Synopsis "Social Factors in the Emergence of Polish Corporate Governance (in English)"
The 1989 systemic changeover pushed Poland into the world of democratic politics, free-market economics. The country opened itself to new ideas, institutions, international practices and values, while readily giving up its own, established ways seen as belonging to the bygone era of command economics and communist power structures. The reformers chose painful strategies, fearful of backlashes and policy reversals – they embarked on the path of “shock therapy” and the speedy dismantling of old systems and institutions and, in their place, establishing new, previously unknown, systemic solutions. The “death of old” was to open the way for new, fresh institutions that would be unopposed and thus able to establish themselves quickly and become effective virtually overnight. Such sudden nation-building needed ideas, and those came from the developed West, with its democratic and capitalist ideologies, surrounded by a plethora of developed institutional solutions that were the result of Western state problem solving and were correlated to the specific natures of those states. Could transplantation of developed institutions onto fresh, post-communist soil be effective? Could it be permanent? Could foreign, externally-developed solutions easily take hold in a different business, political, economic and social system? To look at the nature of the Polish business system and the issues surrounding the emergence of corporate governance practices, three fundamental questions were posed:Q1: Were expectations of Poland’s systemic development post-1989 excessively optimistic?Q2: To what extent has Polish corporate governance been transplanted without adaptation to local conditions (e.g. practices, culture)?Q3: What are the main forces of resistance to the introduction of corporate governance (endogenous resistance to change)?Answers have naturally grouped themselves into four discovery chapters:1. Emergence of corporate governance in Poland – the transformation of the Polish business system, from the perspective of company organisation and governance. The business environment prior to 1989 is explained and the forms of business organisation they emerged post-1989.2. Social forces and governance reform – the social actors within Polish society who have an impact on the nature of corporate governance. Presents major players from before 1989 and the actors that emerged after the systemic changeover with a distinction between those having a positive impact on corporate governance improvements and those that oppose or hinder such actions.3. Polish elites and corporate governance – national elites that have an impact on the nature of corporate governance. Their structure prior to 1989 is outlined coupled with their transformation over the 1989 threshold and ways of affecting the wider business system and corporate governance.4. Managerial education in Poland – the HE system, its contribution to the development of the national business system, with a focus on managerial education and the possibilities of improving corporate governance practices through the shaping of values among future and current managers.This book summarises a decade-long research project, qualitative in nature. The development of corporate governance in the Polish business system is assessed through the eyes of Poles far removed from research in managerial theory or corporate law, far from people intellectually committed to believing in the supremacy of Western institutions regardless of their setting, and far from political leaders unable to visualise a third transformation path, that could have been more suitable and beneficial for Poland’s systemic development. As with any qualitative project, the interviewees weave the narrative, showing the reality of corporate governance emergence and its effectiveness in Poland.
