American Investor April 2011

American

InvestorAPRIL 2011

Vol. XXI, No. 4 • ISSN 1506-3240

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011 www.amcham.pl

Poles begin to realize that business must think new to move forward

Thou shalt innovate!

Monthly Meeting: Prof. Michał KleiberCEO Forum: Business Angels

Photo Page: St. Patrick’s Business Mixer

Company Profile: 3M

MONTHLY MEETING

From brawn to brains To find its place in the innovative economy of the future, Polandmust change its mindset to foster collaboration, from government ministries on down, aleading scientist tells AmCham, p. 20

CEO FORuM

A life between vision and risk Before they become a force behind the innovative economybusiness angels have to learn to live with risk while aspiring entrepreneurs have to learn tounderstand their objectives, p. 23

COMPANY PROFILE

Changing the world through R&D American Investor's Tomasz Ćwiok talks with XavierDouellou, Managing Director of 3M Poland, about how the company manages for innovation and how he sees the challenges facing 3M’s Polish operations, p. 26

EXPERTS

Raise your capital, lower your tax There are cost-effective ways of raising the share capi-tal of your company, p. 28

The art of the lease Renting office space may seem straightforward, but details can be-devil, p. 29

Electronic investigators in action Corporate misconduct can be traced, documented andproven in court, p. 30

Managing the tough conversation Enlightened leaders know there are planned methodsfor defusing a conflict, p. 31

EVENTS

AmCham Monthly Meeting, p. 32AmCham CEO Forum, p. 33AmCham St. Patrick's Business Mixer, p. 34-35

DEPARTMENTS

From the Editor, p. 2, From the Executive Director, p. 4, Newsline, p. 5, Agenda, p. 8,

Content summaries in Polish, p. 36, Guide to AmCham Committees, p. 37

APRIL 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 1

what’s on

www.amcham.plYour online guide to AmCham activities

Poles begin to re-alize that businessmust think new tomove forward, buta lot of chal-langes lie aheadwhen it comes to

being innovative, page 12;Plus, ten tips to consider before youlaunch your own startup, page 17.

Other useful sites

U.S. Chamber of Commercehttp://www.uschamber.comAmerican Chamber of Commerce to the European Unionhttp://www.amchameu.beAmChams in Europehttp://www.amchamseurope.com

COVER STORY:American

InvestorAPRIL 2011 Vol. XXI, No. 4

Calendar

By clicking on red links in the Calen-dar you may visit photo coverage ofour past events. Blue links will takeyou to the announcements of upcom-ing events.

Download this magazine!

American Investor is available in full asa pdf for download from the www.am-cham.pl website. Go to "About Us" inthe horizontal menu, and chooseAmerican Investor Magazine fromthe pop-up menu. You can downloadpast issues of American Investor dat-ing back to October 2010.

Policy Watch

Intelligence: For AmCham positionpapers, policy statements, official let-ters to government ministers and re-search papers, visit the Advocacy linkon the horizontal menu to downloadthe latest AmCham position papers.

Regions

AmCham may be closer than youthink. Apart from Warsaw, AmChamhas two regional branches which areactive all year long and offer many ex-citing opportunities to interface with regional business leaders and politi-cians. To find out more about our ac-tivities in Kraków and the region ofsouthern Poland, and Wrocław, go toRegions in the horizontal menu bar,and pick your region of interest.

Events

AmCham Monthly Meetings are one ofthe flagship events organized by thechamber. While American Investor cov-ers each Monthly Meeting exten-sively, including full-page pictorials,you can search through picturearchives of past events that includenever previously printed material. Justgo to Events and Activities, pickMonthly Meetings and scroll down forlinks to archived events.

AmCham online

We encourage companies to sponsor our Business Mixers, CEO Forums, 4th of July Picnic and other events. Business Mixers

You can sponsor AmCham Business Mixers through the rest of 2011 (except for July and December). To find out moreabout sponsoring Business Mixers, visit www.amcham.pl, click on the Events & Activities link on the horizontal menu bar,

and choose Business Mixers. CEO Forums

A high-level discussion panel followed by a cocktail reception, for AmCham CEOs only, held just 3 times a year. To find outmore about AmCham CEO Forums, visit www.amcham.com.pl, click on the Events & Activities link on the horizontal menu

bar, and choose CEO Forums. 4th of July Picnic

Scheduled for Saturday, July 2, 2011, at Królikarnia Palace, Warsaw. To see pictures from last year’s picnic, go to www.am-cham.com.pl, click on the Events & Activities link on the horizontal menu bar, and choose 4th of July Picnic.

Annual General Meeting & Christmas Reception in DecemberTo see pictures from the last AGM & Christmas Reception, go to www.amcham.com.pl, click on the Events & Activities link

on the horizontal menu bar, and choose Annual General Meeting. Regional events

In addition to Warsaw events, your company can also support AmCham activities in Kraków, Wrocław and Katowice.

For information about our events organized by AmCham Kraków in Kraków and Katowice, please contact Monika Pilarska at +48 608 027 172 or [email protected].

For information about our events in Wrocław, please contact Joanna Bensz at +48 605 678 817 or [email protected].

For additional information contact Anita Kowalska at +48 22 520 5994.

Do not miss the opportunity to sponsor AmCham events

in 2011!


2 AMERICAN INVESTOR APRIL 2011

BOARD OFDIRECTORS

The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

SPONSORS

Joseph Wancer – DeloitteChairman

Judith Y. Gliniecki – Wierzbowski EvershedsVice Chair

richard lada – TelestoVice Chairman

peter kaY – KPMG PolskaSecretary

stan popoW – FinacorpTreasurer

Tony HoushAPCO Worldwide

Paul FogoMiller Canfield

Piotr JuchaMcDonald’s

Thomas KolajaAlvarez and Marsal

Robert L. KońskiKulczyk Investments

John LynchLynka

Mac RaczkiewiczEx officio

Roman RewaldWeil, Gotshal & Manges

Anna SienkoIBM

AmCham Auditor:

Facebook exclusion

In January, following the announcement of the royal marriage of PrinceWilliam and Kate Middleton, Facebook barred two of its members who hap-pened to share first and last names with the princess-to-be from using their

accounts on the social networking site. The two women, a healthcare assistantin Northamptonshire and a mother from Kent, were identified by Facebook asimpostors of the famous Kate. Their access to their profiles on Facebook wasblocked, including contacts to their Facebook friends. When questioned bythe BBC, Facebook said it reviews thousands of items of content a day and“took action to ensure the website remains a safe and trusted environment.”

The claim that the site is a safe and trusted environment (for users, onewould assume) is dubious. Although created with the intention of serving as afriendly online social gathering, Facebook may be as dangerous as any othertool in the hands of dangerous people. For instance, South Carolina is consid-ering stiff penalties for prison inmates who smuggle smartphones into prisonto access Facebook for the purpose of organizing crimes and intimidatingtheir victims. It seems there is little Facebook can do to disable this type ofthreat.

Ensuring a safe and trusted environment on Facebook is a challenge that ishard to deliver in practice. Problems will mount and carnage will follow. So farthree Polish brands have fallen victim to Facebook’s political correctness. Firstwas Obsessive, a lingerie brand. Someone notified Facebook that the Obses-sive profile on Facebook featured pornography, and the brand’s profile, whichhad attracted 2,000 fans, was shut down.

That was nothing compared to the losses that Polish clothing manufacturerLPP suffered because of a virus that infected the Facebook profiles of three ofits brands, Cropp, House and Reserved. Facebook shut down the Cropp andHouse profiles and limited the functionality of the Reserved profile. Cropp had260,000 fans, House 240,000, and Reserved 245,000.

Facebook’s decision to close the corporate profiles was handled clumsily,and in stark contrast to what Facebook is programmed to do when users de-cide to close their own profiles. Then the service begs you to reconsider yourdecision, displaying pictures of your Facebook friends and saying that each ofthem personally will miss you.

Perhaps a dose of the same thoughtfulness would be in order when Face-book itself decides to close down your profile? Maybe just an e-mail?

But Facebook may not be thinking about its users any more. It seems morefocused on building a safe and trusted environment for its investors. Earlier inJanuary, Facebook was on everybody’s lips following the announcement that ithad raised USD 500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in atransaction that valued the company at a staggering USD 50 billion. The dealwould also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cashout at least some of their holdings. It would make many of them millionaires.

Facebook followed none of the known business models, but developed asa unique phenomenon. Many of its staff, including cofounder Mark Zucker-berg, were not experienced businesspeople, because they were far too youngfor that. The prospect of holding a stake in a company valued higher thancompanies like eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner, which have been in businessfor much longer, may have given Facebook officials an air of sanctity aboutthemselves when it comes to ensuring that Facebook is a trusted environmentfor investors. But if you don’t look like an investor, but a marketer taking advan-tage of free access to the social network, you had better watch out.

Tomasz Ćwiok

YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE EDITOR


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American

InvestorThe official magazine

of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland


At the beginning of March I attended a conference organized by AmCham EUwhich included a transatlantic component on innovation. We reviewed somehighlights of The Transatlantic Economy 2011, the latest edition of a report is-

sued each year by AmCham EU and the European-American Business Council.Joseph P. Quinlan of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins Uni-versity pointed out that neither the E.U. nor the U.S. is doing as poorly as percep-tions would have it. In particular, the U.S. is still a strong manufacturing base, eventhough we perceive that all manufacturing has moved to China. The E.U. is still theFDI powerhouse, investing far more in the U.S. than in all the BRIC countries com-bined. What is of concern, however, is the pace of change and progress. If the de-veloped countries remain complacent, then the fast-developing countries could

outpace them by 2020. Innovation and successful commer-cialization of innovation are one important way to stay ahead.

Here in Poland, AmCham has been talking innovation fromthe beginning of the year. Transfer of technology and com-mercialization of innovation are a particular challenge inPoland, and for all of Europe it seems. The United States istops in terms of success in innovation commercialization,and this model is something from which we would like tohelp Poland learn. We are starting with small steps, by im-proving the cooperation of academia and business to createthe right atmosphere for making money off of intellectual ac-complishments. We started this work with a study and sur-vey of members’ experiences and are increasingly working

with universities and R&D centers on their strategic endeavors.In mid-March, we hosted a delegation from AmCham EU focused on Poland’s

upcoming E.U. Presidency. A delegation of 14 corporate representatives attendeda series of 20 meetings with key players and decision-makers in the Polish govern-ment to discuss areas of key interest, like data protection, the Common AgriculturalPolicy, carbon emissions, better regulations, transatlantic cooperation, the ServicesDirective, E.U. patent reform, and transportation. The delegation had the opportu-nity to meet with key ministries and with former Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bi-elecki, advisor to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and to have a working lunch in thePresidential Palace with Olgierd Dziekoński, Secretary of State in the President’sOffice. On our part, we were pleased to see the high level of competence and pre-paredness of the Polish government representatives on all topics addressed.

Besides the E.U., transatlantic topics are also on our mind. In May, AmCham willsend a small delegation to Dallas and Denver to encourage select companies toinvest and do business in Poland. This will be the first time AmCham organizessuch a mission on its own, so we are curious to have the experience and to seethe results. More importantly, at the end of May, U.S. President Barack Obama willvisit Poland for a summit of Central & Eastern European heads of state. This will behis first visit to Poland during his presidency and an important opportunity for bothcountries.

American

Investor

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011. All rights reserved.

American Investor is the official publication of the Ameri-can Chamber of Commerce in Poland. It is a voice for for-eign investors and the business community in Poland.The magazine strives to keep our members and otherreaders up to date by following chamber news and report-ing on the leading trends in business and policy.

letters to the editor should be e-mailed [email protected]

AMCHAM STAFFDorota DabrowskiExecutive [email protected]

Marzena DrelaDeputy [email protected]

Anita KowalskaEvents & Media [email protected]

Robert KruszynaOffice [email protected]

Barbara Pocialik-MalinowskaMembership and Committees [email protected]

Marta PawlakResearch and Policy [email protected]

Robert ChomikProject [email protected]

AmCham in KrakówMonika [email protected]

AmCham in WrocławJoanna [email protected]

Dear AmCham Members!

Published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

YOUR AMCHAMFROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AmCham EU

The Presidency Group of the American Cham-ber of Commerce to the European Union wasin Warsaw on March 15–17 to meet top offi-cials in the Polish government. The delegationof 14 business leaders from a wide range ofindustries held 20 meetings in two days. Thedelegates discussed the preparations for theupcoming Polish Presidency of the Council ofthe E.U. and presented the top business priori-ties identified by AmCham EU that shouldboost the investment climate across Europeand the E.U.’s competitiveness.

“We have five big, overarching horizontalpriorities,” said AmCham EU Managing Direc-tor Susan Danger. “Those are in innovation,sustainable growth, the completion of the sin-gle market, achieving a low-carbon economy,and people power, which is building human re-sources for the future economy in Europe.”

According to Rory Macmillan, who chairsthe E.U. Presidency Group, “AmCham EUlooks forward to engaging with key Presidencystakeholders before, during and after the Pol-ish Presidency. They include policymakers inWarsaw and Brussels who are responsible forworking on E.U. policies. As the Presidencystarts to work, our committees tend to engagein a more detailed dialogue with the variouspeople as policy decisions are made and newlegislation is going through.”

Macmillan said that Poland has a uniqueopportunity to have a successful first Presi-dency if it focuses on closing issues that areon the table rather than introducing new ones.

Danger also underlined that AmCham EUhad superb cooperation with AmCham Polandin organizing the visit. “AmCham Poland hasbeen extremely helpful in the way it organizedthe meetings,” she said. (Pictured: AmChamPoland Executive Director Dorota Dabrowski,first from left, with AmCham EU PresidencyGroup members, including AmCham EU Man-aging Director Susan Danger, third from left,and Rory Macmillan, eighth from left.)

AvisCar rental specialist Avis is celebrating its first20 years in Poland. Avis has grown from anoperation with 16 cars and six employeesworking from offices at the Warsaw airport andthe Marriott Warsaw to nearly 1,500 cars and100 people at all airports across the country.By the end of 2011 Avis will have offices in the20 largest cities in Poland.

“We started when the timing was right for

NewslineNews from AmCham and its members


EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ART & DTP

tomasz Ć[email protected]

EDITOR-AT-LARGEchristopher [email protected]

PrintingQ Invest Ltd +48 22 424 6600

To contact AmCham please write or call:

ul. Emilii Plater 53, WFC 00-113 Warsawtel: +48 22 520 5999 fax: +48 22 520 5998e-mail: [email protected]

Members on the move

Baker & McKenzieDr. Kamila Tarnacka hasjoined Baker & McKenzie as alocal partner to head the 8-person energy practice at theWarsaw office. Tarnacka hasseveral years of experience inregulatory and transactionalmatters, dispute resolutionand privatization for the en-ergy sector, including conven-tional and unconventional energy. Along with Tar-nacka, three young lawyers joined the Baker &McKenzie energy practice: Oskar Waluśkiewicz,Edyta Barwicka and Małgorzata Kliczkowska, all for-merly with CMS Cameron McKenna.

CB Richard EllisNatalia Pradelska has joinedthe retail team of real estateagency CB Richard Ellis. Sheis responsible for marketingand leasing of shopping cen-ters and outlets acrossPoland, as well as securingnew retail clients. Pradelskahas over 10 years of profes-sional experience working for such companies asDTZ, Unibail-Rodamco, WR Consulting Polska andSisim Polska. Pradelska graduated from KarolAdamiecki University of Economics in Katowice.

Artur Kubiak, who hasworked with Baker & McKen-zie since 2007, has now quali-fied as a legal adviser. Kubiakspecializes in capital markets,investment funds, and corpo-rate and administrative law.He focuses on public and pri-vate bond issues on the Pol-ish capital market. He repre-sents clients in dealings with the Polish Financial Su-pervision Authority, the National Depository for Securi-ties, and the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Sean Doyle has been pro-moted to associate director inthe capital markets depart-ment of CB Richard Ellis.Doyle has 8 years of com-mercial real estate experi-ence in the U.S., the U.K. andCentral Europe. He joined CBRichard Ellis in 2010. Doylefocuses on sales and acqui-sitions of retail, logistics andoffice properties. Doyle is a member of the Royal In-stitution of Chartered Surveyors.

CiscoDariusz Fabiszewski has re-placed Paweł Malak as gen-eral director of Cisco Poland.Fabiszewski has 15 years ofexperience in senior manage-ment in IT and business con-sulting. Before joining Cisco,Fabiszewski worked for Ernst& Young as head of the ITteam. Before that he was gen-eral director of IBM in Poland and managing directorof Fujitsu Siemens Computers for Eastern Europe.Fabiszewski earned a degree in telecommunicationsfrom the Warsaw University of Technology.

new business ventures and in subsequentyears consistently worked to build our posi-tion,” said Radosław Lesiak, Country Man-ager of Avis Polska. “Today we can be proudto have a well-integrated team of employeesand our customers’ respect.”

Baker & McKenzieLaw firm Baker & McKenzie has handled thePLN 76.6 million IPO of Avia Solutions Groupon the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Avia is thefirst listing on the WSE by a company based inLatvia. Baker & McKenzie is now working onsimilar projects for companies in Poland aswell as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Sloveniaand Ukraine. B&M partner Jakub Celińskisaid that the WSE is now considered closelyby companies all over Central & Eastern Eu-rope who plan to go public.

Chadbourne & ParkeThe Warsaw office of international law firmChadbourne & Parke has advised Polish Air-ports State Enterprise and Port-Hotel Sp. zo.o. in negotiations with Marriott Internationalfor a 30-year franchise to operate a new five-star Renaissance Hotel at Warsaw Chopin Air-port. Construction will begin this spring, withcompletion scheduled for the first half of 2013.

Chadbourne previously advised the Polishairport authority and Port-Hotel on develop-ment of the Courtyard by Marriott, the firsthotel at Warsaw Chopin Airport.

CB Richard EllisCB Richard Ellis has been named the premierglobal brand in commercial real estate, ac-cording to a Lipsey survey of industry profes-sionals worldwide. CB RE has been voted theindustry’s top brand for 10 consecutive years.More than 25,000 professionals participated inthe 2011 survey, including property owners, in-vestors, lenders, brokers and property man-agers.

CB RE has also been named to the annualroster of the Most Admired Companies in thereal estate industry compiled by Fortune mag-azine. The survey covers 57 industries and isone of the most definitive report cards on cor-porate reputations. CB RE is the highest-ranked commercial real estate services com-pany on the list. It scored particularly well inglobal competitiveness (#1) and in quality ofservices, people management and social re-sponsibility (all ranked #2).

In other news, CB RE reports that investorshave shown a clear strategic shift in their in-vestment preferences in Europe in favor ofGermany and Central & Eastern Europe as themost attractive markets to purchase real estatein 2011. A survey of 350 European real estateinvestors by CB RE revealed that about a thirdof investors intend to target acquisitions inGermany in 2011, compared to 18% in 2010,and around a quarter of investors have CEE astheir top investment target this year, up from16% last year. The results were announced atCB RE’s European Investment Briefing in

Dorota DabrowskiAMCHAM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

APRIL 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 76 AMERICAN INVESTOR APRIL 2011

NewslineNews from AmCham and its members

Members on the move

Members on the move

PricewaterhouseCoopersMateusz Walewski hasjoined the marketing, com-munications and businessdevelopment department atPwC as an economist.Walewski has long-term expe-rience in economic advisory,working abroad in Europeand Asia. Prior to joining PwCWalewski was a member ofthe strategic advisory team ofthe Prime Minister of Poland. He is a graduate of theUniversity of Warsaw and the University of Sussex.

MarriottGavin Baxter has joined theMarriott Warsaw as executivechef. Baxter, who comes fromAustralia, has 20 years of ex-perience managing kitchensat five-star hotels in Norwayand Austria, and on cruiseships. Baxter oversees all ofthe restaurants at the Marriott,including Parmizzano’s, LillaWeneda, Chopstix, the LobbyBar, Panorama Bar & Lounge, Champions Sports Bar,Vienna Café and La Patisserie. Baxter is in charge ofstaff supervision and training, menu creation, costcontrol, quality control and supplier selection.

Ewa Boguszewska hasjoined the MCBD departmentof PwC as marketing andcommunications manager.Boguszewska has over 13years of professional experi-ence in international financialinstitutions, including Volkswa-gen Bank Polska, where sheworked prior to joining PwC.Boguszewska is a graduate ofthe Warsaw School of Economics and completed apostgraduate program at the Chartered Institute ofMarketing in London.

SalansSalans has appointed PawełGrabowski as a partner.Grabowski advises strategicand financial investors on alltypes of investments in Polandand internationally. His key ex-perience includes major M&Atransactions, real estate proj-ects, corporate restructurings,and complex domestic andcross-border joint ventures. Grabowski is admitted tothe bar in Poland and New York and has also qualifiedas a solicitor in England and Wales. A graduate of theUniversity of Warsaw and Harvard Law School, he hasbeen working for Salans since 2001.

White & CasePaweł Pietkiewicz has joinedWhite & Case LLP in the dis-pute resolution practice in War-saw. Prior to joining White &Case, Pietkiewicz worked forCMS Cameron McKenna,where he headed its disputeresolution practice in Poland.He has advised on a widerange of matters and hasbroad experience in demand-ing sectors. He is ranked in Tier 1 in the Chambers Eu-rope and EMEA Legal 500 directories.

Wierzbowski EvershedsDr. Lech Giliciński hasjoined Wierzbowski Ever-sheds as a partner. Gilicińskihas extensive experience incorporate and financial re-structurings, banking, fi-nance and private equity.Giliciński was a principallegal adviser to the Ministerof Justice and EBRD in theprocess of implementing thePolish Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law. He is alsothe World Bank’s country partner in Poland in thearea of insolvency and restructuring. Giliciński grad-uated from the Faculty of Law and Administration atAdam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the Uni-versity of Oxford, and earned an LL.M. at the Univer-sity of Connecticut School of Law, where he was aFulbright Scholar.

March at MIPIM, the international real estateevent held annually in Cannes.

In Poland, CB RE represented Pekaes SA,part of the Kulczyk Holding group, in theMarch sale of a site in the center of Warsaw toOKAM Capital. The 1.2 hectare site in the Woladistrict is slated for residential and retail devel-opment.

Cushman & WakefieldAccording to a report published by commercialreal estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield,global investment in commercial real estate willcontinue to recover in 2011, with a broaderfocus on emerging and second-tier markets, in-stead of just the main business centers that trig-gered most investor attention last year. Accord-ing to the International Investment Atlas 2011,which monitors investment flows in commercialproperty in 56 countries, global investment vol-umes grew 42% in 2010, to USD 564 billion.

Investment in Europe, the Middle East andAfrica rose nearly 50% in 2010, to USD 155 bil-lion, with Central & Eastern Europe up 60%and Western Europe up 56%. Investor demandpicked up late last year after a slow summerdue to sovereign debt worries. Demand has fo-cused on the most liquid markets, with theU.K., Germany, France and Sweden seeing themost activity and aggressive bidding on coreassets. However, as yields in these marketshave fallen, some investors have begun to lookat other areas such as Poland, Russia andTurkey.

Michael Rhydderch, head of EMEA CapitalMarkets for Cushman & Wakefield, said, “It isclear that the volume of assets coming to themarket is increasing substantially as a result ofbanks forcing or encouraging action. At thesame time the volume of equity in the market isever greater and debt is, selectively, becomingmore affordable and available. We are expect-ing an active trading environment and contin-ued pressure on prime yields during 2011.”

In other news, Cushman & Wakefield hasbeen appointed lead letting agent for Eurocen-trum, a 64,000 sq. m. office building to be builton Al. Jerozolimskie in Warsaw. It will be agreen project and has applied for LEED Goldcertification.

Cushman & Wakefield represented Ardom inthe sale of the Panorama Shopping Center inKrasnystaw to First Property. The 5,200 sq. m.shopping center was opened in March 2009.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointedexclusive agent for commercialization of the 4-star Rialto Hotel to be built by MOT Sp. z o.o.on Ostrów Tumski, the island in the historic cen-ter of Wrocław.

General ElectricGE Hitachi Nuclear Energy VP Danny Roder-ick met with the Polish parliamentary taskforce on nuclear energy to showcase GEH’sadvanced nuclear technologies, as part of thetechnology review for Poland’s nuclear energyprogram. Poland plans to start the construc-tion of its first nuclear power plant in 2016, forconnection to the national grid in 2020. Roder-ick underlined GEH’s extensive experience inbuilding nuclear reactors that are safe and in-expensive to run. He also stressed that GEemploys over 10,000 people in Poland and co-operates with Poland’s academic and scien-tific communities. Earlier, GEH signed a coop-eration agreement with the Polatom Institute ofAtomic Energy, which advises the Polish gov-ernment on nuclear energy issues.

Hewlett-PackardHP has introduced a new family of fast-perform-ing network access points to help companiesimprove productivity: HP E-Series Mobility E-MSM460, 466 & 430 Access Point. The new ac-cess points allow for wireless data transfer at900 Mb/s and enhance coverage areas withbeam-forming technology. According to HP, thetechnology offers the best performance in themarketplace today.

Kelly ServicesMore than three-quarters of Polish respondentswould be willing to move for the right job, withmany even prepared to relocate to anothercountry or continent in order to secure theirpreferred position, according to a recent surveyby HR specialist Kelly Services. The most mo-bile workers are in General Y (age 18–29), whoare more footloose than Generation X (age 30–47) and more fancy-free than Baby Boomers(age 48–65).

The findings are part of the Kelly GlobalWorkforce Index, a survey in late 2010 andearly 2011 of some 97,000 people in 30 coun-tries, including Poland. The survey also re-vealed a significant number of people workingin “unconventional arrangements,” involvinglong or unusual hours, multiple jobs, livingaway from home, or heavy travel.

“In an environment where the market for tal-ent is becoming global, there is a growing real-ization that many individuals may decide to re-locate for work, rather than simply hope that thework will come to them,” said Agnieszka Wal-ter, Country Manager at Kelly Services Poland.

In Poland, jobseekers are most willing to re-locate to other European countries (60%), fol-lowed by North America (16%) and Asia-Pacific(12%), with South America at 4%, the MiddleEast at 3%, and Africa at 1%.

ManpowerIn the recent Employment Outlook Survey fromglobal HR specialist Manpower, Polish employ-ers report stronger job prospects for the sec-ond quarter of 2011. Of the 750 Polish employ-ers surveyed, 16% anticipate adding to theirworkforce, 4% plan reductions (down from 12%in 1Q 2011), and 76% expect no change.

“The outlook for Poland is upbeat and repre-sents moderate improvement over the first-quarter forecast,” said Iwona Janas, CountryManager of Manpower Poland. “Polish employ-ers are among the most optimistic in the 20countries surveyed in Europe, with approxi-mately one in six anticipating growing their pay-rolls in the coming quarter.” The percentage ofemployers planning staff cuts is the smallestsince 3Q 2008, she pointed out.

Industries that should see increased hiring in2Q 2011 include construction, mining, manu-facturing, finance, insurance, real estate, andbusiness services.

Marriott WarsawThe Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich,has certified the Marriott Warsaw as the first

hotel in Poland to provide kosher catering. Thecertification gives the Marriott the green light tocater Jewish weddings and other events withkosher requirements. The Marriott’s koshermenu includes cold starters, soups, maindishes and desserts.

Obtaining the kosher certification was “an im-portant and long-planned investment project,”according to Albert Helms, general director ofthe Marriott Warsaw. He said that kosher food,apart from being targeted to individuals whoobserve kosher traditions, represents an excel-lent addition to the existing cuisines available atthe Marriott Warsaw.

Orco Property Group

Construction of the 18th floor of the Złota 44residential tower (pictured) was finished in thefirst half of March. Developer Orco PropertyGroup has now completed a third of the tower’stotal height of 192 meters. Orco founder andpresident Jean-François Ott said the cold shellphase should be complete by the summer of2012, and construction is now progressing ac-cording to schedule. As construction draws to aclose, Ott said, a new storey should be addedevery week.

Panattoni EuropeCarl Panattoni, the founder, owner and chair-man of Panattoni Development Company andnumerous affiliates in the Panattoni group, in-cluding Panattoni Construction and PanattoniEurope, is the winner of the 2011 CEEQAaward for Lifetime Achievement in Real Estate.

The award, sponsored by the Financial

Times, was presented at the annual CEEQA in-dustry awards gala at the Warsaw Marriott inMarch. It is given each year to an inspirationalleader who has made a significant and durablecontribution to the real estate industry in theNew Europe.

In other news, Panattoni Europe has ex-panded its Silesian warehouse park portfolio.The new projects, Panattoni Park Gliwice I andPanattoni Park Gliwice II, include three build-ings totaling 30,600 sq. m. The first tenant atPanattoni Park Gliwice II is Saint-Gobain GlassPolska.

Panattoni Europe is also expanding Panat-toni Park Wrocław II by another 11,500 sq. m.

PM GroupCon Murphy, managing director of projectmanagement consultancy PM Group Poland, isextending his responsibility to cover PM Groupoffices opened recently in the Czech Republic

and Slovakia. “The Czech Republic and Slovakiahave great investment potential in the public sec-tor, especially in public-private partnership,” Mur-phy said, adding that the energy sector alsolooks promising for investors. PM Group plans tohire about 100 people at the two offices in thenext three years.

In other news, PM Group has developed afeasibility study for redevelopment of the formerRemy Automotive Poland plant in Świdnica, fol-lowing the company’s departure from Poland in2008. The new investor is American Axle & Man-ufacturing. The factory holds 12 hectares of landin Invest-Park, the Wałbrzych Special EconomicZone.

ProLogisGlobal provider of distribution facilities ProLogisreports that it signed leases for more than a mil-lion square meters of space in Central & EasternEurope last year—61% of it in Poland alone. It isthe most space ProLogis has ever leased inPoland or the region in one year. In Poland Pro-Logis has over 2.1 million sq. m. of space in 105buildings in 25 distribution parks, with a 33%market share.

In the first two months of 2011, ProLogissigned five new leases and one lease extensionfor warehouse space at its distribution parks inSilesia, for a total of nearly 60,000 sq. m.

SalansIn March, Salans Warsaw partner PiotrNowaczyk won the International Law OfficeClient Choice Award in the field of arbitration, forthe second year in a row.

The ILO awards are based on a survey of sen-ior corporate counsel only, with this year’s win-ners chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 indi-vidual client assessments. Established in 2005,the ILO Client Choice Awards recognize lawfirms and partners around the world that standapart for the excellent client care they provideand the quality of their service.

Sheraton Warsaw

The Oriental at the Sheraton Warsaw is featur-ing Asian poultry. Chef Aprochet Inboom (pic-tured) serves delicate duck dishes prepared inmany traditional ways with popular Asianspices. The dishes include Chinese soup withduck meatballs, vegetables and soy pasta,crispy duck with vegetables and mandarinsauce, and duck breast in pepper and garlicsauce. The Oriental specializes in traditionaldishes from Thailand, China, Japan, Indonesiaand Malaysia.

Trusiewicz & SiwkoThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs has selectedlaw firm Trusiewicz & Siwko to provide legalservices related to the selection of businesspartners for Poland’s upcoming Presidency ofthe Council of the E.U. Trusiewicz & Siwko isinvolved in negotiations for transportation,telecommunications, IT services, and food andbeverages. So far agreements have been final-ized with such suppliers as Coca-Cola, Mi-crosoft, Peugeot, Orange, and Scania.

Volantis (renamed Antenna)Antenna Software, a developer of mobile ap-plications, has acquired mobile Internet soft-ware company Volantis Systems. After themerger, the company will operate under theAntenna brand. It will continue to provide fullsupport for Volantis products to its currentcustomers, prospects and partners, throughits existing locations, including Kraków as wellas teams in the U.S., the U.K., India and HongKong.

The addition of the complementary Volantistechnology will allow Antenna to immediatelyoffer its customers a significantly broaderrange of mobile web solutions, including theunderlying architecture for mobile commerceand enterprise app stores. “Our customerscan go to a single provider for all their mobilityneeds across myriad devices,” said AntennaCEO Jim Hemmer.

HOT DATEApr.06.11Event: AmCham Monthly Meeting

Place: InterContinental Warsaw

Time: 7:30 A.M.


AgendaIntelligence from AmCham and its committees

For the AmCham Guide to Committees see inside back cover

Clearing the air

The climate conference in Cancun, Mex-ico, in December 2010 was a majorsuccess because all countries at the

negotiating table, including both more- andless-developed economies, agreed to ac-knowledge their shared responsibility forglobal climate change, according to TomaszChruszczow, director of the Department ofClimate Change and Atmosphere Protectionat the Polish Ministry of the Environment.Speaking at a meeting of the AmCham En-ergy & Environment Committee in February,Chruszczow said that all the negotiators inCancun took a realistic approach by focusingon areas universally viewed as achievableand deciding to leave more difficult issues tobe addressed at future summits.

Among the key elements agreed in Copen-hagen in 2009 and incorporated into theCancun Agreements were those governingtargets for emissions reductions, a mecha-nism for financing the process estimated tocost USD 100 billion, the technology, and thetransparency of process implementation.

Discussing the financial solution, known asthe Green Fund, which is now being built,Chruszczow said that it is impossible for thepublic sector to raise this much and thereforethe business sector should become involvedin the process. Even more importantly, he

said, developing countries should be a partof the financing solution.

Technology is another important point, asit is supposed to help the developing coun-tries mitigate the negative results of emissioncuts. Chruszczow noted that this is an oppor-tunity for business to develop new technolo-gies and find new markets. “It is also an op-portunity to adapt existing technologies tothe needs of developing countries,” he said.

Chruszczow added that soon the divisioninto eco-friendly and non-eco-friendly tech-nologies will be an artifact of the past, as alltechnologies in use will have to be eco-friendly. “Any technology that helps save re-sources helps the climate,” he said. “So doesany technology which saves energy.”

Another speaker, Magdalena Kostulska,Private Sector Coalition Specialist at theUnited Nations Development Program, saidthat the Cancun Agreements offer a new par-adigm change toward building a low-carbonsociety. “A low-carbon society should stillsupport substantial opportunities for growthand sustainable development,” she said, “butthis will require innovations and also moresustainable production, consumption, andlifestyles.”

The issue of technology is an importantone for Poland, a country whose power pro-

duction sector is very emission-intensive.Meanwhile, as agreed, in 2013 the Europeanemissions trading system will introduce newrules governing the allocation of CO2 emis-sion allowances. This means that from 2014on, producers of electricity will not be eligiblefor any free emission quotas, but will have topay for the CO2 they release to the atmos-phere.

According to Katarzyna Kłaczyńska, an as-sociate at CMS Cameron McKenna, the newETS regulation will have a fundamental im-pact on electricity producers in Poland.“Right now, the electricity sector gets more orless 70-80% of what they need for free,” shesaid. However, as Kłaczyńska added, thenew E.U. member states, including Poland,whose power sector is outdated and emis-sion-intensive, may nonetheless be givenmore time to adjust to the new emissionregime. Those countries will have an optionto apply for free emissions allowances for2013–2020.

One problem is that the applicationprocess is complex and time-consuming. An-other is that Poland and the European Com-mission tend to disagree on how to interpretcertain provisions of the transition agree-ment. “The truth is that the option for transi-tional periods was included as a last-minuteconcession,” Kłaczyńska said. “It is very am-biguous and self-contradictory in some as-pects. Member states that would like to pur-sue the option read these provisions differ-ently. The unfortunate circumstance here isthat in the end, it is the European Commis-sion who assesses the applications from themember states and can accept or rejectthem. In other words, while member statesread the bill in their own way, the EuropeanCommission has the final say. That is how itworks.”

Kłaczyńska suggested that the applicantsshould figure out how the European Com-mission approaches the regulations so thatthey are in a position to draft their applica-tions in a way that makes it hard for the Com-mission to reject them.

This problem also means that Poland doesnot know whether its power industry will begetting any free CO2 allowances or not. “Thecommission will have six months to assessan application,” Kłaczyńska said, “so it willtake a long time before an applying countryknows anything.”

It is safe to say that the Polish power in-dustry is disadvantaged compared to coun-terparts in other E.U. member states. AsKłaczyńska explained, “They will not be eligi-ble for any free CO2 allowances, but theyhave had since 2009 to adjust their opera-tions to the new regulations. In Poland theproblem is that if we do not get any free CO2allowances, we will have only six months toadjust our industry to the E.U. regulations.”

As international efforts to cut carbon emis-sions become more definite, new E.U.member states need to clarify whether theywill qualify for transitional relief from 2014onward.

Environment & Energy Committee

Poland’s power generation is emission-intensive and in need of an eco overhaul

Managing debt

The volatile investment atmospherearound the world, including high aver-sion to risk, which in turn increases

bond yields, and volatility on the local marketas well, both have the City of Warsaw worriedabout its potential to pay down its debt ontime. This was the main message from Bog-dan Nawrocki, deputy director of the Debtand Financial Policy Department at WarsawCity Hall, when he met with the AmCham Fi-nancial Services Committee in February.

As if this were not enough to worry about,the recent government plans to cut the por-tion of public pension contributions paid tothe Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) that areallocated to the open pension funds (OFEs)from 7.3% to 2.3% of the entire ZUS feeposes more question marks for the city, ac-cording to Nawrocki. This is because theOFEs are among the major investors inbonds in Poland. Reducing the funds that goto the OFEs for management would reducetheir ability to buy municipal bonds in the fu-ture and significantly limit the inflow of capitalinto the domestic financial market.

“In 2010 OFEs received PLN 23 billion incontributions,” Nawrocki said. “If the new reg-ulations become reality, that amount will fall toPLN 7 billion.”

Nawrocki said that the role of OFEs in fi-nancing both central government and munici-pal debt is significant. “In 2010 OFEs alonebought PLN 9 billion out of PLN 11 billion ofroad construction bonds from Bank Gospo-darstwa Krajowego,” Nawrocki said. “As ofthe end of January 2011, OFEs had investedPLN 118 billion in Treasury bonds and PLN16.7 billion in non-Treasury bonds.”

So far, OFEs have purchased 72.54% of theCity of Warsaw’s debt, worth PLN 1.1 billion.By comparison, insurance companies boughta total of 16.67% of the debt (PLN 250 mil-lion), banks 8.53% (PLN 128 million), mutualfunds 2.00% (PLN 30 million), and brokeragehouses 0.26% (PLN 4 million).

Another problem is the relatively high de-mand in Poland for variable-rate bonds, whileWarsaw is the only issuer of fixed-interestbonds so far listed on Catalyst, the bond mar-ket at the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In its debtportfolio Warsaw has PLN 1.5 billion in bondsissued at fixed rate and only some PLN 500million in bonds issued at a floating rate.

To make matters even worse for Warsaw,the banking sector is not eager to lend as itwaits to see what happens with municipaldebt throughout the country following

changes in municipal finance law in 2010.The law has imposed two types of limits onmunicipalities: they maintain a balance intheir current budget, while financing it, as wellas their debt servicing, from surplus money,borrowing or sale of assets. “There are somediscussions about introducing further limitson municipal finance, regarding their deficits,but we do not know how this discussion willevolve,” Nawrocki said.

In May 2009, the City of Warsaw issuedfive-year maturity euro bonds at the Luxem-bourg Stock Exchange worth EUR 200 mil-lion, at a yield of 7%. Two months later, War-saw issued 10-year maturity bonds for PLN600 million at Catalyst at a yield of 7.38%. InFebruary 2010, Warsaw sold another PLN 300million worth of debt at Catalyst with a matu-rity of 12 years and 7.03% yield, followed byanother tranche of 12-year-maturity debt atCatalyst in April 2010 worth PLN 300 millionwith a 6.519% yield. In May 2010 Warsaw soldanother PLN 300 million in bonds with 7-yearmaturity and a 5.95% yield, at Catalyst. In Oc-tober 2010, through a private placement, War-saw sold nearly PLN 100 million worth of debtwith a 15-year maturity and an undisclosedyield.

However, the supply of municipal bondstargeting institutional investors, such asOFEs, has been very low. Since the beginning

With long-term demands for financing Warsaw does its best to be creditworthy

Financial Services Committeeof 2009 Warsaw sold debt worth PLN 1.5 bil-lion, but other cities only a fraction as much:Kraków sold debt worth PLN 250 million, Bi-ałystok PLN 80 million. Apart from those of-fers, other debt sold by municipalities inPoland targeted the banking sector.

In 2010, agreements were signed with theEuropean Investment Bank, among others,for a total of PLN 200 million of new debt tobe sold to EIB in 2011.

In February 2011, the City of Warsawsigned an agreement with PKO Bank Polskiand Bank Pekao, the two biggest banks inPoland, to organize bond issues on the do-mestic market in 2011.

Nawrocki said that a good time for issuingfixed-rate bonds would be before mid-May, atime when a lot of issues are planned on theEuropean markets. He also said that in a con-servative case scenario, where OFEs onlyreinvest their money, the potential purchaseof municipal bonds is estimated at approxi-mately PLN 1.5 billion in 2011.

Nawrocki said that the estimated supply ofdebt next year may reach a total of PLN 23.5billion, including PLN 16.2 billion from munici-pal governments, PLN 0.8 billion from publiccompanies, PLN 15.7 billion from BGK bonds,and PLN 2.8 billion from corporations.

Nawrocki estimated the demand for debt atPLN 10.5 billion, including PLN 6.7 billionfrom OFEs, PLN 0.8 billion from banks, PLN1.5 billion from mutual funds, and PLN 1.5 bil-lion from insurance companies.

Based on these estimates, the gap in de-mand is PLN 13 billion, and it is not clear whomay be counted on as a potential buyer.Nawrocki said it is anybody’s guess howmuch of the debt will be purchased by foreigninvestors.

Every year in March the AmCham Tax Committee and KPMG organize a seminarabout tax issues for U.S. citizens living and working in Poland. This March speak-ers Dagmar Gessner-Gaspar and Lisa Xu (pictured) from the KPMG U.S. TaxCenter in Frankfurt presented new U.S. tax developments that affect individualsliving abroad, while Mateusz Kobyliński from KPMG International Executive Serv-ices in Warsaw talked about the most recent Polish personal income tax regula-tions that concern expatriates.

An explosion of euros

Project finance opportunities available tosmall and micro enterprises from BankGospodarstwa Krajowego, Poland’s

only wholly state-owned bank, were on theagenda in March when the AmCham Euro-pean Union Affairs Committee organized ameeting with BGK CEO Tomasz Mironczuk.

One set of opportunities stem from BGK’sparticipation in the European Commission’sJessica program, which aims at changing theway financial aid is distributed in the E.U.from a system of grants to a system of finan-cial injections that are eventually repaid bythe companies, organizations or institutionsthat receive them. The idea is that money in-vested in a project should in time be re-turned, to be doled out again for the benefitof other pro-social projects. The money ismade available to investors at very low inter-est and for long periods.

The Jessica program, which in Poland cov-ers only two provinces, Wielkopolska andWest Pomerania, focuses on supportingurban revitalization projects, for which BGKmanages an urban development fund. But“urban revitalization” means more than justcommercial redevelopment of run-down cityareas. It is about making unattractive districtsattractive again for business, entrepreneursand inhabitants.

BGK has PLN 290 million to distribute inthe two Polish provinces to investors whohave interesting urban development projectsto help stem the tide of social implosion ofthe target areas. The bank lends money at

3.77% interest, which is the reference rate setby the National Bank of Poland. For projectsthat deliver earlier than planned, the interestrate may be lowered to 1.75%. The financingis available for up to 20 years. Investors haveuntil 2014 to submit projects for the program.After 2014, submissions will not be accepted.

Mironczuk said that so far BGK, which is incharge of handling the fund, has looked into20 projects submitted by potential investors.Most of them were shopping centers. Butwhile BGK welcomes commercial projects, italso hopes to see projects that combineurban development with social engineering,in a creative and smart way, to create condi-tions for socially degraded areas to recover,so that they attract new inhabitants and busi-nesses and eventually contribute to the over-all social and economic development of thecity they are part of.

Such projects are of crucial importance forPoland, especially along the western border,where inhabitants often relocate to nearbyGermany in search of better jobs and newperspectives. While the German economycontinues its robust growth, experts say thatthis trend may intensify, which may lead tosocial implosion in some areas of theprovinces covered by the Jessica program,Wielkopolska and West Pomerania. Escala-tion of this implosion would be difficult tostop, and the areas affected by it would needyears to mend.

Another project finance program from theEuropean Union which BGK handles, in five

Polish provinces, is called Jeremie andcaters to small and micro enterprises in needof capital for developing innovative technolo-gies. BGK can either underwrite loans fromcommercial banks or provide direct loans tocompanies, known as “technology credit.”BGK has PLN 2.7 billion to distribute by2014. A single loan may be up to PLN 4 mil-lion. The idea behind this program is to elimi-nate barriers to obtaining financing that smalland micro enterprises may run into followingthe introduction of stiffer lending criteria forcommercial banks.

Mironczuk said that regrettably only threemicro firms applied for technology credit inPoland in 2010. For the program to be in fullswing, BGK needs to receive about 20 appli-cations for financing a month.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego is the onlywholly state-owned bank in Poland. Its mis-sion is to provide financing to the public sec-tor, but it also supports financing for micro,small and medium-sized enterprises. It maybecome involved in investment projects aswell as trade contracts including underwritingfor up to two years. The bank has good rela-tions with other financial institutions and isbuilding a roster of trading clients who spe-cialize in exporting goods made in Poland.The bank backs Polish exporters to suchcountries as Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,and, recently, Turkey, Moldavia, Bosnia, Ser-bia and Argentina. On average, BGK ap-proves one project a week for financing.

BGK administers E.U.-funded lending programs to shoreup Polish regions threatened with social implosion and tohelp grow technology

European Union Affairs Committee

The Jessica program, which in Poland covers only two provinces, focuses on supporting urban revitalization projects The national stadium can be adjusted to suit not only sports events but a wide scope of other commercial events

No white elephant

Poland’s National Stadium in Warsaw willbe the most modern sports arena in Eu-rope when it holds its grand opening in

June 2012, according to Piotr Kwiecień, mar-keting director of the National Sports Center,the state-owned company that manages thefacility. At a meeting with the AmCham Con-sumer Products Committee in March,Kwiecień argued that the new Warsaw land-mark will offer exceptional business opportuni-ties for the owner and partner companies.

The National Stadium, built to accommo-date the Euro 2012 European Football Cham-pionship, will be buzzing with activities beforeand after the soccer is played there in June ofnext year.

Kwiecień stressed what he said wereunique aspects of the stadium. Location isone. The stadium is 4 km from the center ofWarsaw (the Palace of Culture) and 12 kmaway from the only international airport serv-ing Warsaw today. As an integral part of thefabric of the city, the stadium offers opportuni-ties to make money not only on sportingevents, but also on live concerts and otherevents for various types of audiences. Thecomplex will offer a total of 200,000 sq. m. ofenclosed space, and the stadium itself willhave 55,000 seats under a fully retractableroof. Thanks to the roof, which will make itpossible to host major events in the winter,there will be no dead season at the facility.

The operator is already planning severalmajor shows and is confident that the stadium

will be regarded as an important venue for bigmusical events. The stadium will fit 70,000spectators when the stage is placed in thecenter of the playing field and the rest of thefield is filled with additional seating. Techni-cally speaking, there are four gateways to theplaying field, with two of them big enough tohandle trucks carrying heavy equipment.

Kwiecień noted that the stadium can be ad-justed to suit other events requiring fewerseats. There is a lower ring, with approxi-mately 20,000 seats, which is permanent. Theupper ring can be covered or used as a tech-nical area for lighting so it does not lookempty. Kwiecień said that the stadium couldthen appear full at an event for 20,000 people.

The stadium will offer shopping and serv-ices on a promenade on the ground floor andfour upper levels. There will also be 8,000 sq.m. of office space overlooking the nearbypark.

The complex will include a conference cen-ter totaling 16,000 sq. m. in two separate hallsand two other event venues: the BusinessClub, with a 2,600-seat auditorium, cateringservices and a business center, as well as theFun Club, with 2,200 seats as a venue for lessformal events.

An ecumenical chapel inside the complexwill offer commercial opportunities as well,through weddings and other faith-basedevents. The chapel can be converted in min-utes to a Christian or Jewish wedding layout.

With all the advantages the location offers, it

The National Sports Center, operator of the National Sta-dium under construction in Warsaw, is selling naming rightsto the stadium and looking for sponsors for the numerouscommercial opportunities offered by the stadium complex

Consumer Products Committee


comes with some limitations as well. Unlikeother big sports arenas, the National Stadiumwill not have a huge parking lot, due to spacelimits. The parking lot will hold only 1,700 vehi-cles. Because of this, one of the official poli-cies of the National Stadium will be to encour-age sports fans to arrive by Warsaw’s excel-lent public transit system. The stadium will beserved by tram, bus and commuter rail, and,eventually, the east-west line of the Metro,which is under construction. According toKwiecień, public transit has the capacity tomove 70,000 to 100,000 people to or from thefacility per hour.

For now the National Sports Center is look-ing for companies interested in purchasingnaming rights to the stadium. Kwiecień saidthat so far the biggest deal for naming rights inPoland was a five-year deal for PLN 35 millionat Baltic Arena in Gdańsk, known at the mo-ment as PGE Arena. Kwiecień said that theoperator definitely expects to beat that dealboth in price and duration.

Kwiecień said that so far construction of thestadium has generated a lot of interest, andmany consulting companies have expressed awillingness to work with the National SportsCenter. Polish and international media and in-dustry experts have also devoted a lot of at-tention to the project. In 2010 alone, the com-bined media coverage of the facility, in Polandand abroad, in print, TV, radio and Internetwas worth the equivalent of PLN 60 million.

AgendaIntelligence from AmCham and its committees


Italy was already 20 years old by the timeproduction commenced at FSO in Warsaw.When FSO engineers began to experimentwith the Fiat design to take it to a higherlevel of technological advancement andconsumer-oriented esthetics, they weredealing with such an outdated concept inthe first place that what they eventuallycame up with in 1978, the Polonez, turnedout to be an exorbitant misfit in the auto-motive industry—drawing guffaws in theU.K. when some units were sold there.The only foreign market of any commercialsignificance that embraced the Polonez tosome extent was China—thanks only to the“friendly” relations between the two so-cialist states.

Given such history, it is little wonderthen that when in 1989 Poland began itspolitical and economic transformationfrom a centrally-planned economy to a freemarket, the country’s entrepreneurs paidlittle attention to research and develop-ment as a means of gaining a competitiveadvantage in the marketplace. The modelof looking to the West for better, moretechnologically advanced products was stillin force. A factory owner who wished toimprove productivity simply had to buysome worn production equipment in theWest at a bargain price to replace the evenolder, exhausted equipment still in opera-tion at home. With this “new” equipment,company owners could produce more withfewer workers on the production line. Theeconomic results that stemmed from suchsimple replacement of equipment werestaggering. But again, what mattered wasmoney (to buy the old equipment) ratherthan creative thinking. The attitude of in-difference to creativity, research and devel-opment continued unchallenged.

When the going is good, people’s atti-tudes change slowly, and for this one tochange there were few incentives evenafter Poland entered the European Union.With unlimited access to all E.U. markets,Polish exporters realized their productswere highly competitive on price withthose from other member states. But theadvantage was not a result of more innova-tive production, but of the big gap in wagesearned by workers in Poland and countriesto the west, and other production costssuch as utilities. This gap was (and still isin many cases) so huge that Polish ex-porters found their products cost-competi-tive when sold in the West even though theefficiency of their labor force in Poland waswell below the E.U. average. Differences inlabor cost, for instance, allowed farmers inPoland to export tomatoes to Greece, de-

12 AMERICAN INVESTOR APRIL 2011 APRIL 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 13

COVER STORY: Innovative economy

Poles begin to realize that business must think new to move forwardBefore 1939, Poland was renowned for

its technological advances in manyareas. It was for instance one of the

few countries that successfully experi-mented with transmission of television sig-nals, as far back as 1931. A bomber plane,codenamed “Łoś,” designed entirely byPolish engineers, was the most technicallyadvanced airplane in 1938. Polish designsof train engines—steam and electric—were world leaders in their day.

But then came the destruction of WorldWar II, and after that Poland’s economywas nationalized, along with its researchcenters. The long story of Poland’s inept-ness in innovation and industrial designbegan, and in time came to resemble akind of cultural tradition.

Faced with the postwar demand to re-build the country, engineers had to devotetheir talents to developing basic aspects ofthe economy, such as civil engineering andthe steel industry, which in particular wasthen viewed as the backbone of social andeconomic progress. And because of thereigning ideology, there was little state-sponsored encouragement to developproducts more advanced than those madeby the leader of the bloc, the Soviet Union.So even though engineers at the Polish au-tomotive plant FSO came up with ad-vanced models for the flagship car at thattime, the Syrena, the projects were stalledby the politburo. Today, the advancementand technical sophistication of the work ofFSO engineers can be appreciated only bystudying the old documentation for theSyrena and pictures of such models as theSyrena Sport, the Syrena Mikrobus, andthe Syrena 104 Laminat, developed in the1960s.

innovation unwelcomeWith a political grip that kept at bay all in-novative thinking and design, Poland in-evitably began to decline into a technicallybackward country. In time, innovative,modern design began to be perceived assomething that could not originate at homebut had to be bought from the West, in theform of a production license. Poland’s de-pendence on technology developed by theSoviet Union was universally felt in almostall aspects of industry, from aircraft con-struction to nuclear power (which ulti-mately was never implemented).

Even when Poland was able to buy a li-cense to manufacture products developedin the West, the designs were outdated bythe time they were introduced in Poland.For example, the model for the Fiat 125passenger car that Poland bought from

spite the fact that Greece has much morefavorable weather conditions for growingtomatoes than Poland.

nothing to brag about Under such political and economic cir-cumstances, it is little wonder that 20 yearsafter Poland’s entry into the free-marketeconomy, there is still almost nothing thatPoland can boast about when it comes tothe innovative economy. This is well de-picted by the recent study of the innova-tiveness of E.U. member states by UNU-MERIT—Maastricht Economic and socialResearch and training centre on Innovationand Technology, for the European Com-mission. Published in February, InnovationUnion Scoreboard 2010 takes into accountperformance across 24 indicators, such asthe number of patents registered, thenumber of innovative products launched inthe marketplace, expenditures on R&D,and national programs linking money withinnovative research. The study placesPoland in the category of “moderate inno-vators” together with the Czech Republic,Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal,Slovakia and Spain—countries that scoredfrom 10% to 20% below the average for the27 member states.

The “innovation leaders” atop the rank-ing, with a performance 20% or moreabove the E.U. 27 average, are Denmark,Finland, Germany and Sweden. Just belowthem are the “innovation followers,” withan innovativeness score from 10% to 20%above the E.U. 27 average (Austria, Bel-gium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Ireland,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sloveniaand the U.K.) The lowest-ranked— “mod-est innovators,” below 50% of the E.U. 27average—are Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuaniaand Romania.

As the report underlines, the countriesat the top of the ranking share a number ofstrengths in their national research and in-novation systems. “While there is not onesingle way to reach top innovation per-formance, most innovation leaders performvery well in Business R&D expendituresand other innovation indicators related tofirm activities,” the report says. “All of theinnovation leaders have higher than aver-age scores in the Public-Private co-publi-cations per million population indicator,[which] points in the direction of goodlinkages between the science base andbusinesses. All European top innovatorsalso excel in the commercialization of theirtechnological knowledge, as demonstratedby their good performance on the indicatorLicense and patent revenues from abroad.”

Furthermore, the report stresses: “Theoverall good performance of the innovationleaders reflects a balanced national re-search and innovation system. While eachcountry has its own specificities, policy re-sponses should attempt not only to addressrelative weaknesses in national researchand innovation systems, but also to havemore balanced performances across allcategories of indicators.”

Poland is characterized by the authors asa country whose relative strength is HRperformance. But Poland’s weaknesses area lack of open, excellent and attractive re-search systems, a failure to link entrepre-neurship with money, and a lack of propercommercial utilization of intellectual as-sets. The report also found “a relativelystrong decline in SMEs innovating in-house and innovative SMEs collaboratingwith others.” It found other dimensions tobe below the E.U. 27 average.

in the darkBy and large, Polish entrepreneurs learnedabout the importance of innovativeness foreconomic development after Poland en-tered the European Union. This knowl-edge was linked with many E.U. funds de-signed to support the innovative economy,including innovative products as well asbusiness models.

But the availability of money to supportinnovativeness in the economy created lessthan the desired effect. Instead of beingperceived as a must-have element of an en-vironment in which the authors of innova-tive ideas can rely on financial support todevelop them into commercially viableprojects, E.U. funds were tapped into byentrepreneurs who lacked any particularlyvaluable business ideas but knew how tonegotiate the complicated application sys-tem.

“In recent years many firms in Polandwere created just in order to tap into E.U.grants,” said Szymon Kurzyca, an expertwith Lewiatan Business Angels, a networkaffiliated with Poland’s largest employers’organization. “They were getting grants tostart their own companies, consumingthem, and going bankrupt. This is evidentespecially in Priority 8.1, which supportsthe creation of e-companies. But whenpeople know that they can get financing for85% to 100% of the cost of setting up acompany, they are for it no matter whetherthere is a reason why the company shouldbe established. It is good from the point ofview of those people, but not necessarilygood from the point of view of the econ-omy.”

There are signals, however, that thistrend is being limited by the agencies incharge of distributing E.U. aid. Out of1,850 persons who applied for money fromthe Polish Agency for Enterprise Develop-ment (PARP), which administers distribu-tion of aid under Priority 8.1, only 160 weresuccessful. In money terms, out of thebudget of PLN 350 million for 2010, onlyabout PLN 75 million was granted to en-trepreneurs. According to PARP, the agencyhad to apply stricter criteria for evaluatingprojects submitted for financing, becausemost of the applicants could not prove inany way that their businesses would everbreak even.

Most of the business ideas submitted toPARP were not innovative, but were copy-cats of earlier developed models. PARP VPPatrycja Zielińska said in an interview forDziennik Gazeta Prawna daily that so far


PARP has helped set up 1,300 companiesrepresenting all types of e-business. Withthis the mission of Priority 8.1 has been ac-complished, and now the agency is in-clined to grant funds to support only trulyinnovative ideas for e-business. But theyare few and far between.

Apart from the shortcomings on the pol-icy level that the Innovation Union Score-board 2010 captures (see also the articleon page 20) our sources within the busi-ness angels community have pointed tosome other problems. It may seem puz-zling, but the lack of sufficient knowledgeof English among graduates of Polish poly-technics is a problem for companies thatfish for talent among recent graduates. In-novation today is delivered through cooper-ation among specialized research teams.



This type of work requires communica-tion skills in English on a level that allowsfor crystal-clear communication of oftencomplex technical and scientific concepts.

The quality of the knowhow available inPolish polytechnics can be disappointing.One source complained that when it comesto the science of active packaging (packag-ing for food products with chemical prop-erties extending the shelf life of the prod-uct or providing information about thequality of the food inside), only the infor-mation in English is valuable, while theavailable information on the subject in Pol-ish is riddled with errors.

Another problem comes from lifestyledifferences between the new generation ofuniversity graduates and older, experi-enced scientists. Individuals with long-term academic backgrounds and researchexperience often find it difficult to adapt toworking in the egalitarian environment of amodern company. They find it especiallydifficult to accept that the person leading aproject they are working on may be muchyounger than themselves.

Scientists in Poland also do not have thekind of culture that would help them thinkahead to commercializing the results oftheir research. Even those with excellentinnovative ideas do not know what to donext to turn them into a business.

The noble aspirations of Polish re-searchers can even prove a hindrance todevelopment of innovation. Many are

driven by a Nobel Prize ethos, and in a de-sire to be perceived as distinguished scien-tists they focus on publishing as many sci-entific papers as possible. They forget thatonce an innovative idea is published, it isin the public domain and they may nolonger be able to patent it. Nonetheless,they imagine that they would still have anedge over the potential competition if theywere the first to manufacture their inven-tion. This is an illusion, as every experi-enced entrepreneur knows, because if youdo not have the intellectual rights to theproduct you will soon see it produced bet-ter and cheaper by somebody else.

Another problem is that universities areinfiltrated by companies searching for in-novations and inventions. When they comeacross a good idea, they quietly take it awayto develop it further commercially else-where.

Unlike in the U.S., where universitiesown a stake in innovative companies theyhelp to establish, and profit from them,universities in Poland see no incentive totake that approach. Quite to the contrary,they see innovative members of the facultyas pain points, rather than assets, due tothe costs associated with turning an inno-vative idea into a business proposition. Forinstance, patenting costs, which may runEUR 100,000–150,000 in the case of globalpatents, are viewed as a burden hugeenough for many a university to abandoncommercialization ambitions altogether.

Another problem isthat even if scientistsunderstand why theyneed to patent theirinnovations, the per-spective on how theyare going to benefitfrom it does not gobeyond the idea ofselling a license to it.This is not the bestapproach, becausefinal control over theproduct quality lieswithin the reach ofwhoever buys the li-cense, instead of theproprietor.

The systemic fail-ure of the academicsystem to embracewhat it does com-mercially is best il-lustrated by the storyof Michał Bieniek. Ayoung chemist at theInstitute of OrganicChemistry of the Pol-ish Academy of Sci-ences, his researchled him to create achemical that issought after by drugcompanies. Whenone company tested

the chemical and expressed its intention toplace an order worth some EUR 1 million ayear, Bieniek realized the institute couldnot cover the necessary cost for increasingproduction capacity. Bieniek quit the insti-tute and established a company with thehelp of Academic Incubators of Entrepre-neurship. With a formal structure, he wasable to sign a contract with the drug pro-ducer and issue an invoice. That was in2008.

But Bieniek wanted to grow his innova-tion to the point that it would support afull-fledged commercial operation, with aclient roster and R&D. He found financingthrough Lewiatan Business Angels and de-cided to locate his company, Apeiron Syn-thesis, at Wrocław Technology Park. Thepark itself agreed to cover the cost of theequipment necessary for full-scale produc-tion of the chemical. Today Apeiron Syn-thesis is one of the rising stars in theLewiatan Business Angels stable, with avalue estimated in the millions of dollars.

a slow dawnU.S. companies affiliated with AmChamhave long been advocating the need to im-prove national policies for cooperation be-tween academia and business, as well asstate-sponsored mechanisms for pro-pelling the innovative economy. But alongwith educating decision- and policy-mak-ers, innovative American companies thatestablished research and production herehave had a huge impact on the way innova-tiveness in the economy is understood andapproached in Poland. The main messageis that innovative products are ones thatare anticipated by the market, and whenthey are actually delivered there is a de-mand for them.

In December 2010, IBM, a company thathas been innovating for the last 100 years,revealed its annual list of the “Next Five inFive”: five innovations that it anticipateswill have the “potential to change the waypeople work, live and play over the next fiveyears.” The innovations were as diverse astheir areas of application. A technology forbeaming 3D holograms in real life is sup-posed to change not only the way peopleuse electronic entertainment (with holo-gram display technology in mobile phonesand computers) but the way participants invideo conferencing interact. A batterytechnology enabling 10 times longer bat-tery use on mobile phones and laptopsthan conventional batteries today, andpower technologies that use kinetic energy,will make electronic devices even morepermanent in our lives. New network tech-nologies will enable sensors and measuringdevices in our computers to convey datafrom real life to data centers where scien-tists will access it in a systematic way,thanks to new algorithms, and use it tolearn about important aspects of our envi-ronment. Computers, we are told, will alsobe able to analyze traffic conditions in real Tomasz Ćwiok

Charts: Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010

Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010E.U. member states’ innovation performance in 2010Innovation leaders perform above 20% or higher of the E.U. 27 average; innovation followers frombetween 20% above to 10% below of the average; moderate innovator perform from 10% to 50%below the average; modest innovators perform below 50% of the average.

European performance vis-à-vis main competitorsThe performance of E.U. 27 against selected countries. The values in the graphs represent therelative performance of the country indicated compared to that of the E.U. 27. E.g. the U.S. in"2010" is performing 49% better than the E.U. 27 and China in "2010" is performing 55% worsethan the E.U. 27.

Evaluation of selected criteriaThe charts below represent member states' innovation performance across selected criteria thathave critical contribution to the effectiveness of the innovative economy.

time and offer “route recommendations”to drivers so they steer away from trafficjams on the way to their destination. IBMalso predicts that servers will be used as aheat source to supplement the energy sys-tems in cities.

While these predictions are based onmarket and social trends that IBM expectswill change our lives, what they all have incommon also is that they are in sync withtechnologies that are emerging from IBMlabs around the world that can make theseinnovations feasible.

Many scientists in Poland will find it dif-ficult to accept that such great innovationsare not being developed by scholars inivory towers, driven by lofty ambitions andprotected by academic tenure. Instead, in-novation is being developed by people whoembrace life in the marketplace—who un-derstand technology, but also understandpeople and their consumer needs.

So far many Polish entrepreneurs maythink the innovative economy is somethingthat was invented by the European Union.But more and more of them are beginningto realize that economies have always beendriven by invention. Behind every greatbrand, there is at least one great invention,properly executed.

George Parker was a teacher who sup-plemented his income as a part-time rep-resentative of the John Holland FountainPen Company and sold pens to his stu-dents. But his customers frequently com-plained to him about the poor quality ofthe pens. Parker investigated the problemand found out that the feed-shaft needed afew improvements. With simple tools hebegan to make new shafts for the pens hewas selling. Soon he decided to manufac-ture a pen under his own name. Hepatented his fountain pen and founded acompany capable of producing it on a massscale: the Parker Pen Company. The rest isa history of constant design change to suitevolving customer tastes.

The Parker example—the chain ofevents from consumer demand to innova-tion, patent and production—is character-istic of nearly every commercially success-ful product, whether aimed at the massmarket or a niche market. With the appear-ance of business angels organizations (seethe article about the AmCham CEOForum in March, on page 23), as well asseed capital providers, global manufactur-ing firms and technology giants (whichusually have cooperation programs in placewith polytechnics), more and more entre-preneurs and aspiring innovators in Polandare learning about the need to be part ofthat process in order to be successful.

When its hour comes around at last,Poland may bring forth an innovative prod-uct that is a game-changer on the globalmarketplace.



Whose idea was this?Before any idea finds a fully practi-cal application for business, we

share it with friends, talk about it with ac-quaintances, take it apart and put it backtogether with potential business partnersand other individuals who, we think, willgive the idea a commercial edge. In timethe idea may look quite different from theway it looked at the time of inception. It isvital to keep control of whose idea you aretalking about and not exclude peoplewhose intellectual input was critical to itscommercial development.

too many partnersAny extension of ownership in acompany decreases the value of

shares held by each partner. But perhapsnot everyone who you think deserves ashare in the startup is going to have avital input to the startup’s day-to-day de-velopment. Perhaps they deserve someremuneration for what they have done,maybe some option rights but not imme-diate ownership. Make sure that whoeveryou choose for your shareholders bringvalue to the startup. Plus, too many own-ers make a company unmanagable.

too-complex legal structureYou may think that setting up your

startup in a tax haven is a good idea. Waituntil you know your startup is a viablebusiness. In fact it is at risk of not takingoff. It needs time to mature in the busi-ness world, and you need to focus on thatand not on the least expensive taxationstructure. After all, you may find it irk-some to track down the right notaries inCyprus or talk to the register court in theNetherlands when your primary goalshould be to develop your startup into abusiness.

Ten tips to consider before youlaunch your own startupRafał Stroiński, a partner in CMS Cameron McKenna’s Warsaw Corporate Department who is both a Polish lawyer and a member of theNew York bar, has studied startups in the Silicon Valley and Poland. He combined theory with experience to compile a list of dos and don’ts thatbest suit the Polish reality.

1

2

3

keep things in orderA mess, no matter what you do, im-pedes your functioning. And effi-

cient functioning and fast response to thesituation, including enquiries from poten-tial investors, is the key to the success ofyour startup. If they find your documentsare in a mess or you cannot producesomething that they request on time, itwill only create a negative impressionabout your startup and the people behindit. It is about people’s psychology andcommon sense and you cannot undo it.

4

keep things formalPeople involved in startups areoften, by their entrepreneurial na-

ture, not very sensitive to formal proce-dures a business requires. The lack ofdocumentation that, say, your startup hasthe IP rights to the things it produces,will surely impede its further develop-ment. Formalities are important and ifleft unattended may lead to conflicts be-tween individuals who have contributedto the development of your startup andimpede further business growth.

5

stick to your gutsA startup is not a good place forindividuals with a high aversion to

risk in business. You may buy an expert’sopinion about almost anything thesedays, but don’t get carried away by toomany experts’ opinions, especially if youget them for a discounted price or forfree. Stick to your guts and rememberthat a startup is about taking risks.

6

don’t throw your money awayYour startup may be your first

business venture, but it does not meanyou need to have an expensive sofa inyour office to impress your potential in-vestors and clients. The ideas yourstartup is working to develop into a busi-ness are the assets your potential in-vestors will look at. But you may findyourself regretting having bought that ex-pensive sofa when you run short of cashto pay your bills or pay for other servicesthat are vital to your business develop-ment.

7

don’t ignore newsources of moneyEntrepreneurs behind startups

are most often determined to make it ontheir own, according to the original plan,without looking at additional opportuni-ties that may come their way, especially ifthose opportunities come from highly in-stitutionalized sources. But Poland is acountry where public financial sourcesare available through numerous funds,managed by such institutions as the Pol-ish Agency for Enterprise Development(www.parp.gov.pl) and others. Sure, ittakes an effort to fill in the applicationform and show you meet the criteria. Butremember that even a small cash injec-tion into your business may make a bigdifference. Every zloty may be worth itsweight in gold for you.

8

network, network, network!People with ideas are often intro-

verts. But they need to remain open toother people and human networks. Alawyer you know may know a financialwhizz who could help with the financialstrategy your startup needs—but only ifthe lawyer knows about your problem.Lawyers often can see beyond the legalaspect and may have a unique grasp ofthe business side of your startup. A grow-ing number of lawyers in Poland under-stand risk management and may offer in-teresting solutions for you. Plus, remem-ber that if you manage to get someoneonboard with high esteem in the busi-ness world, the credibility of your startupwill get a huge boost. It is invaluable!

9

control your own burn rateWorking for your startup should

give you fun and fulfillment. You have tomake sure that what you do is exactlywhat you want to be doing. Don’t letyourself be overridden by emotionalstress. If you do you may as well get your-self a different, more secure job.

10

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the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010says that in the long-term perspectivethe technological gap betweenpoland and other european countrieswill hobble poland’s economic com-petitiveness. does this mean thatpoland’s relatively low costs of laborand production will lose their signif-icance?In a long-term perspective, the advan-tages of low costs of production will notplay any decisive role in shaping the com-petitive aspect of Poland’s economy. Eventhe BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, Indiaand China) seem to realize that theircheap labor will not last for long, and theyare intensifying their innovative skills. Arecent study from the World IntellectualProperty Organization into the number ofpatent submissions in 2010 showed over-all growth of 4.8% in patent submissionsas compared to 2009. But the number ofpatents submitted in China grew by over56% and in South Korea by 20.5%, whilein the E.U. and the U.S. they dropped.Today as many as 7.6% of all patents areregistered in China. This means that inorder to be competitive, Poland has to beinnovative in many different ways.

one of the conclusions by the authorsof the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010is that polish companies have one ofthe lowest levels of cooperation be-tween state-owned r&d centers andacademia. does this mean that busi-ness cannot find good partners to workwith?There is no one reason why this does notwork properly. Academia lacks enough de-termination to work for business, but onthe other hand business also has its stereo-types about academia. For instance, a bigcompany that commissions research willusually want to retain the intellectual prop-erty rights to the resulting invention. Sci-entists find that difficult to accept. Poland

is a part of the global economy, and Polishscientists and scientific centers can pitchfor research business from foreign researchinstitutes. They have the potential. For in-stance the International Collegiate Pro-gramming Contest in 2003 was won by ateam of Polish mathematicians headed byUniversity of Warsaw professors Jan Madeyand Krzysztof Diks.

Another problem is that there is notenough demand for R&D services inPoland. The economy is comprised in bulkof small and medium-sized enterprises.Big companies make up only 0.5% of allcompanies. What is more, among SMEs,over 95% are micro-firms that employfewer than 10 people. Their drive to resort

to R&D is minuscule due to the cost andthe risk factors involved. SMEs have a dif-ferent focus, on maintaining cash flow,and if they choose a new technology togrow they tend to use one that has beentried before, to minimize risk on theirway to meeting their business goals. It isnothing Poland-specific, but a strategyused everywhere. The problem is that bigconcerns centralize their R&D centers, inmost cases outside of Poland. This is whytheir regional subsidiaries lack formalcompetencies and scientific potential toinnovate. A thorough analysis of the situ-ation will perhaps lead to some conclu-sions as to what needs to be changed toimprove the situation so that we attractR&D to Poland.

Yet another problem is that most of in-centives available for development R&Dworks in Poland promote buyingknowhow from third parties. It seemsthat the lawmakers believe that innova-tions developed abroad are more worthyof being put into commercial use inPoland than innovations developed insidecompanies. That really does not makesense. But the fundamental thing is thatthe decision of corporations to invest inR&D in a given location is conditioned by

several factors, including financial aid avail-able in a given location, the scale of re-search in question, the security of the R&Dprogram. Poland today is not an optimaldestination of choice for R&D. It has noth-ing to do with the quality of researchers andscientists available in Poland, but withbusiness conditions for such ventures,mostly related to tax regulations. Even withthe relatively low cost of human resourcesin Poland, the main problem is the lack ofwell designed financial incentives for com-panies who do R&D in Poland and sell in-novations in Poland and abroad. This is whycompanies are more inclined to establishtheir R&D centers in Hungary or theCzech Republic rather than in Poland.

Global firms are active globally and seebusiness in broader terms than a one-timecash injection to a given R&D project. Itseems that corporate income tax incentivesfor companies that invest in R&D in Polandnot only could help create more R&D cen-ters in Poland, but could also increasePoland’s CIT revenue, because such in-centives would be available only to compa-nies that pay CIT in Poland—which as-sumes that global companies find it prof-itable. The European Commission is cur-rently running consultations on how the fi-nancial instruments for R&D should looklike after 2013 so that more R&D resultsare successfully implemented. This maybe a good occasions also for Poland to re-view our strategy.

What regions of poland are most inno-vative?R&D centers are dispersed in Poland. ButWrocław is a good example of a city that hasincorporated R&D into its developmentstrategy. It created the EIT+ research cen-ter, which promotes cooperation in R&Dbetween businesses and academia. Thereare some regions in Poland where clustersspecializing in certain technology havebeen established: aviation technology in

Rzeszów, plastics in Tarnów, IT in Gdyniaand Rzeszów, and the maritime industry inGdynia. On the other hand, R&D centersare developed across Poland without any re-gard to whether their location will actuallyhelp them tap into the knowledge base cen-tered in the given region.

at the level of national policy, what ismissing in poland that would help de-velop the innovative economy?Innovativeness is a broad term and includesmany sectors of the economy. R&D is onlyone aspect that defines innovativeness andcompetitiveness. Along with R&D, other im-portant aspects are the availability of busi-ness infrastructure, the readiness of scien-tists to cooperate with business, and adapt-ing the education system to new economicchallenges. But the most important thing isthat innovativeness is not perceived as a goalin itself. Without determining the goals thatinnovativeness should serve, it is difficult todetermine financial mechanisms that wouldhelp support reaching those goals.I thinkthat today the public funds earmarked forsupporting the innovative economy are dis-persed among dozens of programs that areall aimed at supporting innovation but lackone coherent strategy.


American Investor's Tomasz Ćwiok talks with Magdalena Burnat-Mikosz, apartner at Deloitte who is head of R&D and Government Incentives for Cen-tral Europe, about problems with implementation of a coherent policy fordeveloping the innovative economy.

A government job


I think there is a clear need for identify-ing areas of economy with highest innova-tion potential and focus support on them.For instance, the E.U.-funded InnovativeEconomy Operational Program seeks tosupport companies’ activities aimed atR&D capacities development. Meanwhile,the tax system in Poland offers premiumsto companies that act to the contrary. Forinstance, companies can get tax deductionsif they buy knowhow but they get no tax de-ductions if they invest in R&D. Companiesthat invest in R&D can only include thecost in their overall business costs like anyother company. Another problem is that theInnovative Economy Operational Programpromotes the creation of industry clusterson the one hand, but on the other hand itpromotes the creation of R&D operationsby companies that create at least 10 jobsand invest in research infrastructure.Ithink this process should be optimized onthe central level so it is in sync with a na-tional strategy for development of the in-novative economy. A government czar withthe rank of deputy prime minister to over-see the implementation of this strategywould be the best solution.

For the past few years Poland has comeacross as the European Union’syoung economic powerhouse, able to

crank out positive growth in gross domesticproduct at a time when most othereconomies in the E.U. had negative growth.But this robustness, experts say, has been aresult of the relatively low cost of labor,which in turn has to do with undervaluationof the zloty against the euro, rather than anyparticularly smart approach to generatingrevenues by coming up with innovativeproducts and services.

While being commercially creative is notan easy task, cheap labor will not remainPoland’s competitive edge forever. In fact,the business community in Poland is in-creasingly worried about the country’sgrowth potential in the years to come.Poland needs to plan its growth within thecontext of the world economy, from globalmanufacturing to foreign relationships. Andwithin the broader context of internationalcompetitiveness, one of the most criticalfactors that must be focused on is innova-tiveness.

Experts say that the ability to innovate isan absolute must to ensure the continuedgrowth of the Polish economy. This ability,however, is shaped by complex relationships

on both micro- and macroeconomic levels. When the experience of AmCham mem-

ber companies is studied, it indicates thatthe innovative environment in Poland, de-spite significant improvement, still hasquite a way to go. One area in which Am-Cham sees a great opportunity as a driver ofgrowth is cooperation between industry andacademia. Compared to other countries inthe European Union, Asia and North Amer-ica, this type of cooperation is not utilized toa sufficient degree. Barriers remain, includ-ing mental ones, which discourage marketparticipants from effective participation inthe system. AmCham believes that support-ing entrepreneurship and innovation inPoland demands systemic changes as well asinstitutional environments, such as scienceparks and technology transfer centers, thatallow for concentration of resources:human, capital and organizational.

Poland, like other countries in the region,has to overcome the European paradox:while good at basic research, science has togo a step further to encourage the right fi-nancing. In order to do that, Poland needsan innovative strategy that breaks downstructural and bureaucratic barriers. It mustthink about how it can develop new legisla-tion that really drives innovation. The cur-

rent system of subsidies for innovation mustbe improved, and tax incentives must be in-troduced to a larger degree. Wherever possi-ble, best practices need to be set out andadopted from the countries that excel atleveraging innovation to drive economicgrowth.

deep-rooted disregard

This problem may be even more difficult tosolve than it sounds, because a disregard forinnovative thinking is deeply rooted in thePolish culture. According to Prof. MichałKleiber, president of the Polish Academy ofSciences, who was the keynote speaker atthe AmCham Monthly Meeting in March,this is the weakest points of all contributingto Poland’s low innovativeness ratio, whichis plain to see in a statistical comparison ofPoland with other E.U. countries. Polandranks even with the Czech Republic, Hun-gary, Italy, Portugal and Slovakia. Countriesat this level are often referred to as “moder-ate innovators.” But, Kleiber pointed out, allthese countries are well below the E.U. av-erage, which means that they are actuallypoor innovators.

The key to Poland’s poor innovation scorelies in the past, Kleiber argued. “For histori-cal reasons, Poles do not appreciate the sig-nificance of innovation these days,” he said.“It is culture, not politics, that determinesthe success of the society. We have to praise

innovators, we must find ways to promoteinnovators, we must find ways to becomeproud of those who have succeeded in inno-vation. The lack of those things is a realweakness of the Polish society.”

This should prompt questions in the pub-lic mind about what the competitive advan-tage of Poland will be 10 years from now andhow Poland will be attracting foreign invest-ment. “There are hundreds of questionswhich should be put forward to politicians,but no journalist asks them,” Kleiber said.“This is because of the lack of understand-ing of the economy and its problems, in-cluding the issue of innovativeness in theeconomy.”

Another impediment to Poland’s success-ful embrace of an innovative economy is“deeply rooted” in the way the central ad-

ministration approaches the economy—thatis, how ineffectively and often irrationally ittreats economic issues in the lawmakingprocess. “We need to improve general gov-ernment policy toward the economy assuch,” Kleiber said. “We have to put in placebetter national governance mechanisms atthe central government level, and we have toimprove the methodology of how we createlaw. There is not much consolation in thefact that many countries have a similar situ-ation to Poland. But in Poland it is really ir-relevant the way we make law generally. Theexecution of the law is another matter, but italso has an impact. So all those factors play avery important role.”

no big picture

Another problem that has a negative impacton the development of innovativeness is thelack of a coherent approach to different as-pects of innovativeness across different gov-ernment ministries. While the Ministry ofEconomy is the main power center for stim-ulating implementation of pro-innovativesolutions in government policy, it does so indisregard to the role that the Ministry ofScience and Higher Education plays in theequation. In turn, the allocation of financialsupport for innovation development fromthe E.U. is in the hands of the Ministry ofRegional Development, which acts on itsown priorities without synchronizing its ac-

tivities with other ministries. When it comesto implementation of IT infrastructure incentral administration and government-runagencies, that is the task of the Ministry ofthe Interior, which, again, acts on its own. Ingeneral, there is no coordination betweendifferent ministries when it comes to imple-menting regulations governing the neweconomy.

That is only the tip of the iceberg. Thesame neglect in the legislative process leadsto creation of laws that ignore the complex-ity of innovation implementation altogether.

“Ministries responsible for implementinginnovation do not talk to one another,”Kleiber said. “The result of this is thatmany crucial laws, including public procure-ment, public-private partnership, and theoffset law which compensates for acquisi-

tions in the defense sector, are anti-innova-tion. We have to find a way for a coordinatedapproach on the part of different ministriesto the process of lawmaking and the innova-tive economy.”

low social capital

For Kleiber the importance of the develop-ment of human capital in boosting a nation’spro-innovation attitudes seems an obviouspoint. “The bigger the capital the bigger thechance that Poland will succeed economi-cally,” Kleiber said. Meanwhile, when itcomes to adult training and education,Poland has one of the lowest ratios in theEuropean Union. “When you take the work-force in Poland, only 5–7% of employees un-dergo ongoing schooling of any sort,”Kleiber said. “Other countries in Europe, agroup to which Poland aspires in a sense,cover up to 50% of their workforce with dif-ferent types of education programs at work.This is an essential message to workers thatthey have to upgrade their skills and knowl-edge to be productive and progress with theoverall progress of the economy.”

When it comes to social capital, Kleiber’scriticism is focused on the lack of under-standing of how important it is for a societyto teach and promote the art of collaborationbetween individuals. “If I were to select onemajor problem which Poland faces in termsof the development of its economic potential

in the future, I would probably point to thelow social capital,” he said. “Again, this ishistorically conditioned, but that is no con-solation. We have to change the way we edu-cate people so they learn how to collaboratewith one another, how to develop the appre-ciation of working with others and the un-derstanding of the importance of collabora-tion.”

Kleiber also noted that while the level oftrust is at its lowest today, especially when itcomes to trust in authorities, unlike in thepast there is now no reason why peopleshould not trust the institutions of a demo-cratic society, and trust one another. Butthey do not. “This is something which hasto be changed,” Kleiber noted. “But this willtake time.”


MONTHLY MEETING: Innovative economy and economic policy

To find its place inthe innovative

economy of the future, Poland

must change itsmindset to foster

collaboration, fromgovernment

ministries on down,

a leading scientisttells AmCham

From brawn to brainsSpeaker Prof. Michał Kleiber, president of the Polish Academy of Sciences with Rick Lada, AmCham Vice Chairman


“It is culture, not politics, that determines the success of the soci-ety. We have to praise innovators, we must find ways to promoteinnovators, we must find ways to become proud of those whohave succeeded in innovation. The lack of those things is a realweakness of the Polish society.”

The next niche worth investing in, ac-cording to Kleiber, is carbon-based chem-istry. Again, the issue is to cut emissions.

Looking ahead at Poland’s plans to de-velop a nuclear energy program, Kleiber saidthat it offers opportunities for innovation inthe area of nuclear and coal-based energygeneration. “It is a very sensitive, sophisti-cated, and promising area,” he said. “Thisgives new opportunities for intelligentpower grids and dispersed energy systems.”

complementary assets

But apart from specific areas in whichgame-changing innovations would benefitthe entire economy, the foremost problem isthat when it comes to boosting innovative-ness there are certain complementary as-sets, such as openness of the society, pro-motion of openness, and promotion of gen-eral creativity in the society. All of thosethings are important in terms of shaping thegeneral attitude toward innovation. The lackof positive attitudes about innovative think-ing in Polish society is a problem.

And as a society, Poles need to have thecourage to dream of great ideas and prag-matic ways to implement them. “This issomething that America has excelled in,”Kleiber told the audience of businesspeoplefrom American companies. “Making dreamscome true is a symbol of American entre-preneurship and the freedom of economicactivity. People there know how to dream.This is perhaps something that we can learnfrom you.”

try. Kleiber said that it is natural that cer-tain regions are more innovative than others.“If you look at Europe and the U.S., thereare places that are highly innovative andplaces that are not. It is a fact of life. Weshould not try to make the entire country aninnovative village. It is not going to work. Wehave to focus on building innovativenesswhere it should be, because there are re-gions that have good links between acade-mia and business and financial institutions,and there it is relatively easier to establishwhat it takes for a successful innovativecompany.”

The last stereotype Kleiber identified is abelief that scientists are responsible for in-novation. “Scientists have to be consulted,invited to collaborate in an innovativeprocess,” he explained, but the fate of inno-vations should be in the hands of those whotake the risk of inventing things. “Entrepre-neurs are the leaders of innovation.”

the way forward

Kleiber made the point that if innovative-ness is to be meaningful for Poland’s econ-omy, pro-innovation policies should focus onselected areas of the economy. As he ex-plained, “No single country, not even theU.S., can excel in being innovative in every-thing.”

For Kleiber, the critical sectors of theeconomy in which innovative breakthroughswould make a difference for the entire coun-try are those connected with the need to re-duce Poland’s emissions of CO2. The coun-try is obliged to do so, but being dependenton coal as the primary source of energy forthe power sector, the obligation amounts toa dramatic change in the way Poland pro-duces energy. “Poland is also a countrywhich sits on coal,” he said, “and thereforeis determined to use it as an energy sourcefor at least the next 20 years. Everythingthat relates to clean coal technologiesshould be a priority for Poland. Poland willnot give up on coal for the next 10 to 20years.”

mad money

Poland has laws that commit both the publicand private sectors to invest in R&D. Theproblem with the regulations, however, isthat they do not work. Kleiber said thatPoland does distribute huge amounts ofmoney through grants to R&D, but in factthe money that comes from EuropeanUnion cohesion and structural funds issquandered.

Trying to invigorate R&D by offeringgrants to selected research programs cannotbe effective, Kleiber said. “Grants are not agood way to stimulate the growth of R&Dprojects because behind every grant there isan administrative decision,” he argued. Headded that the process of doling out grantsis a bureaucratic one and by definition isnever competent, “even if the bureaucratsask experts for advice.” Instead, businessshould be encouraged to invest in R&D by asystem of tax incentives. Such a system hasyet to be invented. In order to do so, Kleibernoted, Poland should resort to best practicesalready developed by other countries.

harmful stereotypes

Another systemic problem that impedes thecreation of a good legal framework forboosting innovativeness is false stereotypesthat lawmakers have when it comes to inno-vativeness. Among them if a belief that onlyindividual entrepreneurs may be innovators.“Big companies are innovators, too,” hepointed out. “The iPhone was not built in agarage.”

The next harmful stereotype on Kleiber’slist is that only sectors of the economy likebiotech, IT, or nanotechnology can be inno-vative. In fact, Kleiber said, innovativenesscan bring groundbreaking change to anysector of the economy, and therefore all sec-tors should recognize the importance of in-novativeness and support it.

Another universal illusion is that innova-tiveness has to be spread more or less evenlyin geographic terms across the entire coun-

it takes twoIn an age when outside-the-box ideas canchange markets and even the world as weknow it, offering financial assistance to agroup of enthusiasts who think they have agreat business idea—and the only thing theyneed to prove it is money—may be a very lu-crative proposition. At least, the panelistsagreed, that is what the people with theideas—the would-be entrepreneurs—think.

But the reality of raising money by startupsis quite different. As Tomasz Wróblewskisaid, it is never a problem to find people withideas. Nor is it a big problem to find peoplewho are willing to put their surplus moneyinto a hot investment prospect that they arepositive will bring returns no other invest-ment mechanism available in the market-place can bring. The real problem is tomatch people with business ideas with peo-ple with extra cash who also share the samevision of how to best develop the business inquestion and sell it on at a profit. This canhappen, but it is a long and winding road.

FrustrationWróblewski said that on investors’ blogs onBloomberg there is a lot of frustration ex-pressed by both sides of the equation. Peoplewith money complain that the projects they


MONTHLY MEETING: Innovative economy and economic policy AMCHAM CEO FORUM: Business angels


The institution of business angels—individuals who take the risk of in-vesting in startups in return for

above-average profits if the startup takes offcommercially—play a recognized role withinthe economic equilibrium in the U.S. andWestern Europe. In Poland, however, theconcept is in the initial stages of develop-ment.

The AmCham CEO Forum in March wasdevoted to analyzing specific issues sur-rounding business angels in Poland. Thepanel of experts consisted of AmCham ViceChairman Rick Lada, a Silicon Valley veteranwho brought Apple computers to Poland andMotorola to Kraków and is CEO of the inno-vation-driven company Telesto Mist Sys-tems; Błażej Moder, vice president of theŁódź Regional Development Agency andhead of the Business Angels Guild head-quartered in Łódź; and Piotr Wilan, founderof the Pascal publishing house and a co-founder of Onet.pl, who after exiting Onetbecame a business angel and now has stakesin a dozen innovative companies in Poland.The panel was moderated by TomaszWróblewski, a journalist with significant ex-perience in the news media in the U.S. whois now editor in chief of Dziennik GazetaPrawna, one of the largest dailies in Poland.

Prof. michał kleiber has been the pres-ident of the Polish Academy of Sciencessince 2007 and has just begun his secondterm, ending in 2014.

Kleiber, a mathematician, has headedthe Department of Computational Sci-ence at the Institute of FundamentalTechnological Research of the PolishAcademy of Sciences since 1986.

He has lectured and conducted re-search at numerous universities aroundthe world, such as the universities ofStuttgart, Hannover, Darmstadt andBochum in Germany, Berkeley, the Uni-versity of Connecticut, and universities inTokyo and Hong Kong.

In 1998–2001 Kleiber represented

Poland in the E.U. Joint Research Cen-tre as a member of the Board of Gover-nors and in the Sustainable GrowthSteering Committee of the 5th Frame-work Program.

In 2001–2005 he was Minister of Sci-ence and Information Technology in thePolish government. In 2005, he waselected a member of the European Re-search Council and chairman of the Eu-ropean Materials Forum.

In 2008–2010 he was a member of theGoverning Council Steering Committeeof the European Science Foundation inStrasbourg. He also served as a pro bonoscience and technology advisor to thePresident of Poland (2006–2010).

Meet the speaker

Before they become a force behind the innovative economy business angels have to learnto live with risk while aspiring entrepreneurs have to learn to understand their objectives

The idea of business angels is slowly taking off in Poland

A life between vision and risk

Tomasz Ćwiok

get for consideration usually lack good busi-ness plans. When potential investors crunchthe numbers, they run into a motivationalbump when they realize that inevitably theywill be in the red.

On the other hand, people with ideas com-plain that they do not get enough time to runtheir presentations to potential investorsproperly, and the expectations that the peoplewith money have are overoptimistic when itcomes to the risk they should take and theprofit they should expect. According to BłażejModer, this is because business inexperience(represented by the people with ideas) meetsup with business experience (in the form ofthe angels), and the result is skepticism.“The people with ideas do not have a visionof how their ideas may develop commer-cially,” Moder said. “It is a difficult process toexplain to them that they need to have this vi-sion. So this is a frustration for them.”

As Moder explained, “On the other handpeople with money do not want to waste theirmoney and their time on learning about ideasthat have no commercial potential. They donot want to talk about potential businessprojects that are not prepared or developedfor a kickoff. They also want to see dedicationto the commercial success of the project onthe part of the project authors. Investors ex-

pect that innovators are ready to devote theirresources to the successful commercial de-velopment of the project. Having an idea toplay with on the marketplace is just notenough for them. So they are frustratedabout it as well.”

But according to Rick Lada, a lot of thefrustration that people with ideas have is be-cause of their lack of understanding aboutthe people they are talking to. “Business an-gels, just like any other investors, are out tomake a profit,” Lada said. “There is nothingnecessarily friendly or angelic about businessangels.”

Piotr Wilan said that the problem is thatwhile there are a lot of ideas for businessaround in Poland, bare ideas are not whatbusiness angels are looking for. “Every greatidea for business should go together with aperson who is capable of executing it,” Wilansaid. “It is about personal responsibility fordeveloping the idea into a commercial suc-cess. It is about the execution of the idea.”

moneyWhile would-be entrepreneurs seem to haveoverrated expectations regarding the impor-tance their business ideas may have for po-tential investors, they also seem to over-charge when it comes to the amount ofmoney they wish to raise. “It is typical forpeople to ask for PLN 2 million when usuallythey need PLN 200,000,” Wilan said.

He noted that every business idea has tobe developed gradually, with as little cost aspossible. According to Wilan, “In many casesPLN 100,000 or even PLN 50,000 is enoughto start and get to the point of deliveringsound proof of the concept.” He said in-vestors do not want to put too much moneyinto a startup, because at such an early stageof commercial development of an idea, risksare everywhere. “They are execution, people,markets, and business,” he explained. “Busi-ness angels have to limit the risks, and one ofthe aspects of limiting risk is to lead the de-velopment in such a way that it requires aslittle money as possible. If you invest instages and if you really know what is going onin the market strategically and in the com-pany, then you are in a position to limit therisks.”

For Lada, entrepreneurs who look formoney from business angels have to under-stand the point of the business equilibriumthey are trying to tap into, and adjust their fi-nancial expectations accordingly. “A businessangel is a private investor, somebody who istaking his or her own money and putting itinto a startup,” Lada said. “The investor hasall the risk but will get all the rewards—orwill get zero back from it.”

Lada added that business angels are notventure capitalists. “A venture capitalist issomebody who is taking other peoples’

money and investing it,” he explained. “Ven-ture capitalists have a fee guaranteed forwhat they are doing, so they are getting re-warded no matter what they do. If the ventureis successful, they get a portion of the futurefruits of the venture.”

According to Lada, there is therefore a bigdifference between a business angel and aventure capitalist: “In extreme cases, theirbehaviors can be very different. The venturecapitalist can be irrational, because since heis getting big rewards, he may want to swingfor the home run. The business angel isprobably going to be more rational and isgoing to be looking for a good exit from theinvestment, since it is already a high-riskventure anyway. And the amounts of moneyare different, too. A business angel typicallythrows in between USD 20,000 and USD200,000 in the U.S., while a venture capitalistlooks at investments of a minimum USD 1million.”

Wróblewski said that according toBloomberg, the average angel investment in2010 in the U.S. was USD 30,000.

Big questionsWhen meeting people with ideas, businessangels have their ways of finding out whetherthe people can really deliver commercially.For Wilan the most important aspect of thepresentation is whether or not it embracesthe strategic direction in which the company-to-be has to develop in order to succeedcommercially. First come questions about thenew product or service: “What need in themarketplace does the new product fulfill?”Wilan asked. “Why is this product useful, andfor whom? The answers must be convincingthat there is some demand for the product inquestion.”

Lada observed that when it comes to theproposed product, special consideration hasto be paid to the specifics of the marketplacethe product is going to be a part of. “It maybe a wonderfully innovative product, some-thing that people want to have,” he said. “Butyou need to pose a question whether or notthis is a regulated market segment andwhether or not the regulations allow for inno-vation. There are some segments of the mar-ketplace that are so regulated that they do notallow for innovation. They have to fit into astandard. Standards have been created on thebasis of previous technology, and it can bethat if this innovation does not fit into thestandard, even though it is fantastic andmeets the needs of customers, nobody isgoing to buy it.”

Lada said that despite IT and the Internetbeing relatively unregulated, even there,products and services have to fit within therules of the game—as seen in the case ofNapster, a peer-to-peer network that allowedfor sharing media files between private com-


Tomasz Ćwiok

AMCHAM CEO FORUM: Business angels

puters, which was found to violate copyrightand finally was outlawed.

Another big question for business angels iswhether the people behind the new productreally can deliver commercially. Wilan said hisconcern is always about the individual who isgoing to be the leader of the project. “Is thisperson really able to devote a part of his orher life to this project?” Wilan said. Ladaagreed that the proposed product or serviceis one thing, but there has to be a group ofpeople behind it who are willing to take themission upon themselves and execute theplan.

But the will and determination to succeedis not all that business angels look for. “It isreally good when the people who are propos-ing a new venture actually have a lot of expe-rience in the field,” Lada said. “It is nicewhen they have perhaps worked for a big cor-poration or were part of a venture in the past.Now they have some new innovation, but theyknow the industry the innovation is going tobe a part of. The inside-and-out knowledgeof the industry is essential. They have toknow what the industry wants.”

Having said that, Lada pointed out thatthis requirement also applies to the businessangels: “When you as a business angel havethis experience, and you know the industryand have the right contacts in the industry, ithelps. One of the responsibilities of a busi-ness angel is to try to help out the guys whorun the company you have invested in. It isreally good when you understand entrepre-neurialism and the workings of it. Then youbecome a guardian angel who brings togetherall the skills and contacts necessary for theventure to succeed.”

Business under controlAll panelists agreed that it is in the best in-terest of all sides concerned that they feelthey are in control of the development of thenew venture. For business angels, the con-cern is obvious. Lada said that business an-gels know what they want and are ready tohave their way in the company they investedin. For instance, they may be determined tointerfere with the company’s affairs to thepoint of running the CEO out of the com-pany if they feel that the CEO is not perform-ing up to expectations. As he said, “They aredetermined because they have invested a bigchunk of their personal savings and want tohave the highest probability that they will seethe money come back at a much higher rateof return on the investment than stocks andother saving options would have given them.”

For Wilan the fundamental thing is to setmilestones for the project. “If the entrepre-neur wants to change the milestone everytwo months it means that there is somethingwrong with the idea,” he said. “If the mile-stones are solid and the company arrives at

them on time, it means that everything isprogressing the way it was meant toprogress.”

Wilan said, however, that smooth realiza-tion of milestones does not automaticallymean that they do not need reconsideration,because it is always good to think, at everystage of development of a new business, howthings can be done in a better and more cost-effective way.

Lada pointed out that even with a well-de-signed roadmap to success, there may be dif-ferent skills needed at different stages ofproject execution. “There are people whohave the experience to take an idea from theinitial stage and commercialize it,” he said.“That is not necessarily an easy thing to do.For the overall success you may need tochange the CEO, because the person whohad the idea for the initial stage may not bethe right person to lead the company tochange from a turnover of USD 1 million to,say, USD 20 million.” In other words, it takesdifferent skills, approaches and attitudes, andbusiness angels may demand that change at acertain point.

Another aspect of business control is theexit strategy for business angels. Even thosewith a perfect understanding of the businesstheir company is in do not wish to be involvedin it forever. Lada said that often entrepre-neurs may have the intention to start a familybusiness that they do not intend to sell. “Ifyou invest in that, you have sunk your moneyand lost it. When they just do R&D and donot commercialize anything, and no biggercompany is going to buy it out, then you lostyour investment. So as an angel investor, youhave to make sure that potential conditionsfor your exit are in place.”

Lada noted that one solution is when busi-ness angels have seats on the board of thestartup.

Wilan agreed that an exit strategy for thebusiness angels has to be one of the mile-stones set up for the company’s develop-ment. It is important for the investors, asthey never take over the majority stake in thecompany, because the creator of the idea forthe business has to own it and be responsiblefor implementing it. So with only minorityshares in the company, business angelsshould not feel at any point that they may beoutvoted when it comes to the execution ofthe exit strategy devised for them. “What ittakes is an attitude that in the future therewill be the exit,” Wilan said. “It is about theconviction of all people concerned that the

business has a valuable product that can besold to a bigger investor.”

trust is a mustAlong with this comes the issue of the mu-tual trust between the people with ideas andthe business angels. Błażej Moder said thattoo often people with ideas fear that whenthey reveal them at the presentation with po-tential investors, their ideas may be rejectedfor financing but picked up by the peoplewho rejected them and executed under dif-ferent circumstances with different people.“We are still living in a culture where prop-erty rights are perceived as not adequate toeffectively protect the rights of inventors,”Moder said. “This is a huge challenge, tocreate an environment where people withideas can feel secure when they share theirideas with potential investors. This is a veryimportant aspect of developing the innovativeeconomy as such.”

But Wilan said that this problem reveals acommon misunderstanding among the peo-ple with ideas about the whole concept ofbusiness angels. He said that stealing ideas is

not what business angels are after. “Theylook for people with whom they can form analliance for the mutual benefit of all individu-als concerned,” he said. “It is about findingpeople who can execute their business ideacommercially.”

Moder admitted that a huge focus of an-gels networks in Poland is on building trustbetween the providers of business initiativesand the providers of financing. For instance,many networks check the credibility of indi-viduals who want to become involved as busi-ness angels. The Business Angels Guild,which Moder heads, does the same. “Ourmission is to build trust between investorsand innovators,” he explained. “Things willnever work out if there are people in theequation who distrust their business part-ners.”

rejection is not the endAll panelists agreed that people with ideasshould apply for financial help to a businessangels network, because such networks offerthe best way to validate the idea and the abil-ity of the individuals behind the idea to exe-cute it.

There are two main reasons an idea maybe rejected. Wilan said that the business net-work the innovators applied to may simplynot have business angels who are interestedin investing their money in the market the

idea is intended to become a part of. “Per-haps a different type of investor is needed,”he said, “or some risks are not acceptable tothe business angels who have seen the proj-ect. There can be plenty of reasons why, butit does not mean that there is somethingstructurally wrong with the business pro-posal. Not every business attracts the atten-tion of every business angel.”

But even when their idea is rejected asstructurally wrong and one that will nevertake off in the real world, the authors of theidea should not give up if they really believe itwill work. “This is something the innovatorsoften do not want to hear,” Wilan noted. “Butagain, a business angel can be wrong.”

Lada said that there are many exampleswhere business angels were wrong aboutideas that led to the creation of great busi-nesses. “There was an extremely successfulcompany that got started on the 140th try bythe innovator,” he pointed out. “So 139 busi-ness angels told the innovator no.”

Lada added that real life is the best verifi-cation of whether business ideas are good orbad, and innovators and business angels

should be ready to take the try. “As many as 9out of 10 businesses fail, which means thatthere are a lot of good ideas that get supportfrom business angels but somehow cannotmake it higher,” he said. “If you are a busi-ness angel, be prepared to lose your moneytoo, and select carefully in order to increasethe probability that you are going to see a re-turn on your investment. If you are an inno-vator, stay away from people who are justthrowing away their money and putting a lotof pressure on you in order to get a quick re-turn on their investment, when they have noidea what the industry is all about and thesituation that your startup is in.”

Even when their idea is rejected as structurally wrong and onethat will never take off in the real world, the authors of the ideashould not give up if they really believe it will work.

Changing the world through R&D

Eventually it was applied to a yellow piece ofpaper, and it transpired that by writing some-thing on this paper one can communicatewith others at the office or at home. It was abrilliant idea!

However, most of the innovations that wehave today are based on customer require-ments, understanding customer pain points,working on them and delivering solutionsthat meet customers’ expectations.

In order to do it right, the people in ourbusiness labs spend a lot of time with cus-tomers to find out what our customers’ ex-pectations for solutions are. Our businesslabs, which understand our technology andknow what products we can deliver, are also inthe position of really understanding cus-tomers’ requirements. Then they communi-cate those requirements to people in our cor-porate labs who are responsible for technol-ogy and innovation. In the end, the coopera-tion between business labs and customers,and business labs and corporate labs, bringsabout answers where using our technologyand innovativeness we can deliver productsthat meet our customers’ expectations.

In most cases we can. For the last 100 yearswe have been focusing on innovativeness, andit has become our way for the company’s or-ganic growth.

So almost everything is linked to what cus-tomers want. They are in the middle of theinnovations we do, because otherwise wewould spend time on products that have nochance to go forward commercially.

Having said that, I must note that one ofthe principles that we have is that we allowour scientists to spend 15% of their researchtime on their own projects. This is called theMcKnight Principle, after William L. McKnight, who was CEO of 3M from 1929 to1949 and who introduced this idea. It is aboutletting people out of the box so they are ableto develop things like Scotch tape and others.Sometimes you need crazy ideas to turn someof them into great business ideas. They canspend the time they need to develop productsthey think make sense to develop. They canuse the lab, computers and software.

If their inventions fulfill our customer re-quirements, that it is exactly what we want.However, we are also open to pure businessideas that so far have no demand on the mar-ket. They have to be validated, through mar-ket intelligence, marketing research, pilotand marketing tests, whether they are reallyfulfilling customer requirements. Of course,we will not release a product into the market-place before validating its commercial poten-tial. But if there is no market demand for

For the general public 3m is perhapsbest known for the post-it® note andscotch® tape. What are 3m’s main inno-vative products today?We provide innovations from 45 differenttechnology platforms, including adhesives,abrasives, light management, micro-replica-tion, non-woven materials, nanotechnology,and surface modification. A list of our inno-vative products therefore has to be a sum-mary.

We also have a range of innovative productsfor the renewable energy sector, includingphotovoltaic and wind energy. Those are verytechnology-intensive products.

In healthcare we have the Lava technology,which makes 3D imaging of dental cavities,which is used for dentistry. The technologyhelps dentists understand what really needsto be done. In healthcare we also have theLittmann stethoscope, which allows generalpractitioners to tune it for high- or low-fre-quency sounds.

For aerospace we produce adhesive filmsthat bind metallic parts of the aircraft. Com-panies such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier,General Dynamics, Gulfstream and Lock-heed all use our products to manufacture air-craft to the highest technical standards. Ourhoneycomb void fillers are used to reinforcelow-weight walls and floor panels in aircraft.The products are extremely low-density, easyto use and very durable, and meet the mostchallenging fire, smoke and toxicology re-quirements.

When it comes to tapes there it ExtremeSealing Tape, a single-coated, pressure-sen-sitive adhesive tape designed for difficultsealing applications. Then we have themicro-replication technology, which on abra-sives helps improve their quality and makesthem more durable. It is used for road signsand other traffic-control materials.

Thanks to our non-woven technologies, weare the leader in both the small- and large-particle categories. Our respiratory masks areused in the automotive aftermarket: whenyou repair your car and you polish the body-work and use an abrasive, you need a mask toprevent small particles from entering yourbreathing system. 3M masks are also used incopper mining, coal mining, and automotiveconstruction, and in the construction sectorby welders. They were also used in somecountries during the outbreak of swine flutwo years ago.

When it comes to welding, we have theSpeedglas technology, which is used in hel-mets for welders. It uses an LCD sensor sys-tem, which makes the glass go dark when the

light increases and makes the glass go whitewhen there is no welding. With this, the workof welding is much more efficient.

Another of our innovative product rangesis 3M micro-projectors. They deliver qualitypicture imaging for overhead presentationsfrom a device that is not much bigger than amobile phone. You plug it into your PC orsmartphone when you have to make a briefpresentation and do not have a conferenceroom at your disposal. Considerable demandfor our projectors has been signaled by themilitary in Western Europe, for example.

how do you manage the process of in-novation across so many areas?There are two kinds of innovations. One isbreakthrough innovations, like the Post-itnote, when you come up with a completelynew concept and create a new market cate-gory. Before the Post-it note was invented,there was no such concept for communicat-ing at the office or at home. But the Post-itnote idea took advantage of a re-positionalglue that had been invented 20 years before.After it was invented there was no interest inthe re-positional glue. The technology justwaited in a fridge to be applied to something.

American Investor's Tomasz Ćwiok talks with Xavier Douellou, Managing Director of 3M Poland, about how the company manages for innovation and how he sees the challenges facing 3M’s Polish operations

COMPANY PROFILE: 3M

those products, that is OK with us. The newinvention goes to the fridge, where we canpick up any ideas in the future.

But we also ask people to take risks andmake mistakes—even in the lab. If your re-search is not valid, it is not because you mademistakes. You make mistakes because you areentrepreneurial, and we need people to beentrepreneurial.

So we encourage innovativeness and risk-taking. In fact, when you work at a 3M R&Dlab you have to be creative, because if you onlystick to the framework then you just deliverwhat you are asked to deliver. By being ableto experiment freely and use your creativityfor thinking of something else, then you cantruly develop some breakthrough technolo-gies.

can you give me one of the most recentexamples of an innovative success inthis customer-oriented approach?Very much indeed! For instance we identifieda requirement on the automotive market forcatalytic converters. There was a pain pointidentified with car manufacturers. It wascommunicated to the 3M automotive busi-ness lab. People from that lab worked withdifferent corporate labs to look for the tech-nology that would be best to solve the prob-lem. We found out that by using non-woventechnology we were able to develop the prod-uct required by our customers. It is a hightemperature-resistant non-woven mat thathouses the catalytic converter and seals it. Itfulfills all customer requirements.

So we managed to bring a customer painpoint to the business lab, and, having thebusiness lab work with corporate labs, wemanaged to solve the problem technically anddevelop this idea into a product.

I’m happy to say that this product will beproduced in Poland. We have invested USD20 million in a production line here in Poland.It will supply all Eastern European marketsand Western Europe too.

What kind of corporate culture has to bein place to connect the dots betweenwhat your customers require and yourscientists and researchers can deliver?Collaboration is the principle. We are in a bigmatrix which comprises corporate labs, busi-ness labs, sales and marketing, and cus-tomers. You are required to have some verystreamlined processes to bring the customerrequirements back to anybody who will be re-sponsible for product development. There isa right process for that.

And you need to have the right collabora-tion in place between the different scientists

and the people on the sales and marketingteams, in order to make sure you are devel-oping the right product. Thanks to this ourcorporate research laboratories in the U.S.,with contributors from China laboratories,jointly developed a nanotechnology anti-fog-ging coating. The basic chemistry was devel-oped collaboratively in the St. Paul laboratory,and 3M China adapted the technology to cre-

ate a disposable wipe to apply the coating tothe face mask of occupational health respira-tors to prevent fogging.

Another example: 3M teams in Swedenand the U.S. developed personal protectionfor welders, using new materials and manu-facturing techniques, to create what may bethe world’s most lightweight automaticallydarkening filter and shield. This new shieldwon the coveted Red Dot design award for in-novation, functionality and ergonomics.

So collaboration is critical. But anothervery important aspect of our corporate cul-ture is leadership. By the way, good leader-ship is a must everywhere. In our case wehave it in corporate labs, business labs, ap-plication engineering, sales and marketing.By having the right, competent leadership weare able to streamline the process of innova-tion and make sure that we develop every-thing very quickly. We have processes in placefor acceleration of collaboration and leader-ship.

But with this comes prioritization. No onecan develop everything at once for every cus-tomer who comes in and asks, “What if...?”You have to have the right process in place tomake sure that you are working on the prod-uct that your customer really wants, and in atimely fashion. It is about not promisingthings you cannot deliver in a reasonabletime. We either deliver on time or we say,“I’m sorry this cannot be done based on yourrequirements at that time, but later.” So pri-oritization is very important.

do you cooperate with the academiccommunity in poland in the search fortalent to hire?

Yes, we have to find links between our re-quirements and what universities can pro-vide. We are very happy with the quality ofpeople we have been able to hire for positionsin R&D as well as in sales and marketing.When it comes to R&D, our corporate labs inWrocław cooperate with the Wrocław Univer-sity of Technology. We have very good linkswith the university when it comes to theprocess of hiring, which assures that we havethe right talent to support in terms of the re-quired skill sets. This works pretty well withthe university.

Our business departments also collaboratewith academia. Each department at 3MPoland has a specific program of cooperationwith academia. So, for instance, we work withthe Gdańsk University of Technology onseminars for students about road safety,where we teach civil engineering studentsabout safety requirements in road construc-tion in the European Union. We collaborate

on adhesives with the Faculty of Mechatron-ics at the Warsaw University of Technology.We have organized seminars with the Białys-tok University of Technology about fiber op-tics, for instance. So this is how we cooperatewith academia. We do not use external labsfor our R&D, however, as we need to makesure we are able to fulfill all the quality stan-dards that our customers require.

When it comes to staffing our sales depart-ment, we look for people who can work forsuch customers as the medical and dental in-dustries, for instance. It requires some spe-cific sets of skills, and it is not the universitiesthat really deliver those skill sets. We are look-ing for expertise. And when we find experts,we still have to invest a lot in those people. Itis not about adding one or two people, butabout making professional teams. We don’twant to make it quick; we want to make itright—to find the right person for the rightplace.

3m poland was established in 1991 as asubsidiary of minnesota mining andmanufacturing. today 3m poland hasfive production facilities in Wrocław,one near Grodzisk mazowiecki, and onenear rabka, and sales offices in katow-ice and in kajetany, near Warsaw. Whatare the main challenges for 3m polandtoday?All 3M operations in Poland were able to growthe company’s revenue at the average annualrate of 22.9% in 2005-2009. The economicdownturn in Poland was not so strong as itwas in other countries, so we have been ableto leverage this so far and it is not a big issuefor us.

Our challenge is to continue to acceleratewhile at the same time continuing to invest.We have invested over USD 250 million inPoland in the last 10 years. Last year alone weinvested USD 20 million. We are investing inmanufacturing and in R&D and plan to in-vest USD 60 million this year. We also investin sales and marketing people. So, with all theinvestments that we do and that are ongoing,we will be able to continue to accelerate at ahigher rate than we have for the last fouryears.

3M operations in Poland grew at the average annual rate of 22.9%in 2005-2009. The economic downturn in Poland was not sostrong so we have been able to leverage this and it is not a bigissue for us.


The purpose of an officelease drives the terms.Since the tenant seeks to

use the landlord’s space for busi-ness purposes, the tenant’s per-sonnel will mainly need to bepresent during business hours.Nonetheless, 24-hour access isnow becoming standard practice.This also means that tenants ex-pect to be able to do businessonsite without interruption. Thetechnical standard of the prem-ises must satisfy the tenant, withan uninterrupted supply of utili-ties and good telecommunica-tions connections.

specific requirementsTenants such as banks frequentlyrequire special interior design orsafety features (often standard-ized across the corporation),which means high outlays for thefit-out work required in thepremises. The upshot of this inpractice is that delivery of thepremises may not happen for anumber of months after the leaseis signed. It is common practice

for landlord and tenant to splitthe fit-out costs between them,especially in long-term leases.

long lease at lastOffice leases usually cover sev-eral years (typically 3 or 5). Theparties commonly include an op-tion for the tenant to extend the

claims of the landlord is to re-quire the tenant to present abank guarantee or deposit equalto several months’ rent (oftengross rent plus gross servicecharges). The claims of the ten-ant are rarely secured, as thetenant’s main claim—for deliv-ery of the premises—shouldarise at the very beginning ofthe term. Nonetheless, it is pos-sible to include security for thetenant’s claim for delivery of thepremises (e.g. the landlord’svoluntary submission to en-forcement to compel delivery, ora guarantee to cover a possiblecontractual penalty in the eventof failure to deliver the premiseson time), if, for example due tofit-out work, the delivery isscheduled to take place severalmonths after the lease is signed.

maintenance costsProvisions governing mainte-nance fees, which usually con-stitute a separate category offees, are very elaborate in officeleases, specifying the types ofcosts to be borne by the tenant,and, if the space is in a multi-unit building or office complex,the tenant’s percentage share ofmaintenance fees (usually re-flecting the ratio of the leasedpremises to the total floorspace). Another special yet typi-cal feature of an office lease isthe “add-on factor”: a specifica-tion of the lease space for thepurposes of calculating the rentand maintenance fees as grossspace, increasing the area of thepremises by a factor correspon-ding to the tenant’s share in thecommon area.

securing claimsIn the office market, there isusually a standard package ofsecurity for the claims of theparties to the lease. The mostpopular way of securing the

lease for a few more years. How-ever, the situation is now changingbecause, in 2009, businesses werefinally given the legal opportunityto sign leases for periods of up to30 years. For instance, longerterms are now being provided inleases for large office spaces re-quiring considerable upfront ex-penditures.

standard and beyondA typical standard lease for a largeoffice space includes highly de-tailed provisions concerning therelations between landlord andtenant and the parties’ obligations.The agreement often varies theoff-the-rack provisions of the CivilCode, or, if permissible, evenwaives them altogether. Someclauses must be stated in allleases: identification of the prem-ises, the term of the lease, the rent,rent adjustment if any, collateral ifany, and grounds for termination.Beyond these, a standard officelease should also provide for anexact indication of the standardand technical parameters of the

premises, basic insurance require-ments, and possible relocation ofthe tenant should the premises orbuilding become unfit for use.

An office lease usually providesexact rules governing alterations tothe premises by the tenant andsets out procedures for arrangingalterations with the landlord.

Renting officespace may seemstraightforward,but details can bedevil

There are cost-effective waysof raising theshare capital ofyour company

The art of the lease

By Monika Sitowicz, Advocate, Counsel at Salans law firm

Expert: Office leases

The most popular way of securing theclaims of the landlord is to require thetenant to present a bank guarantee ordeposit equal to several months’ rent.


Expert: Corporate law

Raise your capital, lower your tax

By Aleksandra Faderewska-Waszkiewicztax adviser, Łaszczuk & Partners

tions to cover share capital arenot included in the company’srevenue for CIT purposes). Thisview used to be shared by the ad-ministrative courts as well.

However, in a resolution is-sued on 24 January 2001 (CaseNo. II FPS 6/10), the SupremeAdministrative Court relaxed itsprevious position and held thatonly expenditures that are ab-solutely essential to the capitalincrease cannot be deducted asrevenue-earning costs. (Thecase involved CIT treatment ofexpenses connected with anissue of new shares in a joint-stock company, but the court’sholding should apply by analogyto a capital increase in a limited-liability company as well.) Otherexpenses that are only indirectlyrelated to the increase in sharecapital may thus qualify as de-ductible revenue-earning costs.

In light of this resolution bythe Supreme AdministrativeCourt, it should be recognizedthat the expenditures on a capi-tal increase that are excludedfrom deduction as revenue-earn-ing costs include the court fee,the publication fee, and (if appli-cable) the notary fee and trans-action tax, because the capitalmay not be increased without in-curring those costs. However, in-direct costs such as fees forlawyers, auditors and other ad-visers, and costs of preparinganalyses, opinions, valuations ortranslations related to the capitalincrease, will be deductible asrevenue-earning costs.

The tax authorities take aneven more liberal approach todeduction of input VAT on in-voices documenting expendi-tures connected with an increasein share capital. Even though anincrease in share capital is not anoperation that is subject to VAT,the tax authorities take the viewthat the taxpayer has the right todeduct the full amount of inputVAT on expenditures for serv-ices related to a capital increase,so long as the taxpayer itselfconducts business that is subjectto VAT. It is irrelevant in this re-spect whether or not such ex-penditures also qualify as de-ductible revenue-earning costsfor CIT purposes.

the par value represents only 1%of the contribution for theshares. In that case, the transac-tion tax will be applied to only1% of the contribution, and 99%of the contribution will be freefrom transaction tax as a contri-bution assigned to the supple-mentary capital.

A capital increase with agiowill not be satisfactory, however,for companies that need to in-crease the share capital as such,rather than the supplementarycapital. (An example of this situ-ation would be where the com-pany wants to raise the sharecapital to avoid thin capitaliza-tion problems.)

It should also be pointed outthat contributions by sharehold-ers in cash or kind to cover sharecapital, as well as agio in cash orkind assigned to the supplemen-tary capital, do not constituterevenue of the company for pur-poses of the Corporate IncomeTax Act.

take deductions from thebasis for transaction taxAs mentioned, the basis for thetax on civil-law transactions inthe case of an increase in sharecapital is the amount by whichthe share capital is increased.However, before calculating thetax, this value should be reducedby (1) the notary fee (includingVAT) for preparing the deed thatincludes the shareholder resolu-tion on increase of the sharecapital, (2) the court fee foramending the company’s com-mercial register entry in the Na-tional Court Register to reflectthe new amount of the sharecapital (currently PLN 400), and(3) the fee for announcement ofthe entry in Monitor Sądowy iGospodarczy (currently PLN250).

cit treatment of expendi-tures on capital increasePreviously the tax authoritieshad taken the view that any andall expenditures incurred by acompany in connection with anincrease in share capital couldnot be deducted as revenue-earning costs of the companybecause they are related to thecompany’s non-taxable income(as mentioned above, contribu-

ing debt to equity.Under the rule of single taxation

of contributions to a company, anincrease in share capital covered byan outstanding shareholder loanwhich was previously subject to thetax on civil-law transactions, or atax on capital contributions in an-other E.U. member state, will beexempt from the Polish transactiontax. It is important to bear in mindthat this exemption will not beavailable if the shareholders resolveto cover the increase in share capi-tal in cash, and then the share-holder’s claim for repayment of anoutstanding loan is set off againstthe company’s claim for payment ofcash to cover the capital increase.

think about an increase with agio

In a typical capital increase, share-holders take up shares at par value,i.e. the contribution (in cash or inkind) is equal to the par value ofthe shares taken up in the capitalincrease. Then the entire value ofthe contribution is subject to thetax on civil-law transactions, be-cause that is the amount by whichthe share capital has been in-creased.

However, it is possible to follow aconstruction in which the share-holders make contributions that areworth considerably more than thepar value of the shares they take upin exchange. The excess contribu-tion, beyond the par value of theshares, which is also referred to bythe term agio, is assigned to thecompany’s supplementary capital.Because the agio does not increasethe amount of the share capital, itis not subject to the transaction tax.There are no regulations specifyinghow great the agio may be in rela-tion to the par value of the sharesthat are taken up. Thus the tax au-thorities will accept a capital in-crease even where the agio repre-sents 99% of the contribution and

Increasing the share capital isa common method for share-holders of a limited-liability

company to give the company acash transfusion. Below are sometips on how to reduce the tax ef-fects of a capital increase and re-duce the costs of the operation.

First check the articles of associationAs a rule, increasing the sharecapital of a limited-liability com-pany requires an amendment tothe articles of association in theform of a notary deed. However,the Polish Commercial Compa-nies Code provides the option ofincreasing the share capitalthrough an ordinary sharehold-ers’ resolution in writing, withoutamending the articles of associa-tion. This means the companycan skip a visit to the notary andreduce the costs of the increaseaccordingly. In order to take ad-vantage of this option, it must beprovided for in the articles of as-sociation, stating the maximumamount by which the capital maybe increased without amendingthe articles as well as the dead-line for such increases.

consider how the contribu-tion will be madeAn increase in share capital issubject to the tax on civil-lawtransactions, at the rate of 0.5%of the amount of the increase.

The capital may be increasedeither by creating new shares orby increasing the par value of theexisting shares, and the contribu-tion to cover the increase may bemade in cash or in kind. A com-mon practice when there are out-standing shareholder loans to thecompany is to cover the capitalincrease through an in-kind con-tribution in the form of theshareholder’s claim for repay-ment of the loan—thus convert-


Enlightened leaders knowthere are plannedmethods for defusing a conflict

EXPERT: Problem-solving

Managing the tough conversation

By Peter Strupppresident of the supervisory boardUnited Business Development

gain credibility by carefully lis-tening to different perspectives.Leaders who already have theanswer will usually get superfi-cial compliance, but not mean-ingful change from the otherperson.

Question and listen As participants are using theconversation for the purpose ofdiscovery, it is important thatclarifying questions do notcome across as a cross-exami-nation. When there are points ofissue, it is important to seekspecific information or evidenceto back up a participant’s claim.Leaders are able to acknowl-edge the other person’s point ofview even if they do not agreewith it. They are able to confirmthat they understand the per-ception. There are a lot of prac-tical tools on the market thatcan work business professionalsthrough the root cause of aproblem or aid in sequenceddecision-making based on factsrather than emotions. Thesetools can benefit the discoveryprocess tremendously and alsoadd further objectivity to thesituation.

Bring about action Now it is the leader’s role toframe the conversation in a waythat can bring about a solutionto the problem. Take the time tolook at multiple options that areable to directly allay the con-cerns and interests of the otherparty. List them all on aflipchart, if necessary, to look ata wide frame of potential solu-tions for how the problem canbe overcome.

Look for mutual actions andmeasurable objectives fromboth sides on what shouldchange the situation. Focus onthe mutual obligations requiredin order to solve the dispute.Let the employee know that fu-ture communication is availablewithin the context of construc-tive solutions (not just gripingor blaming).

Einstein said, “Insanity isdoing the same thing over andover again and expecting differ-ent results.” If you are seekingbetter conflict outcomes, a well-thought-out plan is key.

the conversation. Enormous re-spect is conferred upon leaderswho are honest and upfront.

determine the cause Rather than engaging in blame,what is highly productive is todetermine what the multiplecauses of the problems were sothey do not happen in the fu-ture. It is important to recog-nize that often there are mutualreasons for why a bad circum-stance or outcome occurred. Itis the role of the leader to lookat a wide range of influencesthat may have caused a problemto arise and to explore thisopenly with the person in theconversation. The critical issuehere is not to let each individualget away with simply their ownviewpoint, but to understandwhere both parties may havecontributed to an unfortunateoutcome and how to avoid suchsituations in the future.

Excellent leaders are able totake responsibility early in theconversation for any role theymay have played that caused theproblem under discussion. Thisallows both parties to map outthe causes and look at how to fixthe problem. It should also benoted that many leaders makethe mistake of going for a quickfix of the problem, without un-derstanding that the causes maybe deeper and more process-re-lated, which means they will re-turn again and again unless theroot cause is fixed.

Gain perspective To gain insight, try to look atthe conflict as a disinterestedobserver would look at it. Whatis the real story—not simplyyour take on the problem. Writedown how an outside partywould view the situation. Thisis not easy, since we have ourown self-interest tied into anydisagreement. However, if thereis to be a resolution, there is aneed to look at all of the diverseviewpoints. What is importantfor both parties is to understandhow they perceive the situationas objectively as they can. Thisrequires mutual respect and theability to listen and not inter-rupt the other party while theyare communicating their per-spective. It should be noted thatthe senior leader holds morepower in a conversation and will

well understood. There are alsofeelings and perceptions of inten-tions tied to the issue. In fact, thefeelings may be the main issue,rather than the actual known con-flict which is requiring the con-versation. In addition, the self-image of each participant in thediscussion is sensitive. All of thisneeds to be taken into considera-tion.

Equally valuable is to under-stand that participants in any dis-pute may have different levels ofinformation and different inter-pretations of the subject beingdiscussed, and may have personallife experiences that have an enor-mous effect on their reactions andbehaviors. This also needs to beunderstood before the conversa-tion takes place.

separate result from intentions Before you meet for your conver-sation, make sure you are able toseparate the action (for example amistake that was made) and theintentions of the person. You maymake an assumption as to whatyou think the intentions were, butit is healthy to treat that as an un-proven hypothesis rather than afact.

At the beginning of the conver-sation, it is a powerful action toarticulate your feelings that youhave attached to the situation andlet the other participant open upon how they feel. Strong feelings(such as anger and fear) are oftenwrapped around difficult subjects.Self-confident leaders recognizethat they have emotional disci-pline, but also are able to showhow they feel emotionally about agiven conflict. They are able tolook at their emotions as part ofthe issue that is on the table. Thisexposure of feelings, done theright way, helps tremendously inbuilding trust and solving theissue. It is a sign of both trust andstrength that people are able toarticulate how they feel as part of

There are several majorcompetencies that dif-ferentiate senior leaders

from lower-level leaders. One ofthese key competency differen-tiators is that senior leaderspossess strong interpersonalskills, rather than simply theability to complete tasks. Theseproblem-solving people skillscan be learned. Often they re-quire new perspectives whendealing with problems and con-flict. Leaders sometimes needto expose their feelings in agiven situation. It may be a diffi-cult skill to acquire for some,but it is much better than re-sorting to the “blame game” andnon-productive arguments,which are still common withinmany workplace environments.

Leaders are required to gothrough sometimes awkwardand difficult conversations withemployees. Whether it is givinga poor performance review, pro-viding sensitive feedback, or ob-jecting to certain types of behav-ior, these conversations need tohappen. The best leaders con-front difficult issues head-on,since they know the problemwill only get worse if left unat-tended.

Are there roadmaps to suchconflicts? Here are some practi-cal areas of advice on framingthese types of conversations:

define dimensionsObviously, before a tough con-versation, preparation is needed.What are the purpose and theoptimal outcome sought fromthe conversation? Planning andpreparation make for better out-comes.

It is important to understandthat there are several differentthings going on within one con-versation. First, there is the ac-tual issue at hand. But there isalso what is not being verballyarticulated, and this needs to be

computer forensic specialists isa detailed report containing in-formation about the data foundthat are relevant to the casebeing investigated. Establishingthe chain of key events shouldalso constitute an element ofthe report. Because the con-tents of the report must closelycorrelate with the case, closecooperation between specialistsin the laboratory and the peopleinvestigating the case is neces-sary. Another element of the co-operation between the forensicslaboratory and the client ispresentation of the results incourt. Computer forensic inves-tigators summoned by a prose-cutor or a court to issue anopinion present the body of evi-dence as ad hoc expert wit-nesses. Despite the fact thatnot all cases come up for trial(only about 20%), all activitiesconducted in a computer foren-sic process must be carried outin such a way that the eviden-tiary value of the materials isunquestionable.

more threats, more prob-lems…Computer forensic activities areparticularly important at timeswhen layoffs in various sectorsof the economy intensify. An ex-ample of such a period was therecent global economic crisis,which had an impact on nearlyevery industry. When the num-ber of laid-off employees wasincreasing every day, companiesthat were not protected facedthe loss of key resources. An-other problem was the risk ofwrongdoing by employees whostayed onboard but whosesalaries were cut.

The global crisis is only themost striking example. A simi-lar situation occurs anytime asingle company has financial orstaff problems. In such cases,enterprises are not only vulner-able to the loss of resources,but they also jeopardize theimage and reputation that theyhave been building for years.

data erasure. It is estimated thatwithin the next few years com-puter forensics will become apermanent element of securitypolicy in many big Polish com-panies and some SMEs. It isvery important to build aware-ness about the use of electronicevidence for the purpose offighting dishonest practices inbusiness.

The role of company proce-dures in the computer forensicsprocess should be to discoverfraud early enough and then toimplement actions aimed at se-curing evidence, making surenot to obliterate the traces. Ifthis is not handled properly,many traces of improper con-duct, some quite obvious (likee-mails or posts to social net-working sites) cannot be usedlater as electronic evidence.

Typical measures taken incorporations operating in mostdeveloped countries would in-clude securing data from acomputer of an employee whochanges jobs. This is aimed atprotecting the interests of boththe company and the employee.It also captures the currentstate of affairs as of the time theemployee ceases to cooperatewith the company, and reliably

documents his or her activitiesfor the organization.

computer forensic process The computer forensic processconsists of five stages: gather-ing information, calculating thecontrol sum, recovering data,analyzing data, and preparing areport outlining the actionstaken. Each stage must be prop-erly documented so that thematerial retains its evidentiaryvalue, which is why the pres-ence of professionals usingstate-of-the-art tools is so im-portant.

The result of the work of

use the services of computerforensic investigators, who helpto conduct an internal investiga-tion by analyzing company hard-ware and then provide electro-nic evidence which the companywill be able to use in court.

What is computer forensics?Computer forensics consists inproviding electronic evidence toenterprises, institutions or indi-viduals which will then be usedby certain law enforcement bod-ies. It is a set of activities byspecialists that involves secur-ing, locating and uncovering ev-idence of abuse and offencescommitted using a computer orother electronic device. Withcomputer forensics the chain ofevents of the user’s activity over

time can be recreated, drawingon information inaccessible tosystem users and administra-tors. As a result, it should bepossible to answer the key ques-tions: Who? What? Where?When? How?

data security policy—thekey to successWhen thinking about security ina company, the place to start iswith creating a proper data se-curity policy. That will make itpossible to protect against dataleaks caused by dishonest em-ployees, but also in the event ofhardware failure or accidental

Stealing company docu-ments, illegal data copying,or sending classified

clauses and contracts to thecompetition: these are just a fewexamples of misconduct by dis-honest employees at thousandsof domestic and internationalcompanies. Unfortunately, inPoland as well, instances offraudulent activity by competi-tors or former employees intenton revenge, using companycomputers or other electronicdevices, are on the rise. Thebest solution to protect a com-pany against serious financiallosses as a result of such wrong-doing is to cooperate with com-puter forensic experts.

According to data collectedglobally by Kroll Ontrack, 43%

of enterprises worldwide havefallen victim to electronic infor-mation abuse. Over half of themalso suffered irreversible finan-cial losses, in the millions ofdollars, and a third of such of-fences were committed by anemployee. These data concernnot only the most developedwestern countries, but alsocountries where professionaldata protection is not imple-mented to a degree that fully se-cures digital data—a group thatincludes Central & Eastern Eu-ropean countries like Poland.

In the case of suspected em-ployee misconduct, it is best to

EXPERT: Computer forensics

Corporate miscon-duct can be traced,documented andproven in court

The computer forensic process consists of fivestages: gathering information, calculating thecontrol sum, recovering data, analyzing data,and preparing a report outlining the actionstaken.

Electronic investigators in action

By Marek Suczyk

Managing Director of the Polishsubsidiary of Kroll Ontrack


EVENT: AmCham Monthly Meeting EVENT: AmCham CEO Forum

1. Joseph Wancer, AmCham Chairman; Rick Lada, AmCham Vice Chairman; Prof. Michał Kleiber, president of the Polish Acad-emy of Sciences. 2. Hemisphere at the InterContinental Warsaw was the venue. 3. Paula Wąsowska, Cezary Krasodomski,Cisco; Piotr Marczuk, Microsoft; Michał Kleiber. 4. Thomas Kolaja, AmCham Board Member; Lucyn Reyno, U.S. Embassy. 5. Józef Sobolewski, Jacek Błocki, Hewlett-Packard; Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge. 6. Maria Kowalska, U.S. Commercial Serv-ice; Lucyna Jaremczuk, Ministry of Economy; Barbara Grabowska, U.S. Commercial Service. 7. Paweł Racis, UPS; Peter Kay,AmCham Board Member. 8. Paweł Wideł, General Motors; Bartłomiej Morzycki, 3M. 9. Agnieszka Jankowska, GE; JosephWancer. 10. Judith Gliniecki, AmCham Board Member; Adam Kapitan Bergmann, Bergmann Associates. 11. Magdalena Burnat-Mikosz, Deloitte Poland; Tony Housh, AmCham Board Member.

1. Tomasz Wróblewski, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna; Rick Lada, AmCham Vice Chair-man; Piotr Wilam, business angel; Błażej Moder, Łódź Regional Develop-ment Agency. 2. Błażej Moder; Richard Kałużyński, Kałużyński & Madeja. 3. PeterŚwięcicki, Squire Sanders Święcicki i Krześniak; Stan Popow, AmCham Board Mem-ber. 4. Alon Redlich, International Technology Sourcing; Agnieszka Walter, RichardBaker, Kelly Services. 5. Beata Pawłowska, Royal Unibrew Polska; Tomasz Kra-janowski, Richard Żabiński, Focus Research Polska. 6. Janusz Przeorek, ExpressMap Polska; Piotr Wilam. 7. Paweł Pudłowski, Marathon Oil; Adam KapitanBergmann. 8. Małgorzata Opalińska, Euromoney Polska; Adam de Sola Pool. 9. Matthew Tebeau, Heidrick & Struggles; Judith Gliniecki, AmCham Vice Chair. 10. Alan Capodanno; Tomasz Wirth, Société Générale. 11. Dorothy Hansberry,Hansberry Competition; Peter Dembiński; Beata Balas-Noszczyk, Hogan Lovells.

Taking about the innovative economy Between inventors and investors

The future ofinnovativenesswas on the

agenda of the Am-Cham MonthlyMeeting in March.The keynote speakerwas Prof. MichałKleiber, president ofthe Polish Academyof Sciences. Theevent was hosted bythe HemisphereRestaurant at the In-terContinental War-saw. For more readthe article on p. 18.

The AmChamCEO Forumin March was

devoted to the intri-cacies of beingbusiness angels.The venue for theevent, AleGloriaRestaurant in War-saw, was filled to thelast seat. For moreabout the event readthe article on p. 23.

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EVENT: St. Patrick’s Day Business Mixer

Once a year on St. Patrick’s Day

In a grand tradi-tion, AmChamcelebrates St.

Patrick’s Day togetherwith the Irish Cham-ber of Commerce inPoland. This year thevenue was theLemongrass restau-rant. And what a partyit was!

1. Lee Feinstein, U.S. Ambassador to Poland. 2. Eugene Hutchinson, Irish Ambassador to Poland. 3. Con Murphy, PM Group.4. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Executive Director; Kenneth Morgan, Chairman of the Irish Chamber of Commerce. 5. RandyMott, Ceeres. 6. Kenneth Morgan; Eugene Hutchinson; Lee Feinstein; Joseph Wancer, AmCham Chairman. 7. Victor Jerez,Wyborowa Pernod Ricard, with his wife; Ambassador and Mrs. Hutchinson. 8. Lee Feinstein; Rick Lada, AmCham Vice Chair-man; Joseph Wancer. 9. Con Murphy; Joanna Bensz, AmCham Wrocław; Joseph Wancer. 10. Eugene Hutchinson; KennethMorgan; Mrs. Hutchinson; Dorota Dabrowski. 11. Richard Lada; Beata Gabor. 12. Waldemar Saniewski, Warner Bros Entertain-ment Polska; Davide Odella, Grupa Trip, and his wife. 13. Kenneth Morgan, Jacek Wasilewski, OCSC. 14. Randy Mott; MarekMatraszek, CEC Government Relations. 15. Marzena Drela, AmCham; Lucyna Jaremczuk, Ministry of Economy. 16. JoannaBensz; Katarzyna Wojciechowska, Procter & Gamble. 17. Marcin Rogulski; Christopher Smith. 18. Irish musician John Illis. 19. Loic Fretard, Medicover; Adam Kapitan Bergmann. 20. Guests having a good time. 21. Shade cider from Royal Unibrew.

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22. Guests at a tasting of Jameson whiskey. 23. Interior of Lemongrass Oriental Restaurant & Bar.

Agri & Food www.amcham.com.pl/agri_food

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing andsolving issues and identify-ing opportunities for com-panies in the agriculturaland food sector by creat-

ing a base for dialogue and expertise leveragedamong producers, sector professionals, experts anddecision-makers. Co-Chairs: Andrzej Pawelczak,Animex; Maciej Łubieński, Universal Leaf TobaccoPoland.

Healthwww.amcham.com.pl/health

Mission: To provide aunited forum for U.S. com-panies to share their ex-pertise on the healthcaresystem and exchangeknowledge and experience

with national counterparts, contribute to the positivedevelopments in the sector and promote the U.S. ex-perience and capital while establishing the best con-ditions and opportunities for investments. Co-Chairs: Elisabeth Asirifi, IBM Polska; JolantaChlebicka-Dominiak, Johnson & Johnson.

Infrastructurewww.amcham.com.pl/infrastructure

Mission: To discuss is-sues of the developmentof infrastructure; to pro-mote infrastructure solu-tions for cooperation be-tween private and public

partners. Co-Chairs: Krzysztof Wierzbowski,Wierzbowski Eversheds; Andrew C. Kapusto,Raytheon Homeland Security.

Tax www.amcham.com.pl/tax

Mission: To provide a platformfor identifying tax issues andcreate an educational forum tokeep AmCham members in-formed on current and up-coming legislation. To create a

network to share information, comments and best prac-tices. To lobby decision-makers in the government. Co-Chairs: Peter Kay, KPMG; Piotr Bartuzi, Bank BPH.

Political Discussion Forumwww.amcham.com.pl/pdf

Mission: To build relation-ships with key players inPolish politics, regardless ofwhether within the govern-ment or not, in small groupsand in private settings, toserve as a vehicle into the

world of Polish politics behind official curtains. Co-Chairs: Robert Koński, Kulczyk Holding; Marek Ma-traszek, CEC Government Relations.

Corporate Social Responsibilitywww.amcham.com.pl/csr

Mission: To encourage andfacilitate responsible busi-ness practices among Am-Cham members to supportthem to improve the qualityand effectiveness of their

CSR programs. Co-Chairs: Wojciech Arszewski,UPS Polska; Anna Jawor, IBM Polska.

Small & Medium-Sized Enterpriseswww.amcham.com.pl/sme

Mission: To provide a forumfor exchange of ideas/bestpractices to improve the per-formance of SMEs; to iden-tify and promote solutions tofacilitate and support themanagerial and operational

efforts of SMEs through educational, networking or lob-bying efforts that leverage the resources and knowl-edge of AmCham and its membership. Co-Chairs:Alain Bobet; Cezary Krasodomski, Cisco Systems.Employee & Labor Relations

www.amcham.com.pl/labor

Mission: To create an infor-mation exchange forum ofHR professionals and so-cial policy experts frommultinational and localcompanies to share, dis-

cuss and learn about the latest trends in HR man-agement and collectively influence local policy anddecision-makers for modern solutions in labor leg-islation. Co-Chairs: Jolanta Jaworska, IBM Poland;Peter Strupp, United Business Development.

Consumer Productswww.amcham.com.pl/consumer

Mission: To provide aforum to share knowl-edge and exchange ex-perience in all areascommon and relevant tomanufacturers and dis-

tributors of goods. Co-Chairs: Małgorzata Surdek,CMS Cameron McKenna; Agnieszka Dzięgielewska-Jończyk, HP Polska.

Telecom www.amcham.com.pl/telecom

Mission: To create a platformunder the AmCham umbrellafor the exchange of members’ideas and views on trends inthe telecommunications sec-tor in Poland; to take steps to

influence decision-makers in telecommunications legis-lation, policy and practice; to promote innovativetrends in telecommunications; to modernize communi-cations technology for business and the average Polishconsumer. Co-Chairs: Jarosław Roszkowski, CrowleyData Poland; Piotr Muszyński, TP SA.

Real Estate Committeewww.amcham.com.pl/real_estate

Mission: To discuss issuesregarding the complexitiesof the real estate market inPoland, and exchange infor-mation. To be an educa-tional and networking forum

for members and to lobby and influence legislativedepartments of the Polish government. Co-Chairs:Halina Więckowska, K & L Gates; John Bańka, Col-liers International.

Pharmaceuticalwww.amcham.com.pl/pharmaceutical

Mission: To discuss andidentify common interestsand exchange information re-garding Poland’s pharmaceu-tical market; to act as a repre-sentative body and collective

voice of pharmaceutical companies before governmen-tal institutions. Co-Chairs: Peter Koetsier, Bristol-MyersSquibb Polska; Roberto Servi, Eli Lilly Polska.

Outsourcing/High Techwww.amcham.com.pl/outsourcing

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing, identi-fying and addressing com-mon SSC/BPO issues re-lated to high-tech opera-tions; to maintain contact

with local authorities, educational and governmentalinstitutions to present a unified business perspectiveand to suggest ways of possible cooperation. Toidentify the possibilities/areas of state assistance, toshare experience and leverage knowledge. Co-Chairs: Marek Suczyk, Kroll Ontrack; JacekStryczyński, Lionbridge.

Intellectual Property Rights www.amcham.com.pl/ipr

Mission: To advocate forIPR protection and provideleadership that will bringtogether interested part-ners; to share informationwith decision-makers and

law enforcement. The police, judiciary, prosecu-tors, customs officials, legislators and journalistsare among the target groups, while the curriculumof law schools should have more emphasis on IPR.Co-Chairs: Agnieszka Wyszyńska-Szulc, Philip Mor-ris; Anna Lasocka, Łaszczuk & Partners.

European Union Affairs www.amcham.com.pl/eu

Mission: To providemembers with relevantinformation on E.U.-re-lated issues, includingE.U. funds, and to repre-sent American investors

before the Commission and the Polish govern-ment. Co-Chairs: Magdalena Burnat Mikosz, De-loitte; Jerzy Thieme.

Defense & Security www.amcham.com.pl/defense

Mission: To serve as aplatform for defense indus-try issues and exchangerelevant information. Thecommittee creates a net-working forum and fosters

a positive working relationship with the governmentand people of Poland. Co-Chairs: Paul Zalucky;Stan Prusiński, Sikorsky Europe.

Financial Services www.amcham.com.pl/financial

Mission: The FinancialServices Committee aimsto identify and promote is-sues related to and in sup-port of the financial serv-ices sector, as well as to

provide a forum for dialogue among sector profes-sionals and decision-makers in government. Co-Chairs: Andrew Hope; Adam Michon, MetLife.

Environment & Energywww.amcham.com.pl/environmental

Mission: To help membersdevelop their environmentaland renewable energy busi-ness and help learn about,identify and overcome anydifficulties connected with

environmental laws, and develop a discussion forumamong members about environmental issues andmaintain contacts with Polish authorities responsiblefor making and implementing environmental policies.Co-Chairs: Adam de Sola Pool, Jerzy Chlebowski, Mit-subishi.

For the most recent information about the work of AmCham Committees, and upcoming events: www.amcham.pl

AMCHAM: Guide to Committees


W tym numerze: COVER STORYPolskie firmy coraz bardziej zdająsobie sprawę, że bez innowacyj-ności nie będą mogły konkurowaćna rynku. Jednak stare przyzwycza-jenia środowisk akademickich orazbrak regulacji wspomagających in-nowacyjność są skutecznym hamul-cem rozwoju innowacyjnej gospo-darki, str. 12; 10 porad dla osób,które myślą o założeniu własnej in-nowacyjnej firmy, str. 17.

Monthly Meetingod zera do innowacyjnej gospodarki Aby odnaleźć się wglobalnej gospodarce opartej na innowacyjności, w Polsce musizmienić się nastawienie administracji i instytucji państwowychdo współpracy z sektorem prywatnym, str. 20

CEO Forumpomiędzy wizją i ryzykiem Zanim anioły biznesu staną sięważnym elementem w tworzeniu sukcesów rynkowych nowychfirm, osoby podejmujące się tej roli muszą nauczyć się podej-mować ryzyko a autorzy innowacyjnych pomysłów, musząnauczyć się rozumieć prawa rynku, str. 23

PROFIL FIRMYzmieniając świat przez innowacje Tomasz Ćwiok, redak-tor magazynu “American Investor”, rozmawia z Xavier Douel-lou, dyrektorem zarządzającym 3M Poland, na temat strategiifirmy w zarządzaniu procesami innowacynymi, oraz wyzwani-ami dla firmy w Polsce, str. 26

EKSPERCIzwiększ kapitał firmy, zmniejsz podatek Istnieją sposobyna zwiększenie kapitału firmy, dzięki którym zapłacimymniejszy podatek, str. 28

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011. All rights reserved.

American Investor to oficjalny magazyn Amerykańskiej Izby Handlowej w Polsce. Magazyn reprezentuje głos środowisk międzynarodowego biznesu w Polsce. Celem magazynu jestdostarczanie członkom Izby i innym czytelnikom aktualnych informacji na temat działalności Izby a także trendów biznesowych i polityce społecznej firm.

listy do rekacji prosimy wysyłać na adres poczty elektronicznej: [email protected]

sztuka leasingu Wynajem biur może wydawać się prostym bizne-sem jednak kiedy zagłębimy się w szczegóły może wyłonić się zu-pełnie inny obraz, str. 29

elektroniczne śledztwa Uchybienia w firmie, zaniedbania, orazprzypadki łamiania przepisów i innych regulacji obowiązującychfirmy mogą być udokumentowane w formie danych komputerowych iwykorzystane w sądzie, str. 30

trudne rozmowy Dobrzy menadżerowie znają metody rozwiązywa-nia trudnych konfliktów, str. 31

RELACJE ZDJĘCIOWESpotkanie Miesięczne, str. 32

CEO Forum, str. 33

Mikser Biznesowy, str. 34-35

DZIAŁY STAŁEBriefing redakcyjny, str. 2

List Dyrektor Zarządzającej AmCham, str. 4

Informacje o firmach członkowskich Izby, str. 5

Informacje o działalności Komitetów Izby, str. 8

Podsumowanie zawartości numeru w języku polskim, str. 36

Przewodnik po Komitetach Izby, str. 37

SUMMARIES: in Polish

Documents

American Investor April 2011