Volume 40 (2014): Edizione 1 (October 2014)

The article aims at analysis of knowledge-oriented growth of TNCs' foreign subsidiaries, their transformation and evolving participation in knowledge development by parent transnational corporations (TNCs). The author's concept of increasing involvement of foreign subsidiaries in leveraging knowledge in TNCs' organizations is presented with a focus on a new process of “creative transition” by corporate foreign subsidiaries and its implications for the parents and host economies. The research method is based on integration of concepts, elements and instruments used in international management and international business to investigate the evolution of the knowledge development process in TNCs' cross-border organizations.

The analysis of knowledge development and transfer in TNCs, and growth of their foreign subsidiaries as well as key factors of expanding their knowledge-oriented activities reveals the “creative transition” process which is underway in the subsidiaries. It leads to their increased participation in the knowledge development by TNCs and implies some results for parent firms and host economies. It is concluded that the knowledge-oriented activity of foreign subsidiaries can result in possible capturing valuable knowledge co-created by domestic entities what can imply weakening innovativeness and competitiveness of the host economies.

The problem of knowledge-oriented activity of TNCs' foreign subsidiaries and its domestic impacts has not been investigated in Polish publications yet. The article offers a conceptual basis for further theoretical and empirical research with a focus on impacts in a host economy resulting from the knowledge-oriented activity of TNCs' foreign subsidiaries and shows a necessity to work out a fair approach to sharing benefits of knowledge creation and utilization in the host economy.

The aim of this paper is to look at the extent and type of internationalization among Hungarian information technology (IT) small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the possible relationship between the degree of innovativeness and the internationalization of these companies. Information technologies play an important role in the Hungarian economy: this sector is one of the most R&D intensive industries in which many SMEs are active.

The paper reviews relevant theories of internationalization in research, development and innovation (RDI) to give a broader picture of the environment in which SMEs have to succeed. This is followed by a secondary data analysis to show the situation of the industry in Hungary, then by an analysis of the survey data and interviews designed specifically for the purpose of this research.

The new empirical results show that Hungarian IT SMEs are still at the beginning of the internationalization process: while aware of the advantages of collaborations and internationalization, they are still reluctant to venture out of their “safety zone” and therefore they collaborate only with their closest partners. Very few SMEs have decided to establish international RDI contacts.

The analysis suggests that the main barriers in internationalization of the Hungarian SMEs are due to lack of capital, appropriate managerial capabilities and innovation-friendly economic environment.

So far, most theories/empirical research have concentrated on the role and activities of multinational enterprises in the internationalization of RDI, while in the literature less relevant knowledge on SMEs is available. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this latter part of the literature by analyzing the international activities of innovative/R&D-intensive SMEs in Hungary.

The aim of the paper is to present the phenomenon of the new virtual currency bitcoin, and analyse its economic significance. The paper examines the origin, notion, functions and mechanism of emission of the BTC. The theoretical aspects of creation of the BTC and its advantages and weakness are also explained.

The results of the analysis show that bitcoin does not eliminate current problems of traditional currency but also generates new risks for its users. The risks could as well affect the central banks (the legal risk, the risk to payment system stability, and the reputation risk).

Three contributions of this paper to the problem of the BTC are worth distinguishing. Firstly, the scientific literature lacks information and data about the BTC - the main source of information is the Internet which reliability cannot be fully guaranteed. Secondly, periodical examination of development of the risk connected with the BTC is necessary. Thirdly, it is a basis to begin discussion on the new virtual currency which bitcoin is.

The article analyses the factors determining the vulnerability of the European countries to external shocks taking the example of the global 2008-2009 economic slowdown (also called the subprime crisis2) and its impact on economies in Europe. The particular attention is attached to factors related to the fundamentals of the economy, i.e. the GDP growth, fiscal and monetary stability and external stability. Attempting to level of the gap existing in the Polish literature in the empirical research on that problem, the hereby article also refers to wider problems of the macroeconomic factors enhancing economies' capabilities to meet the challenges of global crises and strengthening their competitiveness afterwards. The special attention in the paper was attached to the role of financial and trade openness.

In the empirical study we have assessed the macroeconomic “outside” of the crisis in the European economies and then we have run the regression model process to estimate the factors determining the exposure to those costs in cross-country perspective. The above mentioned macroeconomic costs are the relative falls (“gaps”) in GDP, i.e. the difference between the hypothetical GDP (resulting from the average mid-term trend) in 2008-2009 and actual GDP incurred in those two “crisis years”. In the regression model (crisis costs as the explained variable) we used the chosen data and indicators denoting the potential factors of the European countries' exposure to 2007-2009 crisis shock as explanatory variables.

As the calculation results show, the variables that contributed to higher 2008-2009 crisis effects in the European countries were among others: high unemployment and high real interest rates, considerable government sector debt before the crisis, high economic development level, high share of nonperforming credit portfolio and high share of equity in the banking sector's assets (signifying a relatively poorly developed banking system), as well as good quality of law. Greater costs of the 2007-2009 crisis were (on average) incurred by countries experiencing high inflation, rapid GDP growth (as compared to the other sample countries), and considerable share of investment in GDP before crisis, and the economies which were characterized by above-average industry concentration and high development of stock exchange and bank market. The study leads to a general conclusion that in case of the European countries, the recession only highlighted and enhanced many problems and unfavorable tendencies which had existed before.

The aim of the article is to assess how much rebalancing of the six eurozone troubled economies (Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus) was achieved since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007/2008, to what extent migrations were a mitigating factor on their labor markets and how much the troubled countries were assisted in their adjustment by other countries. The first part of the article shows an overall macroeconomic picture of the troubled economies' rebalancing together with a presentation of the etiology of the problem (i.e. accumulation of imbalances). The second part presents the role of migrations and the third part the role of the Eurosystem and international financial assistance in the rebalancing process. The research is based on comparing developments in selected indicators across countries. The conclusions are that the rebalancing in the troubled countries was either at most limited or actually their economies continued to fall out of balance (various indicators showing various developments make the situation ambiguous), migrations were either not much supportive for rebalancing of the troubled economies or they did not provide any dent to unemployment at all and that the troubled countries were provided with significant international assistance mainly in the form of the ECB policies causing the rise in the Target balances.

The financial crisis of 2007 revealed structural weaknesses in many European countries, particularly in Southern Europe. The goal of this article is to identify the existing economic situation in the four main Southern European countries: Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain (GIPS), and in Poland, conduct a comparative analysis of the development paths and competitiveness levels of these countries using statistical data as well as existing scientific literature, and finally to formulate suggestions for a new development path of Poland. The results of the analysis suggest that Poland's development is currently on a turning point, portraying many similarities to Southern European economies after their EU accession, as well as before the crisis. The authors come to a conclusion that unless Poland undertakes crucial reforms, particularly in the field of its innovation system, business environment, implementation of EU funds, and overall strategic long-term planning, it is inevitable that its economic growth will slow down, possibly falling into a middle-income trap. Poland might not avoid the same mistakes of GIPS, that failed to implement adequate reforms in times of economic growth, what today results in suffering from serious consequences. T is paper presents a unique view on the future economic development of Poland in relation to the paths already undertaken by Southern European economies.

The article aims at explaining how a small opened economy can effectively deal with a resource abundance problem. The thesis of the essay is a statement that Chile has been able to cope with the resource “outside” by developing proper institutions and diversifying the structure of its foreign trade. To verify the thesis, a literature review of theoretical recommendations how to utilize resource revenues without harming economy, as well as analyses of chosen macroeconomic variables were conducted. The possible solutions on how to deal with resource abundance problem are following: investing resource revenues outside of the economy, implementing fiscal rules that will stabilize budget revenues and prevent inflation from rising, and diversifying export in terms of product and geographical structure. Consequently, these solutions have been introduced in Chile, the world leading producer of copper, several years ago and proved to be very successful. Chile enjoys stable resource revenues despite the business cycle and performance of the copper market, while its real effective rate and export competitiveness has not been eroded. T is paper presents, according to author's knowledge, the first detailed case study analysis of the country from Latin America, that has been successfully dealing with the resource abundance problem over several decades.

With the use of the Polish Social Security's administrative data for the period 1999-2011, nonparametric and Cox models, the author assesses the role of the means-tested child-raising allowance in shaping an effective period for parental leave and the impact of parental leave duration on the subsequent (continued) job tenure.

The results suggest low income level (an eligibility criterion for child-raising allowance) loses any significant negative effect on the intensity of returning to a job as soon as the eligibility period for the allowance expires. Long periods of parental leave increase the intensity of transition to unemployment soon after the return to the interrupted job but they have only a minor impact on the intensity of transition to other jobs. The intensity of transition from the continued job to unemployment is also related to employment in the private/public sector, unemployment history and length of service.