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Poland needs to fulfill its climate goals and become “climate neutral” by 2050. The plan is intricate for the Polish Government because coal-powered power plants generate about 80 percent of electricity in the country. Although policymakers are making an effort to redesign the energy sector, a lot still remains to be done. The viral trend in that transformation involves installing photovoltaic (PV) panels by private, corporate, and self-government investors. For example, the “My energy” support program of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management has helped finance 220,000 micro-PV installations. The achievement is significant but constitutes only partial success. PV powerplants will not simply replace coal powerplants. That is why the research on the ecological distributed energy generation systems has to be executed. The article presents the research results on ecological distributed energy generation systems, making the transformation of the Polish energy sector possible. The study’s primary objectives were to review the energy situation with particular attention paid to the technologies that could be used as the ecological distributed energy generation systems and draw the scenarios for the sector development. The authors used Desk research, the Delphi method supported with the Computer Assisted-Web Interview (CAWI) technique, and the Weighted SWOT analysis to fulfill the objectives. The findings showed that photovoltaic (PV) systems would be the fastest-growing energy sector even in the perspective of doubling the energy consumption by 2050. Private investors investing in ecological distributed energy generation systems, especially the PV systems mentioned above, and biomass or biogas systems, would significantly help policymakers, including those in Poland, fulfill the climate goals.

Purpose: The article aimed to identify the definition of a process and define a proposal of one's concept of a process in order to improve the organization's strategy in the scope of the process approach implementation. Design/Methodology/Approach: In the research process, to achieve the assumed research goals, it was decided to use the following research methods, desk studies and tag cloud. Findings: As a result of the research, process definitions were established, a semantic analysis of the most popular forty process definitions was made, and the analysis was carried out on three levels. Practical Implications: More and more organizations use the Business Process Management concept, but the process definition is ambiguous. It is essential to standardize the process definition because business process management implementation depends on precise definitions. Originality/Value: The paper's originality is the use of tag cloud to analyze the process definitions. The study presents a new approach to the process in the context of the proprietary model., peer-reviewed

A number of socio-economic phenomena that are intensifying nowadays, in particular an increase in competition and customer expectations, forces enterprises to seek new sources of innovation, including process (technological) ones to ensure their ability to compete effectively. It turns out that they are increasingly transferring them from their environment, and the success of this undertaking is dependent on their absorptive capacities. Therefore, the main goal of this article was to identify the key absorptive capacities that are endogenous determinants of the effectiveness of the process of the absorption of process innovations in the activity of Poland’s financial companies. The empirical part of the article was written on the basis of an online survey carried out in 2015-2016. It was sent to the heads of 155 commercial financial sector companies registered in Poland, namely all banks, property and life insurance companies, investment funds and universal fund management companies. In total, 111 entities filled in the online survey questionnaire. In the conducted study an attempt was made to assess the direction and strength of dependence between the level of development of specific absorptive capacities of financial companies and the scale of the effects achieved as a result of the absorption of process innovations. Personal and organizational absorptive capacities of financial companies in Poland remain in a positive and strong linear relationship with their effectiveness achieved in the scope of the absorption of process innovations. The results identified the key absorptive capacities that determine the effects obtained in the process of absorbing technological innovations, taking into account the specific conditions prevailing in the service sector.

Purpose: The research objective of the article is to develop a model that indicates significant, from the perspective of introducing technological innovations by Polish small and medium-sized enterprises, internal factors that make up the company's innovation capability and build their competitive position. Design/methodology/approach: The company’s innovation capability can be divided on seven specific sub-capabilities, research and development, manufacturing, organizational, marketing, logistics, human factor and strategy. We also included some contextual factors in the model. Empirical studies were conducted in 2015, using the CAPI method, on the representative sample of 250 small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis and assessment we based on the results of the ordered logit regression model estimation. Findings: The obtained results indicate the significance of 19 variables from all specific capabilities and contextual factors. Their impact proved to be both positive and negative. Practical Implications: The identified elements of innovation capability of small and medium-sized enterprises may be a recommendation for small and medium-sized enterprises’ managers. Originality/value: Determination of key elements of technological innovation capability of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The results can be compared with those obtained for other countries., peer-reviewed

The paper contributes to the research on the dependence between absorptive capacity and firm’s innovativeness. The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of the degree of absorptive capacity components development on the innovativeness level of financial companies operating in Poland. The theoretical part of the paper discusses firm’s innovativeness and its relations with inter-firm collaboration and developing the absorptive capacity. The empirical part of the paper presents the findings obtained in an online survey using a CSAQ—a conducted on the sample of 111 commercial financial sector companies operating in Poland. The presented study focuses on identifying the components of absorptive capacity that determine the increase of firm’s innovativeness level. They indicate that the capability to use specific forms of acquiring new technologies from outside and the capability to develop the acquired technologies are those which most significantly influence firm’s innovativeness level.

Wbrew powszechnie wyrazanym opiniom transfer dostepnych w otoczeniu technologii jako forma rozwoju przedsiebiorstwa moze byc źrodlem znaczących innowacji. Te w duzej mierze są jednak uwarunkowane zdolnościami przedsiebiorstwa do absorpcji nowych technologii. W niniejszym opracowaniu autor, opierając sie na wynikach badan wlasnych, podejmuje probe oceny wplywu stopnia rozwoju potencjalu absorpcyjnego dzialających w Polsce przedsiebiorstw finansowych na poziom ich innowacyjności. Realizacja tego celu pozwala wykluczyc nasuwającą sie wątpliwośc, wedlug ktorej wzrost zdolności absorpcyjnych wyrazający sie m.in. w zdobywanym doświadczeniu nie tyle prowadzi do zalozonych w teorii zarządzania wiedzą kolejnych innowacji, ile wrecz przeciwnie, do rutyny ograniczającej kreatywnośc, a w konsekwencji oryginalnośc zmian wprowadzanych w nastepstwie transferu wiedzy i technologii.

This article is empirical in nature and attempts to assess the impact of ability to assimilate newly acquired technologies by financial companies operating in Poland gaining market competitive advantages. The outcome of the research conducted proved the existence of this relationship and found it be strong. This means that the development of these abilities within the absorptive potential of financial companies should trigger a significant increase in the market competitive advantages held by them. The strong impact was identified both in the total of the analyzed personnel and general-organizational components of the assimilation abilities. As regards elementary components of the analyzed potential, the obtained results are definitely more diverse.

The article of empirical nature is an attempt to evaluate the influence of the abilities to exploit newly acquired technologies possessed by finance companies operating in Poland on the competitive advantages they gain. The findings obtained confirm the existence of such influence, although its force seems rather moderate. A stronger influence was noted in relation to the jointly analyzed individual components, as well as the one related to general organization, which constitute the exploitation abilities, as well as in relation to three basic specialized assets within this type of abilities.

Globalization and internationalization of the economy compelled the implementation of innovative solutions in companies. Only those organizations that regularly implement innovations have a chance to achieve significant market positions and survive in a competitive environment. The exemplification of such highly innovative companies are H. Simon’s hidden champions. In this publication, there was an attempt made to assess the activity of Polish innovative hidden champions. The results obtained confirm that this specific group of companies places a strong emphasis on innovation. This is evidenced by even such aspects as the number of new innovations, very high amounts spent on R&D or continuous observation of the market in order to discover new needs.

W niniejszym artykule o charakterze teoretyczno-empirycznym autor podejmuje probe powiązania aspektow ksztaltowania wizerunku przedsiebiorstwa z rozwijaniem poządanych dla niego relacji oraz oceny świadomości menedzerow malych przedsiebiorstw na temat potrzeby ksztaltowania ich wizerunku na rzecz budowania relacji z partnerami w lancuchu dostaw. W tym celu weryfikuje dostrzeganie przez tych menedzerow pozytywnego wplywu wizerunku zarządzanych przez nich przedsiebiorstw na jakośc relacji z innymi podmiotami w lancuchu dostaw oraz zasadnośc celowego tworzenia poządanego wyobrazenia o swoich przedsiebiorstwach.

In today’s turbulent and challenging world it is not an organization’s internal research and development activity that is the leading source of innovation, but the organizational environment. As a consequence, transfer of innovative technologies is a tool commonly used to enhance a company’s development. The effectiveness of this undertaking is determined primarily by the technology recipient’s absorptive capacity which is responsible for acquiring strategically valuable technology, its effective assimilation, and using it with desired results in mind. Thus, a company should guarantee the realization of goals it sets for itself when deciding to engage in technology transfer by maintaining a proper perfection level of these specialized abilities.

Background: Multilateral cooperation is an inherent part of any business and one of the most important factors in the success of modern enterprise. Therefore, in this paper the author addresses the problem of building relationships with partners in a supply chain and focuses on the development of relational abilities as well as inter-organizational ties, and his exploration and considerations are applied to small businesses. Methods: In the empirical part of the work the author aims to identify the scope and intensity of the involvement of small businesses in taking measures to build relationships with supply chain partners. The basic source of data is the results of empirical research conducted by the author in 2014 by means of mail and personal surveys. A questionnaire specially designed for this purpose was sent out to 500 randomly selected small businesses from the kujawsko-pomorskie region (Poland). Results: The author provides a positive verification of the formulated hypotheses, which imply that small businesses take action to develop both their ability to establish and maintain relationships and the actual relationships with partners in the supply chain. However, they take various activities into account, but not all, and this is mostly done in a manner that is not systematically, particularly in relation to those undertakings which require more sophisticated skills and tools. Conclusions: Propagating the theory of relational abilities among small businesses and the concepts indicating the forms of their development and use appears to be justified, even if these companies seem to be aware of the impact of the quality of relationships with supply chain partners on the effects of cooperation with them.

Wymogi skutecznego konkurowania na współczesnych rynkach wymuszają na przedsiębiorstwach prowadzenie działalności innowacyjnej, której efekty uwarunkowane są wynikami ich aktywności proinnowacyjnej. Wyniki badań wskazują, że przedsiębiorstwa regionu kujawsko-pomorskiego są świadome potrzeby podejmowania proinnowacyjnych przedsięwzięć i taką aktywnością się wykazują. Jednakże jej częstotliwość i zakres wymaga zwiększenia, aby móc wdrażać w życie nowatorskie rozwiązania, umożliwiające prowadzenie skutecznej walki konkurencyjnej.

At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century the global economy was affected by another acute crisis with a negative economic and social impact. The aftermath of the crisis was also the worsening of the conditions for the functioning of companies. The conditions have become even more challenging for small enterprises, by definition weaker entities with relatively smaller competitive potential. Hence a question arises about how Polish SME sector companies react to the global economic crisis. Based on the results of the survey conducted, the article seeks to provide the answer to this question as well as to achieve an empirical objective which is to identify specific actions undertaken by Polish small and medium-sized enterprises under the crisis, which are also a manifestation of their defensive behaviours. W końcu pierwszej dekady XXI wieku gospodarkę światową dotknął kolejny dotkliwy kryzys niosący negatywne konsekwencje ekonomiczno-społeczne. Między innymi stworzył on trudne warunki dla funkcjonowania przedsiębiorstw. Tym większym stały się one wyzwaniem dla przedsiębiorstw małych, z założenia słabszych, o relatywnie mniejszym potencjale konkurencyjnym. Rodzi się w związku z tym pytanie, w jaki sposób na światowy kryzys gospodarczy reagują przedsiębiorstwa polskiego sektora MSP? Poszukując na nie odpowiedzi podjęto w niniejszym artykule – opierając się na wynikach badań ankietowych – próbę zrealizowania celu empirycznego, jakim jest identyfikacja charakterystycznych działań podejmowanych przez polskie małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa w dobie kryzysu, stanowiących symptomatyczny przejaw ich obronnych zachowań.

The author of the paper addresses two questions: whether top management of commercial banks operating in Poland is conscious of having in their organizations particular forms of absorptive potential and if banks’ managers understand the need of intentional development of such potential. The research findings, presented in the paper, answer these questions. Unfortunately they are quite disappointing. As it follows from the research data, even top managers of leading commercial banks have serious awareness problems while discussing about necessity of developing absorptive potential. Some of them do not realize that in their organizations there are particular elements influencing absorptive capacity of their banks. Moreover, the same managers do not understand the necessity of developing and strengthening such elements. According to the research data presented in the paper, top managers who are aware of exploiting particular elements that create organization’ s absorptive potential are a minority. W niniejszym opracowaniu autor przybliża pojęcie i istotę potencjału absorpcyjnego przedsiębiorstwa oraz wyznacza ogólny zarys jego struktury, by następnie w części empirycznej dokonać oceny poziomu świadomości jego istnienia wśród naczelnego kierownictwa działających w Polsce banków komercyjnych. Tym samym poszukuje odpowiedzi na nurtujące go pytanie: czy przywołani menedżerowie zdają sobie sprawę z tego, że każde przedsiębiorstwo posiada wyodrębniony obszar konkretnych zdolności do absorpcji nowej wiedzy, które należy celowo wykorzystywać w bieżącej działalności i rozwijać na rzecz budowania przewag konkurencyjnych.