Poland's Outward Foreign Dorect Investment

International expansion of Polish enterprises through foreign direct investment is a relatively new although dynamic phenomenon that starts to exerts powerful effect on the landscape of Polish economy and its competitiveness. Understandably, it arouses growing interest among businessmen, politicians, and economists. Being a part of relatively modest, so far, population of publications on active internationalisation of Polish enterprises, this book discusses results of studies conducted at the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz. Its merits include a comprehensive approach to the subject: it presents solid theoretical foundations of the internationalization process as well as quantitative (based on detailed, unpublished data of the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS) for Poland and for the Lodz voivodeship) and qualitative (questionnaire based study of determinants and effects of internationalisation of enterprises from the Lodz voivodeship) empirical analyses. Thus, it is an attempt of closing the information gap in the Polish publishing market, which may also provide further inspiration for future investigation of Polish direct investment.

Foreword 7 Chapter 1. The internationalisation of enterprises: an overview of studies .. 15 1.1. Introduction 15 1.2. Internationalisation in theories of international trade 19 1.3. Theories of Foreign Direct Investment 23 1.4. Sequential internationalisation theories 28 1.5. Theories of unconventional internationalisation 35 1.6. Network approach 41 1.7. Conclusions 46 Chapter 2. Should we support Poland’s Outward FDI? 49 2.1. Introduction 49 2.2. The effects of Outward FDI for the investing country: a theoretical per­ spective 54 2.3. The effects of Outward FDI for the investing country: an empirical per­ spective 57 2.4. Institutional framework for supporting Poland’s Outward FDI 62 2.5. Support instruments for Poland’s Outward FDI 65 2.6. Conclusions 70 Chapter 3. Foreign Direct Investments of Polish enterprises 77 3.1. Introduction 77 3.2. Poland’s Outward FDI – scale and structure 80 3.3. Directions of Poland’s Outward FDI 97 3.4. Conclusions 105 Chapter 4. Foreign Direct Investments of firms from the Lodz Region 107 4.1. Introduction 107 4.2. Enterprises from the Lodz voivodeship – the scale of international involve­ ment 107 4.3. Activities of foreign affiliates of companies from the Lodz voivodeship 116 4.4. Enterprises from the Lodz voivodeship: investment directions 120 4.5. Conclusions 125 Chapter 5. Active internationalisation of enterprises from the Lodz voivode­ ship. Study results 127 5.1. Introduction 127 5.2. Characteristics of the enterprises included in the study 128 5.3. Domestic competitiveness of enterprises before they started to interna­ tionalise 134 5.4. Scale and type of involvement in foreign markets 136 5.5. Organisational and geographical structure of foreign investment 139 5.5.1. Representative offices 139 5.5.2. Subsidiaries and branches 141 5.5.3. Joint-ventures with partners from the host country 142 5.6. The internationalisation of enterprises: characteristics 144 5.6.1. Area of business and firm’s competitive position in the host country 144 5.6.2. Exports to the host country 148 5.7. Internationalisation: degree, paths and initiators 149 5.8. Motivation behind foreign expansion 154 5.8.1. Market seeking motives 154 5.8.2. Efficiency seeking 156 5.8.3. Administrative and legal reasons 158 5.8.4. Resource seeking motivation 160 5.8.5. Risk related motivation 162 5.8.6. Intangible resources in building a competitive advantage in the host country 164 5.8.7. Factors restricting foreign direct investment and activities in the host country 166 5.8.8. Expectations vis-a-vis foreign investments 170 5.8.9. Impact of foreign affiliates upon enterprise operations in Poland 173 5.9. Conclusions 178 References 181 Annex – questionnaire 197 List of tables and figures 211