Programs - Fostering Private Enterprise

Private Sector Research
Small Business Development
Local and Regional Development
Technological Development
Fostering Business Associations
Public Policy Advocacy
Polish SME Sector   EU Integration
Deregulation in Economy
FDI Monitoring in Poland
Women in Business


Private Sector Research

Since its inception in February 1993 IPED has been predominantly engaged in the research on the SME sector. It has carried out over 60 projects relating to high-tech and innovative SMEs, foreign investment, tax legislation, social insurance, regional development, restructuring of rural areas, investment promotion, business ethics, grey economy etc. The Institute has also organised numerous national and international briefings and conferences. Moreover, IPED prepares regular reports that represent a business point of view which are often taken into consideration by the public authorties.

A high level of professionalism of the Institute's reports together with its carefully formulated recommendations and successful public relations activities contribute to the Institute's potent image as one of the most distinguished economic and political think tanks in Poland.

IPED retains interest in small business research, technological and economic development, deregulation projects and business ethics issues. During 1995-2000, the deregulation in economy was its a priority issue. IPED has provided reports, relating to the deregulation in tax systems, labour regulations and licensing. The report conclusions have been used in public policy advocacy.

IPED puts strong emphasis on the development of the business associations and business self-government in Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Institute's report, covering activities the business associations, provides a picture of how chambers of commerce operate in Poland, identifying obstacles that hinder activities of entrepreneurship organisations. During over a decade since the adoption of the Chambers of Commerce Act, Polish chambers have developed a well-structured territorial organisation, representing a large number of enterprises. However, despite the definite achievements, they are still too weak to counterbalance the strength of employee organisations effectively. Apart from describing the current situation of chambers, the IPED report also includes recommendations for strengthening of the business organisations. These conclusions have been used during trainings provided for the business associations in Poland as well as in Russia, Georgia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Serbia and other countries.

Completed Private Sector Research:

1.	Code of Fair Legislation Practices	2007
2.	Fair Economic Legislation Practices. International experiences and the possibilities to adapt them to Polish legal and economic system	2007
3.	Analysis of economic benefits of the application of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules in Polish enterprises	2007
4.	Strategies of Tax Competition and Harmonization in Enlarged European Union (25) and Their Potential Impact on Net Transfers of European Union to "New" Member States	2006
5.	Culture of Employment in Polish Companies	2006
6.	Political Parties - Programmes Comparative Analysis	2005
7.	Impact of Tax Harmonization with EU on Economies of Central European Countries during the Pre-Accession Period. IPED Working Papers Series No 2	2005
8.	Tax and Labor Cost Competition in Central Europe in European Union Pre - Accession Period. IPED Working Papers Series No 1	2005
9.	Barriers to the Development of Knowledge-Based Industries in Central Europe. Strategies for Barrier Elimination	2004
10.	Tax Instruments for Innovation Support	2003
11.	Financing of Technology Business	2003
12.	Influence of The Judiciary on Business Development in Poland	2002
13.	Capital Investment Funding in Poland	2002
14.	Support to the High-Tech SME Development in Poland. Foreign Solutions and Polish Regional Programmes	2002
15.	Co-Operation between Non-Governmental Organisations and Local Authorities	2001
16.	Private Sector Strategies for Combating Corruption in Poland	2001
17.	Polish Economy Facing Fast Restructuring	2001
18.	Building Partnership for SME′s Development. Strategy for Lubuskie Region	2000
19.	Polish Business Towards Corruption	2000
20.	Application of Internet in the Development of Polish SMEs	2000
21.	Strengthening of Business Associations in Poland	2000
22.	Legal Culture of Polish Businessmen	2000
23.	Assistance to Rural Women in Poland. Evaluation of Available Programmes	2000
24.	SME Contribution to Income Tax Revenues in Poland	1999
25.	Strategy of SME Development in Pila Municipality	1999
26.	Polish Voivodship Development Strategies Compared to the US and German Experience	1999
27.	Threats to Economic Stability in Central and Eastern Europe	1999
28.	Business People Opinions about Poland′s Accession to the European Union	1999
29.	SME Adjustment to Poland's European Union Integration	1999
30.	Principles of the Business Ethical Responsibility	1999
31.	SME Survey Results of 1998	1998
32.	Political Culture of the Polish Democracy	1998
33.	Deregulation of Licensing System in Poland	1998
34.	Needs for Deregulation of the tax System in Central Europe: A Comparative Study	1998
35.	Bank Financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (report financed by EC PHARE and USAID)	1998
36.	Investment Strategies of the Communities	1997
37.	Assessment of the Monitoring of SME at National Level. Analysis and Recommendations (prepared for GEMINI-PEDS)	1997
38.	Deregulation of Labour Market	1997
39.	Deregulation of Tax System	1997
40.	Foreign Investment Withdrawals from Poland. Case Studies and Recommendations (report for PAIZ)	1997
41.	Public Procurements on the Local Level. Communities and Entrepreneurs′ Assessment	1996
42.	Utility of Available Enterprise Databases	1996
43.	Social Security System. A Threat for Public Finance?	1996
44.	Entrepreneurship Development Strategy in Gdansk	1996
45.	Investment Promotion in Municipalities	1996
46.	Foreign Direct Investments Impact on Polish Economy (prepared for PAIZ)	1996
47.	Information Needs of SME	1996
48.	Informal Sector in Foreign Trade	1996
49.	Jobs Creation Opportunities within SME Sector in Gdansk Region (report for ILO - International Labour Organization)	1996
50.	State Budget Reconstruction. Directions and Methods of Budget Expenditure Limitation	1996
51.	Disability Benefits Reform	1995
52.	Dilemmas and Opportunities of Rural Development	1995
53.	Construction Enterprise in Market Economy	1995
54.	Construction Companies Development in Polish Market Economy. Case Studies of Construction Companies	1995
55.	Sources of Inflation in Poland	1995
56.	Informal Labour Market	1995
57.	Entrepreneurship Development in Rural Areas. Entrepreneurship as a Way to Restructuring in Rural Areas	1995
58.	Economic Reform Today - special issue, Polish edition	1995
59.	Polish Women in Private Businesses	1994
60.	Ethics in Business Activity. A Code and Conference Materials	1994
61.	A New Tax System for Poland. Analysis and Recommendation for a Tax Pact between the State and the Private Sector	1993

Small Business Development

The IPED team in co-operation with the Polish-American Advisory Agency (PAAA) and the Polish-American Small Business Advisory Foundation (PASBAF) conducts numerous development projects relating to small business development. Those projects focus on:

Advisory services for small business
This was a pilot project of Small Business Development Centres launched in 1992. This initiative was based on the US experience, where a system of free advisory services for small business had already been established and financed from public sources. Finally, one such system was introduced in 2002. Therefore, it has been ten years since joint teams of IPED and PASBAF began providing high quality advisory services for small business. The range of their activities includes: business financing, business planning, marketing, business strategy, credit issues, business co-operation etc. So far over 4.000 customers were provided assistance within those projects.

Export promotion
This project was conducted together with the PAAA and provided assistance for over 40 companies operating in the automotive industry. IPED consultants helped prepare export development plans, benchmark analyses and promotional materials as well as implement ISO standards.

Facilitating the SME access to bank financing
Joint teams of IPED and PASBAF invented a new method, facilitating the SME access to bank financing. Since 1999 there has been a special competition called the "Business Friendly Bank", promoting co-operation between businesses and banks. In 2006 among the participants of the competition there were 5 large commercial banks, 63 of their branches and 17 union banks. The 2006 customer's survey examined over 6.000 respondents from the small business sector and all participating banks received benchmark analyses, presenting their competitive positions in the small business financing. This tool is regarded as a valuable instrument for the improving of weak features and supporting the strong ones of bank offers for the SME sector. What's more, it becomes clear for the SME which banks are worth interest.

Facilitating the SME access to business registers
In 2003 the IPED staff together with PASBAF launched a project aimed at facilitating registration processes for micro business. This project devises plans for an Internet database with prepared registration forms. We also promote a co-operative attitude regarding registering employees. This project also supports voluntary advisory services of students for micro business and NGOs.


Local and Regional Development

IPED in development strategies
IPED is genuinely committed to assisting local and regional authorities in their enterprise development efforts. The IPED team helped design the development strategies and programmes in the communities of Gdynia (2001), Gdansk (1997) and Pila (1999). In 1999 IPED evaluated the SME development strategies of 15 Polish regions and issued a series of working recommendations. In 2002 together with the regional authorities of the Lubuskie Voivodeship, an enterprise development strategy was prepared. In 2001-2002 the IPED team designed special programmes for technology based SMEs in 6 regions of Poland. Most of the prepared documents are presented on the IPED Publications website. The majority of those publications were included in applications for the European Union funding, for they illustrate a real situation of the SME sector in Poland.

Sensitive development areas
The IPED staff never hesitates to involve in contentious or sensitive issues. For instance in Pila we were perfectly aware of a growing need for shopping centres although a vast number of commercial enterprises were against newcomers. We also engaged in the problem of shipyard restructuring in the cities of Gdansk and Gdynia, located on the Baltic coast. Since 2001 most of IPED's regional and local efforts relate to the development of knowledge based industries.

Capital investment funding
In 2001-2002 IPED participated in the Central Europe University Project relating to the Local Government Initiative, focused on capital investment funding at local levels. Within this project IPED prepared an analysis of methods of capital investment financing by Polish local and regional authorities. Results are available on the IPED Publications website.


Technological Development

One of IPED's core objectives is the development of knowledge-based industries in Poland. Therefore, it has provided several reports and policy references, including recommendations for the changing of tax regulations so that they become more favourable for the R D. Moreover, they include suggested changes in the Telecommunications Law, educational system and research grants. The further issue is that of research financing from public funding and the protection of intellectual property.

IPED has completed the following projects:

• Barrier elimination in knowledge-based industries of the new EU member states. Adoption of the best US and European models (report on "Barriers to the development of knowledge-based industries in Central Europe, Strategies for barrier elimination", 2004)
• Effective solutions for the high-tech SME growth in Poland. Development of financial framework (report on "Financing of Technology Business", 2003)
• Business friendly development of technology-based SMEs in Poland (report on "Support to the high-tech SME development in Poland. Foreign solutions and Polish regional programmes", 2002)

In 2001 IPED launched its first project concerning strategies and programmes in the "Business friendly development of technology-based SMEs in Poland". This undertaking was the result of co-operation with regional authorities in six Polish regions, applying to selected enterprise groups (different in every region). The project involved the collection of statistical data on the financial situation of high-tech SMEs, the improvement of new technology implementation, expert visits to the US plus six regional programmes, all of which were based on company interviews and local statistical data. Consequently, we prepared a special conference and a review of the economic situation of the SME sector based on modern technologies.

The IPED team has prepared 10 to 15 programmes, responding to every region's particular needs. A distinctive feature of those programmes was their support offered directly to companies, which created the demand for new technologies rather than supported the supply (research). A special manual "Support to the high-tech SME development in Poland, Foreign solutions and Polish regional programmes" provided useful examples of world methods of supporting technology based SMEs. The manual was distributed during a special conference in Warsaw on February 19th, 2003. It is also available on the IPED website.



The continuation of IPED's interest in the development of high-tech businesses in Poland was its next project - "Effective solutions for the high-tech SME growth in Poland. Development of financial framework." This project was aimed at providing guidelines for new institutional and organisational solutions which would facilitate access to local governments and financial institutions, providing support to high-tech SMEs. Another objective was to inform national and local authorities of institutions, procedures and solutions relating to the high-tech SME financing. All of this information was issued as a comprehensive manual, including action plans and financial solutions for 3 - 4 Polish regions as well as case studies of effective financial institutions supporting high-tech SMEs in the US. Apart from that the Institute published a manual "Financing of Technology Business" (in Polish). This programme included recommendations on action plans, facilitating the development of high-tech SMEs and their access to financial sources. One of the most important devices has been that of technology tax credits. The whole strategy is based on development credits provided by commercial banks. Such credits would be paid off by state authorities from increased tax revenues, derived from particular investment projects. If a given project did not increase tax revenues, credits would be paid off by the enterprise.

The project "Barrier elimination in knowledge-based industries of the new EU member states. Adoption of the best US and European models" is the third IPED's initiative focused on high-tech company development. Its main objective was to support legislative authorities of the new EU member states in creating framework regulations that foster Knowledge Based Industries (KBI). Our priority was to demonstrate international solutions that reduce a risk of securitisation of the SME loan portfolio or guarantee schemes in new technology development.


Fostering Business Associations

IPED is affiliated with the Polish Chamber of Commerce, hence the development of business associations is one of its priority fields of interest. We have also been co-operating with the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Washington D.C. Since the 1992-1993 workshops, it has provided us with the know-how and various training materials. Afterwards the IPED experts lectured in the CIPE trainings for the business associations in the Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Russia, Serbia, Central Asia. Those trainings covered public policy advocacy, members' development, sources of non-dues income, small business development, business ethics, association governance and finance. Training programmes were followed by the development of marketing plans for participating organisations.

IPED has also been involved in the analysis of business organisations and their organisational strengthening. In 2002 our team completed the Study of Polish Business Associations. This study provided an analysis of how chambers of commerce operate in Poland, identifying obstacles that hinder activities of entrepreneurship organisations. It was based on surveys among chamber members, chamber directors, former members and non-members. Those surveys proved that entrepreneurs still lack sufficient information about chamber activities. What is more, about a quarter of entrepreneurs have never dealt with local chambers. Such lack of knowledge about chamber activities generates little interest in membership among entrepreneurs. Merely one in 7-8 respondents has considered a possibility of joining a chamber of commerce. Another issue is that chamber members themselves lack information about chamber operations in favour of entrepreneurs.

Members of chambers of commerce have always favoured chamber services over other advocacy activities. The respondents claim that the quality of services, especially in training and consultancy, is relatively high whereas prices of services are fairly low. However, despite their positive opinion about the quality of provided services, chamber members claim that they do not derive much benefit from membership. As far as individual areas of chamber activities are concerned, 43 percent of the members recognised the benefits of improved access to information. At the same time 44 percent of the respondents did not notice those benefits at all. This shows that chamber boards should undertake urgent steps to increase offered benefits in order to keep their membership base as well as to attract new entrepreneurs. A priority issue among suggested changes should be an importance of strategic planning. Chambers should focus on working plans and annual action plans, providing descriptions of chamber priority services. Annual plans should describe a general chamber mission and its strategic plans. IPED has also recognised a need for better communication between chamber members and professional management. To improve those relations there must be a change in a method of collecting information about entrepreneur preferences. All those recommendations have been used by the management of the Polish Chamber of Commerce in order to improve its advocacy section and membership services.

Another field of IPED's operations is that of business association analyses. Scoring methods show to what extent business associations meet international standards in areas like Vision, Mission and Objectives, Advocacy, Industry Standards, Activities, Human Resources, Governance, Finance, Membership Recruitment and Public Relations. The analysis of those fields helps design the most effective assistance plan for a particular organisation. Such business association analyses were carried out in Poland and Bosnia.


Public Policy Advocacy

IPED is affiliated with the Polish Chamber of Commerce. As a think tank, it is strongly involved in establishing laws and regulations facilitating economic growth and democracy. Our activities are both reactive and proactive in the field of public policy. Proactive operations relate to the publication of over 60 reports concerning tax systems, licensing, labour regulations, foreign trade, the SME financing and monitoring, knowledge-based industries, FDI, local economic development, public procurement, pension reform. Reports are based on company surveys and analyse their current situation, putting forward recommendations for regulatory reform. A lot of suggested proposals have already been implemented, like the ones relating to the deregulation in tax systems. This resulted in lower taxation and flat rate income tax for all companies, regardless of their legal form. Our recommendations about innovation-friendly tax systems were included in the official innovation strategy. Policy papers on the deregulation in licensing resulted in scaling down the number of business activities that require a license.

To promote its advocacy activities, IPED organises numerous briefings and conferences, whose participants are leading policy makers, members of parliament and business leaders. Such meetings are frequently followed by press conferences, that being a great way of promoting IPED′s initiatives and building relationships that are necessary for direct advocacy.

IPED is responsible for the monitoring of pending legislation and representing businesses during the legislative process. Bills are sent to Committees of the Polish Chamber of Commerce to seek opinions of business circles. Afterwards IPED declares the stance and promotes it among public authorities. IPED representatives participate in meetings organised by various state ministries in order to debate on draft laws. Other participants are representatives of public administration and social partners. This level of business promotion is the most effective one.

IPED co-operates with the majority of chief political forces represented in Polish parliament: the Seym (chamber of deputies) and the Senate. These relations help us represent the interests of entrepreneurs and formulate proposals to change legal regulations. All of IPED′s activities focus on economic development and creating favourable conditions for the new investment. IPED′s brief and policy papers have been used in political programmes both by governing coalitions as well as the opposition. Such working relationships allow standard intervention and assistance in solving problems encountered by entrepreneurs, such as the implementation of VAT regulations. The IPED team has also introduced a number of proposals and economic concepts such as:

• evaluation of the budget and budgetary provisions,
• analysis of reasons for the lack of balance in foreign trade and a deficit in the balance of payments,
• opinions on governmental economic programmes,
• reduction of public expenditure.

Finally, some of IPED′s operations refer to local authorities. These are mainly regional SME assistance programmes financed from local budgets. Effective co-operation with local government guarantees business-friendly environment for the investment and development.


Polish SME Sector   EU Integration

Threats and opportunities of EU integration
The IPED research and development staff is genuinely involved in EU integration processes. Their primary interest area is the assessment of competitiveness of the private sector before and after accession to the European Union. In 1999 IPED launched the research project "Adjustment of the SME sector to the European Union laws", which revealed that private enterprises saw more opportunities than threats in joining the European Union. The private sector had always campaigned for fast liberalisation of markets and adoption of EU rules. Such research, providing opinions of Polish business towards EU integration was repeated in 2001.

Establishing negotiation positions
In 2000-2002 the IPED staff (supporting the Polish Chamber of Commerce) participated in consultation processes with the Polish government, aimed at establishing negotiation positions during accession talks with the European Union. We organised numerous meetings of enterprise representatives to reach common conclusions on hot integration issues. In 2004 the IPED experts participated in the European Commission project on national and regional SME policies in the UE countries (the BEST Project). This project followed the EU SME Charter 2003 which called for the SME activity in support policies.

Tax harmonisation and competition
In 2004 IPED launched a project relating to the Tax Competition and Harmonisation in Central Europe in the Pre-Accession Period. The aim of this project was to estimate the costs of indirect tax harmonisation and results of high competitiveness in income tax rates. Through this project we evaluated benefits and costs of tax harmonisation in low and high-taxing countries of the European Union.


Deregulation in Economy

Deregulation in the Polish economy is one of IPED's core interests, for even several years ago Polish economy and markets still seemed overregulated. Even today business people complain about bureaucracy and complications in Polish economic legislation. In 1995, six years after the introduction of free market in Poland it became clear that new bureaucratic regulations were a serious development barrier. For that reason, IPED decided to engage in deregulation-related activities. Since 1996 the Institute experts issued the following programmes:

• Social insurance - a threat to public finance (1996)
• Deregulation of tax system (1997)
• Deregulation of labour market (1997)
• Deregulation of licensing system in Poland (1998).

The IPED team issued the reports and used their research conclusions in public policy advocacy. At that time IPED's President Mieczyslaw Bak was a member of the Red Tape Reduction Committee, working under the auspices of the Minister of Finance Professor Leszek Balcerowicz.


FDI Monitoring in Poland
FDI influence upon economy
One of the most important IPED's research areas is Foreign Direct Investment. In 1996 IPED prepared its first study on the FDI influence upon Polish economy. It revealed that the FDI positive effects significantly predominated over the costs. In 1998 we examined the reasons of unsuccessful foreign investment to see why some foreign investors withdrew their capital from Poland. This study was very informative and turned out to be useful for public authorities, who managed to win back some of the withdrawn investment.

Merger and acquisition strategies in Central Europe
In 2002, as an international partner of the Copenhagen Business School, IPED launched a 3-year research project on Merger and Acquisition Strategies in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the project was to observe which entry strategies of international companies proved particularly effective both for parent companies and recipient countries. Great emphasis is laid on the restructuring of companies, following the mergers and acquisitions as well as on the image of Central European business environment in international business. The achieved results have been very informative.


Women in Business

One of the features of Polish society's development during the transition period (since early 1990s) has been a constant increase of professional activity of women. At the beginning of its operations (1993) IPED decided to carry out a survey-based research among businesswomen to check whether (and to what extent) they feel gender-discriminated in Polish business and what barriers they encounter in their activities. This survey was to check whether those difficulties related exclusively to women and did not concern male managers ("Polish women in private businesses",1994).

In 1999 and 2000 IPED carried out the following project relating to women in business, namely "Assistance to Rural Women in Poland. Evaluation of Available Programmes". The Institute collected necessary statistical data and other information about the situation of countryside women in Poland. We conducted a series of surveys among rural NGOs and beneficiaries of various rural development assistance programmes. Survey results were discussed during special workshops with NGO representatives. A final publication of this project included both the survey results and discussion conclusions, all of which were presented during a special conference. An important part of the report was that of recommendations for improvement of support provided to countryside women by public authorities and NGOs.

The continuation of those activities was the project "Co-operation between non-governmental organisations and local authorities" (2001). The project concentrated on practical knowledge and new skills of rural NGO employees in their co-operation with local authorities. It also facilitated the exchange of experience among various rural NGO teams. The results of this undertaking were wide-ranging, including the manual "Co-operation between non-governmental organisations and local authorities" (with 10 case studies), workshops for NGO employees, advisory services as well as a special conference.

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