The economic performance of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship is not one of the best in the country. The level of its development is visibly lower than in the majority of provinces. However, this situation is improving, especially due to development-oriented activities of the largest regional companies. The present study shows the spatial diversity of leading enterprises’ economic power in the Świętokrzyskie Region. The market power of the enterprises which were selected from among 120 of the leading entities was determined on the basis of the following factors: income value, number of employees and the number of capital and personal relationships. The ownership and generic structures were also taken into consideration.
In the analysis of changes occurring in large Polish enterprises, special attention was paid to organisational changes as one of the chief aspects of their adaptation to the new economic conditions that also involves the formation of new spatial relations. The analysis makes use of the notional apparatus of the organisation and management science as a discipline concerned with changes in organisation and connected with the geography of enterprises. To give an empirical illustration of the changes, examples are provided of the restructuring of large enterprises like H. Cegielski Poznań S.A. and LECH Browary Wielkopolski S.A. (now Kompania Piwowarska S.A.). On the basis of the empirical research, several features were distinguished to characterise the organisational changes that had taken place in the chosen industrial plants. The organisational changes have mainly made the structures of those plants more flexible through giving autonomy to their internal organisational units, outsourcing and spin-offs. The result has been the appearance of a lot of new small and medium-sized businesses that have taken over the functions given up by the large enterprises. The spatial effect of those changes, in turn, has been the emergence of industrial agglomerations of a new type, with a large number of smaller firms connected through a cooperation network and chiefly performing orders of the large enterprises. Thus, what we observe here is a spatial concentration of collaborating firms and the appearance of agglomeration economies. There are also integration processes in which enterprises join the structures of international corporations, which makes them elements of the modern international industrial space and a part of the industrial networks set up by multinational firms.
Modern processes of civilizational development, directed towards the formation of an information society, make knowledge an increasingly important and the most valuable product, and access to information is the basic condition for the development of all sectors of economy. In this article, I make an attempt to determine the impact of industry on the complex process of shaping of an information society. The aim was to determine the relations between the industry and the information society, and their surroundings. An important element in the formation of an information society and the development of knowledge-based economy is a high level of education at all stages, and the competences: to be able to apply the acquired knowledge, to formulate new ideas and to introduce them in the production and service industry. New technologies trigger modernization and encourage new products, which in turn contributes to quality changes in the society, and to raising the society’s culture.
Celem pracy jest przedstawienie przebiegu procesów globalizacji zachodzących na płaszczyźnie działalności przemysłowej w wybranych jej działach: hutnictwie i produkcji farmaceutyków. Termin globalizacja, mimo że powszechnie stosowany, jest bardzo niejednoznaczny. W bogatej literaturze poświęconej tej problematyce można znaleźć bardzo wiele definicji i charakterystyk tego procesu. Brak jednoznacznej definicji wynika głównie z tego, że jest to proces wielowymiarowy, który można analizować z różnych punktów widzenia. Niektórzy badacze porównują go z procesami internacjonalizacji, przy czym albo utożsamiają obydwa pojęcia…
Polish cities need to redevelop post-industrial areas located within their boundaries. Cities’ authorities, while preparing regeneration programs, can use best practices of Western European cities. One very good example is the case of the English town Barnsley. Barnsley in earlier days was famous for coal mining, but the last pit was closed in 1994. With the demise of the coal industry, people suffered from unemployment and the town from losing its main revenue sources (in 2000, the town was ranked 16th out of 354 most deprived district of England). Town was blighted by a very high incidence of post-industrial areas: disused colliery spoil tips, pit yards and the railway infrastructure which served the collieries. For many years Barnsley has carried out an extensive land reclamation program, together with investments put into new road links and job creation schemes for the former colliery workers. Between 1982 and 2003, over 23 million GBP was spent on the restoration of over 600 hectares of derelict land. Barnsley’s vision is to be a 21st Century Market Town. Those plans are prepared for the next 30 years, and the budget of 380 million GBP (including EU co-financing) constitutes the basis for the town transformation. In 2002, the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, together with local partners, started the Rethinking Barnsley weekend, a consultation project, which was the entry for preparing the urban centre regeneration program, called Remaking Barnsley. Planned and partly realised projects include construction of the new Barnsley Interchange – bus and coach station opened in May 2007, new cultural centre in the old Civic Hall, new commercial centre in Barnsley Markets, Digital Media Centre – opened in August 2007 – an incubator of new technologies, as well as new office and residential areas in the town centre. New business parks opened the new possibilities on the labour market. A well planned and perfectly realised process of the town development, started by wide citizens’ consultancy program, treated as a basis for establishing the town development vision, transformed then into an action plan and verified by already completed projects, is a good example to be copied by Polish towns.
Nowadays in Poland many enterprises use instruments of marketing. A part of larger, but especially the smallest enterprises include such operations as promotion for general strategy or advertising. Unfortunately, it does not ensure the achievement of constant, solid competition superiority on the market. From the point of view of marketing as well as industrial marketing, innovation is an implementation of new ideas, a new kind of market policy, new manners of distribution and promotion, entrance on new markets, release of a new product, or conscious, significant change of elements of marketing in the enterprise. Innovations play an important role in creation of the company image on the market. The scale of innovation is strictly related to the level of industrial investment and the economic growth rate. In the case when national economy is characterized by a small degree of industrial investment and low economic growth, considerable development of innovation is not possible.
In the age of the emergence of information society, economic growth is increasingly dependent on the production, distribution and use of knowledge. The new, dominating role of science in economic and civilizational development boosts the prestige of technological sciences. Technological advances are among the most crucial factors affecting competition rules. They play a key role in both the processes leading to structural changes within an industrial branch and in the formation of new branches. The aim of the present paper is to analyse and assess the efficiency of the development of high--tech industry in Poland in the light of the science-related growth and transformation of the economy and the special role the industry plays in the working-out and maintenance of the competitive advantage of a country. From the perspective of world tendencies in the development of branches based on scientific and technological advances, Poland still displays a very low proportion of high-tech goods in total sales. What is needed is a global approach to the catching-up process, which is facilitated by the country’s membership in the European Union, support from the EU funds, and opening to the world economy.
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest opracowanie klasyfikacji województw z uwagi na stopień uprzemysłowienia jako jednego z elementów oddziałujących na poziom rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego i stan środowiska regionu. Pozwoli ona w dalszej kolejności na ocenę czynników społecznych lub środowiskowych w zdefiniowanych grupach województw o różnym stopniu uprzemysłowienia. Klasyfikacji województw dokonano na podstawie wskaźników charakteryzujących gospodarczy aspekt rozwoju przemysłu oraz rynek pracy z wykorzystaniem metod analizy skupień. Analiza skupień została przeprowadzona jedną z metod hierarchicznych – metodą aglomeracji Warda. Do oceny zmian pozycji poszczególnych województw w czasie wykorzystano syntetyczne miary rozwoju ze wspólnym wzorcem rozwoju. Badaniem objęto 16 województw Polski w 2015 r. z uwzględnieniem zmian odnotowanych w porównaniu z 2009 r.
Jednym z najważniejszych problemów współczesnej geografii ekonomicznej w Polsce jest badanie procesów transformacji gospodarki. Ponieważ przyjmuje się, że podstawowym elementem struktury gospodarczej jest przedsiębiorstwo przemysłowe, bardzo istotną kwestią badawczą jest jego zachowanie się w procesie transformacji systemu gospodarowania. System centralnego sterowania gospodarką, ograniczający w znacznym stopniu samodzielność przedsiębiorstw, nie sprzyjał koniecznej modernizacji asortymentu produkcji, struktur organizacyjnych, procesów produkcyjnych, wchłanianiu innowacji, dbałości o jakość produktów i in. (Zioło 1994).
Globalizacja jest ostatnio modnym i nośnym terminem obecnym w pracach każdego, kto zajmuje się sprawami współczesnego świata. Świadczą o tym zaczerpnięte z różnych opracowań określenia, takie jak „globalna wioska”, „globalne społeczeństwo”, „globalna gospodarka”, „globalny przemysł” itp. Nie wyjaśniają one jednak zakresu pojęcia „globalizacja”. Mimo istnienia różnych definicji, żadna nie jest powszechnie akceptowana.
Sygnalizowany już: pod koniec lat siedemdziesiątych, kryzys polskiej gospodarki uwidocznił nie tylko niedoskonałości centralnego zarządzania, ale także przyczynił się do późniejszych zmian ustrojowych zapoczątkowanych ustaleniami okrągłego stołu. Sprzyjający klimat polityczny lat przełomu, pozwolił na uruchomienie szeregu reform w tym także reformy o samorządzie terytorialnym
Ukraina ma obecnie powiązania ekonomiczne ze 150 państwami, m.in. Niemcami, Chinami, USA, Szwajcarią, Włochami, Polską. Jednak najważniejszymi partnerami Ukrainy są nadal państwa wyodrębnione z byłego ZSSR, a w pierwszej kolejności Rosja. Taki charakter powiązań ekonomicznych spowodowany jest sprowadzaniem na Ukrainę ropy naftowej i gazu, co w dużym stopniu wpływa na fakt, że ponad 60% obrotu towarowego przypada na państwa byłego ZSSR, głównie na Rosję. Dlatego obecny stan gospodarki Ukrainy utrudnia jej ekspansję na rynek światowy i kraj ten pozostaje przede wszystkim eksporterem surowców. Eksport produktów „wysokiej technologii” obejmuje od 10 do 20% wartości ogólnego eksportu, podczas gdy w krajach ekonomicznie rozwiniętych wynosi ponad 50%.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the restructuring of ALSTOM Konstal SA in Chorzów in the period 1997–2003. The reasons for this change fall into two main categories. Firstly, GEC ALSTOM Concern, which specializes in infrastructure of power generation and power service (60% of production), rail transport (28% of production), industry and naval constructions (6% of production), purchased Konstal SA in 1997.These days ALSTOM Konstal SA is one of the best European producers of constructed carriages for trams, rail transit systems, fully automatic systems and metro systems. These products are produced mainly for three big cities in Poland: Katowice, Gdansk and Warsaw, and for the EU countries. Secondly, the modernization brought new technology and staff training. To this aim, in the period 1997–2003 GEC ALSTOM invested 28 million € in Konstal SA, for renovation and modernization, new technology purchase, new hall and production line building and people capital. These restructuring processes and previous production experience allowed the company to become successful in designing and producing rail transport.
The purpose of this study was to examine the shaping of spatial diversity of economic entities in the industry sector, measured by technology levels, and the service sector, assessed by the intensity of research and development at the local level. The analysis also concerned factors determining the emergence of these diversities, as well as relations between the occurrence of economic entities in the production activity and the service sector. The survey was conducted in the Lower Silesia Voivodeship in 1998 and 2004.The analysis revealed an increase in the participation of entities belonging to the high-tech service sector and high-tech industry sector. This participation was accompanied by a tendency of their spatial structures to become alike. It indicates that general conditions of emergence of companies characterized by the highest level of research and development intensity within the II and III sector of the economy are becoming alike. The development of high-tech industry companies is connected with the general development of services. This interrelation increases together with the intensity of research and development within sector III (high-tech services and knowledge-based services). It also increases with time. There exists a high, positive correlation between the value of the entrepreneurship index in the II and III sector and the general level of entrepreneurship. The crucial factor determining the formation of new economic entities in the group of high-tech industry companies and high-tech services is the overall rise of the entrepreneurship index.
An analysis is provided of the spatial-functional structure of the area of Główna, Zawady, Gdyńska and Bałtycka streets in Poznań. This region of the city is unique. On the one hand, it contains particularly valuable architectural forms, often of historical and cultural merit, and several interesting natural-landscape features passing into historical structural wedges of urban greenery. On the other hand, however, there are also storehouses as well as manufacturing and service shops there, often side by side with residential housing. The area displays a mix of functions and building forms, a deteriorating state of repair of the buildings, a vandalised urban environment, and advancing processes of ageing and depreciation. The paper is concluded with a presentation of the measures devised to transform the area that have been outlined in the Study of determinants and directions of the spatial development of the city of Poznań and the authors’ own observations.
The article presents the basic research problems concerning the country’s industrial space transformation processes. Special attention is paid to the changes in the activity of industrial enterprises, which are treated as an element of the varied forms of spatial concentration of industry and industrial space, to the influence of the European integration on the changes in the conditions of industry development, and to the new measures of the industrial activity, crucial in the industrial geography research.
In the years 2000–2008 the value of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Poland grew from 40, 300 million euro to 114, 600 million euro. The inflow of FDI was accompanied by the increase in export. In the years 2000–2008, its value increased from 30, 373 million euro to 118, 722 million euro, while the share of the enterprises with foreign capital in this export value jumped from 44% to 60%. Owing to the FDI, the passenger cars and trucks, buses, spark-ignition, parts and accessories for the motor vehicles, electro-mechanical domestic appliances, television reception appliances and monitors, classified as technology – intensive, became the primary export products of Poland.
The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the global economic crisis on changes in industrial production in Poland compared to other European countries. The paper examines the changes in indicators such as industrial production growth, changes in production of major products, employment in industry, labor productivity and economic climate. This analysis shows that current negative effects f economic crisis on Polish industry are not as major as expected and are comparable with previous periods of economic downturn (eg. the late 90’s of the 20th century). It also implies, that very often the changes in industrial production are affected by number of other socio-economic factors, the economic crisis being only one of the external factors.
Przemysł drzewny odgrywa ważną rolę w strukturze gospodarczej Pomorza Środkowego, gdyż obok przemysłu spożywczego i skórzanego jest on najlepiej rozwinięty i najszerzej reprezentowany. Obejmuje produkcję płyt i sklejek, opakowań drewnianych i elementów stolarki budowlanej, ale przede wszystkim produkcję tarcicy i mebli. Wprowadzenie na przełomie lat osiemdziesiątych i dziewięćdziesiątych systemu gospodarki rynkowej spowodowało istotne zmiany w dotychczasowym funkcjonowaniu, kierunkach rozwoju i przestrzennym rozmieszczeniu zakładów drzewnych. W latach 1990–1991 szeroki dostęp do surowca pozwalał na utrzymanie, a nawet wzrost produkcji, jednak przestarzałe technologie, a zwłaszcza niedostatek kapitału, spowodowały spadek produkcji oraz powolny, ale stały spadek zatrudnienia. Podkreślić należy, że w tym dziale wytwórczości szybko podjęto działania restrukturyzacyjne, które w 1994 r. w dość znacznym stopniu poprawiły sytuację finansową zakładów.
This article has two objectives. The cognitive objective is to recognize and systematize the strategies of adaptation of industrial enterprises in Łódź in the years 1992–2003. The basis for the systematic arrangement are conclusions made by T. Stryjakiewicz (1999), J. Michalak and U. Dzika (2000). The other, theoretical objective is an attempt to apply the typology of forms of space adaptation of industrial enterprises presented by T. Stryjakiewicz (1999) in order to synthesise the identified strategies. The typology of T. Stryjakiewicz transfers A. Smith’s (1995) conclusions into Polish science. Its theoretical basis are theories of regulation and industrial networks. Having studied the cases of fifteen companies, whose adaptation strategies were the most diverse or characteristic of a given branch, the author has systemized the identified adaptation procedures. There were eighteen different types of strategies falling into five categories: cost reduction, relocation, changes in management system, changes in the structure of production and contacts with foreign partners. While trying to classify the adaptation typology forms, besides those characterized by T. Stryjakiewicz (1999), such as deindustrializing, paternalistic and global, two additional types were recognized: local and transitional adaptation. Local adaptation, applied mostly by small enterprises, limits their activity to the local market. Those enterprises have a small adaptability and do not participate in the process of globalization. The transitional type is common to a part of medium-sized and large enterprises with Polish capital. Owning to new technologies and organization of production, they increase their adaptability and are better suited to global competition. The analysis has led to the conclusion that the kind of adaptation procedures taken by enterprises and also the result of those actions depend on the origin of the enterprises, their branch, size and the origin of capital.
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