Economic condition of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland in 2008-2009 versus development problems of rural entrepreneurship

Abstract

Despite the crisis the number of newly established active small and medium-sized businesses in Poland grew both in 2008 and 2009. The recorded increases considerably exceeded the average annual rate of growth in the number of enterprises that characterized the 2003-2007 period. This fact can probably be attributed to EU assistance to persons setting up new economic entities. The crisis has hit the hardest large enterprises i.e. those that are strongly linked to the world economy. The Mazowieckie, Pomorskie, Wielkopolskie, Dolnośląskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodeships continue to be Poland’s leading provinces in terms of the development of entrepreneurship. The lowest positions in the ranking are occupied by the voivodeships situated in the eastern part of Poland, with the exception of Podlasie which places among voivodeships posting results close to the national average. In rural areas enterprises operate in much more difficult conditions than in large urban agglomerations so it is necessary to devise different forms of exerting influence on the development of small rural businesses. The to-date experience of EU countries suggests that special programmes ought to be created in Poland for the purpose of stimulating the development of entrepreneurship in rural peripheral regions. This, in turn, leads to the need to establish specialized institutions that would deal with the problems of entrepreneurship in rural areas alone.