An entrepreneur, a banker
success stories in Hungary in the 1980s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18030/socio.hu.2022.1.56Keywords:
case study, career building, entrepreneurs of the 1980s, the establishment of a two-tier banking system, creative adaptation, regime changeAbstract
The shortage economy, the growing market in the shadow of inflexible state-owned enterprises, and the reforms that were a step ahead of countries in the region created a unique opportunity for advancement in Hungary in the 1980s for those who had marketable knowledge or were willing to rapidly acquire it. In our study we present two cases - embedded in the process of the regime change - where actors took advantage of the exceptional opportunities provided by historical events. Their careers rapidly soared to great heights in the late 1980s and 1990s, even without participating in the redistribution of capital ownership rights. In our analysis, we focus on the resources that proved to be a (competitive) advantage and how these enabled the actors to seize the opportunities presented by the circumstances.
