The aim of this article is to verify what the relations are between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge utilization in the internationalization of Polish firms. The article distinguishes four types of knowledge: market knowledge, network knowledge, sociocultural knowledge, and entrepreneurial knowledge. The research uses quantitative design and is based on a survey conducted in 2015 on a sample of 355 businesses from Poland (the response rate was 10.7%), following which statistical techniques (t-tests and regression analyses) were applied to verify the hypotheses. An overview of prior studies enabled us to identify the research gap in the literature regarding the combination of three elements that link to form one picture of reality, namely, (i) entrepreneurial orientation and (ii) knowledge utilization in (iii) the internationalization process of firms. The case of Polish firms confirms that entrepreneurial orientation is substantial in the use of knowledge in the internationalization process. Firms characterized by higher entrepreneurial orientation use particular types of knowledge much more intensely at various stages of the internationalization process. Entrepreneurial orientation, and especially risk-taking, has significant positive effects on the scope of internationalization. Greater entrepreneurial orientation increases the number of foreign markets in which a given firm operates. Not only market knowledge in the traditional approach, but especially network and entrepreneurial knowledge have significant positive effects on the intensification of the internationalization scale.

No abstract

Energy issues are sensitive for the four Visegrad countries as European Union (EU) member states; thus, this area’s convergence might be problematic for these countries. There is a clear research gap concerning the processes of Europeanization of the energy policy in the Visegrad countries. This article aims to identify and evaluate the progress of four Visegrad countries (V4) in implementing the EU energy goals in the context of the Europeanization. The article uses three main methods: Hellwig’s method, Kendall’s rank concordance coefficient, and k-means clustering. These calculations will allow one to study the Europeanization processes, which means checking the gamma convergence. For calculations, we use the available statistical data from Eurostat for the years 2005–2018. Poland and other Central European countries, including Czechia, and Hungary, largely depend on coal for their energy needs. The empirical results have shown that there have been no significant changes in the classification of EU countries in terms of their fulfillment of the EU climate and energy targets in the analyzed period. This is the case in all EU member states, including the Visegrad Group countries, but except for Poland. This means that the level of Europeanization of the energy policy and its effectiveness is similar in all member states except for Poland, which is becoming a kind of the exception. Throughout the investigating period, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia were close to meeting the set targets and could be rated high compared to the EU countries. Poland, especially since 2015, has been noticeably and increasingly distanced from the other V4 countries. It can be perceived as a gradual drift away from Europeanization of the EU climate and energy policy in Poland.

No abstract

The aim of the article is to verify the convergence process of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (CEE10) countries towards Western European countries (EU15) in years 1995–2016. Additionally, the paper aims to show the interaction between economic integration and convergence as well as business environment and growth. The study methods applied in in the article are analysis of the literature and wide range of quantitative methods (descriptive statistics. regression models (OLS and panel), the elements of taxonomic analysis (cluster analysis and Clark’s coefficient of divergence). In the study years, CEE10 and EU15 countries were developing in accordance with the convergence hypothesis. The impact of economic integration on convergence was confirmed as well as the dependence of growth from the business environment in EU10. The added value of the study is the combination of three important research problems: convergence, economic integration and business environment. In addition, the research area concerns the CEE countries, which is very desirable. Many prior studies suggested to elaborate development and business processes in emerging countries like CEE. Thus, the article tries to fulfill this research needs. It has not only cognitive but also utilitarian values. The research results can be taken into consideration by policy makers to create an appropriate development policy and a conducive business environment.