13.4 Research methods and description of sample

The main research methods were a mailed questionnaire and structured interviews with board members and specialists in firms throughout Poland. The main sectors studied were the textile and metal industries (including the engineering industry), which had been severely affected by the economic crisis in Poland. An attempt was made to obtain a balance between private firms, state-owned firms and firms with foreign investors (about 30 per cent each). Over 50 per cent of the firms had existed in 1990 and were chosen in order to establish how their identity had changed over a period of ten years . Thus it was a targeted sample. The questionnaires were mailed and interviews conducted between December 1998 and March 1999. The data obtained from 186 of the targeted firms were then processed statistically.

The majority of respondents occupied the highest organizational positions (directors/ presidents 57.0 per cent, management board members 12.4 per cent), which ensured that their knowledge of and information on their enterprises were reliable. The remaining respondents were managers or specialists. Most respondents were male (73.3 per cent). Their length of service in the sample firms (including in managerial posts) averaged 12 years and their average age was 44 years.

Of the completed questionnaires, 46.2 per cent were from the textile industry, 44.1 per cent from the metal industry and 9.7 per cent from other industrial sectors. In 1998 the enterprises on average employed 256 persons compared with 422 in 1990.

The final sample included 18.3 per cent of firms with foreign capital and 76.3 per cent with full Polish ownership. The firms were also divided into two categories: state-owned enterprises (35 firms, or 18.8 per cent) and private firms (151, or 81.2 per cent). This categorization enable us to examine the impact of ownership form on other variables .

The age of the firms averaged 28 years (private firms 23 years, state-owned firms 50 years). However the average duration of their present legal form amounted to only 10 years (seven years for private firms and 25 years for public enterprises), which reflected the considerable structural “legal transformations that had occurred recently. Firms had not only changed their legal form but also tried to adapt themselves to changes in their environment by changing their production programmes. However these changes were not significant and about half of the firms had not changed their product range. More changes had occurred in the metal industry than in the textile industry, and in state-owned enterprises than in private firms. State-owned enterprises had experienced a stronger need for change than private firms, which had already adapted themselves to the new market situation.

Over 50 per cent of the enterprises assessed their general financial situation as good or very good. However 36.6 per cent were coping with stagnation and a deteriorating market situation. The financial situation of enterprises with foreign capital investment was similar to that of enterprises with only Polish capital but, the situation in the metal industry was better than in the textile industry, with 63.4 per cent of firms in the metal industry being in a good or very good position. The financial situation in private firms was better than in state-owned firms, with almost 61.6 per cent of private firms assessing it as good or very good, compared with 42.9 per cent of state-owned enterprises.

The main competitors of the sample firms in both sectors were domestic enterprises whose product range had not changed since the socialist times, and domestic producers who had recently entered the market. The firms also experienced significant competition from foreign enterprises: 20.9 per cent in the textile industry and 14.6 per cent in the metal industry. Firms with foreign investors felt a stronger competitive pressure than did domestic enterprises.

On average the sample firms exported 18.4 per cent of their output, but some exported as much as 90 per cent and for one firm it was 100 per cent.