Poland

Survey Results

1. When was your company founded?
   

2. Company share structure
   

   Private	85%
   State-owned	12%
   Other	3%

3. Joint venture?
   

   No	93%
   Yes	7%

4. Nationality of foreign shareholders in the joint ventures
   

   Denmark	n/a
   Germany	n/a
   Great Britain	n/a
   Finland	n/a
   Luxembourg	n/a
   Sweden	n/a

5. Number of full-time and part-time employees: % surveyed companies
   

   # employees	full-time	part-time
   none	1	18
   1-3	20	15
   4-6	14	16
   7-10	9	20
   11-20	17	14
   21-30	9	7
   31-50	11	4
   50+	8	5
   difficult to say	0	2

6. Office equipment
   (percentage of companies possessing the following types of equipment)
   

7. Foreign language proficiency
   (i.e. what percentage of companies have at least one employee who speaks the following languages)
   

8. Annual turnover (in percentage)
   

   1 new zloty = 10,000 old zloty	%
   3,000-239,999	19%
   240,000-609,999	19%
   610,000-1,499,000	19%
   1,500,000-5,499,000	23%
   5,500,000-70,000,000	11%
   106,000,000-200,000,000	1%
   no answer	8%

   Income in million zloty
   (1 new zloty = 10,000 old zloty)
   

9. Income from foreign sources
   

   % foreign income	% companies
   0%	70
   <10%	15
   10-25%	6
   26-50%	1
   >50%	7

10. Top 10 business or environmental publications (%)
    

    Gaz, Voda, Technika Sanitarna	43
    Ochrona Srodowiska	23
    Aura	20
    Ekopartner	18
    Ochrona Powietrza	13
    Gospodarka Wodna	11
    Srodowisko	9
    Instalator	8
    Rzeczpospolita	6
    Biuletyn komisji d/s Ocen oddzialywania	6

11. Top 5 environmental associations (%)
    

    Polskie Zrzeszenie Inzynierów I Techników Budowlanych Polish Sanitary Engineers and Technicians Association	21
    Not-Naczelna Organizacja Techniczna Chief Technical Organization	11
    Simp-Stowarzyszenie Inzynierów Mechaników Polskich Association of Polish Mechanical Engineers	9
    Izba Gospodarcza Chamber of Commerce	6
    Sep-Stowarzyszenie Elektryków Polskich Association of Polish Electrical Engineers	5
    Stowarzyszenie Inzynierów I Techników Wodno-Melioracyjnych Association of Land Melioration Engineers and Technicians	5

12. Conference participation (in percent)
    

    How many scientific conferences did you participate in last year?
    

    	%
    1-2	23
    3-5	35
    5+	33
    none	9

13. How do you find out about new environmental business opportunities?
    

    personal contacts	98
    trade shows and fairs	91
    referrals from associates	85
    daily press	84
    environmental publications	83
    conference attendance	81
    business publications	77
    regular post	65
    local government offices	59
    professional associations	53
    fax	42
    universities or academy of science	42
    Environmental ministry	31
    Chamber of Commerce	24
    other national level ministries	19
    Industry and Trade ministry	17
    other	13
    e-mail	7

14. Preference for environmental information (in percentage)
    

    	not at all important	rather not important	rather important	very important
    conference or trade fair announcements	3	12	57	27
    environmental problems in the region	1	12	42	43
    how to control costs	3	22	43	31
    how to find foreign partners	6	34	38	19
    how to manage projects better	3	21	54	20
    information about environmental regulation	1	6	33	60
    information about investors	1	4	40	53
    information about sources of project financing	3	13	34	49
    new environmental technologies	1	3	36	61
    tenders for new projects	1	9	27	63
    upcoming project news	1	10	44	44
    where to find Polish partners for large projects	5	21	42	30
    other	86	0	1	13

15. Preference for information delivery options (in percentage)
    

    	not at all important	rather not important	rather important	very important
    regular bulletin with new project opportunities	0	11	52	37
    a telephone dial-up information service	3	40	49	7
    a regional directory of environmental services and products in print	3	31	50	15
    a computer database of information resources accessible by modem	8	25	39	24
    broadcast fax service to inform you about project opportunities in your field of expertise	4	36	45	10
    conferences designed to introduce you to potential Western partners and investors	2	12	45	40
    workshops where you could meet other companies from your field to share and solve problems	2	18	48	31
    other	88	1	1	11

16. How interested are you in professional training courses in the following topics?
    

    	not at all interested	rather not interested	rather interested	very interested
    financing of environmental investment	4	11	35	51
    environmental regulations	1	9	40	50
    project management	7	18	43	30
    environmental risk assessment	5	27	42	27
    environmental management	9	37	41	24
    environmental impact assessment	4	25	47	23
    environmental auditing	5	33	41	19
    environmental economic analysis	5	37	41	18
    environmental systems and sustainability	6	21	51	18
    other	90	0	1	9

17. Evaluation of experience with Western companies
    

    	strongly disagree	disagree	agree	strongly agree	no idea
    Western firm understood local business practices	11	20	39	27	4
    Western firm understood our capabilities	12	16	41	29	1
    Western firm had good management skills	3	9	48	23	17
    language differences made working together difficult	35	35	17	13	0

18. What can be done so that cooperation with foreign firms will turn out better
    

    	# of responses
    stable customs and tax regulations	5
    improvement, amendment, simplification of legal regulations, better knowledge of the law	3
    reducing, abolishing tariffs	4
    improvement of customs clearances	2
    inexpensive, low-interest loans, greater availability	4
    improving the efficiency of the banking system, guarantees, possibility of a better settlement of financial obligations, better financial law	4
    change of economic policy, a government policy favoring foreign firms, changes of the system, stability	7
    preparing informational materials, catalogues listing the possibilities of Polish firms, specific features of the Polish market, capacities of the economy, legal regulation preparing foreign firms to operate in Poland	7
    enhancement of credibility, rank, reputation of Polish firms as well as highlighting the accomplishments, development of firms and people working in Poland (greater advertising of Polish firms), reducing differences between Polish and foreign firms (also differences in wage schemes, costs, prices)	7
    better information about foreign partners (the business and capabilities, needs of these firms), rules governing the operations of foreign firms and the foreign market	5
    better exchange of information about ourselves, development of contacts, exchangers (generally)	10
    improving the possibility of cooperation with Polish firms, integration of Polish firms, creation of task groups; decentralization, transformation of state enterprises into commercial companies, etc	3
    improvement of telecommunications	1
    increasing knowledge of foreign languages	3
    nothing, there is no need to improve cooperation	3
    other answers	5
    don't know, difficult to say	1
    don't cooperate with foreign firms	50