THE INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL OF POLISH ENTERPRISES

Innowacyjność to obok konkurencyjności jedno z kluczowych zagadnień, ale i wyzwań stojących przed współczesnymi przedsiębiorstwami funkcjonującymi w globalnej gospodarce. Jak skutecznie planować i wdrażać innowacje, jakie zasoby rozwijać, aby stać się innowacyjnym przedsiębiorstwem? – to jedynie wycinek pytań, z którymi borykają się menedżerowie nie tylko globalnych korporacji, ale i małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw. Pomocą w próbie znalezienia odpowiedzi na te pytania może być analiza potencjałów innowacyjnych, a więc zasobów o kluczowym znaczeniu z punktu widzenia kreowania i komercjalizowania innowacji, czemu poświęcony jest niniejszy artykuł.Innovativeness is, beside competitiveness, one of the key questions and challenge stands before modern enterprises in global economy. How forcefully plan and accustom innovation? What kind of resources we should developed if we want to be innovative enterprise? – this is only a clipping of questions which stands before managers of global corporation and small and medium-sized enterprises. Helpfully in this process can be the analysis of innovative potential witch forms the background for the considerations included in the present paper

Conditions of marketing and organizational innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises

Purpose: The research objective of the article is to propose a model that indicates external factors affecting the introduction of marketing and organizational innovations by Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical research was conducted in 2015 using the CAPI method on a representative sample of 250 small and medium-sized enterprises. We determined the external environment based on seven potential factors. We also included contextual factors. We based the analysis and the assessment on the results of the ordered logit regression model estimation. We prepared our interpretation based on the odds ratios. Findings: The results obtained indicate the significance of four variables, two from the external environment, namely support for small and medium-sized enterprises and the amount of tax reliefs and two contextual factors - the size of employment and conducting export activity. Their impact turned out to be only positive. Practical Implications: The results obtained in the scope of the identified external factors affecting the marketing and organizational innovativeness of small and medium-sized enterprises may be a recommendation for entities providing support to subjects operating in this sector. Originality/value: Determination of external environment factors and contextual factors influencing organizational and marketing innovation of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The results can be compared with those obtained for other countries.peer-reviewe

COMMERCIALIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN POLAND: PROCESS OR PROCEDURE? ORGANIZATIONAL SOLUTIONS IN SELECTED POLISH AND FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES

This article aims to illustrate the different ways of organizing commercialization processes at universities to inspire existing technology transfer offices (TTO) and increase their effectiveness. Its implementation was based on a qualitative study conducted among 4 Polish and 2 foreign (Belgian and Spanish) universities. The study results show that the standardized commercialization system doesn’t exist at Polish universities. Research results present that there are many commercialization models, but it is a rather formal procedure than a system or process. Moreover, polish universities perceive TTO as a part of the administration, even if TTO’s employees have ambitions to build merit potential. Finally, the challenge is combining the research process with commercialization to increase efficiency. Our research presents interesting new approaches concerning commercialization: the flipped knowledge transfer (FKT) and the community engagement research initiative (CERI). It is essential to understand that commercialization starts with a research project not with a research result or patent. Both approaches mention before focusing on social engagement in research first and may have an essential impact on TTO’s effectiveness and the university’s social impact. An interesting option is to implement CERI first and evolve it to FKT to perform university research "from the outside to the inside" approach, i.e. undertaking research work in response to stimuli coming from the social and economic environment.Celem artykułu jest zilustrowanie różnych sposobów organizacji procesów komercjalizacji na uczelniach. Jego podstawą jest badanie jakościowe przeprowadzone wśród 4 polskich i 2 zagranicznych uczelni (belgijskiej i hiszpańskiej). Z wyników badań wynika, że na polskich uczelniach nie istnieje ustandaryzowany system komercjalizacji. Istnieje natomiast wiele modeli komercjalizacji, ale jest to raczej formalna procedura niż system czy proces. Co więcej, polskie uczelnie postrzegają biura transferu technologii (TTO) jako część administracji, nawet jeśli pracownicy TTO mają ambicje budowania potencjału merytorycznego. Wreszcie, wyzwaniem jest połączenie procesu badawczego z komercjalizacją w celu zwiększenia efektywności komercjalizacji

Cooperation in Creating Innovation in Polish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Light of Empirical Studies

Nowadays, sources of competitive advantage and economic development are sought in the sphere of innovation. They are at the centre of interest of representatives of the world of politics, science, and business. Moreover, they have been incorporated into governmental and international strategic development programmes. This article attempts to characterize and evaluate cooperation in creating innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland. Empirical research, a fragment of which is presented in this article, was conducted at the turn of March and April 2015 on a representative sample of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The subject of the analysis was business innovation expressed through the indicators of innovation and frequency of cooperation with different entities from the business environment to create new solutions, as well as forms of business innovation. The evaluation of the existing dependence was performed on the basis of the estimation results of the logit model. The objective of this study was to identify key factors related to cooperation and their impact on the innovativeness of Polish companies, using the tools of econometric analysis. The article presents a contemporary approach to managing innovative activity – open innovation, which is both widely reported and reflected in the results of research conducted. The logit model that was developed also indicates that companies that are open to cooperation with customers and academic institutions of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and are members of clusters are more likely to implement innovations of a radical nature

Technological innovation capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises

Purpose: The research objective of the article is to develop a model that indicates significant, from the perspective of introducing technological innovations by Polish small and medium-sized enterprises, internal factors that make up the company's innovation capability and build their competitive position. Design/methodology/approach: The company’s innovation capability can be divided on seven specific sub-capabilities, research and development, manufacturing, organizational, marketing, logistics, human factor and strategy. We also included some contextual factors in the model. Empirical studies were conducted in 2015, using the CAPI method, on the representative sample of 250 small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis and assessment we based on the results of the ordered logit regression model estimation. Findings: The obtained results indicate the significance of 19 variables from all specific capabilities and contextual factors. Their impact proved to be both positive and negative. Practical Implications: The identified elements of innovation capability of small and medium-sized enterprises may be a recommendation for small and medium-sized enterprises’ managers. Originality/value: Determination of key elements of technological innovation capability of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The results can be compared with those obtained for other countries.peer-reviewe

Exploring the influence of divergent thinking on social innovation in the micro-entrepreneurial context: Evidence from Poland

This article explores the link between divergent thinking skills and the capacity of micro-entrepreneurs to implement social innovations. Drawing on Guilford's Structure of Intellect theory and the Oslo Manual's 4th version, the study employs quantitative research on 1848 Polish micro-entrepreneurs. Through exploratory factor analysis and probit model estimation, findings indicate that three aspects of divergent thinking—Fluency, Flexibility, and Development—positively influence social innovativeness. Fluency and Flexibility align with Guilford's theory, while Development - which is our proposal - reflects micro-entrepreneurs engagement in the thinking process. This study underscores the need for further research to solidify the observed relationship

The dual nature of cooperation and its influence on SME's innovativeness

In this paper, the external and internal cooperation determinants of the four types of innovation – product, process, organisational and marketing – are studied from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From a theoretical standpoint, taking into account the dual nature of cooperation, cooperation determinants can be divided into two groups: external - comprising triple helix entities: universities, governments and industry, and internal – comprising employee personality traits: decision-making autonomy, creativity, willingness to cooperate, openness to changes, risk-taking and social empathy. Additionally, three control variables were considered: age, size and sector of economic activity. The data examined comes from an empirical study of a randomly selected representative sample of 1286 SMEs in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship, a region in central-northern Poland. The empirical research was carried out between June and September 2019 using the CAPI method. The multivariate probit regression model was used to analyse the obtained data. The results indicate that only two factors directly connected with the triple helix are common and significant determinants explaining all SME innovations. These are cooperation with public administration in the field of financial support, and cooperation with clients. In turn, significant variation was observed in terms of personality traits being an essential element of internal cooperation that may influence SME innovations. A positive impact on the probability of implementing three of the four types of innovation was observed for two personality traits, namely creativity and social empathy

Information sources of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises innovation

The main objective of this paper is an attempt to analyze and assess potential sources of information for innovative activity of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The sources of innovation were in accordance with OSLO methodology. Empirical studies were carried out, using CAPI method, on a representative sample of Polish small and mediumsized enterprises in 2015. The results show the key roles of managers, employees, sales and marketing, and domestic customers. The dominant role of internal sources of innovation of Polish small and medium-sized is clearly visible

Macro conditions and their impact on Polish small and medium-sized enterprises innovation activity

Zagadnienie innowacyjności małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw (MŚP) znajduje się w jednym z głównych obszarów dociekań nauk ekonomicznych. Wśród najważniejszych przyczyn tego stanu wymienia się silne powiązanie innowacyjności z konkurencyjnością gospodarki oraz dużą rolę MSP we współczesnych gospodarkach rynkowych (np. pod względem liczebności czy udziału w tworzeniu PKB). Wciąż aktualnym zagadnieniem jest także to, jak skutecznie stymulować i kreować innowacyjność przedsiębiorstw. Głównym celem artykułu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, jak tworzone w Polsce warunki (w skali makro) wpływają na działalności innowacyjną MŚP. Odpowiedź na nie została udzielona z perspektywy przeprowadzonych w 2015 r. badań polskich MŚP, dotyczących ich aktywności innowacyjnej.The issue of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) innovation is still an important area of the economic scientific inquiry. Among the main reasons of this situation we can find the strong connection between an innovation and a competitiveness of the economy and the dominant role of SMEs in the modern market economies. The question of how effectively stimulate and create an innovation of the enterprises is still current. The main aim of this article is an attempt to find the answer on a question, how created in Poland conditions (macro) affect on SMEs innovation activity. It was discussed from the perspective of, carried in 2015, innovation activity SMEs empirical research

The activities undertaken by the hidden champions of the polish economy during the financial crisi

Problematyka stanowiąca główny obszar poruszanych zagadnień dotyka dwóch kwestii: tajemniczych mistrzów polskiej gospodarki oraz kryzysu finansowego ostatnich lat. Głównym celem niniejszego tekstu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, jak na kryzys reagują tajemniczy mistrzowie i czy podejmują podobne działania, jak inne „typowe” przedsiębiorstwa? Jego realizację oparto na wynikach badań empirycznych przeprowadzonych w 2010 r. w ramach projektu badawczego Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego nr N N115 008237 pt. „Niematerialne wartości źródłem ukrytej przewagi konkurencyjnej tajemniczych mistrzów polskiej gospodarki”, realizowanego w Wydziale Nauk Ekonomicznych i Zarządzania Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu.The problems discussed in the paper refer to two main issues: the hidden champions of the Polish economy and the financial crisis of recent years. The main objective of this paper is an attempt to find the answer on the question: how hidden champions react to the crisis and whether they take similar actions as the other “typicalˮ enterprises? Its realization was based on the empirical research conducted in 2010 as part of a research project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education No. N N115 008237 Fri. “Intangible values as a source of the hidden competitive advantage of the Polish hidden championsˮ implemented in the Faculty of Economics and Management, Nicolas Copernicus University in Torun