Global companies – local benefits

Investment by foreign companies contributes significantly to the transformation of the Polish economy, accounting for up to 40% of Polish GDP, stressed Fabrice Audan, President of the French-Polish Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Wyborowa Pernod Ricard, during a panel “Local investment by international players – the place of companies with foreign capital in the Polish economic ecosystem.”

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Globalne firmy – lokalne korzyści

Polska wciąż potrzebuje napływu nowych technologii, inwestorzy zagraniczni mogą nam to zapewnić. Jednocześnie zmienne otoczenie może pomóc nam znaleźć nowe przewagi konkurencyjne.

What we know from practice

Fabrice Audan noted that there are currently around 1.1 thousand companies with French capital operating in Poland, virtually in all industries, which have invested a total of around PLN 88 billion and employ several hundred thousand Polish workers.

I think it goes without saying that everyone benefits from investments of foreign companies, pointed out Waldemar Buda, Minister of Development and Technology. It helps to build competences and human capital potential and ensures the flow of know-how and new technologies, which is what we care about the most. It also boosts foreign trade and the growth of exports, including exports of Polish products, said the Minister.

Multinational corporations have been present in Poland for more than twenty years. They have become permanent part of our ecosystem and we can say that these global companies have become local companies. This can be seen in our business practice, said Marek Lipka, Board Member, Commercial and Supply Chain Director at Carrefour Polska. He concluded that Carrefour offers 4,000 Polish local products in its shops and cooperates with thousands of Polish business partners from the SME sector on a daily basis. Direct franchise cooperation already includes almost 400 entities.

Our company allocates annually about PLN 4.5 billion for various purchases, corresponding to 3 thousand Polish entities – our suppliers of products and services, said Tomasz Dreslerski, Key Account Director at Orange Polska. We contribute a total of PLN 1.7 billion to the Polish budget paying VAT, PIT, CIT, and social security contributions. Our investments account for a quarter of investments in the entire information and communications sector. This shows that we are truly a local company under a global brand, he emphasised. He gently suggested that more regulatory certainty on the part of the government and incentives for investment would help much. He pointed out that the investment rate in Poland has been declining in recent years and our direct competitors from neighbouring countries start to be ahead of us in this respect.

Participants in the debate emphasised that Poland is perceived as an attractive market for investments. This is thanks to, among others, a large market, geographical location, and access to a large number of qualified employees. These are our natural strengths, but with such a volatile environment and with the perspective of the next ten years ahead of us, it is worth looking for new competitive advantages, noted Jacek Byrt, partner at Mazars, an advisory company.

In his opinion, prospects for a new opening lie in energy transformation, among others. It is a capitalintensive industry that requires new technologies, but if the transformation is successful, the energy sector will bring a lot of value to the entire economy, Jacek Byrt assessed.

This involves the energy sector, in its broadest sense, including, for example, the production of batteries for electric cars, a field in which Poland is gradually becoming a European leader. Fabrice Audan noted that French companies are already heavily involved in this sector and want to become even more involved, by providing experience in the development of renewable energy or nuclear power, for example. He added that Polish-French cooperation has a potential to develop in future in the field of infrastructure, including transport, such as high-speed rail.

Another area where Poland can benefit from its geographical location concerns the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

During the pandemic, supply chains from Asia for various products were disrupted and companies struggled to replenish their stocks. I think there is a huge potential of the Polish agriculture and food industry in this respect. Poland has enough food to export it while many European countries have to import it. Short food supply chains to the European market could be the key to the success of the Polish market, Marek Lipka pointed out.