There has been a long tradition in the history of Hungarian intellectuals that dates as far back as the 1930s.It became well-known as the clash between the“populist”(nepies)and“urbanite”(urbanus)camps as two facti...There has been a long tradition in the history of Hungarian intellectuals that dates as far back as the 1930s.It became well-known as the clash between the“populist”(nepies)and“urbanite”(urbanus)camps as two factions of the intellectual classes or status groups.However,the author’s historical investigations show that this clash originated during the first reform period of Hungarian history(1830-1848),when the“Centralists”under the leadership of József Eötvös confronted the“Municipalists”whose leading figure was Lajos Kossuth.The former group represented the Western Europe oriented faction,who heavily called into question the county system,while the members of the latter group warranted it as the bulwark of the Hungarian constitution.The conflict was renewed between the two world wars as“westernizing”urbanites opposed the“Magyar”-oriented populists.Also,after the regime change in the 1990s,this old clash posited itself politically first as the strife between the Hungarian Democratic Forum and the Free Democrats and later on it got the form of a European-oriented Leftist-Liberal wing facing the moderate Right.The desperate struggle between the two political wings appeared at the local level as well.The author describes a paradigmatic case of the overall contradiction in a case study.During the local elections in a Hungarian village the post-communist mayor was forced to run against a traditionally religious mayor,while the entire village population,including civil society,followed the desperate clash up to an unserviceable stage.At this point,a third mayor candidate stepped in competing with both former enemies and won the exceptional election.The new mayor transcended both the post-communist era and the oppositional mayor of traditional religious background,for as the great-grand child of a landowner in the period preceding the Second World War who was persecuted in the Communist era;this mayor restituted the continuity with the ancient landowner class.And at the same time,while jettisoning the old-fashioned religion,she exhibited a certain attachment to a new type,as it were,a postmodern religiosity.展开更多
This article examines the entry to the Chinese market of Kingfisher plc under its B＆Q brand, operating in the DIY or home improvement market. It is a pedagogically oriented case in the international strategy area, wh...This article examines the entry to the Chinese market of Kingfisher plc under its B＆Q brand, operating in the DIY or home improvement market. It is a pedagogically oriented case in the international strategy area, which deals with both the mode of market development by the company in China and some of the softer issues arising from that process relating to HR in the company and the inevitable cultural challenges it faced. The story begins in the mid-1990s and goes through to the early summer of 2010. On the one hand, the entry has been successful： B＆Q is now a significant presence in China, holding number one position in their chosen market, which is primarily highly fragmented; there is some concentration in four key cities in the wealthy east coast region; and it has made profits over a fair portion over the last decade. Lessons were learned from the initial mistakes and the core sales proposition in China has been crafted to differ from that in the original UK home base. However, for the last three completed financial years, losses have been booked and significant changes have been made or were planned at the time of writing. Some changes were inevitable, but which were they （other than those where the Chinese government changed its rules）？展开更多
文摘There has been a long tradition in the history of Hungarian intellectuals that dates as far back as the 1930s.It became well-known as the clash between the“populist”(nepies)and“urbanite”(urbanus)camps as two factions of the intellectual classes or status groups.However,the author’s historical investigations show that this clash originated during the first reform period of Hungarian history(1830-1848),when the“Centralists”under the leadership of József Eötvös confronted the“Municipalists”whose leading figure was Lajos Kossuth.The former group represented the Western Europe oriented faction,who heavily called into question the county system,while the members of the latter group warranted it as the bulwark of the Hungarian constitution.The conflict was renewed between the two world wars as“westernizing”urbanites opposed the“Magyar”-oriented populists.Also,after the regime change in the 1990s,this old clash posited itself politically first as the strife between the Hungarian Democratic Forum and the Free Democrats and later on it got the form of a European-oriented Leftist-Liberal wing facing the moderate Right.The desperate struggle between the two political wings appeared at the local level as well.The author describes a paradigmatic case of the overall contradiction in a case study.During the local elections in a Hungarian village the post-communist mayor was forced to run against a traditionally religious mayor,while the entire village population,including civil society,followed the desperate clash up to an unserviceable stage.At this point,a third mayor candidate stepped in competing with both former enemies and won the exceptional election.The new mayor transcended both the post-communist era and the oppositional mayor of traditional religious background,for as the great-grand child of a landowner in the period preceding the Second World War who was persecuted in the Communist era;this mayor restituted the continuity with the ancient landowner class.And at the same time,while jettisoning the old-fashioned religion,she exhibited a certain attachment to a new type,as it were,a postmodern religiosity.
文摘This article examines the entry to the Chinese market of Kingfisher plc under its B＆Q brand, operating in the DIY or home improvement market. It is a pedagogically oriented case in the international strategy area, which deals with both the mode of market development by the company in China and some of the softer issues arising from that process relating to HR in the company and the inevitable cultural challenges it faced. The story begins in the mid-1990s and goes through to the early summer of 2010. On the one hand, the entry has been successful： B＆Q is now a significant presence in China, holding number one position in their chosen market, which is primarily highly fragmented; there is some concentration in four key cities in the wealthy east coast region; and it has made profits over a fair portion over the last decade. Lessons were learned from the initial mistakes and the core sales proposition in China has been crafted to differ from that in the original UK home base. However, for the last three completed financial years, losses have been booked and significant changes have been made or were planned at the time of writing. Some changes were inevitable, but which were they （other than those where the Chinese government changed its rules）？
