Enterprise with foreign capital deriving from the Polish Diaspora as an enclave of capitalism in the People’s Republic of Poland and ‘an entrepreneurial incubator’ for business leaders of the Third Republic

Abstract

The initiative to set up companies with foreign capital in the People’s Republic of Poland derived from experiences in Yugoslavia and Hungary. Cooperation with businessmen of Polish origins satisfied both the demands of propaganda (it allowed for society to be shown the favour of the Diaspora groups in the West for the communist regime), and pragmatism (a ‘secure’ income, because capital of Polish origins in a foreign, exchangeable currency, along with Western ‘know how’, were very desirable commodities in the command economy of the People’s Republic). Entrepreneurs of the PPZ equipped their firms organisationally on a Western model. The management methods orientated towards profit and tax optimisation, import and use of technology and fixed assets from capitalist nations, and also the widespread application of marketing techniques made the entities extremely dynamic and elastic organisational structures, which were able to smoothly adapt to external conditions. In this sense not only did Diaspora firms constitute a complete political novelty in the economic system of Poland, but more importantly the operated differently, not being a part of the centrally planned economy, nor having directors or chairmen nominated by party officials. As a result of preferential fiscal and administrative solutions PPZ companies achieved the highest levels of sales growth and the most rapid organic development within the group of privately held enterprises