The importance of human capital in the contemporary business environment is rising. Therefore, the aim of the study is to determine what the quality, extent and determinants of human capital disclosure in Polish and German companies are. Research Design & Methods: The research was conducted with the use of human capital disclosure index which was built with three main categories: employee information, internal communication and employee development policy. The sample consisted of WIG-30 and DAX entities. Findings: The Polish firms reported worse than the German ones in terms of all studied items. The worst reporting was found in the case of participation initiatives, the best in the case of employment structure. Implications & Recommendations: As human capital disclosure index was insufficient in the case of both Polish and German entities, enterprises shall report more on human capital. Contribution & Value Added: The study compares human capital disclosure practices in the two countries with a different level of economic development. Article type: research paper

Abstract:The paper tackles with a still somewhat underdeveloped aspect of regional competiveness which regards to spillover effects stemming from spatial proximity of highly competitive neighbors. Although spillover effects are well recognized in the literature, we focus more on inter-regional concentration of business activity when enterprises are located in a particular district which is not far from the agglomeration center but not the center itself. We check for statistical significance of spatial autocorrelation measures (local Moran's Ii statistic) in order to identify spillovers between districts in Central European countries (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia). We use variables indicating Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS), in particular hi-tech KIS and information and communication services (including computer science). We compare 2009 with 2015 to notice agglomeration dynamics. We observe statistically significant spillover effects in Central European countries in urbanization-type clusters as well as strengthening of the effect over time. Taking into consideration more detailed data for Poland we conclude that while hi-tech KIS mostly spill over to neighboring districts, the reverse pattern may be observed for computer science (programming and consultancy). One explanation is that this subsector relies on highly demanded workforce and a prestigious localization (in the agglomeration centers) works as a bargaining chip to attract programmers. In order to measure the spillover effects more precisely it is recommended to define and measure the neighborhood of agglomeration centers using localization of firms based on GPS coordinates instead of centroids (geometric means) of districts -as shown in example of Poland.

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Purpose: The chapter examines the extent and level of the pandemic impact on sport, video game, and tourism industry by analyzing the emotional narration of articles related to Covid-19 effects on these industries so as to assess and predict the situation of industries during the pandemic and in the following years, but also to explain sources of positive sentiment for a given industry. Design/methodology/approach: The study provides a sentiment analysis of the global disclosure of the Covid-19 pandemic in the press, online articles, and social media (Twitter) with the use of three independent R packages. The final sample consisted of 142 articles; the oldest was published on January 23, 2020, whereas the newest one on October 14, 2020. Findings: Sentiment analysis revealed that the emotional tinge of the articles is much more positive for video games and soccer than in the case of tourism. In the case of video games and soccer, positive emotions such as “trust” or “anticipation” prevailed over much more common emotions of “fear” and “sadness” used about tourism. The impact of the pandemic was similar for video games and soccer, which was a mixture of negative and positive events. Research limitations/implications: Further research should use other resources such as the mass media or other data sources in addition to social media information and include a long-term analysis divided into stages of the pandemic as reactions and moods have been changing over time. Moreover, the factors influencing the perception of situations in different sectors of the economy should be identified in future research. Practical implications: The use of sentiment analysis shows that such quantification may be performed for new social phenomena before any hard (e.g., financial) data are available. Social implications: An approximation was obtained for quantifying the societal “general feeling” with regards to specific sectors affected by the pandemic. Originality and value: The chapter compares the response to the pandemic crisis of different sectors that reveal the sentiment contributing to the growth or difficulties of a given industry. The use of sentiment analysis enabled us to assess and predict the situation of industries during the pandemic before the hard and comprehensive data will occur.

The aim of the chapter is to examine the effectiveness of S&T parks after five years of the Polish presence in the EU. The results of the empirical research, presented in the chapter, show that the effectiveness of enhancing innovativeness is hardly satisfactory. For instance, from 2007-2009 almost 400 incumbents of 25 existing Science and Technology parks in Poland were only able to claim 18 patents. The main drawbacks of Polish S&T parks are: 1) specialization mostly comprising general ICTs, which, as the authors argue, is too broad; 2) insufficient research equipment; 3) the lack of co-operation with R&D institutions other then universities; 4) focusing on fulfilling the EU funds’ criteria as to provide the exact number of jobs created or to rent a particular office space. It is also important to note that 53% of incubators and S&T parks’ income originates from European funds—in the near future, new methods of raising income must be developed by these institutions or they will cease to exist. These policy issues are relevant not only for Poland but for any economy contemplating active government involvement in R&D.