Managerial perception of regional small business environment in southern Poland

The paper elaborates on managerial perception of regional business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises in southern Poland (i.e. two voivodeships: Małopolska and Śląsk). The paper is based on own empirical research, which was conducted in late-2004 year. The research was conducted on a random sample of 109 micro, small and medium-sized firms located in a studied region. The paper presents statistical verifications of the correlations between the eight regional environment factors and on one hand four variables describing entrepreneurs and on other hand four variables describing enterprises.business environemnt, Poland, entrepreneurhsip

Regional barriers and stimuli of SMEs development in southern Poland

The aim of the paper is to present regional business framework which affects small and medium-sized enterprises’ development. The paper presents results of own empirical research, which were conducted in late-2004 year within two groups: entrepreneurs and local authorities. The research was restricted to two provinces in southern Poland (Lesser Poland Voivodeship - Małopolska and Silesian Voivodeship - Śląsk), which make up one region within the EU NUTS classification (region II). The first research group consisted of 109 micro, small and medium-sized firms random sample and the second one of 150 commune authorities. The empirical study was based on the numerous questions, which thematically can be divided into three groups: local business environment, the entrepreneurial attitude of the owner and the characteristics of the firm as well as the development of a firm. In entrepreneurs’ perceptions nationalwide factors (96,2%) and entrepreneurial attitude of entrepreneurs (94,3%) matter most on development of small and medium-sized enterprises, but regional factors in entrepreneur’s opinions also play a very important role (76,5%). The factors based in regional business environment can be divided into two groups: stimuli and barriers. On the basis of empirical research it is possible to determine upon sixteen barriers and stimuli of small and medium-sized enterprises development, in addition to which it is worth underlining, that they are common for the whole studied community, as only in two incidents statistical essential differences were proved. As far as legal form is concerned differences of financial support evaluation were affirmed (χ2 = 8,43 at p = 0,07, χ2 YATESA = 9,05 at p = 0,06). One-man private enterprises considerably more often than remaining enterprises defined this factor as a barrier. Industrial enterprises in predominant majority (considerably more often than remaining enterprises) defined public financial support as a barrier of small and medium-sized enterprises development (χ2 = 26,2 near p = 0,03), but in addition to which the level of significance in first case is rather weak. Taking additionally the percentages of confirmed dependences into account, which carried out 3% (16 factors x 4 variables characterizing each enterprise) it can be commonly accepted, that the prepared on the basis of empirical research composition of barriers and stimuli is typical for the all studied enterprises, which allow for generalizations in this range.entrepreneurship, small and medium-sized enterprises, Poland

Global product as a result of globalization process

The paper elaborates on the process of global product creation. The author tries to define a global product. Basic product strategies on global market are described, among them: standardization, adaptation and diversification. Premises and conditions for product standardization as well as determiners of standardization and adaptation are quoted. Many examples of global product and its strategies are described.global product, globalization, standardization, adaptation, product positioning

Comparative analysis of working conditions in the European Union Member States

This paper presents the main findings of the author’s study of statistics as well as Eu-ropean surveys on working conditions. Such solutions enabled to compare the data and make the results more reliable. The collected data concerns all Member States of the European Un-ion, where it was impossible to collect data for newest Member States (Bulgaria and Roma-nia), they were omitted. Where it was possible, the author compared the situation in Member States to the situation in the USA. The paper aims to provide an overview of the state of working conditions in the European Union, as well as indicating the nature and content of changes affecting the workforce and the quality of work. The main aim of the paper is to compare basic working conditions within all Member States of the European Union in order to point out leaders and sluggers in this field. This paper is limited to a straightforward presenta-tion of the results.regional labour markets, European integration, working conditions

Managing international business: case of Poland (chapter 4)

The chapter , apart from the introduction and conclusions, is divided into three main parts, that is methodology, literature review as well as results and discussion. The analytical and empirical part, including results, discussions and implications, consists of three following subdivisions: Polish foreign trade analysis (based on available national statistics analysis), international entrepreneurship of Polish enterprises (based on own survey, N=323, in 2007) and intercultural dimensions of international business among Polish enterprises (based on in-depth interview survey, N=20, in 2008). The chapter focuses on the one hand on the influence of the development of international entrepreneurship among Polish enterprises, on the other one on the managerial and marketing aspects of doing business abroad by Polish enterprises.international business, foreign trade, international entrepreneurhsip, international marketing, Poland

Regional social mobility as a factor affecting small and medium-sized enterprises’ development

Regional circumstances play a crucial role in socio-economic situation of labour market. Its competitiveness depends not only on measurable factors, but also on soft factors. Nowadays more and more researchers and scientists pay their attention to the importance of social capital. Fragmentariness of scientific knowledge based on empirical investigation con-ducted in Polish reality, makes the author to prepare own empirical research in this field. The aim of the paper is to present the result of the research conducted in Southern Poland in late-2004. The region was defined as the area of two provinces Małopolska and Śląsk, but the choice was not stochastic. These provinces makes one region according to NUTS-1 nomen-clature. The research was conducted on a random sample of 109 small and medium-sized en-terprises localized in Southern Poland. Descriptive statistics (arithmetic average, median, mo-dal, quartile) as well as verifying tools (chi-square statistics, U Mann Whitney test) were used in order to verify the hypotheses.regional labour markets (R23), geographic labour mobility (J61), regional economics (R19), personnel economics (M59)

Impact of the regional business environment on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Southern Poland

A good starting point to a discussion on regional factors as determinants for business success can be Tobler’s statement “Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things” (1970, p. 234). It is a paradigm, that some regions have a more entrepreneurial attitude than others. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) finds considerable differences in entrepreneurial attitudes between countries (Acs et al. 2004). German scientists found that these attitudes vary also in regions within one country (Bergman, Japsen & Tamásy 2002). Studies of different regions in reference to enterprise start-up’s can explain that differences are due to a large extent to the differences in socio-demographic variables and the regional industry structure. Entrepreneurial attitudes are to some extent dependent on the region of origin, but a number of questions concerning the regional influence still remain unresolved in a theoretical and empirical way (Bergman 2002), and this was the inspiration for conducting this research.small and medium-sized enterprises, regional development, business environment

Regional context of small and medium-sized enterprises' development. case study of southern Poland

The paper verifies the existence of relations between development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the particular factors of regional environment as well as demographic parameters of entrepreneurs and their enterprises. SMEs localized in Southern Poland in accordance with NUTS -1 nomenclature, which is made of two voivodeships: Lesser Poland (Małopolska) and Silesia (Śląsk), are research subjects. The main aim of the research is indication factors of regional environment which have stimulating and/or restrictive influence on SMEs development. These factors, having varied character, range and meaning, create conditions for SMEs development in a given region. The dissertation tries also to assess regional environment behaviour as well as indicate desirable directions of its changes. The study of literature including over 300 bibliographic positions as well as synthesis of conducted theoretical considerations allowed to formulate three main and twelve working hypotheses, which were statistically verified. The results of own empirical research can be used on theoretical (as inspiration to further research in this range), as well as practical field (as basis of changes for local decision-makers while creating regional business environment). The undertaken research problem has pragmatic character. Desirable directions of changes in regional business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises in Southern Poland especially including regional institutional environment as well as local policy in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises were determined on the basis of own empirical research results. The results contained in the dissertation can be used by regional business environment institutions, as empirical material made up the basis for forming recommendations directed to local decision-makers.small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regional environment, mezoenvironment, business environment, corporate development, entrepreneurship JEL classifications: M13, M21, D80, L20

Impact of the accession to the European Union on Polish enterprises development

The current situation creates potential and almost unrestricted possibilities of creating the new value of Polish enterprises on European markets. Preliminary governmental statistics as well as the presented results of own empirical research show, that Polish entrepreneurs successfully use possibilities created by the common market: they Europeanize their activities by increasing foreign trade transactions, but more and more bravely they make use of the European freedom for establishment. The presented results of own empirical research make up the basis for verifying common opinions on the influence of the accession on Polish enterprises, they shows active attitudes of Polish entrepreneurs towards European markets. However it is crucial to underline that they are only the preliminary results of the research, which should be the subject of further statistical analysis and verification in order to find and prove correlations among individual variables.European Union, Poland, integration