The Role Of Small Enterprises In Poland’S Economic Development

The economic transformations taking place in Poland in recent years have been accompanied by changes in companies’ structure. The role of small companies, employing up to 50 persons, has been constantly growing. These companies, particularly in the first half of the 1990s, helped to reduce unemployment. Many employees who had previously been working in state-owned companies set up their own businesses, thus creating new jobs. The dynamic development of these companies at that time was extensive and was to a large extent stimulated by the privatization processes state-owned companies were undergoing and the greater economic freedom. Since the mid-1990s the rate of development of this group of enterprises has been much slower due to the bureaucratization of setting up new companies and lower availability of bank loans. The growing competition from foreign companies also played a role, and all these factors had a negative influence on the competitiveness of small enterprises. Besides the findings for Poland as a whole, some research results about the state of small companies in Lublin region are also included.