Since 1985, decision-conferencing technology has been successfully transferred to Hungary. Transition to a market-structured economy and a pluralistic political system created a good environment for goal-centered and participative decision support. We summarize the experience of 26 decision conferences supporting organizational decisions in manufacturing companies, service organizations, and governmental authorities. A variety of tools and techniques such as multiattribute utility models and decision trees, assumption surfacing techniques, sociotechniques, and text analytical procedures were applied. In the majority of the cases we evaluated, participants developed innovative solutions which were widely accepted and fully or partially implemented. However, difficulties with using expected utility for rank-ordering alternatives or cost-efficiency as a basis for resource allocation indicate that the application of decision-support techniques is sensitive to idiosyncratic socio-economic factors.

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In recent years a large number of conflicts associated with environmental risks have arisen in Hungary. The case study described here is related to the siting of a hazardous waste incinerator in Dorog. First, the history of the siting procedure is outlined in terms of the multiparty, multiattribute decision framework. Subsequently, the case reveals how stakeholder groups can be identified in the structure of decision-making, how they think about the object causing the conflict, about the conflict itself, and the possibilities of resolving it. In investigating the conflict, a combination of analytical tools were applied. The multiple-perspective model of Linstone and the argumentation analysis of Toulmin provided the frame for analyzing the information collected by interviews in the affected town, Dorog, and two other towns affected to different degrees in environmental problems.

Hungarian management schools face fierce competition and declining interest in management training. By the beginning of the 1990s two main categories have emerged in management education – management development courses and complex degree programmes, such as the International Management Center′s Young Manager Program (started in 1989), and distance learning provided by Open Business Schools which are somewhat new in Hungary. However, these programmes are not without tradition in the country. Experience with degree programmes shows that part‐time programmes are more popular than full‐time. MBA students need more help for readjustment and would like to have a degree with a reputation. Management development courses are expected to be short in time, very pragmatic and entertaining.