Abstract:

The fall of the Soviet Union and the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and the Baltic States to the European Union deepened the progress of globalization and with it the liberalization of trade in Central and Eastern Europe. Although tariff restrictions have decreased significantly over the past few decades, the recent economic crisis, Brexit, Russian-Ukrainian crisis and trade wars are raising the discussion about the importance of non-tariff barriers and new subtle forms of protectionism again. These events (although they are not the only ones) seem to activate national identity and strengthen consumer ethnocentrism. The problem of consumer ethnocentrism in the countries of East-Central Europe only was taken up after the fall of communism in 1989, when as a result of the marketization of the economy it became possible for consumers to buy goods and services of their own choice. Research in the 1990s indicated that the level of consumer ethnocentrism in countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary was low. The main cause of this phenomenon was a lack of confidence in domestic goods, which were generally of low quality compared to imported products, as well as problems with building a positive imagine of the countries. Over the course of the time, the countries that successfully implemented systemic reforms undertook attempts to cultivate their image toward promoting exports and made investments in technology, which aimed at rapidly bringing production quality standards into compliance with the norms of the single European Union market. The most research shows that consumer ethnocentrism is growing stronger in post-communist countries which has consequences for marketing by multinational corporations (especially in the context of creating a brand image).