Is Polonia prepared to compete in a globalized world? Make an analysis.
• You may include information such as geographic location, area, population, economy,
currency, connectivity, trade integration, country risk, political system, corruption, labor
force, basic salary, natural resources, Industry 4.0., Global Competitiveness Index,
Doing Business Index, Index of Economic Freedom, Globalization Index, Logistic
Performance Index (World Bank), Human Development Index, Gini Coefficient,
Democracy Index, Free Trade Agreements (if any), clusters, special economic zones,
industrial parks, others.
Regarding the development of Industry 4.0, there is an initiative called “The future
Industry Platform” linked to the initiative called “Operational Program Digital Poland
2014-2020”. Private and public parties can participate in this project. The main objective
was to improve the competitiveness of the Polish industry while setting the conditions for
the development of Industry 4.0 (European Commission, 2018).
Among the main activities carried out are to make Polish companies aware of the
solutions, benefits, and risks of Industry 4.0. On the other hand, the objective was also to
integrate various technological solutions such as big data solutions, machine-to-machine
learning, or cloud computing into the day-to-day activities of companies. Physical and
virtual demonstrations of industry 4.0 technologies were carried out, in addition to
consulting services for the application of technology (European commission, 2018).
This project is also aimed at people living in Poland, the main objective is to improve
their digital skills so that they can benefit from virtual public and private services. It was
expected that all Polish homes would have access to high-speed internet, it was also
expected to increase the government's virtual communication with Poles and decrease the
number of people who have never used the internet (European Commission, n.d.).
It is important to mention that the projection of total funds for this project was 2,172.5
million euros (European Commission, 2014).
There was not so much information available about the outcomes of this project,
nevertheless, according to Mizzy (2018), there is nowadays a continuation of the program
called The European Funds for Digital Development 2021-2027.
Their Global Competitiveness Index was in 50th place in 2021, their first competition
country is Denmark (Radio Poland, 2022).
The last Doing Business Report 2020 raked 190 economies in the field of business
regulations. Their overall score was 76.4 and they were in the 40th position.
Their best categories were: “Trading across barriers” where Poland has the first place
worldwide, and “Resolving insolvency” where they ranked in 25th place. Among their
weaknesses, the first category was “Starting a business” where Poland ranked in the 128th
position. The second category was “Registering a property” where they ranked in the
92nd position.
The index of economic freedom in Poland is 68.7 ranks it in the 39th position among the
184 countries. Compared to the last report, Poland has improved in the areas of “property
rights” (72.3), “judicial effectiveness” (54.7), and “business freedom” (78.7) (INDEX of
Economic Freedom, 2022).
Regarding the Globalization Index, Poland had positive outcomes compared to the
evolution of the world. In figure 1.1, Poland is represented by the green line and the rest
of the world with the blue line. As you can see, evolution is above the average of the rest
of the population (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, n.d.).
This indicator is important as it shows that Poland is open to globalization and all that it
entails from 1970 to the present.
Figure 1.1
Globalization Index of Poland compared to the rest of the world.
According to the World Bank (2018), Poland is in the 28th position in Logistics
Performance Index with an overall score of 3.54. Regarding the category “customs” they
scored 3.54, “infrastructure” 3.21, “international shipments” 3.68, “logistics competence”
3.58, “tracking and tracing” 3.51, and “Timeliness” 3.95. The best economy in the region
is Germany with a score of 4.20. The difference between Germany and Poland is not
much which means that it is a good country in logistical terms.
The Human Development Index positions Poland in the 35 positions among the 189 other
countries (overall value of 0.880), this puts the economy in a very high human
development classification (United Nations Development Programme, 2020).
Figure 1.2
Trends in Poland´s HDI component indices 1990-2019
As can be observed in figure 1.2, the HDI has been increasing over the past years,
especially around education.
According to the last Gini Coefficient, Poland had a score of 30.2 in 2018 (WorldBank,
2018). The democracy index reveals that Poland is in the 51st position of 167 economies,
with a score of 6.80 (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2021).
On the other hand, the first identification of clusters in Poland was made in 2007 and 24
clusters were discovered. Afterward, the government promoted the formation and
cooperation networks of these and in 2011 there was a "boom" in the creation of clusters,
approximately 75 clusters were founded. According to analysis, the largest number of
clusters is in the ICT sector, followed by manufacturing, medicine, architecture, and
construction. It is important to mention that the largest cluster in Poland (200 members)
is in the Podlaskie province and is in the metal processing sector (Knop, 2019).
In the following figure, it can be observed the Special Economic Zones in Poland.
Figure 1.3
Special Economic Zones in Poland.
3.5 Local market adaptation (if any)
Since the company presented is in the B2B field, a very marked adaptation is not
necessary to enter the Polish market. No information on the subject was found on their
official website, however, it is evident that there was a level of adaptation to Polish culture
when the negotiations were running.
3.6. Corporate Social Responsibility (if any)
Their initiative related to the environment is called "Net Zero" which has the objective of
reducing carbon emissions and cataloging itself in the "low carbon business" field. The
target year is 2050 and they have a structured action plan that is divided into three stages.
The first stage will focus on improving the efficiency of the plants and including lowcarbon raw materials in their processes. The second stage will focus solely on adopting
renewable and sustainable energy in its processes. Stage three is a gradual decrease in
carbon emissions under the Less Carbon Portfolio Strategy and improvement of the
environmental impact of existing products (SK Innovation, n.d.).
Regarding its social policies, there is the initiative called SHE that focuses on the safety
of its workers. They want to create an environment of continuous improvement and
preventive activities for their workers (SK Innovation, n.d.).
On the other hand, they report that human rights are fulfilled throughout their entire value
chain because they have social responsibility (SK Innovation, n.d.).
3.7. Public opinion (e.g. imitation, social conflicts)
Regarding social conflicts, no information was found on the internet, however, it is
believed not because they are a socially responsible company that cares about its internal
and external stakeholders.
3.8. Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on a chosen foreign company
According to Lee (2020), the company reported an operating loss of 26 million dollars
due to covid-19, however, they expected to gradually recover the lost margins in 2021.
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ea
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https://skinnonews.com/global/archives/10535