantages 
resulting from the mergers were not worth much in 
the case of a dispersed, obsolete production struc-
ture. Today it is uniformly thought that industrial 
centralization had exceeded the level required by 
the development of forces of production and infra-
structure even before the mergers. 
b/ Structure of industrial enterprises in 
the 1960s 
Between 1962 and 1964 in state industry 
/within this, mainly in the sector belonging to the 
ministry/, enormous enterprise mergers were under-
taken; the number of state enterprises was reduced 
by 1/3. In all sectors of industry the number of 
enterprises decreased from 1960 to 1968 /Table 1/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
74 
Table 1 
Changes in numbers of state and coopera-
tive enterprises in industry between  
1960 and 1968  
Year 
State Enterprises 
Industrial Cooperatives  
1960 
1.369 
1.251 
1961 
1.309 
1.161 
1962 
1.286 
1.089 
1963 
894 
993 
1964 
863 
882 
1965 
84o 
811 
1966 
827 
799 
1967 
8o7 
784 
1968 
811 
792 
Source: Statistical Yearbooks of Central Statistical 
Office, 1960 to 1968 
As a consequence of amalgamations, the structure 
of industrial enterprises has changed as regards 
their size. Between 1968 and 1968, the number of 
small and medium-sized enterprises was reduced and 
the share of enterprises employing over 1,000 work-
ers increased /Table 2/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
75 
Table 2 
Size of  enterprises  in state  industry 
between  1958 and 1968 
Categories per 
Distribution of  enterprises  /%1 
number of 
workers 
1958 
1961 
1964 
1968 

100 
27.9 
15.4 
13.6 
11.2 
101 - 1,000 
62.1 
67.9 
57,0 
54.2 
1,001 - 2,000 
5.9 
10.6 
13.2 
14.7 
2,001 - 5,000 
3.1 
4.6 
11.5 
14.4 
5,00l - 
1.0 
1.5 
4.7 
5.5 
Total 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: Schweitzer, Ivan: Size of Enterprises. 
Budapest: Kozgazdasagi 6s 
Jogi, 1982.  pp.  35. 
The industry of Hungary can be regarded extreme in 
respect to its centralization when compared with 
not only developed capitalist countries, but also 
other socialist countries.  /Table 3/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
76 
Table  3 
Size of  enterprises in manufacturing 
industry  in selected countries /%/ 
Categories per numbers  of 
Countries 
Years 
workers 
10-100 
100-500 
500- 
Hungary 
1973 
16 
36 
48 
Denmark 
1974 
86 
13 

Austria 
1975 
74 
21 

Great Britain 
1973 
77 
18 

Italy 
1971 
92 


Poland 
1976 
68 
21 

GDR 
1975 
62 
25 
13 
Soviet Union 
1972 
35 
43 
22 
Source: National Statistical Yearbooks 
c/ Regional aspects of industrial organiza-
tion in the 1960s  
Presenting a picture of regional aspects of 
industrial organization 25 years ago is difficult, 
since data sources were in the initial stage of 
development and did not provide detailed regional 
information. From available data we can say that 
industrial enterprises /located in county seats/, 
especially in council and cooperative industry, 
opened branch plants almost entirely in their own 
counties; the share of branch plants managed from 
another county was insignificant in the industry 
of counties. The management function of industrial 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
77 
production was largely performed by Budapest even 
at that time; in 1961, some 1/3 of branch plants 
of all industrial enterprises with headquarters in 
the capital were in the countryside. 
We can come to the conclusion that industri-
al organization of the counties constituted a much 
closer regional unit at that time than in subse-
quent decades. This close regional unit, however, 
did not refer to strong spatio-economic integra-
tion, because intra-county relationships amond in-
dustrial enterprises were at a very low level. 
2. The second period of industrial organizational 
changes between 1972 and 1977  
a/ The new wave of centralization  
The relatively quiet years of organizational 
changes were followed by a new wave of centraliza-
tion from 1972. Nevertheless, the reasons for cen-
tralization and the nature of these processes dif-
fered greatly from those of previous decades. As a 
result of the introduction of the new economic sys-
tem, market relations have strengthened, leading to 
a crisis situation for the majority of large enter-
prises. While most small and medium-sized enter-. 
prises and cooperatives could achieve favourable 
economic results, large enterprises suffered great 
losses and were unable to develop on their own. 
/In 1972, enterprises employing over 3,000 workers 
amounted to 8 % of all industrial enterprises in 
which more than half of the industrial work force 
was engaged/. The response made by the Central 
Committee of HSWP was not surprising: in 1972, 
50 of the largest industrial enterprises were 
not obliged to apply the regulations of the new 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
78 
economic system; moreover, a privileged situation 
was created for them by state subsidies and loans. 
The nature of centralization had changed. 
While in the earlier years, mergers of enterprises 
of the same size, branch of industry, and belonging 
mostly to the same regjon were typical; in this 
period, acquisitions were realized in such a way 
that mainly large enterprises absorbed small and 
medium-sized state /first of all council/x enter-
prises. Although this period was less characteris-
tic of a campaign, acquisitions were executed not 
on the basis of efficiency /typically, none of the 
participants of acquisitions were efficiently func-
tioning enterprises/. In this period, centraliza-
tion efforts were made not only by industrial man- 
agement organizations but by large industrial enter-
prises as well. 
There were manifold reasons for centraliza-
tion: on the one hand, strengthening central will, 
improvement of management of industrial enter-
prises, and concentrated technological advance; 
on the other hand, solution to shortages of 
labour force, establishment of a group of indus.. 
trial enterprises of small and medium size pro.. 
ducing spare parts, components and providing in- 
dustrial service, efforts made to avoid bankruptcy, 
widening of cultivated land, and finally, solution 
to the problems in high ranking officials in poll.. 
tical organization. 
According to the ownership of enterprises, state 
and cooperative industry can belong to  3  groups: 
categories of ministry, councils, and cooperati-
ves. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
79 
The fundamental differences in centraliza-
tion processes of industries among socialist and 
capitalist countries have to be emphasized. While 
in the industry of capitalist countries centraliza-
tion was mostly dictated by profit interests /de-
spite that Galbraith points out that size has to 
serve generally technology and not only profit in-
terests/, in the industry of socialist countries 
capital and labour force needed by reproduction 
could be assured most simply /and, frequently, 
exclusively/ by acquisitions ordered by the authori-
ties. In these processes, market and non-market 
effects could be noticed. 
b/ Industrial organization in the 1970s  
As a consequence of mergers, the number of 
industrial enterprises kept decreasing, especially 
in cooperative industry /Table  4/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
80 
Table  4 
Changing numbers of state enterprises and  
cooperatives in industry between 1972  and 
1977 
Years 
Decrease in percent as compared to the 
previous year 
in state industry 
in industrial cog). 
eratives 
1972 
99.3 
99.5 
1973 
99.3 
99.5 
1974 
98.5 
98.9 
1975 
98.1 
97.2 
1976 
94.6 
92.9 
1977 
96.6 
95.1 
1977/72 
87.7 
84.6 
Source:  Statistical Yearbooks  of  Central Statis— 
tical Office, 1972 to  1977 
Certralization continued to deform the /already 
deformed/ structure of industrial erterprise organi-
zation leading to a further decrease in the share 
of small and medium-sized enterprises  /Tables 5/a  
and 5/b/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
81 
Table 5/a  
Size of enterprises in state industry 
between  1973  and 1978  
Categories per 
Distribution of number of enter- 
prises /%/ 
numbers of 
workers 
1973 
1975 
1977 
1978 

loo 
lo.5 
9.1 
7.7 
6.7 
loi - 1,000 
54.5 
54.3 
48.4 
47.9 
1,00l -  2,000 
15.8 
16.2 
19.2 
20.7 
2,001 - 5,000 
14.0 
15.3 
18.3 
18.6 
5,00C - 
.2 
5.1 
6.4 
6.1 
Total 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: Schweitzer, Ivan: Size of Enterprises. Buda-
Pest: KozgazdasAgi  es  Jogi, 1982. pp.  55. 
Table 5/b  
Size of enterprises in industrial coop.- 
eratives between  1973 
 and 1978 
Categories per 
Distribution of number of coop- 
erative /%/ 
numbers of 
workers 
1973 
1975 
1977 
1978 
100 
41.4 

36.4 
15.0 
13.9 
101 - 1,000 
58.1 
63.0 
82.0 
83.2 
1,001 - 2,000 
0.5 
o.6 
2.6 
2.5 
2,001 - 5,000 


o.4 
o.4 
Total 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: same  EIE  in 5/a, pp.  59. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
82 
Acquisitions were characteristic both of cooperative 
industry and of state industry. Amalgamations and 
acquisitions of cooperatives were forced almost 
exclusively by management organizations of coopera-
tives /in several instances, against the rules and 
the will of the members/. Amalgamations and acquisi-
tions among state and cooperative sectors were im-
plemented as an exception, and were more frequent 
among enterprises belonging to ministry and coun-
cils. In this period, the ministry sector absorbed 
a significant part of council industry. In many 
cases, this process was stimulated by local coun-
cils, too /as a matter of fact, the support and 
management of their own enterprises imposed a burden 
for them/; but it coincided with the expansion ef-
forts of ministry enterprises. 
In concequence of the acquisitions of small 
and medium-sized enterprises, industrial enter-
prises producing spare parts and components as well 
as providing industrial services either totally 
disappeared or were significantly reduced in number. 
More precisely, the above mentioned activities had 
to be performed by large enterprises. This is the 
main explaration for the continuing increase in 
shortages of goods and services. 
Another characteristic feature of organiza-
tional changes is the spread of multiplant enter-
prises in industry. This typical form of industri-
alization /i.e., opening up first of all new branch 
plants instead of companies/, and later amalgama-
tions and acquisitions increased the number of 
multiplant enterprises /Table 6/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
83 
Table  6 
Distribution  of  industrial  enter rises and 
workers employed by them according  to  the 
number  of their branch  plants 
Number of branch 
Distribution  of number  of /%/ 
plants /per enter- 
enterprises 
employees 
prise/ 
1972 
1982 
1972 
1982 
1 - 

33.6 
31.1 
23.9 
22.0 
4 - 10 
38.7 
39.3 
39.7 
36.5 
11 - 
27.7 
29.6 
36.4 
41.5 
Total 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: Data on industrial  branch  plants. 
Unpublished data of the Central Statis-
tical Office. 1972, 1982 
Multiplant organization makes production more com-
plex and increases considerably production costs. 
At the same time, multiplant enterprises can make 
use of the advantages of the settlements of the 
branch plants, e.g., the cheap and abundant labour 
market, favourable plot prices, support of local 
management for industrialization, etc. This form 
of organization - wide-spread in developed capi- 
talist countries, too - can justify the feasibility 
of successful and efficient operation of multiplant 
enterprises on the present level of technology. 
In Hungary, multiplant enterprise organiza-
tion could be realized and provide a very cheap 
solution to production expansion and  industrial 
development, which was contradictory in many cases 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
84 
to the level of general economic and technological 
development. Because of the deficiency and over-
crouding of telecommunication and transport, the 
operation of multiplant enterprises is frequent-
ly difficult and of low level efficiency. /Of 
course, the problem could be solved by infrastruc-
tural development/. 
We have mentiloamoi as a marginal case agricul-
tural cooperatives and state farms, which perform 
auxiliary activities of  an industrial nature. 
Although agricultural industry does not belong to 
the industrial sector in organizational terms, the 
nature of this activity and many close connections 
with the industrial sector cannot be disregarded. 
At the very beginning, the performance of 
auxiliary activities in agricultural cooperatives 
reorganized in the  1960s,  then in state farms aimed 
at assuring permanent occupation and higher incomes 
for cooperative members. Today, within 25 years, it 
is evident that auxiliary activities are not a 
transient phenomenon in agriculture, although the 
objectives have changed considerably. First of all, 
by creating new sources of income they can bring 
profits when basic agricultural activities are fre-
quently non-profitable, or not so profitable. The 
industrial activities performed by agricultural 
cooperatives and state farms can in part serve as 
a substitute for missing small and medium-sized 
enterprise capacities, and can supplement the pro-
duction of strongly concentrated large industrial 
enterprises. Also these activities can contribute 
to satisfying local needs for industrial goods and 
services to a greater extent. Generally, coopera-
tive industry can play an important role in settle.. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
85 
ments that were left by other industrial organiza-
tions /e.g., less profitable, labour intensive 
branches, etc./. 
In my opinion, industrial activities per.. 
formed by agricultural cooperatives and state farms 
are most significant in the prosperity of agricul-
tural enterprises rather than in their share in in-. 
dustrial production. /Here will be presented a few 
figures to justify the above mentioned facts./ In 
1980, 92.4 % of state farms and  88 %  of agricul-
tural cooperatives performed industrial activities, 
which provided 21.2 % of agricultural income. At 
the same time, agricultural industry amounted to 
4  or  5  %  of national industrial production. 
Agricultural cooperative industry does not 
mean competition for industry at all: its size is 
modest despite its rapid development. In 1980, about 
100,000 employees were engaged in 1,338 enterprises, 
which represents ar erterprise size of 70-80 people; 
in addition, its fixed assets are generally of low 
level technology, experts are engaged in small num-
bers, etc. Strength and favourable results of  COOpm. 
erative ard state farm industry can be explained 
first of all by the fact that the profitability of 
the industrial activities is well above not only 
that of agriculture but also of state and coopera-
tive industry /in agricultural cooperatives, profit 
per unit of income was higher by two times that of 
similar indices for cooperative industry, and it 
was higher by three times that in state industry/. 
This is partly a result of the price system, tax 
differences, and production costs /in agricultural 
cooperatives, operating costs are lower/. Higher 
wage earning possibilities also contribute to the 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
86 
attractiveness of cooperative industry. During the 
present economic circumstances, the future of coop- 
erative industry seems to be quite sure though it 
has to overcome more and more difficulties and it 
cannot be regarded as an independent and own-ac-
count small undertaking operating under "clear"  
market circumstances. Their development is subject 
to the amount of surplus income to be allocated for 
the development of other activities by cooperative 
centres. The industrial activities of most coopera-
tives are closely connected to socialist industrial 
enterprises in the form of wage work or cooperation. 
As regards industrial enterprises, forms of new small 
undertakings are generally more favourable in con-
trast to cooperative industry, so that cooperative 
industry has to face new challenges in the 1980s. 
c/ The regional structure of industrial 
azanization in the  1970s  
Very frequently, multiplant enterprises have 
opened up branch plants in several settlements /Fi&,.  
1: Regional distribution of multiplant enterprises 
— 
employing over 5,000 workers/. Industrial enterpris-
es show great concern in selecting settlements in 
which to open up branch plants. In the 1960s and 
1970s /in the period of the so-called mass indus-
trialization/, the distances between the branch 
plant and parent company were influenced first of 
all by the advantages of settlements /e.g., labour 
force reserves/ and accessibility /distance + 
transport characteristics/ rather than transport 
costs, which were expressly low at that time. Other 
aspects, such as thorough information on settlements 
or personal connections, also influenced the selec- 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
8 7 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
8 8 
tion process. That is why in most cases enterprises 
having headquarters in county seats located branch 
plants within the boundaries of their county. As an 
exception, industrial enterprises having headquarters 
in Budapest opened up branch plants even in the 
most distant regions of the country  /Fig. 2 
 Dis-
tribution of branch plants of enterprises /in the 
countryside/ having headquarters in Budapest/. 
In the 1970s and 1980s, the strategies of enter-
prises had to change. As a consequence of the fall 
or stagnation of industrial production, new plants 
could be opened more rarely; moreover, the locations 
of plants in settlements were strictly examined 
because of the increased transport costs. In many 
cases, this was just the reason for closing,branch 
plants laying at great distances; on the other hand, 
new branch plants had to be opened at ever greater 
distances from the parent companies as a result of 
exhausting labour force reserves. 
Multiplant enterprises having branch plants 
in several settlements could establish sound produc-
tion connections contributing at the same time to 
the strangthening of connections in settlements and 
regions. As most multiplant or larger enterprises 
locate in cities, these cities will become  manage-
ment centres of industry. 
 Organizational centrali-
zation just strengthens their positions. The mana-
gement of industrial production of increasingly 
extensive regions is performed by these centres 
/Table 7/. 
Out of management centres of industry, priority is 
given to Budapest. Budapest has a diminishing share 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
8 9 
 
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Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
90 
Table  7 
Industry locating activity of the big  
cities of Hungary /over 100,000 inhabitants/, 1972  
and 1982  


Towns 


1982 1972 '982 1972 '982 1972 1982 
Budapest 
2064 
431 536 
51 
81 
47 
43 
Miskolc 
211 
47 
49 
48 
65 


Debrecen 
205 
43 
44 
42 
39 


Szeged 
175 
49 
67 
43 
58 


Pecs 
173 
59 
63 
71 
65 


GyOr 
127 
73 
75 
37 
67 


NyiregyhAza 115 
65 
48 
7o 
45 


Szekesfe- 
hervar 
108 
27 
27 
11 
13 


Kecskemet 
100 
59 
37 
80 
60 


1 Population of the cities in 1982 /0008/. 
2 Number of settlements outside the town where 
the parent companies of the town have branch 
plants. 

Proportion of employees in branch plants outside 
the town as a percentage of those employed in 
the parent companies of the town. 

Proportion of employees in towns and their at-
traction areas togethet /to the industrial 
employees of the country/. 
Source: Industrial plant data 1972, 1982 /ag-
gregated from the non-published data of 
the Central Statistical Office/. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
91 
in the industrial production of the country as a 
result of selective industrial policy /industrial 
development of the capital had to be restricted, 
even a great number of industrial enterprises had 
to move out during the last 20 or 25 years/ and 
due to the exhausting labour force reserves of the 
countryside. Still, the most dynamic elements of 
industry remained in Budapest /e.g., headquarters 
of enterprises coordinating management-organiza-
tional-development functions and where the most 
important aspects the production process - those 
determining the efficiency of an enterprise - are 
executed/. 
In 1982, 42 % of all branch plants of in-
dustry belonged to industry of the capital /and 43 
% of the industrial work force/. So, a hypothesis 
seems partly justified: namely, that the role of 
Budapest is significantly larger in the industry 
of the country than would follow from the share 
of industrial employees /24.3 %/, share of indus-
trial fixed assets /22.3 %/, or participation in 
industrial production /25.1 %/. Although the role 
of industrialization or industrial organization in 
other cities has strengthened during the last years, 
their significance is still inferior to that of the 
capital. 
Other examinations revealed that within the 
counties, it was the county seats that have 
strengthened their positions in industrial organi-
zation similarly to Budapest /of course, to a les-
ser extent and not so intensively/ at the expense 
of smaller, local centres. It was not typical, 
however, for each and every county. In a few coun-
ties /e.g., in Vas, NogrAd, and Bacs-Kiskun Coun- 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
92 
ties/, the importance of county seats and their 
impacts on the industry of the county have dimin-
ished. 
As a consequence of strengthening regional 
centralization, the number of management centres 
/or towns/ have decreased. Fewer and feWer. centres 
perform the rote of industrial production manage-
ment over increasingly extended regions /Fig. 3/. 
The dependence on distant centres became dominant 
in the whole country; in a few counties, the 
management of as many as almost half of the in-
dustrial branch plants is performed from distant 
towns. In most counties, industrial dependence 
became stronger and general, especially in the 
1970s. 
In the early 1980s, the share of locally 
managed /here we mean local management within a 
county, rather than within a settlement/ plants 
kept decreasing in the majority of counties; the 
independence of local economy or, more precisely, 
of local industry continued to weaken even in ccun-
ties where the level of dependence had been high 
until the 1980s. 
Regional centralization, which has a connection 
with enterprise centralization but the two are not 
the same, also continued in the 1980s, while the 
process of enterprise centralization modified and 
declined somewhat. Counties can differ largely in 
the size of dependence. Strong organizational 
dependence developed around the most significant 
industrial centres as well as in the industry of 
later industrialized regions, After all, changes 
in industrial organization altered the closed in-
dustrial structure of the counties and promoted 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from 
• 
the 1960s to the present. 
•  ▪  
▪  
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
9 3 

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Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
94 
regional and settlement connections but at the same 
time made local cooperation more difficult rather 
than helping it. Anyway, industrial branch plants 
have much stronger links with distant centres than 
with the industry of the place they are settled in; 
cooperation partners for branches are generally 
fixed by the parent companies. 
4.  a/ Changes in the 1980s  
Because economic difficulties deepened /one 
may call it an economic crisis/, the political 
leadership of Hungary was obliged once more to 
entertain the idea of economic reform. Afterwards, 
the transformation of industrial organization was 
launched. In 1982, the ministries of industrial 
branches were fused into the newly established 
ministry for industrial affairs. This decision 
at preventing ministries from participating 
in operative management /which erabled companies 
to increase their independence/. 
A new campaign has started to decentralize 
large industrial organizations, but this time the 
campaign was not significant. A few trusts /first 
of all in food industry/ were abolished; certain 
branch plants of larger enterprises became inde—
penden!=. The whole process was urged /even dic—
tated/ from "outside". While eanlier acquisitions 
coincided partly with the interests and efforts 
of enterprises, under the present economic circum—
stances enterprises are not interested in reducing 
the number of plants or diminishing their size 
should they incur great losses. In addition, these 
decentralization measures gave rise to more criti—
cal responses than would be justified by the size 
or the significance of decentralization. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
95 
This is a very important process, far exceeding 
the significance of those mentioned earlier; it 
is the foundation of new economic organizations, 
namely small undertakings in industry. We can 
divide small ventures into two groups: 
a/ small private industry financed by 
private capital /including small cooperativeE/; 
and 
b/ small ventures within large enterprises 
making use of forces of production of large  enter-
prises  and serving primarily the production  and 
the  aims of these enterprises. 
As regards the volume of small undertakings 
/e.g., the number of employees and financial and 
production capacity/, they are not so significant 
within rational industry; but, because of the 
novelty of their forms and dynamics of develop-
ment, they have considerable effects on the devel-
opment and transformation of industry. 
b/ Structural changes of industrial organi-
zation in the early 1980s  
Disregarding the tenfold multiplication of 
numbers of economic teams within enterprises, the 
increase and flourishing of new ventures cannot 
be regarded as significant  /Table 8/. 

Barta, 
• 
Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
9 6 
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Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
97 
Table 9 contains a certain mismatch because a 
significant number of workers in small ventures 
/and all the workers of economic teams within 
enterprises/ are at the same time employed in 
state and ccoperative industry. /This means that 
the increase in number is brought about not at 
the cxpense of state and cooperative industrial 
enterprises/. 
Table 9  
Distribution of number  of employees in 
different industrial organizations  /V 


3x 
Year 
1
2






-  _  _  _  _ 
1975 
76.4 
7.7 
13.3 
2.6 
_  _  _  _ 
2.8 

198o 
78.0 
5.8 
13.4 
-  -  - 
1982 
76.6 
5.8 
13.1 
1.1 
0.2 
3.2 
1983 
72.9 
5.5 
12.3 
0.7 
0.4 
0.5 
4.0 
0.5 
3.2 
19E4 
69.5 
5.2 
11.5 
0.8 
0.5 
1,0 
7.8 
0.6 
5.1 
1 = ministry industry 
2 = council industry 
3 =  cooperative industry 
4-9 = Table  7 
Source: Statistical Yearbook, 1984, Budapest: 
Central Statistical Office 
These data can provide information only on the ten-
deracy towards the increase in number of small ven-
tures; nevertheless, the size and share of them are 
still insignificant as compared to state and cooper-
ative industry. 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
9 8 
Significant structural changes of state and 
cooperative industry did rot take place in the 
early 1980s despite decentralization efforts. The 
number of small companies continued to decrease 
/the reasons for this are not clear; it can be 
explained partly by entering the next size catego-
ry or by amalgamations and abolishments/; at the 
same time, an opposite process was formed in cases 
of medium-sized companies /being a new phenomenor/; 
ard, finally, the Lumber and share of employees of 
large enterprises /having over 5,000 workers/ have 
hardly changed in national indpstry /Table 10/. 
Table 10 
Distribution  Of_EaLEEpriSeS  and workers  
employed by them in socialist industry  
based on the size of enterprises /%/ 
CategorieE per 
Distribution of 
numbers of workers 
enterprises 
employees 
1972 
1982 
1972 
1982 

500 
61.6 
5 4. 5 
13,2 
12.7 
500  -  1,000 
1 6.4 
17.o 
11.9 
11.9 
1,001  -  3,000 
13.9 
20.6 
24. 7 
31.9 
3,001 - 5,000 
4.9 
4.2 
18.5 
14.0 
5,001 -10,000 
2.2 
2.6 
15,6 
15.0 
10,001 - 
1,0 
1,1 
16.5 
14.5 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: Unpublished data .on industrial branch 
plants collected by the Central Statis-
tical Office 

Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
99 
More recently, changes have not had great impacts 
on the regional structure of industrial enterprises. 
Decentralization of large enterprises resulted in 
independent branch plants, factories, and parts of 
factories that had operated also in cities until 
then /so, the functior of industrial management 
of cities has hardly changed/. 
New forms of vertures were largely charac-
teristic of the industry of the capital. As regards 
the countryside, the politico-economic leadership 
viewed them with suspicion and had prejudices, which 
slowed down or prevented in numerous cases the 
spread of small ventures in the provinces. It was 
thus again the industry of the capital city that 
became richer by this new, dynamic element of in-
dustrial organization. 
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Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
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Barta, Györgyi: Cycles of changes in industrial organization from the 1960s to the present. 
Regional aspects of organizational changes.  Ed. Orosz Éva, Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 
Discussion Papers 1988. Spatial Organization and Regional Development 70-101. p.
1 01 
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