This presentation is part of: D21-1 Firm Behavior

Poland's Transition to a Service Based Economy - Failures and Opportunites

Casimir Barczyk, Ph.D. and Katarzyna Firlej, M., B., A. Marketing, Human Resources and Management, Purdue University Calumet, 2200 169th St, Hammond, IN 46323

Poland’s Transition to a Service Based Economy – Failures and Opportunities

Poland’s macroeconomic indicators indicate that it is becoming a service based economy.This is a tremendous leap from its primitive retailing sector and an underdeveloped economic and legal and physical infrastructure, which affected entrepreneurship efforts.  Poland has quickly progressed in addressing many of these issues with its entry into the European Union.  This important milestone in the country’s political history has created unprecedented opportunities for countless retail business.  As can be seen from the country’s retailing landscape, Poland is quickly charging up its consumer tastes and sophistication.  This creates numerous opportunities for marketers, but has also resulted in failures of many traditionally successful retailing models.  I will explore what type of retailing models seem to be effective in Poland and how they differ from those in the United States.  I will evaluate how the growing sophistication of Polish consumers has affected the retailing landscape in this Eastern European country. This force shall be evaluated in terms of the uncontrollable forces that have driven Poland’s transition to a service based economy.