Polish companies export too little
Warsaw Enterprise Institute published a detailed report “Barriers and development chances for Polish companies in the Three Seas area”. Are Polish companies really interested in the expansion to the markets of the signatories countries? Yes, but not to a satisfactory extent – experts say.
At present, 24.7 % of the total vale of Polish export to the UE states are goods and services going to the market of the Three Seas states. It seems, however, that this value could be higher due to geographic and cultural proximity of these countries and some similarieties of economic nature (similar development level, competitive advantages, etc.), Another argument is the intensity of Polish investments in the Three Seas area. Polish direct foreign investments on the Three Seas markets amount to 31 billion PLN and constitute more than 35% of all Polish investments in Europe.
The Warsaw Enterprise Institute’s report includes 23 heads and owners of small and medium-size companies, most of which are active on international markets.
Main conclusions from the study
-for entrepreneurs, the concept of the Three Seas Initiative is a vague and almost unknown concept;
-the activity of Polish companies in the Three Seas Initiative is objectively limited by lower profitability of expansion in comparison to other destination, for example Western Europe;
– Polish companies do not have a well-thought overall strategy of investing in the Three Seas Initiative area. Their activity there are a result of a mere chance, not an order from a given region;
– while planning the expansion to the Three Seas countries (export or investments) a human factor, i.e. cultural similarity is significant but personal contacts with people from particular markets are equally important;
-local regulations are rarely a barrier for Polish companies thanks to relative cohesion of the EU law, however, it happens that sometimes they can be an obstacle difficult to be dealt with (like in the case of biotech sector);
– entrepreneurs think that business activity in Romania and Hungary bears political risks, but it is not a determinative factor;
– barriers for expansion depends on the nature of entrepreneurs. While extroverts tend to pay attention mainly to purely market aspects, such as the level of competitiveness or market saturation, introverts consider more public-institutional factors;
– entrepreneurs say they do not feel the support of Polish diplomacy or trade chambers in foreign activity relying mainly on grass-root events such as sector events, conferences and fairs;
-entrepreneurs declare lack of access to portals presenting current analyses and news on the Three Seas markets.
(source: Warsaw Enterprise Institute)
Read more
