WHAT DETERMINES THE CO-OPERATIVE POTENTIAL FOR FIRMS IN WESTERN EUROPEAN AND CEE BORDER REGIONS? A COMPARATIVE MICRO-LEVEL ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT: Th e present article investigates whether Eastern European enlargement infl u-ences the co-operative potential of fi rms in the borderland between Western and Central Eastern Europe more than of other fi rms, i.e. of those not being located in the border-land. Based on theoretical arguments as well as empirical evidence, we build a micro-level framework of factors, which determine a fi rm’s likelihood of cross-border business co-operation. Using logistic regression, this framework is empirically tested and compared for two cross-sectional datasets of fi rms located in the border regions in Northern Bohemia (the Czech Republic) and Saxony (East Germany)