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This paper aims to examine the changes in global value chains (GVCs) in the years 2020–2022 (times of the COVID-19 pandemic) compared to 2019 (last year before the pandemic). GVCs are illustrated by diagrams based on the statistics on international trade measured by value-added exports and imports. In this paper, the final demand approach is applied to measure international trade by value-added exports and imports and they were computed based on inter-country input-output tables delivered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The catchphrase “Made in the World” makes an impression, but in reality, value chains are rarely global. They are rather regional with three centers. “Factory Europe”, “Factory Asia”, and “Factory America” can easily be identified in the years 2019–2022 as there were three large regional supply hubs in GVCs: Germany, China, and the United States. When the years 2020–2022 were compared to 2019, “Factory Asia” with center in China elevated their position in GVCs at the expense of “Factory Europe” with center in Germany and “Factory America with center in the USA.”

Throughout the twentieth century, United States has been the most desirable destination for international migrants, primarily due to its economic performance and also to American values – work ethics and tolerance of ethnic diversity. This paper aims to test if selected economic indicators might influence international migration. To this end a time series analysis was performed with time series regression model, where lagged values of various macroeconomic indicators were tested for a significant impact on migration flows. This paper also cast a light on U.S. labour migration's legislation and history, as well as current migrant stock characteristics. It gives specific attention to Polish migrant population, as Polish Americans constitute the largest Polish diaspora worldwide. The results of the analysis show that U.S. immigration volumes are sensitive to American unemployment rate and American GDP growth (pull factors). However, analysing Polish migration volumes to the U.S. a significant correlation with selected American indicators was not revealed. On the contrary, Polish migration flows to the U.S. were correlated with Polish economic growth and the Polish unemployment rate fluctuations (push factors).

The paper is theoretical and empirical. Its basic purpose is to examine the resilience of organizational startups during the post-COVID-19 pandemic. The basic research method used in the study was CAWI. The group of surveyed companies consisted of startups operating in Zachodniopomorskie, Wielkopolskie, and Lubuskie voivodeships. The survey covered 62 enterprises in 2022. The research revealed that owing to their organizational resilience the startups were able to adapt to the changes in the market. Thus, on the one hand, they were able to quickly tailor their offer to the current needs of customers, and on the other hand, they could modify the processes taking place inside the company. As a result of these measures, the startups increased their revenues, which may directly determine the future competitiveness of the surveyed companies.

This paper delves into the diverse conceptualizations of the “common good” within the economic discourse and scrutinizes their implications for European integration during the pressing COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a comprehensive literature review, policy analysis, and case study examination, it explores the manifestations of the common good in the context of European Union policies. Two key interpretations emerge from our investigation: the first presents the common good as an ultimate objective, seeking a balance between individual and collective interests achieved via adept economic governance; the second considers it a continuous process underpinned by the principles that direct the journey toward such a balance. Our findings reveal that the EU’s response to the COVID-19 crisis led to shifts in fiscal policies and innovation strategies. The research outcomes demonstrate a marked transition in the EU’s approach, with a stronger focus on social welfare, environmental sustainability, and collective well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of similarity between financial systems in selected Central and Eastern European countries (CEE11) and four models of capitalism in Western Europe identified by B. Amable [The diversity of modern capitalism, 2003]. A comparative analysis in this institutional area was done on the basis of six variables. Three of them represent inputs, that is, institutional determinants, and other three variables describe outputs of institutional regulations. For each of them coefficients of similarity between a CEE11 country and a selected Western European country were calculated, and based on it the similarity hexagons were created. In this paper, two pictures of the institutional arrangements were taken: for 2005 and for 2014. Additionally, an analysis of changes that took place in institutional solutions in the CEE11 countries, based on the variables and the coefficients of similarity, was carried out.

A neglected aspect of regional trade agreements (RTAs) is their protectionist potential. In times of a stagnating World Trade Organization (WTO), growing economic nationalism and skepticism about the merits of free trade and trade agreements, the paper examines to what extent recently signed RTAs really promote genuine free trade or rather foster sneaky protectionism under the guise of free trade. For this, the paper proposes an ideal-type free trade agreement benchmark model based on a classical liberal perspective and applies it in a multiple case study approach to assess three cases of recently concluded mega-RTAs: the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the renegotiated North American trade agreement USCMA, and the Canada–European Union (EU) agreement CETA. The article shows that all of them are far from the classical liberal ideal of totally free trade and have a high content of back door protectionism suitable to raise trade barriers when politically opportune. In particular, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) includes many clear protectionist provisions that might even outweigh its liberalizing stipulations, whereas CPTPP and CETA can be deemed net liberalizing. It concludes that given political economy constraints, RTAs can nevertheless remain a second-best solution to the classical liberal ideals of completely unhampered trade and unilateral liberalization provided that they remove more impediments to free exchange than they cement or create.

Due to volatile micro- and macroeconomic conditions and increasing competition, companies experience great difficulties in attaining required profitability. The objective of this paper is to identify the profitability determinants for Polish agricultural distributors in a recent period, i.e., 2006–2016. The potential determinants of profitability identified during the course of literature review and after interviews with industry experts are classified into internal and external. With the use of Spearman correlation ranks and regression analysis of figures relating to 24 Polish agricultural distributors, the following internal profitability determinants are identified: age, size, working capital components, indebtedness, salaries, and sales margins. Additionally, the study confirmed the influence of the following selected external profitability determinants: market share, unemployment rate, and several industry-specific variables. This paper proposes the first set of sales profitability determinants for Polish agricultural distributors. The results of this study are interesting for industry-level management.

A growing literature examines institutional arrangements in Central and Eastern European (CEE) market economies. Some sources claim that there is a distinct model of capitalism in this region. This paper overviews and analyzes the results of these studies in connection with crucial methodological issues showing the limitations of institutional analysis. Despite all methodological difficulties, with a combination of different methods, institutional comparison is able to provide essential insights into the position and future prospects of CEE member states. One of the most important insights is that the maintenance of economic convergence to Western European countries requires substantial institutional changes. This paper also suggests that a broader historical context can help to evaluate opportunities and the risk of path dependency. It seems fruitful if the current development is fit into the conceptual framework which conceives of CEE as the region of “in-betweenness,” where the legacy of incomplete modernization attempts hinders the optimal institutional arrangement.

The main aim of this paper was to shed a new empirical light on the nature and most salient features of the evolving postcommunist capitalism in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE11) countries against the backdrop of Western European models of capitalism. The research approach capitalizes on the conceptual framework put forward by Amable [2003, The diversity of modern capitalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford] , i.e., it seeks to identify the current clusters or models of capitalism in 25 European Union (EU) countries in six institutional areas. However, in contrast to the original Amable’s methodology, the subspace clustering method was used, what allowed to take into account a vast set of 132 institutional measures and to analyze their change between 2005 and 2014. The main finding is that CEE11 countries developed their own distinct model of capitalism dubbed “patchwork capitalism.” In all but two areas, i.e., product market competition and financial intermediation, postcommunist countries form their own institutional clusters that are substantially different from those observed in Western EU countries. In addition, the paper shows that each CEE11 country followed its own distinct vector of change, which eventually led to a unique patchwork of institutions. Yet, the institutional variance within the region is smaller than the difference between CEE11 countries and other country clusters in the EU.

The paper aims to explore the negative impacts of social relationships (SR) on business activity. As a research context, the video game industry (VGI) and the video game developers’ (VGDs) relationships are analyzed.

The paper examines the convergence of tax systems in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) over the period 1995–2018. Due to the increasing impact of tax competition, we have focused on income taxes, in particular, corporate ones. We have identified the factors that influence the taxation system and trends in income taxation in the CEECs by adapting the hidden Markov model approach. We find that many CEECs have reduced income taxation in the analysis period, mainly by lowering tax rates. Corporate income taxes have also decreased in many CEECs in the same period; however, the reverse has been observed too. Both convergence and divergence have been identified among the CEECs over the period considered. The speed of these processes based on the used variables varied depending on both exogenous and endogenous factors. These factors have been diagnosed as being specific to the periods of tax reforms, i.e., before and after accession to the European Union (EU) and the global financial crisis.

The objective of this paper is to validate the existence of an extensively documented secular upward trend in corporate cash holding. To do this, we use the new data for Poland and review original datasets from Bates et al. [2009] for the U.S. We find no trace of a trend for Poland and believe most trends for the U.S. come from the cash piling toward the end of the sample period. At best, the U.S. trend applies merely to small firms. We believe cash holding is a period-dependent time-varying variable which also depends on external shocks (e.g., the pandemic or tax regulations). We show that simple addition of macro data (GDP in our case) vastly improves models focused only on optimal cash holding and firm-specific characteristics. We call for a new three-stage approach to study corporate cash, in which micro considerations are complemented by macro data and external liquidity shock analysis.

The main aim of the paper is to analyze the earnings quality of high-share liquidity companies from Poland, Romania, and Hungary whose activities are outside the finance sector.

Improving energy efficiency and building a low-emission economy are fundamental elements of sustainable development. The concept is based on a rational-energy economy and is aimed at limiting the negative consequence of the impact of energy on the environment. The main purpose of the paper is to assess the application of activities for both improving energy efficiency and building a low-emission economy, undertaken in Małopolska . Thermomodernization, installations of renewable energy sources, replacement of inefficient heating sources, and low-emission transport are among the cofinanced activities in the implemented programs. The first section of this paper discusses existing legal acts in the European Union, at the national and provincial levels, related to the analyzed issue. The second section contains description of the actions undertaken for improving energy efficiency and air quality, as well as for increasing the use of renewable energy sources, in Małopolska. The third section includes a qualitative assessment of the effects obtained and further directions for activities in this field.

Objective: This paper investigates the explicit and implicit factors affecting private-label (PL) products’ possible purchase decision for different retailers. Design: The study uses eyetracking and electroencephalography (EEG) to explore the differences in eye movement and brain activity for PL products. This article examines how approach motivation, measured by total fixation duration and by EEG asymmetry over the frontal hemisphere of the brain, predicts PL purchase decision. Findings: This study investigates implicit variables that can influence consumers’ willingness to PL purchase. The relatively greater left frontal activation (i.e., higher approach motivation) during the predecision period predicted an affirmative purchase decision in some cases. The eyetracking study did not reveal differences between women’s and men’s esthetics sensitivity toward the presented PL products. EEG research proved that consumers were not influenced by the PL product price. Originality/value: Literature lacks credible information on young buyers’ behavior in the context of PL products. This paper elaborates on PL perception, revealing the neural origins of the associated psychological processes.

For many years, services attracted most of the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern European countries. Recently, a distinctive type of business services, i.e., advanced business services (ABS), has become the focal point in FDI in the region. This paper is aimed at defining the role of agglomeration economies in FDI in ABS in Poland. The topic is important from the policy point of view, as foreign investment is supported by the host country’s authorities, and various incentives are provided. The research method applied in this paper is the negative binomial regression. The outcome variable was the number of firms operating in ABS in particular regions. Explanatory variables pertain to the characteristics of 16 regions classified as Level 2 under the Nomenclature des Unités territoriales statistiques (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS) in Poland. The main conclusion of the research is that agglomeration economies are important in the decision of the firms investing in ABS in Poland. The most important factor is the concentration of supply factors, such as abundance of educated employees. The specific features of ABS are associated with lower importance of demand factors in a region.

Abstract: The paper consists of a discussion on the relevance of non-income drivers of welfare. This discussion is based on a subjective Bayesian reasoning, where welfare perceptions are subjectively rational decisions of individuals, who are, as author suggests, the ultimate decision-makers in respect of what welfare actually means for them. The objective of the paper is to investigate if income should be taken for granted as a sole driver of welfare. The conclusion is drawn from a methodological investigation of this question in a Bayesian concept of probability with a consideration for correlations among income and non-income drivers of welfare. It suggests that income should not be taken for granted as a sole driver of welfare since the non-income factors, which are not correlated with income, appear to be relevantly affecting individuals’ perceptions of welfare with Bayesian probability of almost 65%. Thereby, the paper is a reaffirmation of a need for further research in the area of welfare measures that might constitute an alternative to income-dominated indicators. Its value emanates from unambiguous answer in favour of the relevance of non-income drivers across welfare perceptions, which, without Bayesian reasoning, could remain unsolved at the point of 50% odds for relevance (irrelevance).

This paper discusses the firm-level determinants of international hotels’ foreign markets entry choices, contrasting acquisition with management and franchise contracts, based on a resource-dependency perspective and appropriability theory. It points out that brand equity, relatedness of products and market segmentation, partner-specific knowledge of hotels, international experience, and the duration of proprietary knowledge impact hotels’ decisions on how to enter a foreign market. In addition, the paper suggests the existence of entry choices sequence favorable to acquisition probability after the end of management contract when the franchisors’ or management companies’ proprietary knowledge attenuates. Contract activity is likely to be renewed after the acquisition, once the management company has established a new form or a higher level of proprietary knowledge.

Energy security and international competitiveness are two of the most fiercely discussed topics – especially in the light of the European Union (EU)’s dependence on Russia’s gas, oil, and coal. Both mentioned concepts are of special importance for the so-called EU new member states (EU NMS), which are undergoing the energy diversification process. The main goal of this paper is to analyze how energy security influences the international competitiveness of these countries. The study uses trade theories related to productivity differentials (Ricardian hypothesis) and differences in factor endowments (Heckscher–Ohlin hypothesis) as a basis for our econometric modeling. The results show that relative energy supply as well as physical and human capital relative endowments have a statistically significant impact on international competitiveness of the studied economies.

There is an intrinsic link between the success of service firms and the availability of high-quality human resources, making employee attitudes and behaviors a critical concern for service organizations. This paper examines the role of generational differences in the relationship between person-environment fit, job satisfaction and work engagement in the tourism industry. The study was based on a group of 981 tourism employees in 15 localities in Poland. Data were collected through self-administered paper-based questionnaires. The hypothesized relationships were tested using a hierarchical regression analysis. This research revealed that Generation Y employees experienced lower job satisfaction, lower work engagement, and a lower degree of needs being met in the workplace than did their predecessors. It was also found that person-group fit was a stronger predictor of work attitudes for Millennials. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on generational diversity in the workplace and its implication for human resources management. Specifically, in the service context, it adds a generational perspective of the person-environment fit influence on work-related attitudes.

This paper examines long-term developments in the quality and efficiency of free market institutional systems across thirteen emerging economies from South, South-east, and East Asia over the 1995–2014 period. The paper also empirically assesses the impact of free market institutions on a country’s inward foreign direct investment (FDI) performance. We find that the free market institutional framework in most economies is still relatively inefficient, restrictive, and underdeveloped but has, nevertheless, substantially improved during the last twenty-year period. Our empirical results also indicate that a free market institutional system in a host-country is a factor that attracts inward FDI to emerging Asian economies by multinational companies. Consequently, policy makers should focus on further improving the quality of free market institutions.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze impact of organizational learning (OL) on Polish small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance. Results are based on interviews with owners and managers from two samples of Polish small- and medium-sized firms: a “pre-COVID-19” sample (the survey was conducted during May–July 2019) and a “COVID-19” sample (the survey was conducted during December 2020–January 2021). The results based on the “pre-COVID-19” sample show partial support for the hypothesis about a positive relationship between market performance and OL for Polish SMEs. Two out of three measures of OL, i.e., the diversity of information sources and the commitment to learning, showed positive relationship with two aspects of market performance, i.e., the sales dynamics and the self-assessed success as compared with that of competitors. None of the OL measures have been correlated with the financial results. For the “COVID-19” sample, commitment to learning showed very weak positive correlations with both financial results and sales dynamics. These relationships were not confirmed when other firms’ characteristics had been included.

Coopetition has gained considerable attention in the management literature. Yet, the best recognized is inter-organizational coopetition. The intra-organizational coopetition is still under-researched and there is a gap in the comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of intra-organizational coopetition. This paper attempts to identify the main positive outcomes in the coopetition relationship between affiliates within business groups based on a survey questionnaire in the largest business groups listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The findings of the study reveal that coopetition at the intra-organizational level generates many benefits. The main ones are resource benefits and improved market and financial performance. The positive effects of intra-organizational coopetition are somewhat similar to the benefits of inter-organizational coopetition. However, some differences support the view on the specificity of coopetition at each level.

With the rising popularity of the Internet, interactions between companies and their consumers have become more common and meaningful. Researchers often tend to apply the metaphor of community to these on-line networks of B2C relationships. However, this term implies durability and a long-term orientation. It does not cover more incidental, short-lived groups of consumers, who therefore should not be treated as communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of these short-term, collective consumer phenomena (addressed as e-crowds within the scope of this paper) to create value. Based on a critical literature analysis that considers works from several different fields of knowledge (including management, economics, psychology and media studies) and empirical examples, we argue that while lacking a complex internal organization, e-crowds are capable of creating use, exchange and sign value when certain conditions are met. However, they are equally likely to perform value-destroying activities, which present real risks for companies that interact with e-crowds.

EU Member States outside the Eurozone are hesitating to enter the European Banking Union (EBU) and to establish “close cooperation” in bank supervision with the ECB. This paper analyzes the consequences of such asymmetric integration for financial stability in Europe. It argues that the main obstacles against establishing close cooperation are a lack of voting rights and insufficient access to the fiscal backstop provided by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The paper presents arguments as to why international cooperation in bank supervision could be welfare improving, if multinational banks are dominant. It also discusses suitable reform options for making it more attractive for EU Member States to begin a close cooperation with the ECB.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great turbulence in global financial markets. The first goal of this conceptual paper is to explore whether managers of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange are susceptible to selected behavioral biases related to irrational risk preferences. We also seek to investigate whether susceptibility to these errors may affect selected management practices in the areas of corporate risk management and investment policy. The second major goal of our project is to identify whether there is a link at the micro level, that is, between the aforementioned irrational management practices resulting from susceptibility to behavioral biases and the macro level (i.e., certain macroeconomic indicators, such as aggregate investment, employment, and growth). We hope that our research project will contribute to shifting the paradigm of economics in such a way that the behavioral approach will be increasingly used and acknowledged by researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which to neutralize the country-of-origin (COO) effect (COE) in the emerging market of firms’ international branding.

This paper concerns the problem of generation gap management resulting from personnel restructuring in foundries in Poland. Structural changes to steelworks led to a sharp decline in employment caused by decreased steelworks production. New hiring was limited as a part of employment rationalisation in the steelworks sector. Such personnel policy eventually led to a generation gap. Ratios between individual age groups of employees are imbalanced at steelworks: the numbers of young personnel are low and of those aged 50+ are high. This research forecasts changes in employment levels for the 2013-2019 period, aimed at closing the generation gap. The paper consists of three parts: (1) a descriptive analysis of labor market demographics in Poland’s steel industry; (2) proposed methodology for HR management model, and (3) econometric models forecasting labor demographics in Poland’s steel industry.

This paper develops a simple model of trade and “quality-ladders” growth without scale effects to study the implications of general purpose technologies (GPTs) for international trade. GPTs refer to a certain type of drastic innovations, such as electrification, the transistor, and the Internet, that are characterized by the pervasiveness in use, innovational complementarities, and technological dynamism. The model presents a two-country (Home and Foreign) dynamic general equilibrium framework and incorporates GPT diffusion within Home that exhibits endogenous Schumpeterian growth. The model analyzes the long-run and transitional dynamic effects of a new GPT on the pattern of trade and relative wages. The main findings of the paper are: 1) when the GPT diffusion across industries is governed by S-curve dynamics, there are two steady-state equilibria: the initial steadystate arises before the adoption of the new GPT and the final one is reached after the GPT diffusion process has been completed, 2) when all industries at Home have adopted the new GPT, Home enjoys comparative advantage in a greater range of industries compared to Foreign, 3) during the transitional dynamics, Foreign gains back its competitiveness in some of the industries that lost its comparative advantage to Home.

This paper explores the influence of the quality of a host country’s institutional environment on outflows from that country of foreign direct investment. The main finding of this paper is that such quality does play an important role, particularly with respect to governance quality and political stability. This implies that better institutional conditions may reduce undesirable outflows of capital, and the quality of those institutions may impact FDI effectiveness in host countries.

There has been a broad discussion about the viability of the European Monetary Union (EMU) in its present and prospective confines. Generally, the EMU, consisting of 19 countries, is not considered an optimal currency area due to low labor market flexibility, autonomous fiscal policies, and structural differences among its members. Considerations about the endogeneity effect of currency unions lead to the question whether the EMU will become more viable over time. According to the endogenity hypothesis formulated by Frankel and Rose [1996, 2000], a common currency area may gradually become an optimal currency area at some future point (ex post unification), despite not having been an optimal currency area (OCA) prior to (ex ante) currency unification. Currency unification should bring about increased intra-industry trade and greater business cycle synchronization among member states. The most recent literature and analyses presented in this paper suggest that the endogenity effect in the EMU has been frail since its onset. While real convergence between EMU member states has not advanced, divergence in i.a. economic structures, national income and productivity levels is observed. The most important economic mechanisms reinforcing convergence and divergence among monetary union members are presented in this paper. Using recent data and related research results, we show a significant divergence in economic structures, business cycle synchronization and productivity levels among Eurozone members in the last decade. The Krugman sectorial dissimilarity index is applied to measure changes in industrial similarity among member countries and the Hodrick-Prescott filter to estimate business cycle synchronization in the EMU. These divergence tendencies have been strengthened by the global financial crisis of 2008 and persist, calling for reforms and new policies within the EMU.

We investigate whether increasing the education quality causes increases in economic growth allowing poorer countries to catch up. To this end, we extend Nelson-Phelps's classic paper by introducing differences in education quality (proxied by students' performance on the Program for International Student Assessment [PISA] test) in a leader-follower type of growth model with knowledge diffusion. We use students' performance in a standardized international PISA test to measure education quality's impact on economic growth using a panel Vector Error Correction allowing for cross-correlation in the co-integration analysis in a set of all countries observed over the years 1975–2018. Additionally, we consider the possible reverse causality that characterizes economic development and the quality of education. Our results confirm the relevance of education quality as a significant causal factor of economic growth. However, further analyses indicate that the discussed relation is long-run, which may have important implications for policymakers.

The paper aims to assess the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16 “Leases” impact on the lessees’ financial situation. The study was conducted on the financial data for 2018–2019 of 494 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The hand-collected data on lease usage retrieved from the financial statements and the data for financial ratios obtained from the Orbis database were used. The research sample includes 308 preparers under IFRS and 186 entities applying accounting policies under the Polish Accounting Act. It is shown that the IFRS 16 implementation resulted in a significant increase in the debt-to-equity and debt-to-total assets ratios of lessees and a decrease in the profitability. We identified significant leverage increase in the trade and services sectors. The results confirm the conclusions of previous studies based on estimates, whose authors expected a significant differential effect of IFRS 16 implementation between industries.

The paper is an attempt to show the competitiveness clusters policy as a key element of the new French industrial policy using recent evaluation results of this policy. The aim of the paper is threefold. Firstly, objectives of the competitiveness clusters policy as well as their characteristics, spatial distribution across the country, selected statistical data concerning their functioning are overviewed. Secondly, evaluation results of the French competitiveness clusters policy and a comparison of this instrument to similar ones existing in leading EU countries are provided. Thirdly, some crucial challenges resulting from the evaluation and policy orientations are proposed in order to increase the effectiveness of the competitiveness clusters policy in France. The descriptive analysis has been used in the paper as research method.

The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge about virtual teams and above all to stress the differences between face-to-face and virtual teams as well as to define its chosen success factors. This paper is based on an extended literature review of virtual teams. The author describes virtual teams, reasons for their implementation and four factors that are prerequisites for team success.

The aim of the paper is to present the phenomenon of the new virtual currency bitcoin, and analyse its economic significance. The paper examines the origin, notion, functions and mechanism of emission of the BTC. The theoretical aspects of creation of the BTC and its advantages and weakness are also explained.

The paper aims to identify differences in the perceived benefits of cooperation in domestic and foreign networks achieved by Polish small and medium enterprise (SME) exporters and non-exporters.

Lockdowns imposed by the European Union (EU) Member States produced significant consequences in the form of losses to companies, which is why the Member States decided to assist businesses from public funds. This paper aims to identify and initially assess the implementation of schemes under which coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-related state aid was granted in Poland in 2020 for different instruments and beneficiary sizes. The idea was to find out how well aforementioned schemes responded to the needs of companies affected the most by the COVID-19-inflicted crisis. To this end, statistical analysis was deployed to learn about the share of individual groups of businesses of different sizes in support instruments granted in relation with COVID-19 by type of aid. The study helped to demonstrate that Polish aid schemes approved by the European Commission in 2020 assisted mainly micro- and small-sized companies, which usually suffered from poor liquidity, by predominantly soft instruments.

The concept of cultural branding based on various narratives has been established in the marketing literature, but there is a lack of studies linking this concept with brand-related effects. The aim of this paper is to explore and explain the possible relationships between various brand narratives based on the changing meaning of retirement and brand associations.

This study aims to identify middle-class consumers’ habits in four countries during the pandemic of 2020, with special attention to analogous consumers’ reactions to extraordinary circumstances during the recession of 2008. Furthermore, this study tried to detect the impact of the pandemic on conscious shopping. Although the consequences of the ongoing pandemic were unforeseeable, the paper opened new avenues for further research on factors responsible for conscious consumption during the unprecedented externality and its significance on the middle-class consumers in culturally diverse markets. To achieve the aforementioned goals, between June and December 2020, computer-assisted web interviews (CAWI) based on pilot stage research were conducted to answer the following questions: How did the pandemic influence the buyers’ shopping habits in terms of conscious consumption? What were the reasons for the changes in shopping habits? What kind of consumer behaviors would middle-class buyers recommend to others? One general conclusion, inter alia, should be stressed remarkably: during the pandemic, irrespective of the cultural differences, the middle-class consumers’ behaviors did not vary significantly with regards to most of the investigated variables.

Many studies raise the issue of relationships between internationalization and innovativeness, linking them with firms’ international competitiveness. However, very few of these studies focus on the influence of internationalization on innovativeness and regard the multifaceted nature of these two concepts. The study presented in this paper is based on a holistic approach to internationalization and innovativeness. It explores the influence of the outward (e.g. exporting, outward FDI) and inward (e.g. importing, inward FDI) internationalization on the outward (product and marketing) and inward (process and organizational) innovativeness of 274 firms in Poland, adopting formative variables and a correlations analysis. The key contribution of the research is that the outward internationalization is conducive to both the outward and inward innovativeness, while the inward internationalization supports only the inward innovativeness. It shows that learning by outward and inward internationalization supports innovativeness of firms, responsible for their international competitiveness. The findings might be unique for transition and emerging economies characterized with a low degree of internationalization and innovativeness, while the holistic approach is more universal, and might bring interesting results when applied to the research of highly advanced economies.

Since the ECB has lowered the interest rate on deposits into negative territory, more and more commercial banks are also passing on this negative interest rate to their customers. The main aim of this paper is to answer the question under which conditions the commercial banking sector will be more or less reluctant to pass the negative deposit rate on to its private customers. We first clarify the circumstances under which demand deposits and excess liquidity arise, and what role quantitative easing plays in this context. Within a game-theoretical framework, it is derived that the pressure to pass on the negative interest rate is particularly high if there are no switching costs, and the banking market follows a Bertrand competition.

Firms adopt open innovation for different reasons, and they experience various barriers for open innovation. Thus, the paper aims to answer two questions: (1) what type of drivers and barriers for open innovation that are to be identified among innovative firms in Poland and (2) what kind of differences in motives and barriers between high-tech and non-high-tech industries can be identified. The authors analyzed drivers and barriers for open innovation drawn from a survey database of on 122 innovative firms in Poland by means of the CATI method. The study confirms that the concept of open innovation is adopted in high-tech as well as non-high-tech industries. The study also shows that the most important drivers in high-tech and non-high-tech industries are market-driven motives, whereas the most important barriers are related to legal and financial factors. Moreover, the research does not confirm that there are different drivers and barriers between in high-tech and non-high-tech industries.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify the general use of the internet and examples of main social media used by residents of Bangladesh and second, to discover their potential in building marketing communication between FMCG manufacturers and consumers.

In this paper, the use of the machine learning algorithm is examined in derivation of the determinants of price movements of stock indices. The Random Forest algorithm was selected as an ideal representative of the nonlinear algorithms based on decision trees. Various brokering and investment firms and individual investors need comprehensive and insight information such as the drivers of stock price movements and relationships existing between the various factors of the stock market so that they can invest efficiently through better understanding. Our work focuses on determining the factors that drive the future price movements of Stoxx Europe 600, DAX, and WIG20 by using the importance of input variables in the Random Forest classifier. The main determinants were derived from a large dataset containing macroeconomic and market data, which were collected everyday through various ways.

This paper contributes to the growing stream of research on knowledge gathering in the internationalization process of international new ventures (INVs), as well as their networking activities. It identifies two dimensions describing the network knowledge-gathering approaches: 1) relationship approach (well-wishing or opportunistic) and 2) intentionality (intentional or unintentional search for knowledge), which enable the classification of the INV activities. The findings are based on a qualitative study conducted on four Polish INVs from the manufacturing industry. They show that internationalizing companies may behave opportunistically in their knowledge-gathering behavior, while, at the same time, some of their knowledge is also gathered unintentionally. The preconditions of knowledge-gathering behaviors suggested in the study include, among others, the managers’ experience, power division in the networks, and the duration of a relationship with a partner.

This article analyzes the grounds and possibility to induce and develop reshoring activities in the luxury goods sector. The premise of this analysis is the contemporary redefinition of the luxury goods sector, which relates to the increasing volume of goods marketed as luxuries. In this paper, we examine whether reshoring can develop in a similar manner on the respective tiers of the luxury ladder in the luxury fashion, automotive, and jewelry industries. Both premises and examples of reshoring in the luxury goods sector are conceptually analyzed and empirically illustrated.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ranks as the second most unequal region globally (in terms of income distribution), harboring 10 of the 19 most unequal countries in the world. This paper explores the channels through which income inequality exerts its effects on economic growth in SSA. The study spans the period 1995–2015, focusing on 31 SSA countries. Findings from the two-step system generalized method of moments suggest that income inequality exerts a significant positive effect on economic growth via the saving transmission channel, while it has a statistically significant negative effect on economic growth in the region through the channels of fertility, credit market imperfection, and fiscal policy.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the understanding and strategic importance of the country of origin (COO) and its dimensions from the perspective of the emerging market firms.

Development of renewable energy means that there is a growing demand for technology that helps to manage and consume it in an optimal way, using more energy when it is produced on sunny/ windy days, preferably at the place of production, and avoiding long-distance transmission. This opens the field for solutions based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, advanced demand management, and the concept of smart energy. The creation of a smart home energy management system (HEMS), which will help end users to manage the produced electricity, was the goal of the project entitled “e-balance – Balancing Energy Production and Consumption in Energy Efficient Smart Neighbourhoods”. Research with potential users carried out within the project showed that the existence of such systems in the home environment redefines the concept of electricity, which becomes tangible and always present in sight. Users also expected that the system would significantly reduce their electricity bills, an expectation which is not always confirmed by economic simulations. This means that the final solution will have to take account of other types of motivation and engagement, e.g., environmental ones. The paper presents conclusions from quantitative and qualitative research conducted within the “e-balance” project in Poland, Portugal, and the Netherlands.