Barriers and Benefits of Financing Projects with European Funds by Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Poland

• Authors: Tokarski, Andrzej , Tokarski, Maciej

Abstracts

EN

The main aim of the article is to present the benefits and barriers of projects financing with the means of the European funds by MSMEs. The analysis was based upon the statistics data published in Poland by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Eurostat and the European Commission. The analysis of the sources on the subject as well as observations of the business practices allowed for the formation of a thesis that Poland competently utilised the European funds between 2007–2013 and thereby benefited considerably. The EU funds have been a useful instrument in reducing the impact of the economic crisis. Well invested EU funds have also had a positive effect on GDP growth in Poland and have increased the competitiveness of the Polish economy. An enterprise applied for co-financing of projects relating to various fields. Beginning with the purchase of tangible assets, through land purchase or immaterial and legal assets purchase up to consulting and training activities (via subsidizing personal development and the improvement of vocational training for staff). Nonetheless, despite the significant influence of the funds into the GDP growth dynamics and the increase in the standard of living, in the overall view the Polish economy has not gained much in the innovation aspect due to the fact that the financial resources acquired by the Polish companies from the subsidies were largely earmarked to purchase the already existing western technologies, thus, making them dependent upon the know-how of the huge western conglomerates – which must be disapprovingly assessed. Lack of innovation among Polish enterprises hampers their competitiveness and leads to economic stagnation. Thus, activities aimed at the increase of innovations and the competitiveness of the Polish economy shall be of significant importance for the years 2014–2020. Four issues will have to be fulfilled: research, development, implementation and the expansion onto foreign markets.

Keywords

EN

structural funds; cohesion policy; European Union; operational programme; micro; small and medium-sized enterprises

• Publisher: Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie. Kolegium Zarządzania i Finansów
• Journal: Journal of Management and Financial Sciences
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 21(3)
• Pages: 87-106

Dates

published

2017-08-28

Contributors

author

Tokarski, Andrzej

author

Tokarski, Maciej