Suchergebnisse

In the European Union (EU), there are four Baltic Sea Region (BSR) states – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – which are interlinked by the following facts: the common moment of obtaining EU membership, a common historical path from communism to democracy, and being part of the BSR. Although the selected countries share common roots, it seems that, in terms of the economic development, they may follow a different path. Investment development path (IDP), a concept developed by J.H. Dunning, stresses that the development of a country is a result of being an active exporter of capital. This paper aims to evaluate the progress of the four selected economies in terms of their IDP. The analysis takes into consideration their peculiar economic determinants. The methods used include quantitative and qualitative methods. Among the qualitative methods, a literature review briefly presents Dunning's IDP paradigm. The review of existing empirical research highlights the contributions of the paper. The quantitative methods cover the statistical data illustrating the progress of the selected countries in terms of the IDP. The data were obtained from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTADStat) and Eurostat. The BSR states under investigation differ in terms of their economic growth. However, they share a common denominator of maintaining the role of importer of capital. The highest dynamics of the growth of the outward stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was observed in Poland and Lithuania. It is Poland and Estonia, however, that seemingly will climb on the ladder of IDP faster than Latvia and Lithuania. In all cases, these countries deal with higher dynamics of annual growth of Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) than Inward Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI), which suggests that all are at the third stage of IDI. However complex analysis reveals differences that shed new light on the progress of development paths of these BSR states.

The share of women among the total number of managers in Poland is one of the highest in the European Union. The surveys carried out on the initiative of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2009 and 2010 indicated that in capital market companies and stock market companies, the share of women in the executive suite of all levels exceeds the country's average. The conducted surveys confi rm the regularity that the higher the steps of the executive ladder are the lower shares constitute women - on the top executive positions men decidedly dominate, also in those companies where the feminization rate of their human resources is relatively high. Joint-venture companies distinguishes implementation of the solutions promoting women to the executive positions, but mainly on the intermediate level, despite the fact that the employed by them women usually have tertiary education. These companies seem to be introducing western practices to the Polish business reality, as they more often present the belief that employing women and ensuring equal chances for their promotion to the executive positions, is not only a manifestation of obedience of the anti-discrimination law, but it also generates benefi ts for the company - staff diversity facilitates higher effectiveness. The Stock Exchange that undergone an evident evolution in the area of equalising chances of women and promoting them to the executive suite, including the top management level positively stands out against the background of the surveyed companies. It provides an example of good practice in this fi eld. The WSE Board comprises equal numbers of women and men. In the special resolution of 19 May 2010, the WSE recommended to all public companies adoption of solutions targeted at ensuring equal shares of women and men on the top executive levels, as it is profi table for the company's development. The conducted surveys - which were precursory in Poland - examining the situation in public companies lead to conclusion that there are still too few of them that are ...