Popis: |
In this paper, we attempt to identify the achievements of one decade of transformation of the Polish economy in effecting the integration of its manufacturing sector with those of the broader European and global economy, using the automotive industry as an illustrative example. We begin with a broad picture of the current situation in Poland, looking particularly at the motivations of EU-based investors. We then discuss the automobile industry, again examining the motives of foreign investors and the effects of policy on their behavior. Next, we examine the chief public and private actors in the integration process, with a particular focus on their roles in trying to push Poland's integration in the direction of high value added and high innovation. Finally, we briefly discuss the impact of Poland's accession to the EU on industrial networking, and then summarize our conclusions and suggest a research framework for testing the hypothesis (formulated on the basis of our observations of the Polish case) that the market orientation of a given industry, measured by the ratio of the trade balance in that industry to its total domestic output, depends among other things on ownership structure, with the domestically-owned sector tending to use locally developed technologies and the foreign-owned sector tending to transfer in technology from abroad. |