Erforschung eines unternehmerischen Erfolgsfaktorenmodells in den Visegrád-Staaten - Eine Analyse am Beispiel des mittelständischen Maschinenanlagenbaus aus dem Bundesland Niederösterreich

Determining the success of business activities and its underlying factors has always been one of the fundamental concerns in business and management studies. In this context, the search for the cause of success as a basic idea of success factor research has been investigated intensively in both theoretical and empirical studies. However, there is a gap in current knowledge as the level of scientific knowledge on the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Eastern Europe in general and the so-called Visegrád Group in particular is as of yet underdeveloped. This doctoral thesis examines the main determinants of success for internationally active SMEs in the Visegrád Group in order to generate both scientific knowledge for basic research and recommendations for business practice. Based on theoretical and conceptional foundations, success factors are analysed empirically by conducting expert interviews as a method of qualitative social research. The target group of this examination are entrepreneurs (small business owners) as well as employees from various SMEs working in the field of mechanical and plant engineering – a sector of high economic relevance for SMEs active in the Visegrád Group. Besides investigating internal and external factors, corporate network effects are analysed. In this light, the subject of the study was limited to SMEs located in Lower Austria, a federal province, which supports internationally active SMEs with numerous and unique funding opportunities in Eastern Europe in general and the Visegrád Group in particular. As a result, an explanatory framework – “model of key success factors” – was created, establishing several main and secondary factors which are important for a successful interaction in the respective field. Given the fact that the identified factors (partially) mutually reinforce each other, the individual factors are not to be viewed in isolation. The model can be taken as a basis for further research work, e.g. a quantitative approach or case studies, to enable a generalisation of the data gathered