Abstract
Poland is a country with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. The hidden champions’ performance has been closely related to political and economic changes: the fall of communism in 1989 and the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. This led to the emergence of small private businesses focused on the domestic market. The accession to the European Union in 2004 created new perspectives for the hidden champions’ growth after the opening of the international markets, financial, educational, and institutional support, legal regulations, and FDI inflow with new technologies. Liberal democracy enabled the hidden champions to emerge in almost all industries. The majority of them have been taken over by large international companies. This has enabled their high performance. In the Global Competitiveness Index, Poland moved from 57th position in 2011 to 37th in 2018. Polish hidden champions build their positions using strong partnerships with suppliers and customers. Their competitive position is weaker than that of leading Western companies due to Poland’s less developed business culture and the complexity of regulations increasing the transaction costs and business risks. Hidden champions go international with their products and services and are masters in securing their access to scarce resources. They offer strongly innovative products based on their own R&D and develop their brands and new distribution channels, such as e-commerce and digital marketing. Poland is one of the world’s leaders in the business services sector and provides a friendly environment to start-ups.
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Notes
- 1.
Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) in cooperation with EY, Randstad Polska and Randstad Sourceright.2018
- 2.
According to GUS, (Main Statistical Office of Poland) it was 2.0% in 2017, 1.6% in 2018 and 2.9% in July 2019.
- 3.
H. Simon, M. Dietl, Tajemniczy Mistrzowie XXI wieku. Strategie sukcesu nieznanych liderów na światowych rynkach, Polish edition, Simon-Kucher@Partners, Difin 2009. M. Dietl is the author of the Chapter 12: Hidden Champions in Poland, pp. 409–431).
- 4.
Some of them already became market Champions, other refused to participate in the research.
- 5.
In Poland only about 1000 new companies are established every day. (https://www.coig.com.pl/nowe-firmy-w-polsce_2016_2015_2014_2013.php. Accessed 31 Oct 2019).
- 6.
EU Programmatic Ad Spending Forecast 2019, eMarketer.
- 7.
About 1000 new companies are established in Poland every day. See: https://www.coig.com.pl/nowe-firmy-w-polsce_2016_2015_2014_2013.php. Accessed 31 Oct 2019.
- 8.
https://www.coig.com.pl/nowe-firmy-w-polsce_2016_2015_2014_2013.php. Accessed 31 Oct 2019.
- 9.
https://ceoworld.biz/2019/01/02/most-startup-friendly-countries-in-the-world-2019/. Accessed 31 Oct 2019.
- 10.
E.g., Biotts, Quotiss, challengerocket.com. See: https://ceoworld.biz/2019/01/02/most-startup-friendly-countries-in-the-world-2019/. Accessed 31 Oct 2019.
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Leśniak-Łebkowska, G., Popowska, M., Godlewska, M., Łukasiewicz, M. (2021). Hidden Champions of Poland. In: Braček Lalić, A., Purg, D. (eds) Hidden Champions in Dynamically Changing Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65451-1_21
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