Foreign Direct Investment by Polish Companies

The past two decades, and the beginning of the current, have been a period in which capital, the most powerful player on the world’s economic stage to an extent incomparably greater than ever before, explored the world in search of the best investment. Foreign Direct Investment has become a way of increasing capital efficiency and company growth. Except that today- in contrast to the previous period- it does not apply only to the capital belonging to the richest. The capital in developing countries is starting to “elbow its way” in the global economy.

Foreign expansion of companies in developing countries is an increasingly important factor in building their international competitiveness and achieving success in the global market. Just as with transnational corporations in developed countries, it enables not only the reaping of greater benefits from the competitive advantages that have already been there, but also the building of new ones based on the use of tangible and intangible assets distributed around the world, including knowledge, skills and sources of information, not to mention the richness of cultural diversity. It is fair to say that companies in developing countries have found their path and follow it ever more boldly. However, global research centres have so far devoted little time to studying foreign investment among companies from developing countries. Increasing investment activity among companies in these countries constitutes a growing challenge to the research to be undertaken.

The book presents research results of Polish companies investment activity abroad. The research was carried out by a research team atNicolausCopernicusUniversityinToruń,Poland. Studies currently being conducted are important not only for research purposes but also for their application in the real economy. Practical application of their results as well as the presentation of experience of the companies that have achieved success because if their capital expansion abroad may be important for the development of entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Preface / 7

Subject Matter and Research Methodology / 11

Chapter 1. Foreign Direct Investment by Polish Companies – Scale and Structure / 21
1.1. Basic concepts / 21
1.2. Polish Foreign Direct Investment / 25
1.2.1. Polish Foreign Direct Investment compared to the world / 25
1.2.2. Polish FDI according to the National Bank of Poland / 29
1.2.3. Companies registered in Poland with shares in foreign institutions – GUS Registry / 35
1.3. The Structure of Polish Foreign Direct Investment / 37
1.3.1. The structure of Polish FDI and foreign entities by type of economic activity / 37
1.3.2. The structure of Polish FDI and foreign entities by host country / 41
1.4. Chapter summary / 45

Chapter 2. Investment Incentives and Disincentives among Polish Companies Abroad / 47
2.1. Foreign Direct Investment incentives / 47
2.2. Foreign Direct Investment growth disincentives /. 56
2.3. Chapter summary / 60

Chapter 3. Foreign Direct Investment Decision Making Risks / 62
3.1. Foreign Direct Investment and the risk to investor activity / 63
3.2. FDI specific risks (country risks) – an opportunity or a threat to the investing institution? / 68
3.3. Chapter summary / 73

Chapter 4. Methods of Evaluating FDI Effectiveness among Polish Companies / 77
4.1. Methods of evaluating the effectiveness of investment – theoretical recommendations / 80
4.2. Methods of evaluating the effectiveness of Polish Foreign Direct Investment – survey results / 81
4.3. Chapter summary / 84

Chapter 5. Foreign Direct Investment by Polish Companies and Their Competitiveness / 85
5.1. Company competitiveness – an international dimension / 86
5.2. Foreign Direct Investment impact on Polish companies’ competitiveness – survey results / 99
5.2.1. Changes in the Polish companies’ competitiveness potential as a result of FDI / 99
5.2.2. FDI impact on the components of Polish companies’ competitiveness potential / 103
5.2.3. The significance of FDI in building Polish companies’ competitiveness potential / 109
5.3. Chapter summary / 110

Chapter 6. Intangible Resources and Their Transfer within an Organization vs. the Competitiveness of Polish Companies – Foreign Investors / 113
6.1. Intangible assets in the concept of a value platform of an organization’s intellectual capital / 115
6.2. The use of intangible resources for the creation of competitive advantage in the FDI host countries / 119
6.3. Resource transfer within a corporation and its significance for the competitiveness of Polish companies / 123
6.4. Chapter summary / 125

Final Conclusions / 128
References / 139
List of Figures and Tables / 146

Włodzimierz Karaszewski

Małgorzata Jaworek

Marcin Kuzel

Małgorzata Szałucka

Aneta Szóstek