Does Polish foreign trade impact employment? Empirical investigation.

Poland noted in the 90s big changes in the structure of its foreign trade turnover. Both export and import values increased in this period. Many observers claim that many jobs in Poland were lost as the result of opening of Polish economy. Undoubtedly “unemployment import” was observed in Poland. But on the other hand slowdown in Polish economy in the recent time proved that decrease of employment was relatively low in the enterprises, which have higher share of export incomes in the total incomes. This situation was observed not only in big companies but also in the most promising firms of SMEs sector. The conclusion that export is suspected to be a job creator in Poland can be drawn. According to the neoclassical Hesksher-Ohlin-Samuelson paradigm, a country characterized by the relative production factor abundance could profit from it and gain higher inflows from trade with products of high labour endowment. Reality of the 1990s supported this assumption as far as Polish export is concerned. Labour abundant products gained high importance in the export basket. There are many manufacturing sectors, which could be classified as labour abundant. The most sparkling example of profitability in export performance is furniture manufacturing. At the end of the 1990s it gained share of 8% in export basket. Additionally this sector is dominated by the firms qualified as SMEs. That is why this sector will be investigated deeply. Our study aims to calculate impact of export growth on the employment level changes in the furniture sector. The paper will be organized as follows: first chapter will be dedicated to review theoretical framework of links between foreign trade and labour market performance. Second chapter will show briefly changes in the structure of Polish foreign trade in the 1990s. The third chapter will be a short overview of labour market performance in the 1990s. In the last chapter the results from the investigation from the macro- and micro- level will be presented. In order to complete empirical part of the paper macroeconomic data will be used. As the attempt to investigate firm level data is rather rare, such a trial will be very useful for conclusions of our paper.foreign trade, international trade, Poland

Southeast Asia as a Trading Partner of Poland

"After the beginning of the economical transformation which began in 1989, Poland underwent dramatic changes in its economical and political structures. One of the most vivid results of these processes was a rapid growth of foreign trade tumovers. This resulted also in the rise of the intemationalization level of the whole economy. In the year 2003 the share of exports in the Polish GDP reached a level of 25%. At the same time the commodity structure and the direction of Polish trade changed significantly. The production was shifted from a high labour endowment to a more developed and sophisticated structure."(...

Does Polish foreign trade impact employment? Empirical investigation.

Poland noted in the 90s big changes in the structure of its foreign trade turnover. Both export and import values increased in this period. Many observers claim that many jobs in Poland were lost as the result of opening of Polish economy. Undoubtedly “unemployment import” was observed in Poland. But on the other hand slowdown in Polish economy in the recent time proved that decrease of employment was relatively low in the enterprises, which have higher share of export incomes in the total incomes. This situation was observed not only in big companies but also in the most promising firms of SMEs sector. The conclusion that export is suspected to be a job creator in Poland can be drawn. According to the neoclassical Hesksher-Ohlin-Samuelson paradigm, a country characterized by the relative production factor abundance could profit from it and gain higher inflows from trade with products of high labour endowment. Reality of the 1990s supported this assumption as far as Polish export is concerned. Labour abundant products gained high importance in the export basket. There are many manufacturing sectors, which could be classified as labour abundant. The most sparkling example of profitability in export performance is furniture manufacturing. At the end of the 1990s it gained share of 8% in export basket. Additionally this sector is dominated by the firms qualified as SMEs. That is why this sector will be investigated deeply. Our study aims to calculate impact of export growth on the employment level changes in the furniture sector. The paper will be organized as follows: first chapter will be dedicated to review theoretical framework of links between foreign trade and labour market performance. Second chapter will show briefly changes in the structure of Polish foreign trade in the 1990s. The third chapter will be a short overview of labour market performance in the 1990s. In the last chapter the results from the investigation from the macro- and micro- level will be presented. In order to complete empirical part of the paper macroeconomic data will be used. As the attempt to investigate firm level data is rather rare, such a trial will be very useful for conclusions of our paper

Does Polish foreign trade impact employment? Empirical investigation.

Poland noted in the 90s big changes in the structure of its foreign trade turnover. Both export and import values increased in this period. Many observers claim that many jobs in Poland were lost as the result of opening of Polish economy. Undoubtedly “unemployment import” was observed in Poland. But on the other hand slowdown in Polish economy in the recent time proved that decrease of employment was relatively low in the enterprises, which have higher share of export incomes in the total incomes. This situation was observed not only in big companies but also in the most promising firms of SMEs sector. The conclusion that export is suspected to be a job creator in Poland can be drawn. According to the neoclassical Hesksher-Ohlin-Samuelson paradigm, a country characterized by the relative production factor abundance could profit from it and gain higher inflows from trade with products of high labour endowment. Reality of the 1990s supported this assumption as far as Polish export is concerned. Labour abundant products gained high importance in the export basket. There are many manufacturing sectors, which could be classified as labour abundant. The most sparkling example of profitability in export performance is furniture manufacturing. At the end of the 1990s it gained share of 8% in export basket. Additionally this sector is dominated by the firms qualified as SMEs. That is why this sector will be investigated deeply. Our study aims to calculate impact of export growth on the employment level changes in the furniture sector. The paper will be organized as follows: first chapter will be dedicated to review theoretical framework of links between foreign trade and labour market performance. Second chapter will show briefly changes in the structure of Polish foreign trade in the 1990s. The third chapter will be a short overview of labour market performance in the 1990s. In the last chapter the results from the investigation from the macro- and micro- level will be presented. In order to complete empirical part of the paper macroeconomic data will be used. As the attempt to investigate firm level data is rather rare, such a trial will be very useful for conclusions of our paper

Corporate governence mechanisms used by venture capital funds in their investments in Poland

The paper deals with the problem of development of the corporate governance structures by venture capital funds in Polish entrepreneurial companies they invested in. In the theoretical part there is a discussion on sources and consequences of agency relationship that exists between funds on one hand and founders and managers of the portfolio companies on the other one. Mechanisms used by VCs are presented that aim at alleviating agency costs, including: ownership structure, voting rights, contract writing, supervising by supervisory board, implementation of motivational mechanisms, investment syndication. Selected factors are presented that may impact the analyzed problem in the Polish context. In the empirical part the theoretical discussion is illustrated with an analysis of twelve companies that underwent initial public offering on the Warsaw stock exchange. Ownership structure and voting rights structure before and after IPO are presented, characteristics of contracts regulating relationship between investors and founders, composition of supervisory boards, characteristics of motivational tools. It was shown that VCs in their portfolio companies aim at possessing dominant ownership position. Contracts between them and entrepreneurs strongly protect interests of investors. They want to safeguard seats in supervisory boards, including chairman position. Motivational mechanisms in companies across several levels of the organizational structure are prepared in order to align investors’ and managers’ goals, usually by issuing shares or options for shares

Venture Capitalists’ Investment Criteria in Poland: Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Entrepreneurs, and Founding Teams

The aim of this article is to explore the decision-making policies by Polish Venture Capital (VC) firms, with special focus on the perception of entrepreneurs. This paper presents the results of a conjoint analysis and assessment of the importance of select characteristics among entrepreneurs and the qualities of a team of founders comprising managers of VC firms. The data were collected via face-to-face interviews with 26 Venture Capitalists. In the conjoint experiment, six attributes were presented, among which three represented characteristics of the entrepreneur (his/her passion and experience) and the management team (experience and completeness) alongside three characteristics of the opportunity (readiness of the product/service, growth rate of the market, and innovativeness of the whole project). VC managers ranked the importance of eight characteristics of the entrepreneurs related to their decisions and assessed the functional composition of the team of founders. The results of the experiment show that venture capitalists (VCs) most strongly appreciate the readiness of the product and entrepreneur’s passion. However, their preferences varied across the sample. The results of the ranking also show that the VC managers highly value the honesty of the entrepreneur. VCs typically prefer a team of founders, rather than a single-person project, preferably consisting of persons at least familiar with the technology and the market. This study contributes significantly to the state-of-the-art, as research on VC investment policy (investment criteria) is relatively rare in Central and Eastern Europe, where the VC industry is starting to flourish

The Behavior of Small and Medium-Sized Exporting Businesses in Poland’s Małopolska Region Under the Theory of Gradual Internationalization

The author endeavors to establish if Poland’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are undergoing internationalization in line with the rules described in the theory of gradual internationalization. This theory is generally used to explain the behaviors of companies on foreign markets. The author carries out a quantitative analysis on a sample of more than 100 exporting manufacturing enterprises based in Poland’s Małopolska province. The study shows that the behavior of most surveyed companies accords with the rules followed in other countries and the guidelines of the gradual internationalization theory. In particular, as their experience grows, companies are entering new markets and increasing the share of exports in their total revenue. Morawczyński’s study shows that companies are entering foreign markets at an increasingly faster rate. This conclusion is compatible with the latest findings in other countries. Beginning exporters usually choose countries that are considered to be close “psychologically,” the author says. Unexpectedly, Morawczyński finds a weaker-than-expected link between the level of internationalization and the system of knowledge associated with operations abroad. The surveyed companies break away from the pattern mapped out by the gradual internationalization theory. This is largely due to a global business concept increasingly popular in recent years whereby companies are encouraged to pursue global operations from inception onward

Charactristics of the Entrepreneurs and Creation of the Governance Structure in Portfolio Companies by Venture Capital Funds in Poland. Results of the Empirical Research

Artykuł poświęcony jest wpływowi charakterystyki przedsiębiorców na decyzje funduszy podwyższonego ryzyka w zakresie kształtowania ładu korporacyjnego w przedsiębiorstwach, w których dokonują one inwestycji. W części teoretycznej nakreślono znaczenie pojęcia kapitału finansowego i kapitału przedsiębiorczego, specyfikę inwestycji venture capital, wpływ założycieli na rozwój firm, główne elementy ładu korporacyjnego tworzonego przez fundusze w spółkach portfelowych, w tym szczególnie zapisy kontraktów uzgadnianych z przedsiębiorcami. Znaczną uwagę poświęcono konsekwencjom bycia przez założyciela właścicielem przedsiębiorstwa, w tym również wynikające stąd ograniczenia dla stosowania w danym kontekście teorii agencji. W części empirycznej przedstawiono wybrane wyniki badania przeprowadzonego w dwudziestu pięciu polskich funduszach podwyższonego ryzyka w 2015 r. Dowodzą one, że przedsiębiorca o wyjątkowo dobrej charakterystyce może skłonić fundusze do obniżenia restrykcyjności niektórych klauzul kontraktu. Jednak nie dotyczy to raczej tych zapisów, które gwarantują im bezpieczeństwo inwestycji, zapobiegając nieprzewidywalnym zachowaniom przedsiębiorcy. Zaprezentowano też dowód na to, że mimo iż ta charakterystyka jest ważna, to jednak ma mniejszy wpływ na ład korporacyjny niż stała polityka funduszy i czynniki związane z rynkową naturą okazji.The aim of the article is to analyze influence of characteristics of entrepreneurs on venture capitalists’ decisions regarding governance structures created in their portfolio companies. Theoretical part discusses: meaning of financial capital and entrepreneurial capital, features of venture capital investments, influence of founders on development of their companies, main features of governance systems created by funds in their portfolio firms. Special attention is paid to the contract agreed between VC funds and entrepreneurs in light of the agency theory. The empirical part presents results of the research carried out in 25 Polish venture capital funds in 2015. The evidences prove that the high quality entrepreneurs are able to decrease level of restrictiveness of contract clauses used by the venture capitalists. But it is true mainly for clauses that do not pose threats to safety of their investments. Another evidence proves that such outstanding characteristics of the entrepreneurs are vital but standard policy of VCs together with market features of an investment opportunity may be even more important

Rola informacji w działalności eksportowej małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw w świetle teorii internacjonalizacji

Tyt. z nagł.Bibliogr. s. 99-100.Dostępny także w wersji drukowanej.Zadaniem artykułu jest próba określenia znaczenia informacji w działalności eksportowej małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw. W opracowaniu zdefiniowano informację i ukazano jej wpływ na eksport. Praca jest przeglądem dorobku literatury światowej z odniesieniem do sytuacji polskiej

Rola środowiska naukowego w promowaniu nowych technologii na przykładzie Krakowa

Tyt. z nagł.Bibliogr. s. 44-45.Dostępny także w wersji drukowanej.W opracowaniu przedstawiono rolę, jaką pełnią krakowskie ośrodki naukowe oraz indywidualnie pracownicy naukowi w rozwoju nowych technologii i transferowaniu ich do biznesu. Zaprezentowano inicjatywę krakowskiego środowiska naukowego - powołanie Krakowskiego Parku Technologicznego, oraz omówiono związki środowiska akademickiego z biznesem