Entrepreneurship in Poland

Status presented in the report pertains to the year 2009

Profitable changes concerning companies’ activities, implemented within the period of the last two years, constituted one of the factors facilitating their operation in the difficult conditions of the economic slowdown. The determination and flexibility of entrepreneurs were equally significant. The aforementioned aspects, among others, were reflected in the improving assessment of the Polish economy in international competitiveness rankings, according to the ME report “Entrepreneurship in Poland”.

The Ministry of Economy’s report illustrates the situation of domestic companies in 2009, at the time of global crisis. This year’s experts’ study shows how Polish entrepreneurs struggled with the slowdown and in what way their actions have affected the entire economy.

In the opinion of the report’s authors, although the economic crisis was also present in Poland, the growth of GDP by 1.8 % deserves attention, as it caused us to be the fastest developing economy in the European Union. Entrepreneurs who did not become pessimistic, although they have considerably limited their investments, have contributed significantly to this fact.

Enterprises that employed more than 9 employees in 2009 experienced a one percent income growth in overall business activity. On the other hand, costs remained practically at the 2008 level, resulting in an improvement of financial results: gross – by 17 percent and net by 22 percent, with the best results achieved by large enterprises.

The report’s authors emphasize that enterprises in Poland are allocating more and more expenditure for investments.  The progress within the scope of innovativeness was also indicated in the recent European Innovation Scoreboard 2009 analysis. According to the study results, Poland has moved from the group of the catching-up countries to the group of moderate innovators.

In circumstances of global crisis, Poland did not avoid a decrease in direct inflow of foreign investments – from 10 billion euro in 2008 to a little above 8 billion euro last year. The range of this decrease (significantly smaller than in terms of other economies of the region) proves that Poland maintained its investment attractiveness.

In 2009 the number of newly registered entities amounted to nearly 350,000, constituting the largest number since 2000. At the same time the number of deregistered entities increased, affected by the update of REGON [statistical number] register, resulting from the introduction of new 2007 Polish Classification of Activity.  The number of active enterprises increased in comparison to 2008.  However, no changes occurred in their structure in terms of size. The small and medium enterprise sector constitutes 99.8 of all operating companies.

The Entrepreneurship in Poland report has been published annually since 2003. It depicts the situation of Polish enterprises in the context of macroeconomic conditions in the country.  Such presentation of the topic with particular focus on the institutional environment of companies’ activities allows the formulation of a proposal of activities beneficial for entrepreneurship development.

Link to the Polish version of the report:

http://www.mg.gov.pl/files/upload/11268/Przedsi%C4%99biorczo%C5%9B%C4%87%20w%20Polsce%202010.pdf

2010-08-03