Customers and the innovation activity of industrial system in Poland (Odbiorcy w ksztal0towaniu innowacyjnosci polskiego systemu przemyslowego)

Poland is among the countries catching up with the technological gap estimated at several tens of years. According to the data obtained from GUS (Central Statistical Office), in industrial enterprises the implementation of new technological processes prevails over the products, which demonstrates the specificity of national preferences of entities. At the same time it is a different direction so as not to formulate the opposite view to what can be observed in more developed countries. Among those responsible for the national policy and local government suggestions or even complaints appear that we should strive to offer solutions that are mar- ginal and not intermediate in the supply chain, which are a little development for businesses. Therefore, a question arises as to whether within a national system of management, at this stage of development of Poland, innovative activity is higher in companies that offer their solutions to the end-user - retailer, or perhaps to those that operate only as an intermediary, often in the international supply chain, being only the link in the complex relationships between production and logistics? As a consequence, should the national innovation policy continue to support the creation and transfer of technology to companies that are subcon- tractors of new solutions in the supply chain, or should it be targeted at those working out ready-made solutions for the end-user? It is worth noting that the conclusions drawn from the international research directly urge to create instruments of the innovation policy which is optimal in relation to the level of technological development i.e., its distance from the phenomena observed among the leaders in the world progress due to a different absorption capacity. The reasearch sample comprises 5209 industrial enterprises in Poland. Methodology is based on probability theory, namely probit (univariate models) and logit models (multi-factor models).