IKEA’s Swedish designs in Hungary
The IKEA brand name has brought Scandinavian lifestyle, pure forms and distilled design simplicity to Hungary. The company’s main objective is offering functional products made of good quality and design at prices available to the larger public.
IKEA’s first investment in Eastern Europe was in Budapest in 1988 at Örs Vezér Square, followed nine years later when the Swedish furniture maker opened its second store in Budaörs. As a result of a HUF 6.5 billion expansion, that started last year, floor space in the Örs Vezér Square was doubled and product ranges grew by 30. IKEA is currently planning to open its third store in Hungary. Last year, the number of IKEA customers exceeded 260 million worldwide, resulting in revenues of some EUR 11 billion in 2002. In the 2002 financial year, IKEA Hungary closed with a 10 percent profit year-on-year. Hoping for unbroken success, the company plans a profit of HUF 30 billion by 2006.
IKEA has 175 stores in more than 30 countries and is continuing with large-scale expansion plans. Next year it will open 21 new stores. Among those, four will be in the US, two in Canada, three in Russia and one in Austria. IKEA has 65,000 employees worldwide, with 450 of those in Hungary.

Ericsson Hungary
Ericsson Hungary is looking to build a network for third generation (3G) services, and is eyeing a tender to be floated during the second half of 2004 by Hungary's IT and Telecommunications Ministry for new generation mobile services.
Ericsson’s first subsidiary in Hungary was in Budapest in 1911, but it moved out in the 1930s. The new era began only in 1991 when a new branch was established. By the end of 1998, Ericsson was the most significant manufacturer of telecommunications technology in Hungary. One of the winners of a tender by telecom Matáv earlier this year, Ericsson deployed hundreds of thousands of main lines. It is believed that every second telephone subscriber in Hungary is connected through an Ericsson mobile or fixed switchboard.
Today Ericsson is number one in mobile network deployment and telephone switchboard manufacturing. It is also among the top three in sales of telephone sets. The telecom giant has been a significant player on the telecommunications market for more than 125 years. It has subsidiaries in 140 countries with 54,000 employees – 540 of which are in Hungary. Ericsson Hungary revenue came in at HUF 28.5 million in 2002.