Effectiveness versus conditions of small and medium-sized enterprise development in Poland

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are fundamental to the economic sphere of every
single country. They usually generate more than half of the gross domestic product and employ over a
half of the total number of the workforce. The necessity of supporting enterprise understood as the creation
of new companies is a must on the way to restoring the condition and developmental potential of the
sector of small and medium-sized enterprises. The paper presents the relation between the effectiveness
and advanced entrepreneurship, illustrated with an example of the development of SME in Poland. The
analysis has been carried out in three dimensions: the importance of enterprises for the economy, the
demographic picture of entrepreneurship depicting the changes that take place in the structure of companies
in Poland in relation to the EU, and the entrepreneurs’ perspective on the phenomenon since
these are entrepreneurs' intentions, decisions and aspirations that translate into the effectiveness and
qualitative improvement of a company. The purpose of the paper is to present the dynamic relationship
between effectiveness and the development of small and medium enterprises in the environment of
uncertainty and market asymmetry. Additionally, the paper seeks to identify the tools that are helpful in
increasing the effectiveness and value of enterprises in the SME sector. Data from the following sources
have been used for the purpose of the study: Central Statistical Office (GUS), Polish Agency for Enterprise
Development (PARP), Eurostat, SBA Fact Sheets and the research done by the Global Entrepreneurship
Monitoring (GEM).