American

Investor
OCTOBER 2010
Vol. XX, No. 7 • ISSN 1506-3240

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2010 www.amcham.com.pl

Running
out of time?
It will be a while, but the global
economic crisis, which so far has offered
more opportunities for Poland
than threats,will reach an end.
Now Poland needs the determination
to create a business-friendly
environment to be able to compete
with other countries as their potential
explodes in the post-crisis world.
The clock is ticking.

Lawyers and reforms, p. 20 Invest in women, p.24 Senior high fliers, p.28
AmCham online
American
Investor
OCTOBER 2010
what’s on
www.amcham.com.pl
Your online guide to AmCham activities
AmCham/KPMG report!
20 years of American Investment in
Poland is an executive survey pre-
pared by AmCham and KPMG to show
the impact of American companies on
the Polish economy. The report is
available for download at our website
in the Presentations & Reports sec-
tion, in both Polish and English.
Calendar
By clicking on red links in the Calen-
dar you may visit photo coverage of
our past events. Blue links will take
you to the announcements of upcom-
ing events.
Events
AmCham Monthly Meetings are one of
the flagship events organized by the
chamber. While American Investor cov-
ers each Monthly Meeting extensively
including full-page pictorials, you can
search through picture archives of
past events that include never previ-
ously printed material. Just go to
Events and Activities, pick Monthly
Meetings and scroll down for links to
archived events.
Regions
AmCham may be closer than you
think. Apart from Warsaw, AmCham
has two regional branches which are
active all year long and offer many ex-
citing opportunities to interface with
regional business leaders and politi-
cians. To find out more about our ac-
tivities in Kraków and the region of
southern Poland, and Wrocław, go to
Regions in the horizontal menu bar,
and pick your region of interest.
Policy Watch
Intelligence: For AmCham position
papers, policy statements, official let-
ters to government ministers and re-
search papers, visit the Advocacy link
on the horizontal menu to download
the latest AmCham position papers.
Other useful sites
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
http://www.uschamber.com
American Chamber of Commerce
in the European Union
http://www.amchameu.be
European Council of American
Chambers of Commerce
http://www.amchamseurope.com
COVER STORY:
Vol. XX, No. 7
Running out of time?
It will be a while, but the global
economic crisis—which so far
has offered more opportunities
for Poland than threats—will
reach an end. Now Poland
needs the determination to
create a business-friendly
environment to be able to
compete with other countries
as their potential explodes in
the post-crisis world. The
clock is ticking,
pages 12-17;
Leader of the pack: The Metropolitan Asso-
ciation of Upper Silesia should be a role model for local
and regional governments on how to build value for
both the community and external investors, page 18.
MONTHLY BREAKFAST MEETING
A lot of room for improvement With the application of high tech and modern manage-
ment solutions the Polish judiciary system is on track to boost effectiveness when it
comes to the time it takes to handle routine business. Yet it is the professional atttude of
judges that determines the system’s efficiency, p. 20
FOCUS
Invest in women Vital Voices brings American insight to Poland to shake up gender
stereotypes and release vast human and economic potential, p. 24
Technology and crisis Monika Pilarska, AmCham Kraków Director, talks to Ramón Tanc-
inco of Cisco Systems about trends in the telecom sector that have emerged as a result of
the economic crisis, p. 25
THE EXPERTS
Where is our property now? Although the current government pledged to tackle the
issue of property restitution, for the foreseeable future, at least, former owners and their
heirs will have to rely on the Polish courts to seek justice, p. 26
Looser reins on bank outsourcing Government works to liberalize rules of outsourcing
by banks, p. 27
Senior high fliers Creating a highly effective senior team is an art in itself. It requires in-
vestment but it pays off, p. 28
Payment makes the world go round New regulations for payment services will open the
way for different payment methods, but the new law will affect a wide range of busi-
nesses, p. 29
The true colors of mobbing Managers should be aware that mobbing goes well beyond
psychological pressures, p. 30
EVENTS
Minister of Justice Krzysztof Kwiatkowski was our guest speaker at the AmCham Monthly
Meeting in September, p. 31; Oktoberfest in Wrocław drew in the crowds, p. 32; AmCham
Conference in Katowice—Investing in Silesia, p. 34; AmCham Fall Business Mixer, p. 35
DEPARTMENTS
From the Editor, p. 2; From the Chairman, p. 5; Newsline, p. 6; Agenda, p. 9; Guide to
AmCham Committees, p. 10; Content summaries in Polish, p. 36
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 1
 IT
YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE EDITOR

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
A change of outlook
The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

Roman Rewald – Weil, Gotshal & Manges

I
Chairman n September the largest labor unions at Enea, a state-owned utility
Judith Y. Gliniecki – Wierzbowski Eversheds group that is to be partially privatized, made an official statement of their
Vice Chair
preferred strategic investor. They pointed to Kulczyk Investments, which
RichaRd lada – Telesto is bidding for a majority stake in the holding company, as the best candi-
Vice Chairman
date. The two remaining bidders, EDF and GDF Suez, both owned by the
PeteR kaY – KPMG Polska French government, raise national security concerns, the labor unions ar-

giants
Secretary
gued. In short, they said a Polish company is better-suited to run a utility
Stan PoPow – Finacorp group than a company owned by a foreign government. So this is the offi-
Treasurer
cial line, veiled in well-intended patriotism.
There is, however, a less statist line which plays a much more important
MEMBERS
role in the labor union’s argument.
After Kulczyk Investments acquired control over Browary Wielkopolskie,
Tony Housh Robert L. Koński the brewery group boosted both production and employment. Labor
APCO Worldwide Kulczyk Investments
unions talk to labor unions, and it is clear that the unions at Enea solicited
Joseph Wancer John Lynch
Bank BPH Lynka advice from the unions at Browary Wielkopolskie—this at least is hinted at
in press statements by Piotr Adamski, the leader of the Solidarity unions at
Paul Fogo Mac Raczkiewicz
Miller Canfield Ex officio Enea. In his view, Kulczyk Investments will assure that Enea implements a
good business strategy that will not require Enea to shed workers.
For a labor union to back an investor instead of going on strike to retain
the company’s status quo and win a favorable benefit package from the
SPONSORS company’s owner, the State Treasury, is remarkable indeed. But a mutual
understanding between employer and employees of what a company
should be—a profitable venture—is nothing new to AmCham-affiliated
companies, of which Kulczyk Investments is one. The global economic cri-
sis was a powerful stimulus for unions to learn that apart from their conflict-
ing interests with their employer, there is one overriding concern that unites
the two sides of the labor/management divide—that the company not be
closed or relocated to a place that offers much lower labor costs.
Last year at the AmCham Manufacturers’ Forum, an annual conference
devoted to the problems of member manufacturing companies in southern
Poland, speakers signaled that this budding awareness was being ex-
pressed by unions at their companies. It was union leaders, they said, who
carried that knowledge down the ranks of the union’s organizational struc-
ture, encouraging all members to cooperate more closely with manage-
ment to achieve higher work efficiency at their factory. In some cases
where group layoffs were unavoidable, it was the unions who did research
to minimize the social impact. They identified workers whose private eco- Giants for Giants
nomic status put them most at risk if they lost their jobs, such as single
Large IT systems in big applications
mothers or members of households with one partner already out of work.
This, beyond a doubt, is how labor unions prove their worth.
Interestingly enough, some speakers stressed that new employees at
their companies, young university graduates, tend not to join labor unions,
but prefer to talk to HR managers and approach their career prospects on
an individual basis. This may also signal a new trend displaying the prefer-
ences of Generation Y. A conference: Kraków, November 2010
Nevertheless, the Kulczyk Investments example and others like it among
AmCham-affiliated companies signal a remarkable shift in labor unions’ at-
titude towards private employers. One may only hope that the change of
outlook will spread among the workers at state-owned companies as well.

Tomasz Ćwiok

AmCham Auditor:

More information: www.itgiants.org

2 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
 YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE CHAIRMAN

American
Investor
Published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
tomaSz Ćwiok
Coalitions rise
tomasz.cwiok@amcham.com.pl

EDITOR-AT-LARGE
chRiStoPheR Smith
christopher.smith@neostrada.pl

T
AMCHAM STAFF
Dorota Dabrowski he end of the summer vacation has brought an increase in the activities of
Executive Director
director@amcham.com.pl
AmCham in Poland. Your chairman took a trip to the United States to speak at
Marzena Drela
the Polish Consulate on promotion of investment in Poland to a crowd of ap-
Deputy Director proximately 150 people. The appearance was made at the invitation of Polish Con-
marzena.drela@amcham.com.pl
sul General Ewa Juńczyk-Ziomecka, and it was well-organized by Consul Henryk
Anita Kowalska Sanecki and his staff in New York.
Events & Media Manager
anita.kowalska@amcham.com.pl This trip also gave me a chance to stop by Washington, D.C., to meet with Eric
Robert Kruszyna Stewart, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe at the U.S. Department of
Office Manager
robert.kruszyna@amcham.com.pl Commerce and now the creator and head of the newly established US Poland
Barbara Pocialik-Malinowska Business Council. USPB is a Washington-based organization
Membership and Committees Coordinator
barbara.pocialik@amcham.com.pl
of multinationals who have a presence in Poland and who in-
tend to further explore and deepen business relations be-
Marta Pawlak
Research and Policy Coordinator tween Poland and the U.S.
marta.pawlak@amcham.com.pl
At the outset, Eric and I agreed that UPBC and AmCham
Robert Chomik Poland should cooperate closely with UPBC focusing on
Project Assistant
robert.chomik@amcham.com.pl Washington. There are clearly many fields of common interest
AmCham in Kraków between our organizations. The most obvious is the recent
Monika Pilarska main topic for the business community in Poland: promotion
krakow@amcham.com.pl
of Poland in the U.S. as a place for investment and as a trad-
AmCham in Wrocław Roman Rewald ing partner for America.
Joanna Bensz AMCHAM CHAIRMAN
Some people in Warsaw who are very well acquainted with
amcham.wroclaw@pmg.pl
Washington D.C. ambiance maintain that promoting Poland in
the United States should be a piece of cake. I say that if this is the case, then why
AmCham Member to Member Printing
Q Invest Ltd
+48 22 424 6600
it is not being done? The AmCham Board of Directors through that the creation of
the Pro-Polska Coalition of several business organizations, has mounted a sub-
stantial effort to advocate to the Polish government the need to have Poland’s pro-
To contact AmCham motion better-organized. Therefore, we are extremely pleased to see some Ameri-
please write or call:
can companies’ effort to conduct promotion through UPBC. All in all, it looks like
ul. Emilii Plater 53, WFC
00-113 Warsaw our AmCham will be a staunch supporter of the activities of the new Council in
tel: +48 22 520 5999 Washington.
fax: +48 22 520 5998 On another point, I noted with great satisfaction that the idea of creating of
e-mail: office@amcham.com.pl
www.amcham.com.pl business organizations’ coalitions to pursue a common cause is spreading in
Poland. The most recent is the coalition of six organizations for limiting public
spending. Theis new coalition has posted a “tower clock” in Warsaw, on the Ce-
pelia building at the intersection of Al. Jerozolimskie and ul. Marszałkowska. In ad-
© American Chamber of Commerce
in Poland 2010. All rights reserved. dition to the effective promotion of concerns about the Polish financial system, the
new coalition promotes the concept of coalitions of business organizations, which
American Investor is the official publication we support greatly.
We’re all of the American Chamber of Commerce in
Poland. It is a voice for foreign investors and
So, as we look forward to another busy season for the American Chamber of
Commerce in Poland, we are very optimistic about the development of new instru-
in this the business community in Poland. The
magazine strives to keep our members and
ments to allow business to promote important social and economic causes.
together other readers up to date by following cham-
ber news and reporting on the leading
trends in business and policy.

letters to the editor should be e-mailed to

tomasz.cwiok@amcham.com.pl

OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 5

Newsline News from AmCham and its members
AmCham advocacy
In response to proposed changes from the
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, AmCham
sent a position paper to the ministry airing the
chamber’s concern about the ministry’s pro-
posal to freeze for two years the transfer of
pension contributions from the state-owned
Social Insurance Institution to the privately
owned open pension funds. AmCham com-
mented that participation in the open funds
should be voluntary, but their fees should be
lower. AmCham also said the ministry should
review the concept of long-term pension re-
form, as drafted in 1999, which cumulates em-
ployment contributions and capital-based re-
tirement plans of the Social Insurance Institu-
tion with contributions invested and reinvested
by the open funds. AmCham also argued that
the security aspects of the pension system, in-
cluding demographic and financial market
risks, should be diversified through a wider
range of instruments.
AmCham events
AmCham was one of the partners at the Invest
in Poland conference organized by the weekly
Warsaw Business Journal in cooperation with
the Polish Information and Foreign Investment
Agency (PAIiIZ). AmCham Vice Chair Judith Y.
Gliniecki (pictured above, far right, with Lars
Bosse from the German-Polish Chamber of In-
dustry and Commerce, third from left, Adam
Żołnowski from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and
Robert Seges, head of Team Services at PAI-
iIZ, far left), who spoke at the discussion panel
at the conference, underlined the main impedi-
ments to business development in Poland as
diagnosed by AmCham-affiliated companies.
Among other items, Gliniecki noted that short-
comings in the court system are a problem
now as bureaucracy slows down companies in
relatively simple enforcement of contract
claims. Gliniecki also said that the indecisive
and passive approach to business-related is-
sues on the part of the Polish administration,
which stems from the fear of being accused of
corruption, should change. Other participants
in the conference included representatives of
many foreign chambers of commerce in
Poland, including the German, British, Scandi-
navian, French, and Dutch chambers.
AmCham Board member Paul Fogo repre-
sented our organization at a conference on In-
6 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
vesting and Energy in Katowice, organized by
AmCham Kraków in cooperation with the City of
Katowice and the Association of Silesian Cities.
Fogo presented the impact of American compa-
nies on the Polish economy in 1990-2010, with
special attention to the intricacies of foreign di-
rect investment in Poland. A huge part of Polish
FDI is classified as originating in the Nether-
lands, which in truth is often merely a transition
point for American investors because of its fa-
vorable financial regulations.
In other events, AmCham Wrocław was one of
the organizers of the 7th annual International
Oktoberfest on September 16, drawing 700
people from business, diplomacy and govern-
ment to the Arsenal courtyard in Wrocław. The
high attendance proves that this initiative by in-
ternational chambers of commerce has be-
come one of the most significant business
events of the year in the city and region. Hon-
orary guests included Rafał Dutkiewicz, Mayor
of Wrocław, Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, Deputy
Governor of Lower Silesia Province, and Grze-
gorz Roman, a board member of the Marshal’s
Office of Lower Silesia Province. As always, the
event attracted numerous members of the
diplomatic corps, including Irish Ambassador
Eugene Hutchinson, Bernhard Brasack, Ger-
man Consul General in Wrocław, and David
Warner, U.S. Economic and Political Consul in
Kraków. The organizers of this annual event in-
clude AmCham, the British Polish Chamber of
Commerce, and the Polish-German Chamber of
Industry and Commerce. The honorary patron
is the representative of the Free State of
Bavaria. This year’s partners included the
Dutch, Scandinavian, Irish, Belgian, Portuguese
and Spanish chambers of commerce in Poland.
The goal of the event is to bring together high
and mid-level managers from companies who
are members of chambers, along with their
clients, business partners and other congenial
business folk in Lower Silesia.
Also through the Wrocław chapter, AmCham
organized a panel discussion on corporate so-
cial responsibility in Poland. The main aim of
the meeting was to consider the status of CSR
and its prospects for development, with a par-
ticular focus on the experience of American
companies, who are recognized as the world
leaders in this area. The organizers also made
sure to provide participants a unique platform
for information sharing. The meeting attracted
mainly managers representing American in-
vestors in Wrocław and Lower Silesia. AmCham
Executive Director Dorota Dabrowski opened
the meeting, which was hosted by Pricewater-
houseCoopers at their Wrocław office.
AmCham & the media
Photo: Marta Pawlak
AmCham scored major media coverage in Sep-
tember, in print and on the air. AmCham Chair-
man Roman Rewald (pictured above) took part
in the panel discussion at the Krynica Eco-
nomic Forum 2010 devoted to the impact of
shale gas exploration on energy markets world-
wide, explaining that the U.S. is furthering
transatlantic relations by helping Poland de-
velop tools for energy generation by exploring
shale gas and developing its nuclear power po-
tential. Rewald said that the development of en-
ergy resources is a solid foundation on which to
build transatlantic relations today, because of
the increasing demand for energy worldwide.
He said that the significant push from the U.S.
government on technology transfer to Poland is
twofold, focusing on shale gas processing ca-
pacity, with nuclear power to supplement it.
This is in line with the views of most analysts,
who say that shale gas alone will not be
enough to meet Europe’s future energy de-
mands. Other panelists included Tomasz Chal
from the Sobieski Institute, a think-tank, Guy
Lewis from the Gas Technology Institute in the
U.S., and Brian Horsfield from the German
Earth Sciences Institute. The panel was moder-
ated by Paweł Poprawa from the Polish Geo-
logical Institute.
Print exposure included two publications fea-
turing Rewald, in the daily Dziennik Gazeta
Prawna and the business monthly Nowy Prze-
mysł (spread pictured). For Dziennik Gazeta
Prawna Rewald contributed an opinion piece
about the government’s privatization program,
one of a series of op-ed pieces contributed by
Polish business leaders. Rewald said that the
FLASH
BACK
From the pages of American Investor
SEPTEMBER 2000
government should not get involved in running
companies, even those with strategic impor-
tance for Poland’s economy. Rewald noted that
in the U.S. there is an act which prevents the
government from taking stock in such compa-
nies, yet allows it to stop transactions that it
views as a threat to national economic security.
In a three-page interview for Nowy Przemysł,
Rewald said that free-market competition is the
best agent for boosting economic efficiency.
With natural impediments to economic effi-
ciency across the E.U. stemming from its rela-
tively low level of integration, E.U. countries
should make their economies more restriction-
free in order to compete with the U.S. economy.
He also said that government should devise a
coherent strategy for promoting Poland.
Baker & McKenzie
Law firm Baker & McKenzie generated revenue
of USD 2.104 billion worldwide in fiscal year
2010, which ended on June 30. The result
means a 0.4% drop from 2009, but profit per
partner for 2010 was nearly USD 1.2 million, up
13%. “Our clients’ reaction to our value-added
services are promising,” said Baker & McKenzie
chairman John Conroy. “We do our best so
our practice and our people keep pace with the
changing needs and expectations of our
clients.”
Boeing
Boeing has begun fatigue testing on the struc-
tural airframe of the 787 Dreamliner at a site in
Everett, Washington (pictured). Fatigue testing
involves placing the 787 test airframe into a test
rig that simulates multiple lifecycles to test how
the airplane responds over time. “Unlike static
tests, where loads are applied to the airplane
structure to simulate both normal operation and
extreme flight conditions, fatigue testing is a
much longer process,” said Jim Ogonowski,
Structures Vice President at Boeing Commer-
cial Airplanes. “The process simulates up to
three times the number of flight cycles an air-
plane is likely to experience during a lifetime of
service.” While the structural test program has
already validated the strength of the airframe,
fatigue testing looks at long-term, continued
use. This is the natural progression of testing
on a new airplane and part of the process to
achieve U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
certification.
“Civic Platform and Law & Justice could capture the political support neces-
sary to actually dare to change this country. The expected 60% turnout con-
firms the notion that people are ready for and want change. The question re-
mains, will they want to take the political risk?”
RoBERT KońSKI, AMCHAM BoARD MEMBER
CB Richard Ellis InterContinental Warsaw
The Polish office markets have entered an up- A recent addition to the map of Warsaw’s
ward cycle, according to CBRE Research. The hippest landmarks for elegant dining, Platter by
total volume of leasing transactions in the first
half of 2010 was about 223,000 sq. m., close to
Karol Okrasa Restaurant, opened its door on
September 1. Executive chef Karol Okrasa
the total for 2009. This increasing trend has brings flavors from his childhood to the plate,
been observed since the first quarter of 2009 combined with his food experience gained dur-
and is expected to continue into 2011, with ing many culinary journeys around the world.
take-up expected to return to 2008 levels. While Platter is the first Author’s Cuisine project in
the average size of deals is around 1,000 sq.
m., the market is dominated by smaller deals.
According to CB Richard Ellis Research,
Members on the move
prime headline rents in Warsaw have stabilized
at around EUR 23 per sq. m. per month in the
city center. In non-central locations the headline CMS Cameron McKenna
rents for the best projects are EUR 15–16. Ef-
Beata Barwińska
fective rents are generally 15–20% lower, as has joined CMS
tenants may still count on incentives offered by McKenna’s Warsaw
landlords. Typical incentives include rent-free office as of counsel.
periods and landlords’ contribution to fit-out Barwińska is a mem-
ber of the Corporate
and other capital costs. Transactions and Cor-
porate Law Depart-
Cisco Systems ment, where she pro-
IT specialist Cisco Systems will double its Cisco
vides legal advice to
CMS clients on securi-
tization transactions, capital markets and debt se-
Networking Academy programs to cover 201
curities, as well as M&A and private equity. Her
schools throughout Poland in the 2010/2011
clients include major securitization funds and pri-
school year. The program includes workshops vate equity funds, investment funds, domestic
on IT essentials, such as hardware and soft- and foreign bond issuers and finance arrangers,
ware. Most of the new schools included in the as well as leading Polish and foreign companies
and capital groups.
program are in towns with a population below
50,000. “High-school students are in need of
workshops using modern educational methods Łaszczuk & Partners
which trigger students into further education Justyna Szpara has
and career planning in the information technol- become the managing
ogy sector,” said Anna Czacharowska-Ry- partner of Łaszczuk &
Partners law firm.
bkowska, program coordinator for Cisco Sys-
Szpara began her ca-
tems. “This is especially important to students
reer with Łaszczuk &
in mid-sized towns where the Cisco program Partners in 1999 and
helps them bridge the education gap and boost became a partner in
their chances for finding jobs after graduation.” 2005. She specializes
in litigation and arbitra-
tion, real estate and
Hewlett-Packard tax law. She heads the
firm’s real estate practice group and, together
HP has won a prestigious 2010 Green Enter-
with Maciej Łaszczuk, co-heads the dispute reso-
prise IT Award from the Uptime Institute. The lution practice group. Szpara is listed as an arbi-
awards showcase organizations pioneering en- trator by the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Con-
ergy-efficiency improvements in their IT and federation of Private Employers Lewiatan. She is a
data center operations or providing technology member of the board of the Polish Arbitration As-
sociation and vice president of the Real Estate
that can significantly reduce energy consump-
Law Commission of the International Association
tion.
of Young Lawyers.
HP was recognized as the winner in the Data
Center Design category for its Wynyard facility
Advocate Agnieszka
in the U.K. Commissioned in September 2009, Wolińska has joined
the data center uses a large quantity of fresh air the Łaszczuk & Part-
supplied by fans through high-efficiency filters ners law firm. Wolińska
is a 2005 graduate of
to reduce the energy required for cooling. The
the Faculty of Law and
building features an energy-efficient and sus-
Administration at Marie
tainable design that incorporates recycled ma- Curie-Skłodowska Uni-
terials as well as harvested rainwater. versity in Lublin. She
“HP has a distinguished history of improving completed post-gradu-
ate work in Polish and
data center energy efficiency and providing
European corporate
stewardship of the environment,” said Ed Ket-
law at the Warsaw
tler, an HP Fellow and strategist in the Green IT School of Economics in 2006 and in public pro-
organization at HP. “We are honored that the curement at the University of Warsaw in 2009. She
Uptime Institute has recognized HP for the de- was admitted to the practice of law as an advo-
cate in Warsaw in July 2010. She is also working
sign excellence that can be found throughout
on a Ph.D. at the Institute of Legal Studies of the
the Wynyard facility.”
Polish Academy of Sciences.
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 7
Newsline
News from AmCham and its members
Poland, where the menu will be changed sea-
sonally. The restaurant is in the InterContinental
Warsaw hotel. Okrasa (pictured) is one of the
most celebrated Polish chefs. Since 2001 he has
been the host of a cooking show on Polish televi-
sion channel TVP1. He is the author of Cook with
Okrasa, which features 105 of his original
recipes. Okrasa is also a co-founder of the Chefs
Club Fund, an elite organization for top Polish
chefs.
Kulczyk Investments
Kulczyk Oil Ventures, a subsidiary of Kulczyk In-
vestments, announced that MENA Hydrocar-
bons (Syria) has agreed to participate with Kul-
czyk Oil in the exploration of Syria Block 9.
Under the terms of an agreement with Loon
Latakia Ltd, a Kulczyk subsidiary, MENA will ac-
quire an 30% interest in Block 9 by sharing costs
and liabilities already incurred in the project and
committing to funding part of the future costs for
drilling the first exploratory well.
Kulczyk Oil CEO Tim Elliott said, “We are very
pleased that a management and technical team
with extensive experience in the region has rec-
ognized the potential of Syria Block 9 and
agreed to move forward in partnership with us.”
MENA is a private international company with
a focus on the Middle East and North Africa.
Łaszczuk & Partners
Law firm Łaszczuk & Partners has launched an
English version of its Internet portal devoted to
arbitration. The Polish version went online earlier
this year. This comprehensive information source
on arbitration is now available in English at
www.arbitration.pl, alongside the existing arbi-
traz.laszczuk.pl. The website highlights Polish,
foreign and international arbitration legislation, a
collection of judicial decisions of Polish and E.U.
courts, a bibliography of Polish arbitration
sources, and access to other interesting publica-
8 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
tions on arbitration. Users may also find informa-
tion on upcoming conferences, publications,
legal changes and other important news.
The English-language website currently fea-
tures abstracts of more than 50 arbitration-re-
lated rulings of the Polish Supreme Court and
lower courts, as well as the European Court of
Justice, and the database is constantly being ex-
panded. The website also contains translations
of a unique collection of arbitration case law from
before World War II.
The website offers a search engine linked to a
bibliography of hundreds of Polish books and ar-
ticles about arbitration dating back to 1918, with
titles available in both languages. In addition to a
database of foreign and international arbitration
legislation, international users may also find a full
set of Polish arbitration legislation translated into
English.
Panattoni
Industrial property developer Panattoni Europe
has commenced construction of an additional
11,400 sq. m. of warehouse space for pharma-
ceutical group Neuca. The new built-to-suit ware-
house is under construction at Panattoni Park
Poznań (pictured). The park is a 154,000 sq. m.
distribution centre with four buildings, along the
S11 expressway, 13 km from the center of Poz-
nań. Construction of a 30,000 sq. m. warehouse
for retailer H&M is also underway at the park.
H&M leases a total of 84,000 sq. m. at the park.
ProLogis
ProLogis, a global provider of distribution facili-
ties, has leased 15,800 sq. m. at ProLogis Park
Janki (pictured) to No Limit and Euro-net, which
already have established operations at Janki.
With these transactions, ProLogis Park Janki is
now 95% let, with only one unit of 3,500 sq. m.
still available.
Sheraton Warsaw
The SomePlace Else restaurant at the Shera-
ton Warsaw has reopened with a completely
redesigned interior (pictured) and a new
sound system from Electro Voice. Chef Artur
Grajbek continues to serve top-quality food,
including Oriental burgers, fusion sandwiches
and steaks. One of the items is crocodile steak
with risotto and pepper sauce.
New Members
Amway Business Center Europe has joined
AmCham. The company is represented in Poland
by Przemysław Siuda, general manager, available
at (+48) 12 379-5517. The company’s headquar-
ters are in the Kraków Business Park in Zabierzów,
near Kraków. The company’s website is
www.amway.com.
CA Technologies, an information technology and
software specialist, has joined AmCham. The com-
pany is based at the Warsaw Financial Center.
Michał Furman, industry solutions director, is avail-
able at (+48) 22 528-6741. The company’s website
is www.ca.com.
The Conference Board, Inc., a specialist in ed-
ucation and training, has joined AmCham. Michał
Zdziarski, general director for Poland, can be con-
tacted at (+48) 22 629-4891. The company’s Polish
operations are based in Warsaw. Its website is
www.conference-board.org.
Real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield
Polska has joined AmCham. Its office is in the
Metropolitan Building in Warsaw. Richard Petersen,
managing partner, can be contacted at (+48) 22
820-2020. The company’s website is www.cush-
manwakefield.com.
IT services specialist Direct Communication has
become an AmCham member. The company is
based in Warsaw. Angelo J. Pressello, managing
director, can be reached at (+48) 22 860-0101. The
company’s website is www.dir.com.pl.
Marathon Petroleum Poland, an oil and gas ex-
ploration company, has joined AmCham. The com-
pany is based in Warsaw. Director Carl R.
Hubacher may be contacted at (+48) 22 222-1650.
The company’s website is www.marathonoil.com.
Mattel Poland, producer and distributor of toys,
including such brands as Barbie and Hot Wheels,
has joined AmCham. Mattel’s Polish office is in
Warsaw. Sanjay Luthra, country manager, may be
contacted at (+48) 22 210-8000. Mattel’s website
is www.mattel.com.
Agenda
Intelligence from AmCham and its committees
Telecom Committee
Prepaid users who come out of hiding will receive new protections
One size fits all
The new Telecommunications Law seeks to give mobile pay-as-you-go con-
sumers the same rights as users with a fixed subscription—but at the cost of
the prepaid user’s anonymity.
P
oland’s Telecommunications Law has
been amended several times in the last
few years. The most recent changes,
which came into force in July this year, intro-
duced some far-reaching consequences for
companies dealing with retail customers. Ac-
cording to Dr. Maciej Rogalski, head of the
legal department at mobile phone operator
PTC Sp. z o.o. and vice-president of the Polish
Chamber of Information Technology and
Telecommunications, who met with the Am-
Cham Telecom Committee in September, the
main purpose of the amendment is to ensure
equal rights to all customers using telecom
services, whether or not they have a fixed con-
tract with the service provider. The new defini-
tion of “subscriber,” based on a judgment of
the European Court of Justice in January
2009, now covers prepaid users as well as
those with a fixed contract.
“According to the European Commission,”
Rogalski explained, “to the extent that Polish
regulations provided that a ‘subscriber’ for
purposes of the Framework Directive may only
be an individual who concludes a written con-
tract, they do not meet the requirements of the
directive and deprive individuals who failed to
conclude a contract in such form of specific
rights conferred upon them under the Elec-
tronic Communications Directive.”
The impact of the new approach is huge.
Among other measures, Rogalski noted that
unlike before, telecom operators will have to
inform pre-paid users about changes in the
terms and conditions for the service. Once
properly registered with the service provider, a
prepaid user will have the right to access fea-
HOT DATE
Oct.23.10
Event: AmCham 20th Anniversary "Marilyn
Monroe" Ball & AmCham Awards Ceremony
Place: Marriott Warsaw
Time: 7:00 P.M.
tures not available before, such as itemized terms.
charges, price lists and other pricing informa- A change that should sharpen competition
tion. is free number portability between operators.
Implementation of the amended Telecom- Rogalski noted that the national telecom
munications Law is already having an impact regulator (in Poland, the Office of Electronic
on various aspects of the telecom business, Communications) can impose fines on phone
including legal, marketing, sales and service. companies that fail to implement the new reg-
For example, prepaid users will now be enti- ulations properly. “Of course,” he added,
tled to be listed in the public directory of sub- “these new regulations create new costs for
scribers and to receive non-itemized invoices. telecom operators.”
They will have an option to disable caller ID
and reject incoming calls with a free and easy-
to-use service. They will also be able to block
automatic call-forwarding by a third party to
the subscriber’s terminal.
Mark your calendar
The new act imposes some new responsi-
bilities on subscribers as well. In order to be
OCTOBER 23, 2010
Time: 7:00 P.M.
listed in the public phone directory, they must Place: Marriott Warsaw
give the service provider their name, identifica- Event: AmCham 20th anniversary "Marilyn
tion number (PESEL number or ID card num- Monroe" Ball & AmCham Awards Ceremony
ber) and their mailing address.
Subscribers who are not private individuals NOVEMBER 2010
will have to provide their name, statistical reg-
Time: To be announced
Place: Kraków
istration number (REGON) or tax number Event: IT Giants - AmCham Conference on
(NIP), but they can only be listed if they have IT and business; more www.itgiants.org
been entered in the National Court Register or
local business register in Poland, or a compa- NOVEMBER 3, 2010
rable register in another E.U. member state. Time: 7:30 A.M.
They must also provide their business ad- Place: InterContinental Warsaw
dress. Event: AmCham Monthly Meeting
With the new law already in force, telecom DECEMBER 7, 2010
operators will have to prepare new customer Time: 5:30 P.M.
Place: Marriott Warsaw
regulations for prepaid users. They are now
Event: AmCham General Meeting and
under an obligation to provide public notice of
Board election
service modifications affecting prepaid sub-
scribers, and to give users an option to cancel For updates on our events visit:
the service if they do not accept the new www.amcham.com.pl
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 9
AMCHAM: Guide to Committees

For the most recent information about the work of AmCham Committees, and upcoming events: www.amcham.com.pl

Agri & Food European Union Affairs Pharmaceutical

www.amcham.com.pl/agri_food
Mission: To provide a plat-
form for discussing and
solving issues and identify-
ing opportunities for com-
panies in the agricultural
and food sector by creat-
ing a base for dialogue and expertise leveraged
among producers, sector professionals, experts and
decision-makers. Co-chairs: Andrzej Pawelczak,
Animex; Maciej Łubieński, Universal Leaf Tobacco
Poland.
Consumer Products
www.amcham.com.pl/consumer
Mission: to provide a
forum to share knowl-
edge and exchange ex-
perience in all areas
common and relevant to
manufacturers and dis-
tributors of goods. Co-Chairs: Małgorzata Surdek,
CMS Cameron McKenna; Agnieszka
Dzięgielewska-Jończyk, HP Polska.
Corporate Social Responsibility
www.amcham.com.pl/csr
Mission: To encourage and
facilitate responsible busi-
ness practices among Am-
Cham members to support
them to improve the quality
and effectiveness of their
CSR programs. Co-Chairs: Wojciech Arszewski,
UPS Polska; Anna Jawor, IBM Polska.
Defense & Security
www.amcham.com.pl/defense
Mission: To serve as a plat-
form for defense industry is-
sues and exchange relevant
information. The committee
creates a networking forum
and fosters a positive work-
ing relationship with the government and people of
Poland. Co-Chairs: Leda Zilinskas, Raytheon Inter-
national; Paul Zalucky.
www.amcham.com.pl/eu
Mission: To provide
members with relevant
information on E.U. re-
lated issues, including
E.U. funds, and to repre-
sent American investors
before the Commission and the Polish govern-
ment. Co-Chairs: Magdalena Burnat Mikosz, De-
loitte; Jerzy Thieme.
Financial Services
www.amcham.com.pl/financial
Mission: The Financial
Services Committee aims
to identify and promote is-
sues related to and in sup-
port of the financial serv-
ices sector, as well as to
provide a forum for dialogue among sector profes-
sionals and decision-makers in government. Co-
Chairs: Andrew Hope; Adam Michon, MetLife.
Health
www.amcham.com.pl/health
Mission: To provide a
united forum for U.S. com-
panies to share their ex-
pertise on the healthcare
system and exchange
knowledge and experience
with national counterparts, contribute to the positive
developments in the sector and promote the U.S. ex-
perience and capital while establishing the best con-
ditions and opportunities for investments.Co-Chairs:
Elisabeth Asirifi, IBM Polska; Jolanta Chlebicka-Do-
miniak, Johnson & Johnson.
Infrastructure
www.amcham.com.pl/infrastructure
Mission: To discuss is-
sues of the development
of infrastructure; to pro-
mote infrastructure solu-
tions for cooperation be-
tween private and public
partners. Co-Chairs: Krzysztof Wierzbowski,
Wierzbowski Eversheds; Andrew C. Kapusto,
Raytheon Homeland Security.
www.amcham.com.pl/pharmaceutical
Mission: To discuss and
identify common interests
and exchange information re-
garding Poland’s pharmaceu-
tical market; to act as a repre-
sentative body and collective
voice of pharmaceutical companies before governmen-
tal institutions. Co-Chairs: Peter Koetsier, Bristol-Myers
Squibb Polska; Roberto Servi, Eli Lilly Polska.
Political Discussion Forum
www.amcham.com.pl/pdf
Mission: To build relation-
ships with key players in
Polish politics, regardless of
whether within the govern-
ment or not, in small groups
and in private settings, to
serve as a vehicle into the
world of Polish politics behind official curtains. Co-
chairs: Richard Knauff; Marek Matraszek, CEC Govern-
ment Relations.
Real Estate Committee
www.amcham.com.pl/real_estate
Mission: To discuss issues regarding the
complexities of the real estate market in
Poland, and exchange information. To be
an educational and networking forum for
members and to lobby and influence leg-
islative departments of the Polish govern-
ment.Chair: Halina Więckowska, K & L Gates.
Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises
www.amcham.com.pl/sme
Mission: To provide a forum
for exchange of ideas/best
practices to improve the per-
formance of SMEs; to iden-
tify and promote solutions to
facilitate and support the
managerial and operational
efforts of SMEs through educational, networking or lob-
bying efforts that leverage the resources and knowl-
edge of AmCham and its membership. Co-Chairs:
Alain Bobet; Cezary Krasodomski, Cisco Systems.

Employee & Labor Relations Intellectual Property Rights

www.amcham.com.pl/ipr Tax
www.amcham.com.pl/labor Mission: To advocate for www.amcham.com.pl/tax
Mission: To create an infor- IPR protection and provide Mission: To provide a platform
mation exchange forum of leadership that will bring for identifying tax issues and
together interested part- create an educational forum to
HR professionals and so-
ners; to share information keep AmCham members in-
cial policy experts from
with decision-makers and formed on current and up-
multinational and local law enforcement. The police, judiciary, prosecu- coming legislation. To create a
companies to share, dis- tors, customs officials, legislators and journalists network to share information, comments and best prac-
cuss and learn about the latest trends in HR man- are among the target groups, while the curriculum tices. To lobby decision-makers in the government.
agement and collectively influence local policy and of law schools should have more emphasis on IPR. Co-Chairs: Peter Kay, KPMG; Piotr Bartuzi, Bank BPH.
decision-makers for modern solutions in labor leg- Co-Chairs: Agnieszka Wyszyńska-Szulc, Philip Mor-
islation. Co-Chairs: Jolanta Jaworska, IBM Poland; ris; Anna Lasocka, Łaszczuk & Partners.
Peter Strupp, United Business Development.
Telecom
Outsourcing/High Tech www.amcham.com.pl/telecom
Environment & Energy www.amcham.com.pl/outsourcing
www.amcham.com.pl/environmental Mission: To create a platform
Mission: To provide a plat- under the AmCham umbrella
Mission: To help members form for discussing, identi- for the exchange of mem-
develop their environmental fying and addressing com- bers’ ideas and views on
and renewable energy busi- mon SSC/BPO issues re- trends in the telecommunica-
ness and help learn about, lated to high tech opera- tions sector in Poland; to take
identify and overcome any tions; to maintain contact steps to influence decision-makers in telecommunica-
difficulties connected with with local authorities, educational and governmental tions legislation, policy and practice; to promote inno-
environmental laws, and develop a discussion forum institutions to present a unified business perspective vative trends in telecommunications; to modernize
among members about environmental issues and and to suggest ways of possible cooperation. To communications technology for business and the aver-
maintain contacts with Polish authorities responsible identify the possibilities/areas of state assistance, to age Polish consumer. Co-Chairs: Jarosław
for making and implementing environmental policies. share experience and leverage knowledge. Co- Roszkowski, Crowley Data Poland; Krzysztof Stefano-
Co-Chairs: Adam de Sola Pool, Jerzy Chlebowski, Mit- Chairs: Ramón A. Tancinco II, Cisco Systems wicz, Salans.
subishi. Poland; Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge.

10 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010


Running out
of time?
It will be a while, but the global eco-
nomic crisis—which so far has offered
more opportunities for Poland than
threats—will reach an end. Now
Poland needs the determination to
create a business-friendly environment
to be able to compete with other
countries as their potential explodes
in the post-crisis world.
The clock is ticking.
T
hanks to the global economic crisis
Poland cut its distance behind the
most developed countries in terms
of their attractiveness to investors, accord-
ing to the Global Competitiveness Report
2010/2011 issued by the World Economic
Forum this year.
Poland made what may be viewed as a
spectacular jump, from 46th in the previ-
ous edition of the report (2009/2010) to
39th in the current one. It was the second
consecutive time that Poland made a jump
of 7 positions, something no other country
from Central & Eastern Europe has man-
aged to achieve. This remarkable and ro-
bust performance in the ranking under-
lines Poland’s resistance to the negative ef-
fects of the global economic crisis, say the
authors of the report.
The report measures countries’ per-
formance in 111 categories, such as the
level of public charges, including various
different taxes that companies are subject
to in each country, through infrastructural
development, to such social aspects as the
crime rate and life expectancy.
The report reveals that when it comes to
business attractiveness, the largest leap
Poland made since 2009 was in the cate-
gory of infrastructure—up over 50 posi-
tions. There was nearly as great a jump for
Poland’s financial markets. When it comes
to the overall macroeconomic environment,
Poland improved its 2009 standing by
nearly 20 positions. “Poland was the only
European economy to register positive
growth in 2009,” the authors wrote. “The
country displays fairly even performance
across all 12 pillars of competitiveness. No-
table strengths include its large market
size (21st) and high educational standards,
in particular its high enrollment rates
(18th). The financial sector is well devel-
oped (32nd), and the increased confidence
in the banking sector (18th) has con-
tributed to Poland’s very good performance
over the past years.”
The downsides of Poland’s attractive-
ness to investors were not glossed over:
“Maintaining its improved position will ne-
cessitate significant upgrading of transport
infrastructure, which lags behind interna-
tional standards by a significant margin,
ranked 108th. The quality of roads in
Poland is particularly poor. And although
its institutional framework has improved
significantly this year, the business sector
remains very critical of the efficiency of the
government (103rd). As Poland transitions
to the innovation-driven stage of develop-
ment, it will have to focus more strongly on
developing capacities in innovation and
business sophistication. Stronger clusters,
more R&D orientation of companies, and
intensified collaboration between universi-
ties and the private sector would help the
country to move toward a more future-ori-
ented development path.”
COVER STORY: Poland’s competitive edge for business
Innovativeness – who cares?
Innovativeness, or the lack thereof in driving
Poland’s economy forward, was on the
agenda at a panel discussion devoted to best
world practices in promoting innovative
thinking in the economy, organized as part of
the Krynica Economic Forum 2010. The
panelists, whose discussion was facilitated by
Magdalena Burnat-Mikosz, a partner at con-
sulting company Deloitte, not only diagnosed
the problems but proposed solutions.
According to Prof. Michał Kleiber, presi-
dent of the Polish Academy of Sciences, there
will not be any boost in innovativeness unless
the law encourages and rewards businesses
for developing innovative solutions and ap-
plying them.
The need for change is reflected in the
cultural attitude to innovation as such. Senior
citizens tend to disregard the benefits of in-
novative technology in their lives. “Not only
companies but our society should learn how
to appreciate innovativeness,” Kleiber said. “I
dream of a snobbery for innovation. I dream
of tech-savvy people of all ages standing in
long lines to lay their hands on the newest
gadgets.” Kleiber added that at present, not
knowing how to use a mobile phone is re-
garded almost as a virtue among some sen-
iors.
Another panelist, Finnish Ambassador
Vesa Himanen, agreed, and mentioned some
of the Finnish experiences in this respect. He
said that Finland focused so much on the im-
portance of innovation in boosting the quality
of life that a civic movement emerged to sup-
port innovative thinking in every aspect of
life. “The Finns are still not happy about
their achievements, however,” Himanen said.
“The speed with which innovative solutions
are implemented is for them too slow.”
A disregard for innovation is shared by
Poland’s government and lawmakers. The
country has no strategy for promoting inno-
vation in the economy and it lack one central
agency to coordinate it. Polish law, in turn,
does not provide room for innovative develop-
ment. “Bills that are passed neither address
innovations nor support it,” Kleiber said,
noting that the laws are written in Poland as
if innovativeness did not exist.
Kleiber noted that the system of govern-
ment grants and other forms of public aid for
R&D and innovation has not delivered in
Poland. No major innovation that would find
a wide commercial application has emerged
under the system here. According to Kleiber,
instead of grants, the government should
offer tax incentives that entrepreneurs can
tap into when investing in the production of
innovative products, instead of waiting for
state aid which may come many years after
the investment process has been accom-
plished.
Another panelist, David Cobb, a Deloitte
partner in the U.K. and Global Leader for
R&D and Government Incentives, said that
there is no single golden rule for how to han-
dle investment in innovation by the state so
that it is optimally calibrated for success.
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 13
COVER STORY: Poland’s competitive edge for business

Cobb did say, however, that there are some
tools government can use to stimulate the
growth of an innovation-based economy
which have proven effective in real life. “A
system of tax incentives aimed at stimulating
the growth of innovativeness should pay
bonuses to those who invest in innovative re-
search on the one hand, and on the other
hand, encourage investors to invest in the
production of innovative products,” Cobb
said. He noted that in the U.K., a country
with a long history of legislation aimed at en-
couraging innovation, no suit-all solution has
been developed. “Poland, however, should be
willing to resort to such solutions that work
in other countries.”
According to Ambassador Himanen, the
Finnish successes in implementing innova-
tion into the economy were possible thanks
to tight cooperation within the triangle of the
state, business and science. Himanen said
that if a study of innovation is aimed at boost-
ing work efficiency in a given sector of the
economy, the state should support it because
it is in the vital public interest.
Concluding the panel, all speakers agreed
that in order for Poland to enhance its busi-
ness environment around an innovation-
based economy, the government should re-
place grants with tax incentives for investors
in innovative technologies, formulate public
procurement to boost the innovative econ-
omy, and establish one government agency in
charge of supporting the innovative economy.
Poland, they said, should also implement so-
lutions for boosting the innovative economy
developed by other countries. With this, the
state should encourage tighter cooperation
between business and academia.
the human factor
With a dilapidated road system (as noted by
the WEF report) and no proper laws or state
infrastructure to support an innovative ap-
proach to the economy, it seems that the
driving force behind Poland’s economic de-
velopment is the unprecedented determina-
tion of entrepreneurs in their quest for busi-
ness success, whether the actual conditions
such as regulations and practices are busi-
ness-friendly or not. Deprived of a structural
base, this drive comes in waves, but so far the
tide has been riding high.
A recent Employment Outlook Survey by
HR specialist Manpower seems to support
this view. It indicates that although the hiring
pace is slowing, Polish employers still indi-
cate confidence and forecast opportunities
for job seekers in the fourth quarter of 2010.
According to the current edition of the
quarterly survey, 19% of Polish employers an-
ticipate adding to their workforce in 4Q 2010
and 8% plan to reduce their workforce, while
71% of employers predict no change. As ex-
plained by Iwona Janas, country manager for
Manpower Poland, “The Manpower Employ-
ment Outlook Survey reveals a slight slow-
down of the local labor market in the fourth
quarter of 2010. Employers in two industry
sectors in particular—public & social and
manufacturing—report considerably
stronger optimism in comparison to last year.
In fact, the forecast for the public & social
sector is the most optimistic reported by em-
ployers since the survey started.”
Janas added that optimism among Polish
employers remains strong in comparison
with the 17 other countries surveyed in Eu-
rope.
Polish employers in all 10 industry sectors
forecast positive headcount growth in the
fourth quarter of 2010. The most active hir-
ing pace is anticipated in the public & social
sector, where employers report a net employ-
ment outlook of +30%. Job seekers in the
manufacturing sector are expected to enjoy a
positive hiring climate, with employers re-
porting an outlook of +20%. Steady head-
count growth is also expected in the con-
struction sector, where the outlook is +11%.
The most cautious hiring intentions are re-
ported in the restaurants & hotels sector,
where the outlook is +4%.
When compared with 4Q 2009, employers
in four industry sectors report stronger hir-
ing intentions. The most notable improve-
ment, up 29 percentage points, is reported by
employers in the manufacturing sector. In
the public & social sector the outlook im-
proved by 20 pp. Employers in three sectors
report weaker hiring intentions, including
the mining & quarrying sector, where the
outlook declined by 4 pp.
This optimism is confirmed by the Global
Business Outlook report on business confi-
dence around the world issued by KPMG in
July this year. Its key findings give some in-
sight into why Poland’s businesses are so
confident: the production outlook is the most
positive since July 2007, while net balances
for business revenues and new orders are
both at their highest since January 2008. The
report concludes that despite higher input
prices, profits are forecast to rise. In turn,
this reflects stronger net balances for end
prices, capacity utilization and revenues.
Added to this, the net employment balance
remains positive for the third straight outlook
period.
According to Leszek Wroński, head of
KPMG Advisory in Poland, across the coun-
try there seems to be an upswing in senti-
ment, providing a feeling that we are heading
in the right direction. “Poland had a ‘good re-
cession,’” Wroński said, “if such a thing is
possible. GDP was maintained while fortu-
itous timing saw our currency devalued just
in time to boost exports as the financial crisis
hit.”
Wroński continued: “That confidence can
be seen in the fact that more businesses are
now thinking about recruitment again. This
is not businesses simply re-hiring staff they
laid off during the crisis either. Nothing re-
ally happened during the crisis to prompt
massive job layoffs, and, in fact, Polish em-
ployers did everything they could—and
waited as long as they could—before making
any redundancies. Therefore, any jobs being
created now are indicative of a return to a
growth agenda.”
Wroński added that nonetheless a form of
national pessimism still crept in over the past
year or so: “Manufacturing slowed down, and
there was uncertainty over the economic
tribulations of Germany, our key trading
partner. That pessimism and uncertainty
combined to suppress domestic demand.
Thankfully, we seem to be emerging from
that now. Polish confidence has returned,
consumers are spending, and the airports are
full of holidaying Poles again. There is a
widely held belief that Germany is recover-
ing, and as our economy tends to lag behind
the German economy by six months, that
provides further grounds for optimism.”
happy financial investors
While manufacturers may look at Germany in
hope of seeing the end of the economic crisis
there, companies in Poland have been eyed
with interest by financial investors, another
reason for Polish businesses to cheer. In light
of a report on mergers and acquisitions in
Poland and Central & Eastern Europe com-
piled by KPMG and Deal Watch for the first
half of 2010, the scale of the long-anticipated
revival of the market took market analysts by
surprise. In 1H 2010, there were 283 major
M&A transactions, worth a total of over EUR
5.1 billion. In the number of deals, year-on-
year growth was 16%, and in value terms
(pegged to euro) growth was 44%. In Janu-
ary-June 2010, there were 869 major M&A
transactions in Central & Eastern Europe,
with a value over EUR 10 billion. This means
that Poland’s share in the CEE market was
33% in the number of deals and 50% of the
overall value in the region.
Krzysztof Klamut, a partner and head of
the M&A department at KPMG, said,
“Poland has become the leader of the M&A
sector not only in Central & Eastern Europe
but also in relation to the economies of West-
ern Europe, where the drop of market activity
in M&A has stopped but the market has not
recovered significantly yet.”
Jakub Siekierzyński, head of the M&A re-
search department at DealWatch, noted that
the Polish State Treasury has contributed
significantly to the market revival by offering
shares in state-owned companies. “The gov-
ernment privatization program has generated
PLN 12 billion so far, out of the PLN 25 bil-
lion scheduled for 2010,” Siekierzyński said.
Indeed, the largest M&A transactions com-
menced in 1H 2010 in Poland involved the ac-
quisition of a 15% stake in energy group PGE
Energia and PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka, for
over EUR 800 million, by PGE. The second-
largest deal was the sale of over a 16% stake
in utility group Energa for over EUR 280 mil-
lion to institutional investors. In both cases
the seller was the State Treasury.
The largest deal not involving state-owned
assets was the full acquisition of Europolis
Invest by CA Immo International for EUR
272 million. The seller was Volksbank Inter-
national.
Although the two utility privatizations were
spectacular indeed, privatizations as such did
not dominate the market in 1H 2010 when it
comes to the type of transaction. In terms of
the number of deals, acquisitions were the
most popular, with 174 transactions worth
over PLN 3 billion, which reflected 59% of
the value all transactions in which the values
were disclosed. The acquisition of minority
stakes was the second most popular type of
transaction, comprising nearly 80% of all
transactions in terms of quantity. In turn, 17
deals were privatizations, and they amounted
to only 1% of all M&As in terms of aggre-
gated value. (The Polish State Treasury has a
strong preference for privatizing by floating
shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, rising
EUR 2.6 billion there is 1H 2010.)
When it comes to the value of individual
deals, mergers proved the most impressive,
with the total value of all 10 mergers reaching
nearly EUR 900 million—17% of the dis-
closed value of all deals.
The largest number of transactions took
place in the construction and real estate sec-
tor, with 48 transactions worth EUR 948 mil-
lion in total. This figure marks a significant
rise from 33 deals worth EUR 261 million in
1H 2009.
The second most popular transactional
sector was industrial production, with 46
deals amounting to EUR 411 million. Again,
there was a significant rise from 29 transac-
tions valued at EUR 139 million in 1H 2009.
The third most popular sector was commu-
nications, media & entertainment, with 40
transactions worth a total of EUR 257 mil-
lion. In 2008-2009 the sector generated 44
transactions valued at EUR 188 million.
When it comes to the value of individual
transactions, the sector of energy, fuels &
minerals was the undisputed leader, with the
total value of transactions surpassing EUR
1.5 billion.
According to market analysts, the results
for the first half of 2010 significantly sur-
passed earlier market expectations for
Poland, which ranged around 10% growth for
numbers of transactions and 25-30% for
growth by value. In fact 16% and 44% growth
was achieved, respectively.
This is good news for investors. According
to Krzysztof Klamut, private equity and ven-
ture capital funds had already managed to
generate EUR 1.5 billion in turnover in the
first half of 2010, while the result for 2010 as
a whole had been forecast at EUR 2.5 billion.
But in spite of the big numbers the Polish
M&A market is dominated by small transac-
tions. “40% of all transactions are transac-
tions below EUR 10 million,” Klamut said.
Grooming for sale
Many conclusions can be drawn from the
facts and figures describing the M&A market
in 2010. Beyond any doubt it is a sector that
is not powered by state privatizations. Its
bedrock is the private sector, mainly small
and medium-sized companies.
One conclusion, however, which may not
break through the numbers, concerns the
qualitative change in the motives for individ-
uals to establish companies. While in the past
companies were established by entrepre-
neurs who felt compelled to do so because of
their education, work experience or family
traditions, today companies are set up by in-
dividuals equipped with corporate manage-
ment expertise and experience who know
how to commercialize an idea, make it feasi-
ble economically in a company form, and sell
it on to an investor.
According to Monika Nachyła, a partner at
Enterprise Investors, the largest venture cap-
ital fund in Central & Eastern Europe, “More
and more often companies are set up by
businesspeople who have found a market
niche that offers good prospects for growth
and return on investment. Those managers
create companies that right from the begin-
ning are meant to be effectively functioning
business ventures.”
Nachyła said such companies are designed
and managed to achieve the growth needed
to sell the company on in the mid-term or
long-term perspective. The positive aspect of
this approach to company creation is that the

M&A: Big deals M&A: Types of deals M&A: Active sectors M&A: Where the money goes to
Transactions by value in EUR million. Numbers next to the color field repre- Transactions by type. Numbers next to the color fields represent the number of Number of transactions announced in H1 2010 by sector. Numbers next to Value of transactions in H1 2010 across different sectors. Numbers next to the color
sent the number of transactions in the given category. transactions in the given category. the color fields represent the number of transactions in given sector. fields represent the total value of all transactions in given sector, in EUR million.

Trade, distribution Trade, distribution

Services, education, administration Services, education, administration
Over 100 Banking, insurance, financial Banking, insurance, financial
Acquisition
Between 50 and 100 Building, real estate Building, real estate
Merger
Between 10 and 50 Transportation, logistics Transportation, logistics
Privatization IT, media, telecom, entertainment IT, media, telecom, entertainment
Below 10
Purchase of minority stake Healthcare services Healthcare services
Not revealed
In-holding org realignment Energy, fuels, minerals Energy, fuels, minerals
Consumer goods Consumer goods
Industrial production Industrial production
SoURCE: KPMG

14 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010 OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 15

COVER STORY: Poland’s competitive edge for business
owner of the company can divest from it at
the right time, which is when the company is
approached by an investor. In the past, the
prevailing attitude of company owners was to
look for investors to provide capital necessary
to help them survive a rainy day, but other-
wise the owners’ identification with the com-
pany prevented them from even contemplat-
ing a time when the company would be run
by somebody else.
Nachyła said that over half of all invest-
ment proposals submitted to Enterprise In-
vestors for consideration are made by indi-
viduals who have groomed their companies
for sale. In her opinion, the standardization
of procedures which has taken place is an en-
couraging factor. Also, more and more com-
pany owners are learning to appreciate the
professional input of managers appointed to
their boards by private equity and venture
capital investors. “We no longer have to edu-
cate business owners about why they should
consider selling their businesses,” Nachyła
said.
In her view there are an increasing number
of companies who prefer to approach profes-
sional investment funds instead of applying
for European Union funds. Market knowhow
is appreciating in value and is viewed as
being just as important as cash.
a look over the fence
Poland’s attractiveness to investors, as re-
vealed by different opinion polls and studies
such as the Global Competitiveness Report
from the World Economic Forum, the Em-
ployment Outlook Survey from Manpower,
and the numerical analysis of the M&A mar-
ket by KPMG/DealWatch, cannot be ab-
sorbed in full without a look at the problems
investors and the business community in
general face in other countries. An excellent
opportunity for comparison was recently of-
fered by the American Chamber of Com-
merce in Denmark, a country ranked 9th in
the Global Competitiveness Report
2010/2011 (a slip from 5th in the previous
edition).
AmCham Denmark’s Business Barometer
is an annual survey of AmCham members
gauging the current business climate and fu-
ture trends in Denmark’s international busi-
ness community. These executives have
shared their practices, perceptions and ex-
pectations on the topics of foreign invest-
ment climate, framework conditions for ef-
fective operations, and future needs.
The most recent survey, conducted be-
tween August 24 and September 13, 2010, in-
dicated that overall, companies have contin-
ued and will continue to invest to the same
degree or to a greater degree than previous
years. Additionally, AmCham member com-
panies in Denmark increased their employee
base in 2009-2010 and plan to do so to an
even greater degree in 2011. However, “an
alarmingly high number of companies (44%)
report that they have considered or are con-
sidering moving investments and jobs out of
Denmark,” the report says. Furthermore,
16 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
“85% of the respondents pointed to the high
cost of doing business as a factor in their de-
cision. Breaking this down, the most com-
mon responses were cost of labor (salaries
and wages) and personal taxation, which can
be linked (high taxes push wages higher).
Other responses included, in order of fre-
quency: VAT on services, labor laws/regula-
tions, raw material/production costs, and in-
ternational school capacity.”
More than half of the survey respondents
said that their company’s decisions to invest
in Denmark would be negatively affected
today.
The executives also stated their opinion
for the reasons behind this low productivity
growth. The most frequent responses were
high taxes, a large and underproductive pub-
lic sector, education (quality and quantity),
lack of vision and political initiative, short
working hours, a shortage of talent, “flexicu-
rity” and collective bargaining agreements,
high salaries, and a lack of innovation and fi-
nancing.
According to the report, “It is interesting
that the vast majority feel that Denmark is
open to foreign companies. Unfortunately,
the responses from the international busi-
ness community indicate a reality that works
against this belief: 85% of survey respon-
dents believe that Denmark’s policies are ‘Av-
erage’ to ‘Very Low’ in helping to attract and
retain global companies.”
As the report concludes, “The shortage of
talent has been an issue and will continue to
be an issue into the coming years. According
to the Business Barometer, 96% of the busi-
ness community agrees.”
The authors of the report said that the
Labor Union Business Council in Denmark
supports this result with numbers that fore-
cast that by 2019, there will be a shortage of
105,000 staff in Denmark with bachelor-level
degrees up to doctorates.
The authors said that 97% of respondents
rated Denmark “average” to “very poor” in
its ability to attract and retain this talent from
abroad. “This issue is inextricably linked to
investments flowing into Denmark,” accord-
ing to the report, “as 44% of the companies
who have considered moving investments
and/or jobs out of Denmark state that the in-
ability to attract and shortage of highly quali-
fied workers has played or will play into their
decision.”
Rethinking Poland
At a conference launching the latest edition
of Investing in Poland, a report prepared by
the weekly Warsaw Business Journal in co-
operation with the Polish Information and
Foreign Investment Agency, editor Blake
Berry said, “In last year’s edition we came to
the conclusion that Poland had come to a
crossroads. One year on, we can see that
Poland is on the right path.”
At the Investing in Poland conference, Lars
Bosse from the German-Polish Chamber of
Industry and Commerce and Judith Gliniecki
from AmCham noted that the results of sur-
veys carried out among their members indi- lands-Polish Chamber of Commerce said going to improve their competitiveness, espe- as fast as the best economies in the E.U. do
cate that 92% of German and 98% of Ameri- that many local authorities are scared to talk cially vis-à-vis the U.S. and China,” may not be fast enough to cut the distance in
can businesses would invest in Poland again if with businesspeople. “But that is a problem Żołnowski said. “Poland will have to fit in the the foreseeable future.
they had the chance. Participants in the dis- on a much higher level,” he said. “If the direction established and driven by the E.U.” The “structural guidance from the E.U.”
cussion, including representatives of the Dutch Prime Minister goes on a trip, a Żołnowski noted that Poland has a lot of which Żołnowski mentioned may be easier
largest chambers of commerce in Poland whole bunch of businesspeople travel in his room for improvement when it comes to said than done. It seems viable that along
(American, British, Dutch, French, German wake. If Prime Minister Tusk goes to India, merging innovativeness with the country’s with adopting E.U. standards for economic
and Scandinavian) also emphasized that a sig- not a single businessperson accompanies competitive edge: “With the support from growth, Poland needs an extra boost.
nificant portion of new foreign direct invest- him. There is an enormous fear of being the E.U., Poland will be able to reform the The potential of the entrepreneurial spirit
ment in Poland is re-investment, proving that accused of corruption. Corruption has been education system and to adjust it to business remains uncharted. That was the spirit
businesses that have become familiar with a big issue, and efforts have been made in needs, which is not the case at the moment.” Poland put to use when it learned the most
Poland are happy to remain in the business Poland to fight corruption, but I think that He said Poland needs “structural guidance and advanced the furthest during the global
environment here. now things have turned the other way. The and support from the E.U.” economic slump. But that spirit may be put
According to the panel, the most important legal system should allow local authorities to even better economic advantage if Poland
factors in Poland’s investment attractiveness and national authorities to engage in direct is there a better way? chooses to liberalize its economy following
include macroeconomic stability, a relatively discussions with business.” Żołnowski’s remarks only show that Poland, the U.S. pattern. An unfettered entrepre-
low labor-costs-to-efficiency ratio, as well as as a member of the E.U., is tied to the union neurial spirit seems to provide a better recipe
access to E.U. funds, which allow for rapid innovation again in the pursuit of economic advantages and for sustained economic growth than the over-
development of infrastructure. Another panelist at the Investing in Poland sustainable development. For a country regulated business environment of the E.U.
Peter Tærø Nielsen of the Scandinavian launch, Adam Żołnowski from Pricewater- which needs basic help that is a good thing. It has been a good crisis for Poland, but it
Chamber of Commerce (himself from Den- houseCoopers, said that when it comes to For a country which aspires to catch up with won’t last much longer. The next crisis may
mark) said that the chamber did some re- competitiveness he was not sure whether the most developed economies in the E.U., not be so kind.
search and found that “the general impres- Poland would have been able to improve its such as the U.K., Germany and France, this
sion is that both trade and investments in standing were it not for the aid from the may not be the best-case scenario. Grinding
Poland are on a good track.” European Union. “All E.U. countries are forward with its economic development only
Martin Oxley, CEO of the British Polish Tomasz Ćwiok
Chamber of Commerce, said that British
companies in Poland are expanding. “But
there are a lot of people who come to the
chamber who are positively surprised about
Poland, which means that there is a lot of
promo work that needs to be done in the U.K.
Perhaps the promo is not optimized. Also
there is a risk in it: everybody is saying it is
absolutely fantastic to come here, but in fact
we become complacent. We tend to forget
how competitive Europe is, and Poland has a
lot to do in terms of actually physically getting
to that level of competitiveness.”
Oxley added that making a country com-
petitive is about anticipating the future and
what future markets are going to be like.
“One problem is to have the right people for
the right jobs,” he said. “With all that call
center investment, is it sustainable to fill it
with graduates who work in call centers for
five to ten years going forward? The experi-
ence from the U.K. is that it is not.”
For Oxley, another lesson from call centers
in the U.K. is that it is a type of investment
that tends to flee, because it is so cost-sensi-
tive.
Another example is logistics centers. “They
are everywhere around Poland,” Oxley said.
“We have a few members who are in that
business and are very happy. But roads are a
problem. If we can’t get these lorries in and
out it is going to be a problem.”
The most important barriers to foreign in-
vestments include Poland’s notoriously poor
infrastructure, its complicated, opaque tax
system, frequent changes in law, the low qual-
ity of the judiciary system, and its high level
of bureaucracy.
Lars Bosse, from the German chamber,
also indicated the need to improve training
for blue-collar workers. If everyone in Poland
wants to study at the university level, he said,
“we will have a problem.”
Remco van der Kroft from the Nether-
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 17
COVER STORY: Poland’s competitive edge for business
Leader
of the pack
The Metropolitan Association of
Upper Silesia should be a role model
for local and regional governments on
how to build value for both the com-
munity and external investors
S
pread over a huge area, once Poland’s
leading centers of heavy industry, Ka-
towice and its 13 neighboring cities
seemed to be doomed under the heavy load
of social and economic problems in the mid-
1990s, when heavy industry ceased to be the
driving economic force. With the help of
central government, the region imple-
mented vast structural reforms, closed many
money-burning coal mines and steel mills,
modernized its power stations, and laid the
foundations for an ambitious program
aimed at making the most densely urban-
ized region of Poland an appealing place to
live for its inhabitants and an attractive
place to invest for businesses.
zone offensive
One of the milestones in the region’s libera-
tion from its dependence on heavy industry
was establishment of the Katowice Special
Economic Zone in 1996. This joint venture
of the State Treasury and 10 municipalities
has so far managed to sell half of its total
1,920 hectares of land to investors. While
the Katowice zone has drawn companies
representing nearly
all types of industries
(so long as they qual- “The concentration of the high-voltage grid in
ify for the benefits of
investing in a special
our region is unprecedented. This is an impor-
economic zone in tant asset for investors when energy shortages
Poland), a significant
bulk of them are ac- and blackouts are becoming the menace of many
tive in the automotive
industry. In 2008 the
cities in Poland and Europe.”
zone approved 37 new
investment projects,
but only 4 in 2009.
The negative impact of the world economic
crisis has subsided somewhat in 2010, and
by September the zone had issued permits
for 17 projects. “Most of those projects are
re-investments,” said Andrzej Pasek, vice
president of the Katowice Special Economic
Zone, who was one of the speakers at the
18 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
Silesian Metropolis Investment and En-
ergy Conference in Katowice in Septem-
ber.
To boost the economic efficiency of
businesses registered there, the zone
plans to facilitate cooperation between
firms located in different subzones. It also
plans to create clusters of companies
along sector lines, such as medical tech-
nology.
Synchronizing local governments
One of the most challenging issues was to
synchronize cooperation between 14 dif-
ferent cities, as the Polish law governing
municipalities does not offer many solu-
tions in this respect. Synchronization was
highly important to Katowice, the city at
the heart of the group of surrounding
cities with which it had to coordinate vari-
ous types of investment projects, such as
roads and public transit infrastructure.
Soon it became clear to all of the cities
that they would have to exploit the syner-
gies among themselves in order to become
a magnet for major outside investors who
would create sustainable new jobs.
In 2007 the 14 cities established an or-
ganization to do just that. The Metropoli-
tan Association of Upper Silesia, which
comprises 14 independent cities, is the
largest such organization in Poland. Its
board of seven, led by Katowice Mayor
Piotr Uszok, has a say in social and busi-
ness issues effecting an area inhabited by
2.5 million people, home to 30 institutions
of higher learning delivering education to
11% of all of Poland’s university-level stu-
dents. The metropolitan area contributes
67% of the GDP of Upper Silesia Province
and 8.6% of the GDP of the entire coun-
try, and is home to nearly 200,000 compa-
nies. The association’s main focus is on
developing growth strategies for the re-
gion and tapping effectively into E.U.
funds, along with international coopera-
tion and promotion.
As Mayor Uszok said at the investment
conference organized in Katowice by Am-
Cham Kraków, in cooperation with the
Metropolitan Association and the City of
Katowice, “It is important for all the cities
that we promote our potential together.”
Nonetheless, Uszok said, from the per-
spective of foreign investors, the region is
not approached as one, but individual
cities are at the forefront.
drawing on tradition
With all its vision of modernity and inno-
vation, the region does not look back in
anger at its industrial past. In fact, some
of the developments of that era, such as
the high-voltage power grid, are now an
asset for the region. “The concentration
of the high-voltage grid in our region is
unprecedented, save for the Kraków area,”
Uszok said. “This is an important asset
when energy shortages and blackouts are
becoming the menace of many cities in
Poland and Europe.”
But for a region sitting on Europe’s
largest deposits of coal, the mining indus-
try is still a vital part of the regional iden-
tity. With three major coal mining groups
still operating in Upper Silesia, employing
thousands of people, coal and new tech-
nologies for burning it are, in fact, the fu-
ture. According to Krzysztof Wilgus, vice
president of the Katowice Regional
Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at the
AmCham conference in September,
“Coal-based power generation will remain
an important element of our energy mix
for some years to go.”
He noted that along
with coal mines,
Upper Silesia is home
to many companies
that develop coal-min-
ing machinery and
equipment. “They sell
to coal companies all
around the world.”
Piotr Uszok
Katowice Mayor Wilgus added that
several research pro-
grams to develop more efficient and envi-
ronment-friendly ways of burning coal are
underway at the Silesian University of
Technology.
Picking private brains
One of the aims of the promotional
strategy for the metropolitan area is to up-
date its image. This was one of the findings
of the IBM Executive Service Corps, two
teams of IBM leaders from different regions
of the world who were sent to Upper Silesia
this year to help the area diagnose problems
that were holding back its development. “We
know what the cities want to be,” said
Jolanta Jaworska, CEE Government Pro-
grams Executive at IBM, who was one of the
speakers at the Investment and Energy con-
ference. “We know their development
strategies. Their aspirations will come true
when they are able to solve their problems.
Economic development
must go hand in hand with
the development of the “Katowice and Upper Silesia are creating ambi-
tious plans for growth. We want to be a part of
quality of life for the entire
population.”
IBM helped find the this process, which has a strategic importance
best way to develop the re-
gion in three spheres: cul-
for the future of the region.”
ture and business, func-
tionality, and innovation.
When it comes to culture,
IBM helped Silesia pre-
pare a more cohesive marketing strategy. In
the area of urban functionality, IBM devel-
oped a set of recommendations for the
urban traffic control system. To boost inno-
vations in the region, IBM focused on devel-
oping schemes for cooperation between aca-
demia, business and local government in
Upper Silesia.
The project, which lasted for six weeks,
was carried out by IBM on a pro bono basis.
“Katowice and Upper Silesia are creating
ambitious plans for growth,” Jaworska said.
“We want to be a part of this process, which
has a strategic importance for the future of
the region. And we were able to contribute
thanks to the openness of Mayor Uszok and
the entire Katowice City Hall.”
Quest for quality of life
Apart from cooperating with the private sec-
tor, Mayor Uszok is steering the city—and
the region as president of Metropolitan As-
sociation—to use public funds, including
funds from the European Union, to make
the region a better place to live, including
entertainment, recreation and overall enjoy-
ment.
To boost the region’s standing as a good
place to live, the Metropolitan Association
has embarked on three programs. The Sile-
sian Public Services Card is an integrated
payment system that will allow cardholders
to pay for municipal services such as access
to libraries, parking, and public transit. The
Public-private parnership?
Katowice Mayor Piotr Uszok
with Jolanta Jaworska, CEE
Government Programs Execu-
tive at IBM
project, estimated at over PLN 120
million, will be open for bidders next
year.
Another PLN 500 million is ear-
marked for upgrading the public tran-
sit system in the metropolitan area.
Bidding for contractors starts in the
second half of 2011.
Upper Silesia is also betting on pub-
lic-private partnership ventures. The
government plans to find a private in-
vestor in 2011 who would receive a
concession for 24 years to operate a
solid waste collection system and waste
CEE Government Programs Executive, IBM has already
treatment facility. Because of the size
of the Upper Silesia population, Mayor
Uszok believes this is a good, sustain-
able business.
Upper Silesia can already boast of
successful creation of the region’s
image to the outside world. It is viewed
as having the most advanced healthcare
system in Poland, and it was here that
electronic ID cards for patients were
first introduced. Today, thanks to its
population and growing affluence, the
region has become one of the most de-
sirable locations for private clinics.
Katowice itself has rolled out many
infrastructure projects aimed at im-
proving living standards. It has earmarked
PLN 300 million for modernization of the
municipal water and sewage system. A
major urban revitalization project for the
city center, estimated at PLN 300 million,
is due to start next year. The city also
plans to add a new convention center, es-
timated at EUR 50 million, next to
Spodek, its landmark “flying saucer”
sports and concert arena.
One of the most original investment
projects in Katowice is the new home for
the Polish National Radio Symphony Or-
chestra, a concert hall seating 1,800 on
the site of the
old Katowice
coal mine,
which was
closed a long
time ago. A
1:10 scale
model of the
Jolanta Jaworska concert hall
been created
by Nagata
Acoustics for sound research before the
actual building plan is approved.
Gliwice, one of the other cities in the
Metropolitan Association, plans to invest
PLN 350 million in a sports area. The
City of Bytom has also taken steps to
build a sports arena and is now looking
for a private partner for the venture.
Bytom will soon have a new retail and of-
fice center, a new residential district, and
a golf course. With such ambitious proj-
ects in the pipeline, it is only a matter of
time before the region presents its new,
forward-looking face. It is a face not only
an investor could love.
Tomasz Ćwiok
MONTHLY MEETING: Reform of the judiciary sytstem
A
ll too familiar with the shortcomings
of the Polish court system, for years
AmCham has been a strong propo-
nent of judicial system reforms. Therefore,
it was with high anticipation that AmCham
members met in September with Krzysztof
Kwiatkowski, the Minister of Justice in a
government that says it understands the
needs of the business community, to hear
firsthand about recently implemented re-
forms and those still in the pipeline.
Kwiatkowski made it clear from the start
that he understands the concerns of the
business community in Poland, by saying
that oftentimes judges and other court offi-
cials unnecessarily impede the judicial
process instead of facilitating it. “Without
business there will be no money to support
the existence of the judiciary,” Kwiatkowski
said, adding that this is especially burden-
some for small companies, as large ones
have budgets big enough to hire an army of
lawyers to push their cases through courts
more or less efficiently.
Reforms of the system
Most of the reforms already implemented
under Kwiatkowski’s leadership are aimed
at boosting the case-processing efficiency of
the Polish courts. To achieve that the min-
istry has resorted to high tech. “Since Janu-
ary we are one of only three countries with
e-courts,” said Kwiatkowski. He added that
from the point of view of business this is an
important development, because e-courts
help enforce contractual claims conveniently
and fast. “From January through the end of
August, 330,000 claims were posted to the e-
court,” Kwiatkowski said. “We estimate that
in 2010 a total of 500,000 claims will be
posted, against 1,350,000 filed with tradi-
tional courts.” The ministry has also low-
ered the fee for filing contractual claims
with the e-court, which is 35% of the regu-
lar fee.
Another internet application has been
used by the ministry to facilitate access to
the land and mortgage register. Anyone can
now check land records in the register via
Internet, from June of this year. Out of the
total of 18 million records, so far 13 million
have been digitized. The remaining 5 mil-
Minister of Justice Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, guest speaker, with AmCham Chairman Roman Rewald
“A lot of practices in the U.S. judicial system
A lot of room for improvement
can be easily implemented in Poland with-
out any need for revolutionary changes of
With the application of high tech and modern management solutions the the law. It is a matter of the approach of the
Polish judiciary system is on the track to boost effectiveness when it participants in the court system: the judges
comes to the time it takes to handle routine business. Yet it is the profes- and attorneys.”
sional atttude of judges that determines the system’s efficiency.
20 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
lion will migrate to digital by 2012. “It is an
important aspect for business,”
Kwiatkowski said, “because when a party is
buying property, the notary can check the
status of the property in the register—
whether there are encumbrances—in real
time.”
Another step in the “electronic revolu-
tion,” as Kwiatkowski calls it, is the intro-
duction of digital recording of transcripts of
court proceedings, something first imple-
mented in Spain. “With this, court proceed-
ings will go smoother and faster by approxi-
mately one-third,” Kwiatkowski said. This
innovation will be implemented in Polish
courts this year.
Reforming judges
Introducing electronics into the court-
room is not the heaviest challenge for the
ministry, though; changing the ways the
courts of general jurisdiction are managed
is. “We intend to employ best business prac-
tices in managing such institutions as
courts of law,” Kwiatkowski said. Among the
planned reforms is appointing individuals
with managerial skills as managing directors
of the courts, responsible for administering
the court’s property and staff. This job so
far is performed by lawyers, presiding
judges of the courts, which according to
Kwiatkowski is poor allocation of human re-
sources: “The chair of a court should be
dealing with legal cases instead of managing
the court as an institution, including the fi-
nancials.”
With the introduction of managing direc-
tors in the courts, who will act as employers
to all court personnel, including judges, the
president of the court will be charged with
new responsibilities for evaluating junior
judges with respect to their efficiency in
handling cases and the accuracy of the judg-
ments they hand down. This is probably the
most difficult part of the reform,
Kwiatkowski admitted, because so far it
seems judges are not willing to accept any
system of measuring their work efficiency.
“Of course, judges are the third branch, and
will remain independent in their work,”
Kwiatkowski said. “The point is, however, to
help them diagnose their strengths and
Roman Rewald
AmCham Chairman
OCTOBER 2010
Polish courts
in numbers
There are 376 courts of general jurisdic-
tion in Poland, including 320 district
courts, 45 regional courts, 11 appellate
courts, and the Supreme Court. Only 66
district courts and 24 regional courts
have separate commercial divisions,
where B2B disputes are considered
through a special procedural regime
which is much stricter but also faster
than ordinary civil proceedings. There
are also about 70 judges who specialize
in rulings related to the National Court
Register, where companies are regis-
tered.
The Polish judiciary employs about
10,000 judges, giving Poland the sec-
ond-highest number of judges in Europe
(after Germany). Poland ranks 6th in the
E.U. in judges per capita, with 26 judges
per 100,000 population, behind Slovenia
(50), Luxembourg (37), the Czech Re-
public (29), Greece and Hungary (28
each), but ahead of Germany (25), Bel-
gium (15), France (12) and the U.K. (7).
Poland’s spending on the judicial
branch is 2.1% of the annual national
budget—the highest figure in the E.U. In
per capita terms Poland spends 0.44%
of its annual GDP, also the highest in the
E.U.
The salary of a district court judge is
about 2.5 times the average salary in the
Polish national economy.
In 2009 Polish courts of general jurisdic-
tion logged in over 11.9 million cases, a
rise of 800,000 from 2008. The caseload
of the courts has been on the rise for
some time. In 2005 9.5 million cases
were filed. The Ministry of Justice esti-
mates that this year 7 million commer-
cial cases alone will be filed with Polish
courts.
AMERICAN INVESTOR 21
MONTHLY MEETING: Reform of the judiciary sytstem
weaknesses and shape their future careers.”
The minister said that judges will retain
their professional independence. “The role
of the arbitrator here is solely reserved to
the president of each court or visiting senior
judges,” Kwiatkowski said, adding that
along with helping judges better adjust their
skills to their professional ambitions, the
president of the court or visiting senior
judges will be tasked with improving the
quality of judicial decision-making. “This
will be about comparing the rulings with
those of higher courts in particular cases,”
Kwiatkowski said. “If a judge is found to
have his or her judgments overruled by
higher courts more frequently than the aver-
age, that will be a case that requires further
inquiry.”
Reforms of the law
Implementing high tech and modern
management into the courts is one thing;
changing the law so it requires less time to
enforce is another. And this government
knows it can be a tricky business. Last year,
when the government introduced the idea of
Meet the speaker
Polish Minister of Justice KRzYSzTOF
KWIATKOWSKI was born in 1971 and is
a graduate of the University of Warsaw
Faculty of Law and Administration. He
has served as a Senator for seven con-
secutive terms and represents the Civic
Platform party. In 1997–2001
Kwiatkowski served as an advisor and
private secretary to Prime Minister Jerzy
Buzek. In 2001–2006 he was deputy
mayor of Zgierz. In 2006–2007 he was
deputy speaker of the Łódź province as-
sembly and chaired the Senate Legisla-
tive Committee.
22 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
a one-stop shop for registration of a busi-
ness, it turned out that the registration
process takes about three times as long as
before the change. When applicants were
forced to visit each and every office them-
selves necessary to register a business, it
took about a month to register a company.
After the reform, the offices concerned now
exchange all the necessary documents
among themselves, but it takes up to three
months. “It was a modest success,”
Kwiatkowski said euphemistically.
He does not want to repeat that success
when another reform is passed, aimed at
fast-tracking the registration of limited-lia-
bility companies: “We have readied a re-
form, code-named ‘S-24,’ which will take ef-
fect in 2012. It will allow businesses to reg-
ister a limited-liability company electroni-
cally within 24 hours.”
Kwiatkowski also noted that judges will
not be handling company registrations after
the reform takes place. “Judicial clerks will
be handling registrations, and judges will be
summoned only when a complaint is filed,”
Kwiatkowski said.
He added that this reform will be sure to
spark much controversy, because the Polish
system of commercial registration is similar
to the German and French systems, in
which the registration process is treated as
an important decision-making process. Yet,
Kwiatkowski admitted that the bulk of the
work in registering a company is purely bu-
reaucratic.
Simple procedures
Time is money, but Poland is a country
where special procedural rigors are in force
in commercial courts. There are separate
procedures handled by judges assigned es-
pecially to commercial divisions of the
courts of general jurisdiction. The process
is intended to be quick, but often a party
will lose not because it has the weaker case
but because it failed to deliver the required
documentation. This will soon change,
Kwiatkowski said. “We want commercial
cases to be handled under the standard
rules of procedure for cases in the courts of
general jurisdiction.”
Kwiatkowski noted that getting rid of the
special procedures for commercial cases
does not mean that the ministry will dis-
band the commercial divisions of the courts.
They will continue to exist to handle com-
mercial litigation more expertly. However,
Kwiatkowski said that now there are actually
too many commercial divisions in the
courts. “Some of them have poor judicial
teams,” he said. “There is no natural shar-
ing of thoughts among judges on procedural
and other issues, so some of the commercial
divisions will have to be eliminated, allowing
the remaining commercial courts to obtain
experienced judges.” Kwiatkowski noted
that the ministry seeks to create a corps of
experienced commercial judges. “They will
be experienced not only in commercial law
and other areas of substantive law, but will
also have an extensive understanding of
other issues that are critical for business,
such as economics, finance and manage-
ment.”
Fresh blood
According to Kwiatkowski, some people
say that Polish judges act as if the law were
written against the people, not for them. He
admitted that often instead of facilitating
court proceedings, judges impede them by
resorting to extraordinary formalities, often
gratuitously and beyond all reason. “When
you look at some of the regulations you will
see that they are not so bad,” Kwiatkowski
said. “The trick is that some judges tend to
abuse them.”
For Kwiatkowski the abuses are often un-
intentional, but are found among old-school
judges who do not understand the intrica-
cies of the modern economy and business.
Because they feel at a loss dealing with
cases they do not understand, they tend to
hew to the letter of the law as closely as pos-
sible.
This illness will be cured by a new gener-
ation of lawyers trained at an elite new cen-
ter opened by the government last year in
Kraków, the Polish National School of Judi-
ciary and Public Prosecution. “This will
allow the Ministry of Justice to have an im-
pact on the way future judges and prosecu-
tors are trained for their profession,”
Kwiatkowski said. He noted that the min-
istry intends to shape the curriculum of the
school to bring judicial best practices to the
fore.
Kwiatkowski admitted that the 300 gradu-
ates the school produces this year will not
have a major immediate impact on the judi-
ciary. He did say, however, that special train-
ing programs are also developed for practic-
ing judges, which is an equally important
part of the school’s mission.
In his closing remarks Kwiatkowski said
that he is aware that the Polish judicial sys-
tem is viewed by the international business
community as inefficient and outdated. He
said he will do his best to change that per-
ception. “We are determined to upgrade the
effectiveness of Polish courts in the eyes of
the business community.”
Tomasz Ćwiok
FOCUS: Gender equality
Invest in women
Vital Voices brings American insight to Poland to
shake up gender stereotypes and release vast
human and economic potential
O
nce upon a time the self-proclaimed
supremacy of men over women was a
universally acknowledged standard of
gender relations in the workplace and social
life. Those days may be long gone, but issues
of gender equality are still there—whether it
be the glass ceiling, empowerment of
women, or equal access to education. That is
the message brought to Poland in September
by Mary Daley Yerrick, co-founder and direc-
tor of Vital Voices Global Partnership, a non-
governmental organization that identifies and
empowers emerging women leaders and so-
cial entrepreneurs.
Yerrick paid a brief visit to the country fol-
lowing the opening of the Polish chapter of
Vital Voices. She took time to meet with Am-
Cham to talk about the need for empower-
ment of women on the economic and busi-
ness levels.
“Some economists say that women are the
biggest untapped resource in the world,”
Yerrick said. “If we could bring them into
business in greater numbers we would grow
substantially.” She said that currently in the
Mary Daley Yerrick, co-founder and
director of Vital Voices Global Part-
nership, at a meeting with AmCham
in September
24 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
U.S. there are 10.1 million firms owned by
women or equally by women and men, em-
ploying 14 million people and generating
USD 1.9 trillion in sales. That is huge poten-
tial and it can only get bigger.
Role models
One way to release women’s business poten-
tial is to link with successful businesswomen
to showcase them as role models for other
women to follow. “What we need for busi-
ness and other aspects,” Yerrick said, “such
as government and human rights, is more
women role models who have succeeded and
are willing to open up the door wide enough
so somebody can come through behind her.
That is a good thing for business to look at.”
The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit,
which grew from a U.S. government-backed
initiative in 1997, does just that. Yerrick her-
self has a business background in PR and
media relations. But the board comprises a
dozen female (and male) professionals rep-
resenting many different sectors of the econ-
omy and big international companies, in-
cluding Beth Brooke, Ernst & Young Global
Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability
and Stakeholder Engagement; Deborah Din-
gell, Vice Chair of the General Motors Foun-
dation; and Mary C. Foerster, Vice President
of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communi-
cations and Marketing. The NGO sector, an-
other crucial area for women’s empower-
ment, is also brilliantly represented on the
Vital Voices board, by such members as Kate
James, Chief Communications Officer at the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Crucial given its history and its location in
Washington, the Vital Voices board is well-
balanced politically. Honorary co-chairs in-
clude Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton (Democrat), Nancy Kassebaum
(former Republican U.S. Senator from
Kansas), and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison (Republican from Texas). They
have been with Vital Voices from the begin-
ning.
Other board members have distinguished
records in government service as well as the
private sector, such as Carly Fiorina, the for-
mer Hewlett-Packard CEO who is now run-
ning for the U.S. Senate in California; Judith
McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public
Diplomacy and former CEO of Discovery;
and Baroness Goudie, a member of the
British House of Lords.
limited choices
Yerrick told AmCham that the modern day
poses many new challenges for women, com-
bining breadwinning and homemaking, a
mixture which in certain ways allows for
fewer choices than in the past. “I feel that my
mother’s generation really had a choice for a
woman to stay home and raise a family, or go
out to the workplace and pursue a career,”
she said.
This choice is available for a relatively
smaller number of women now, because in
many households two wage-earners are re-
quired to support the family. Women who
have both a career and a family struggle
mightily when they try to do it all. “Work and
home-life balance, personal life.... A greater
burden is placed on women than men in fam-
ily life,” she said.
But this balance sometimes is abused.
While things are changing and new genera-
tions of women with new attitudes enter the
foreground of economic and social activities,
sometimes they still feel a certain sense of
entitlement from their predecessors. Yerrick
said that as employees, women should ap-
proach their employers with an attitude of
understanding rather than opportunism.
“You have to understand what your em-
ployer’s issues are instead of figuring out
how you can take off a year for pregnancy,”
Yerrick said. “If I get a doctor to sign a paper
that allows me to take a vacation—and in
some cases women do it—and then they are
sending e-mails to their friends saying it is
great and you can do this, that is not a good
thing.”
new tools
As women’s empowerment is a multifaceted,
global issue, Vital Voices has entered into a
partnership with the Economist Intelligence
Unit concerning a new EIU measurement
that tracks women’s progress around the
world. Data for the 26 indices that comprise
the measurement are provided by reliable
sources such as the World Bank and the
United Nations. Poland is now ranked 33rd.
The Vital Voices/EIU index will also rank
countries by region. This is an opportunity
for Poland to improve its standing. Yerrick’s
advice is, “If you want to be known as the
best country, the most favorable to women’s
advancement, in Central & Eastern Europe,
look at the countries in your region. See who
is there and who is above you. See what they
are doing differently, and create some advo-
cacy to get your government to do some
things in that respect.”
Tomasz Ćwiok
FOCUS: Information technology
Technology and crisis
Monika Pilarska, AmCham Kraków Director, talks to Ramón Tancinco of Cisco Systems about trends in the telecom
sector that have emerged as a result of the economic crisis.
w
hat has been the role of in-
ternet technology and in-
novation in the world
emerging from crisis?
The world is certainly evolving as a result of
the impact of the global crisis that we have
had in the course of the last few years. I think
the responses across the world have been
varying but very similar in many situations.
Obviously from the government perspective
there were public subsidies and investment
efforts to stabilize the public sector as well as
energize the private sector. In the case of the
private sector, very often there was a lot of re-
trenching. One of the things that you’re see-
ing across the world is that there’s an in-
creased emphasis on the use of technology in
order to actually make our operations more ef-
ficient, whether it is the public sector, the pri-
vate sector, or individuals. This trend is ac-
celerating both in the developed world and in
the emerging world.
If you look at the emerging world, Africa is
a great data point. On the Eastern seaboard of
Africa and on the Western coast as well,
they’re laying fiber infrastructure so that they
will be able to wire the entire continent. For a
country that’s sitting on the Eastern seaboard
of Africa and that hasn’t had the opportunity
to develop infrastructure based on an Inter-
net economy, that is a tremendous leap for-
ward. The cost of a broadband connection in
Eastern Africa is just through the roof, and in-
conceivable for someone based in Western
Europe or the U.S. Being able to drive that
price down so that it’s accessible to everyone
will bring spectacular results. It will also drive
a lot of innovation.
Let’s take as an example the usage of mo-
bile phones in Africa. The general expecta-
tion was that people in Africa would not use
mobile phones because they were too expen-
sive. In reality they are being used extensively,
in a variety of quite unexpected applications. A
good example is the mobile phone usage in
agriculture. Phones are being used for find-
ing out what the market prices of rice and
corn are at the seaport or from the inlet. This
is a way of using mobile phones that we had
not conceived of. Based on that, we can expect
that the use of the Internet, overlaid on top of
the mobile phones or by itself via the fixed
lines, is going to continue to increase the op-
portunities within the continent of Africa.
Whether you are in Western Europe, the
U.S. or Australia, investments in Internet in-
frastructure are taking place, fiber is being
laid in addition to the roads. The same hap-
pens in China, going back to the emerging
world. The Chinese also believe that going
into the Internet economy will actually accel-
erate their growth as well.
Both in the developed and the emerging
world, the Internet is perceived as an oppor-
tunity. Internet infrastructure is being created
as an engine for innovation as well as eco-
nomic opportunity for citizens. This is going
to continue to accelerate the growth of world
economies in ways that we cannot even con-
ceive of, because we have not opened the
doors yet.
how about europe? what role has the
internet played in the post-crisis econ-
omy here?
Europe and the U.S. really took a very sig-
nificant hit with regards to the global reces-
sion. Some emerging economies came out al-
most unscathed in certain areas. The
economies that were more closely tied to ei-
ther Western Europe or the U.S. had more
damage, because of the impact on exporting.
Coming out of the recession you see multi-
speed recoveries. In Europe, there are some
countries that are able to emerge a little faster
than others. Germany is experiencing some
super-fast turbo growth. They were able to
maximize their opportunities based on their
exporting orientation, as the demand for Ger-
man products (BMW and Mercedes cars) in
China, Brazil and India is on the rise.
One of the things that I would expect to see
in the future is building of the Internet infra-
structure needed for the expansion of the In-
ternet economy coupled with services that will
enable citizens, companies and governments
to use it. That is a part that truly demands in-
novation and that will be specific to each
country. Some countries will focus on agri-
culture and will try to create and leverage
technologies to be used in agricultural appli-
cations. Other countries will foster national
champions, like Skype out of Estonia. Hope-
fully, the governments will support invest-
ment and innovative efforts in these areas.
Very often the regulatory environment is one
of the baselines for enabling such things, so it
would be fantastic to see governments on the
national, regional and local level each taking a
piece of ownership around building the infra-
structure and identifying needed services.
what do you see happening in Poland?
I think Poland is in a unique position, espe-
cially as a result of the E.U. subsidies. Be-
tween 2007 and 2013 close to EUR 63 billion
will be coming into the budget. A portion of
the funds will be spent on infrastructure such
as roads and bridges, but a significant amount
will be dedicated to the innovative economy
and training as a means to bring up the
human capital as well as infrastructure. This
is something definitely in favor of Poland.
Coming out of the recession you have the fact
that Poland was the only country in the E.U. to
actually record 1.7% GDP growth in 2009.
This is very good externally, from the in-
vestors’ perspective, but it is also good inter-
nally because it allows corporations to actually
grow and the public sector to train people in
the direction of creating more jobs.
Poland is in an enviable position. As you get
down to Małopolska and Kraków as well as
Katowice and Silesia, you can see the desire
to take advantage of what’s going on. In Ka-
towice, you can see a big effort to focus on
sustainability, and green-technology buildings
are being opened. This is a global phenome-
non, and Katowice is trying to be at the very
front of that trend. It is a fantastic thing to see
happening here in Poland.
Kraków is focusing on creating services on
top of the Internet infrastructure, which is
more difficult and challenging but actually
provides the most benefits. In Małopolska, a
project is being realized called Digital
Małopolska. They are taking a thousand years’
worth of history that is stored in various mu-
seums and digitalizing this virtual library,
which will then be accessible to anyone across
the globe, whether they’re in Poland, Africa or
the U.S.
This is an amazing example of a service
that is critically used on top of this Internet
infrastructure. Various municipalities as well
as regions fund broadband infrastructure de-
velopment, at the same time focusing on
other services that can be delivered to citizens
in order to help them to be more productive,
more innovative. This is all happening right
now.
From this perspective the future looks
pretty solid, as long as everyone works to-
gether both in the public sector and in the
private sector to move things forward. I think
both of them are critical. Without one or the
other it will fall short of the potential.
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 25
EXPERT: Property restitution EXPERT: Banking

Where is our property now? Looser reins on bank outsourcing

“In order to reform the agricultural sector ... all viable solution. Compensation
would be in the form of a cash
property owned by natural or legal per- payment, presumably at no
sons in excess of 100 hectares in gen- more than 20% of the prop-
surprising, the local officials
charged with administering the
registration of perpetual
usufruct rights did not always
Government works to liberalize rules of not covered by the bank out-
sourcing regulations. These in-
outsourcing by banks clude such items as technical
servicing of ATMs, IT services
were not found to create any sig-
nificant risks.
A very significant issue is the
proposed elimination of the re-

eral or 50 hectares if located in the
province of Poznań, Pomerania or Sile-
sia shall become the property of the
State Treasury ... without compensa-
tion.”
—September 6, 1944,
Decree of the Polish National
Liberation Committee
erty’s value.
what is legal?
So, where does this leave for-
mer owners and their claims?
Unless and until Poland adopts
a comprehensive law on restitu-
By PAUL FOGO
tion, former owners must rely
on the Polish court system to
U.S. attorney with press their claims. During the
Miller Canfield W. past 20 years former owners
Babicki A. Chel-
have been increasingly success-
chowski & Partners
and member of the fully in asserting restitution
American Chamber claims using the court system.
Board of Directors. The most important factor in-
fluencing the outcome of a
restitution claim is whether all
follow the prescribed proce-
dures, such as giving proper
notice to each property owner
of his or her right to register a
perpetual usufruct right. Mis-
takes in procedure could be as
simple as misspelling the per-
son’s name in the local register
or failing to place the proper
“stamp” on a document.
Return versus
compensation
Courts will physically restore
the nationalized property to the
original owners whenever feasi-
ble. Physical return of property
T
he Polish government is
now working on changes
in the law designed to
ease the restrictions on out-
sourcing by banks—regulations
that specify when and how a
bank may contract out banking-
related activities to external sup-
pliers. These regulations apply
indirectly to the banks’ suppliers
by controlling the terms on
which they can deal with the
banks.
drowning in paperwork
The current provisions have
been in force for over 6 years,
related to standard office soft-
ware, cleaning and security serv-
ices, and operating a staff cafete-
ria.
u.S. still suspicious
The latest version of the outline
for amendments to the Banking
By PIOTR MAJER Law, published on August 10,
legal advisor, 2010 by the Polish Ministry of
Łaszczuk & Partners Finance, indicates the direction
prepare numerous documents the Polish government wants to
related to outsourcing, including go in this area.
emergency backup plans and The most important changes
several other documents related are to allow limited use of chain
to the insourcers. The range of outsourcing. Unfortunately the
these documents is particularly proposed solution does not allow
quirement to obtain prior per-
mission in the case of activities
to be performed outside of
Poland but within another EEA
member state. It was doubtful
from the very beginning whether
this restriction in relation to ac-
tivities performed in E.U. mem-
ber states was consistent with
principles of the freedom of es-
tablishment and freedom to pro-
vide services set forth in the
Treaty Establishing the Euro-
pean Community. Indeed, most
of the applications filed with the
banking regulator involved
agreements under which the ac-

N
otice the date of this de-
cree? At the very mo-
ment the Warsaw Upris-
ing was at its zenith, the newly
formed, self-appointed, Soviet-
backed Polish government had
already begun nationalizing pri-
vate property in Poland. This
decree was followed by a series
of similar laws over the course
of the next 20 years, all designed
to transfer ownership of prop-
erty to the State. Of particular
note, on October 26, 1945,
under the “Warsaw Decree,” all
land within Warsaw became the
The current government simply does not have
the political will to tackle the issue of property
restitution.
property of the City Council, for
the purpose of ensuring “proper
rebuilding of the capital and its
further development according
to the needs of the nation.” As
of today, well over 75% of the
land in Warsaw remains the
property of the city.
Nationalization was not lim-
ited to real property, but also in-
cluded commercial entities,
such as manufacturing plants,
hotels, banks, steel mills, mines
and any other income-producing
activity.
Failed attempts
Since the fall of communism,
numerous attempts have been
made to address the issue of prop-
erty restitution. Unfortunately, as
of today, no progress has been
made politically to adopt a com-
prehensive law to redress the
wrongs of the past. Poland is the
only former member of the Soviet
bloc now in the European Union
that has failed to adopt compre-
hensive legislation to bring this
matter to a close. Various propos-
als have been floated by different
governments, all of which have
failed to gain the necessary votes
to become law. One earlier pro-
posal would have prevented for-
mer owners who had lost their
Polish citizenship at the time their
property was nationalized from
being recognized as having a legal
interest in their property, in effect
expropriating these former Polish
citizens all over again. Another
version provided that, if at the
time of nationalization, a person’s
property was confiscated by the
State in accordance with legal
procedures then in effect, the for-
mer owner would not be entitled
to any compensation for return of
his or her property. Even if the
former owner were able to satisfy
the first two conditions described
above, however, actual return of
the property was not considered a
legal procedures were followed
at the time a person’s property
was nationalized. Take, for in-
stance, the Warsaw Decree from
1945. The Warsaw Decree pro-
vided that “all land within the
City of Warsaw shall become the
property of the City as of the
day this Decree takes effect.” At
first glance, the Warsaw Decree
appears very clear. As of today
you no longer own your prop-
erty. Period. It is hard to argue
that legal procedures were not
followed if none existed.
Fortunately, the Warsaw De-
cree, along with others, did pro-
vide for certain notices to be
given or documents to be
recorded by the local authorities
in order to legalize the confisca-
tion of property. For instance, in
the case of Warsaw, even though
all property was nationalized at
the same time on a given date,
the previous owners were, for
the most part, entitled to retain
possession of their property by
means of a right to perpetual
usufruct. In other words, even
though ownership passed to the
government, the previous own-
ers were entitled to remain in
their former properties. Sur-
prisingly, or perhaps it isn’t so
is dependent upon a number of
factors, including the identity of
the current owner. If the prop-
erty has subsequently been sold
by the State to a third party,
most likely the former owner
will not be awarded ownership,
the rationale being that a “sec-
ond round” of nationalization
against the current owner is not
the proper solution. However,
the court may very well award
compensation to the former
owner, payable by the State. A
purchaser of State-owned prop-
erty, however, would be well ad-
vised to verify the title chain to
any property he or she intends
to purchase. Even though the
risk is low that a former owner
may be able to regain title to
your property, the legal uncer-
tainty caused by such a claim
will, at the very least, require
the new owner to take an active
role in any legal proceedings
brought by the former owner in
order to protect the current
owner’s interests.
The current government
pledged to tackle the issue of
property restitution when it
first came to power, but no pro-
posal has been put forward.
The current government simply
does not have the political will.
For the foreseeable future, at
least, former owners and their
heirs will have to rely on the
Polish courts to seek justice.
from the date that Poland joined
the European Union. It was
thought then that outsourcing of
banking services could be desir-
able, but carried a serious risk to
bank security and thus to cus-
tomer deposits. It was decided to
introduce a regulation that would
allow the Commission for Bank-
ing Supervision (since merged
into the Financial Supervision
Authority—KNF) to exercise de-
tailed and ongoing oversight of
tasks outsourced by banks.
The basic duty of the bank is
to notify the Financial Supervi-
sion Authority of the intention to
conclude, amend, or terminate
an agreement with an insourcer
(the bank’s external service
provider). In certain situations it
is necessary to obtain consent
from the KNF to conclude an
outsourcing agreement. Consent
is required when a bank hires an
insourcer whose registered office
is outside the European Eco-
nomic Area, or the activities are
to be performed outside Poland.
Consent is issued through an ad-
ministrative proceeding, which
may last for several months. If a
bank ignores these require-
ments, it may be very costly, be-
cause an agreement concluded
without the required consent is
invalid by operation of law, and
the bank is subject to regulatory
sanctions.
additional burden
In addition to the obligation to
notify the KNF or obtain a per-
mit, banks are also required to
broad in matters requiring KNF
consent, and applications with
all the enclosures may run to
hundreds of pages. It is irrele-
vant whether the insourcer is af-
filiated with the bank, for exam-
ple as a member of the same
capital group; for outsourcing
purposes, it is treated like a
complete stranger. Oftentimes
subsidiaries within a bank group
are designated to provide spe-
cialized services, such as IT, for
all of the banks in the group.
Even though it is not expressly notify the Financial Supervision
stated in the Polish Banking
Law, there must always be an
agreement in place directly be-
tween the outsourcing bank and
the insourcer. In other words,
“chain outsourcing,” where the
insourcer enters into its own
agreements passing the work
along to subcontractors, is im-
permissible. This is justified
with the argument that it is diffi- notification requirement was set
cult or impossible for the regula- significantly higher than the true
tor to monitor such subcontract-
ing agreements and there is also
no clear authorization for the
subcontractor of the insourcer to banks. In light of the lack of clar-
access data protected by banking
secrecy.
The regulation of outsourcing
is so extensive that it can apply
to various fields in which banks
hire outside suppliers for serv-
ices that present no material risk coin was that insourcers willing
whatsoever to the safety of de-
posits. In response to numerous
inquiries from banks, the bank-
ing regulator issued announce-
ments of its position on what
types of services are definitely
an insourcer to shift all of its ac-
tivities to a subcontractor. A sub-
contractor is supposed to be able
to perform only activities helping
to further the performance of
the main service under the
agreement with the bank. This
would thus concern only auxil-
iary activities. The insourcer
could subcontract the entire
service only in emergency situa-
tions (force majeure).
Another important change is
elimination of the obligation to
Authority of the intention to
conclude, amend or terminate
an outsourcing agreement (in
instances where a permit is not
required). This change would
significantly reduce the banks’
and insourcers’ administrative
overhead. From the time the
current regulation went into ef-
fect, it was already clear that the
need justified. The banking reg-
ulator was flooded with thou-
sands of notifications from
ity in the regulations, banks pre-
ferred to show an excess of cau-
tion and submit notifications
whenever there was any doubt
whether notification was re-
quired. The other side of the
to work with a bank had to share
the cost of the banks’ efforts.
Such detailed oversight of the
market proved unnecessary be-
cause the outsourcing activities
which required only notification
tivities would be performed out-
side Poland but in one or more
of the other member states.
However, the proposed changes
would not affect cases where the
activities would be performed by
insourcers outside the EEA, in-
cluding in the U.S. If the
changes are introduced, an out-
sourcing agreement by a Polish
bank with an insourcer that has
its registered office in the
United States, or involving activ-
ities to be performed in the
U.S., would still require advance
permission from the Polish Fi-
nancial Supervision Authority.
The proposed changes would
not address all of the problems
related to outsourcing. For ex-
ample, the government has so
far not decided to eliminate the
requirement for a permit when
the insourcer is a member of the
same capital group as the bank.
Starting when?
Even though work on the
amendment has already been
going on for a long time, the
date when the changes would be
introduced has not been deter-
mined yet. Hopefully a bill will
be submitted to the Polish par-
liament before the end of 2010,
in which case the regulations
should be enacted in the second
half of 2011. Polish banks and
their suppliers are clearly impa-
tient to see changes introduced.

26 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010 OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 27

EXPERT: Human relations
Senior high fliers
Creating a highly effective senior team is an
art in itself. It requires investment but it
pays off.
I D
t is surprising, given the re-
sources invested, the talent
involved, and the opportunity
costs at stake, how many senior
executive teams either have low
overall effectiveness or are com-
pletely dysfunctional. It does not
have to be this way. There are
many different pieces to the puz-
zle, but if the CEO is ready to in-
vest in the right processes with
the right people, a highly effec-
tive senior executive team can re-
sult.
The first question for the
leader of the organization is
whether or not a senior team is
actually needed to carry out
strategy. A critical approach by
the top executive officer should
be to see whether a senior team
working together can bring out
interdependencies between
major internal groups to create
greater customer, employee and
shareholder value. A scan of the
top operating priorities that will
create greater enterprise value
will show whether or not the sen-
ior team can create real value as
an entity. If internal groups
headed by senior team members
are highly independent of each
other, then another coordination
structure may be more appropri-
ate than a senior team making
company-level decisions.
differences
Another major point to recognize
is that a senior leadership team
is, in several important ways, very
different from traditional organi-
zational teams. Senior leadership
28 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
By PETER STRUPP
president of the supervisory board
United Business Development
teams are composed of leaders
who have direct operating re-
sponsibilities that require their
day-to-day effort. Team partici-
pants are often high achievers
who do not recognize the addi-
tional leadership competencies
they need to work on an enter-
prise-wide level rather than in a
silo. Often there may be internal
political issues, such as succes-
sion, which need to be ad-
dressed. In multinationals there
are often both country and par-
ent-company cultural conflicts
that need to be dealt with clearly.
In their book Senior Leader-
ship Teams: What It Takes to
Make Them Great, Ruth Wage-
man and her colleagues explore
several major areas that are fun-
damental to successful executive
teams.
First a real team needs to be
created. This requires clear
boundaries on who actually is a
member. Often senior team
membership is ambiguous to the
wider organization. Stability
within the team is also helpful in
order to facilitate working effec-
tively with each other. This can
be difficult when expatriates
parachute in and out of a com-
pany every two years or when
local managers are headhunted
at a fast rate. Some stability is
required for team trust to be es-
tablished and effectiveness to in-
crease.
motivation
In addition it is the responsibil-
ity of the CEO to provide the
senior team with a meaningful
purpose that members can em-
brace. Both individual self-moti-
vational factors and a perception
that participants have a high in-
fluence on organizational devel-
opment are key factors to team
success. Senior team partici-
pants also need to have decision-
making authority in order to
know they can make a real im-
pact. Otherwise the team is re-
ally a “talk shop” and partici-
pants will only revert to their
profit center or functional role.
Clarity of the purpose for the
team is essential. What organiza-
tional areas will the team focus
on? What are the enterprise-
wide issues that need to be han-
dled? What are the company-
wide measurements that will de-
cide on success for the team? It
is also important that the team
have the time to debate and
argue over these important is-
sues. Time needs to be spent in
a give-and-take environment
recognizing diverse viewpoints.
Picking team members who
have the competencies to work
on a company level is also critical
to success. Key competencies
include having members with
strategic insight, as well as the
ability to supervise project man-
agers in order to ensure that
strategic operating priorities are
properly resourced and com-
pleted. Strategy does not work
unless strategy implementation
competencies exist among sen-
ior leaders.
There is also the need for par-
ticipants to display empathy
skills in order to understand
other people’s perspectives
clearly and to have the integrity
to put the organization’s inter-
ests first, above their own
parochial concerns.
in-depth understanding
One of the biggest mistakes a
CEO can make is letting a de-
structive senior team member
stay on who is actively seeking to
undermine the team and the
CEO’s authority. These mem-
bers must be removed sooner
rather than later. It is important
to distinguish between a team
member who is oppositional, but
supports the team efforts, and
one who is actively undermining
the authority of the team and the
leader of the organization. Most
CEOs regret that they did not
move faster to remove a destruc-
tive team member.
Senior teams require the need
to have effective meeting skills
with a focus on tackling high
value-added subjects. The cred-
ibility of senior teams is often
undermined when precious time
is spent discussing low-level is-
sues. The CEO can facilitate
this by ensuring that the most
important issues are handled
first within the meeting time.
Team members need to under-
stand explicitly what their deci-
sion rights are on each issue dis-
cussed (these decision rights
may vary depending on the
issue). CEOs help coach the
team in providing better deci-
sion-making methods, rather
than simply using intuition or
being overly influenced by one
team member without a system-
atic decision approach in place.
Like all effective teams, sen-
ior teams have explicit norms
that are enforced by the CEO.
Breaking those norms and not
confronting the wrong behavior
implicitly states to everyone else
that it is alright to break the
rules of the team.
Resourcefulness
High-performing senior teams
are well-resourced. There is an
understanding of the time that
needs to be invested. Informa-
tion is well-organized and re-
viewed before meetings. The
CEO cares about investing in
the education of the team and
also recognizes his or her own
need for learning. Normally
team coaching is also highly rec-
ommended for a regular
checkup on team health.
Well-run senior teams are an
incredible resource for the or-
ganization. They provide direc-
tion and a mechanism for com-
pany-wide resources and results
to come together. They deter
one-person rule, which is a
major source of company de-
cline. The stakes of organiza-
tional success or failure nor-
mally reside in how this team is
created and led.
EXPERT: Financial transactions
Payment makes the world go round
New regulations for payment services will
open the way for different payment meth-
ods, but the new law will affect a wide
range of businesses.
oes using your mobile
phone to pay your grand-
mother’s bills seem a bit
far-fetched? New E.U. regula-
tions on payment services, soon
to be implemented in Poland,
will create a legal framework to
let you do just that.
Many new forms of
payment have appeared
during the last few From a legal perspective, even a simple
decades. The shift now
is from plastic money payment transaction is a complex process
to payments using a
mobile phone—not to that triggers crucial issues.
mention various on-
line payment systems.
But the law can lag behind the
technology.
The gap between modern
payment technology and the re-
lated regulations came to the at-
tention of the European Com-
mission, prompting it to draw
up comprehensive new regula-
tions on payments within the
E.U. After several years of inten-
sive legislative work and consul-
tations, the result was the Pay-
ment Services Directive (No.
2007/64/EC), which was adopted
in November 2007. After many
technological leaps we are facing
a legislative jump in the area of
payment services.
The idea behind the directive
was to create a common legal
framework for payment services.
These are defined very broadly
and cover such examples as
credit transfers, direct debits
and payments made with pay-
ment instruments. By providing
a very broad definition of pay-
By KRZYSZTOF WOJDYŁO
lawyer at Wardyński i Wspólnicy
ment instruments, the directive
seeks to cover all new payment
methods, even those created in
the future.
Another concept in the direc-
tive is that regardless of the type
of instrument used, transac-
tions using payment instru-
ments should be subject to the
same rules. Generally, compa-
nies that organize and perform
payment services will be subject
to supervision by financial regu-
lators (in Poland, the Financial
Supervision Authority).
common rules
From a legal perspective, even a
simple payment transaction is a
complex process that triggers
some crucial issues. When do
the transferred funds become
available to the recipient? When
does a payment order become
irrevocable? In what circum-
stances may a credit card trans-
action be undone? Who is liable
for improper execution of an in-
ternational money transfer?
These are just a few examples
of the issues that may arise in
connection with payment trans-
actions. The Payment Services
Directive seeks to regulate all
these issues and set common
rules for all payment transac-
tions. Among these common
rules, several are of special im-
portance.
For example, from January 1,
2012, payment service providers
(e.g. banks) will be required to
ensure that a payment is cred-
ited to the account of the
payee’s payment services
provider by the end of the next
business day after the payment
order is received. Furthermore,
the full amount of the payment
must be available to the payee
immediately after it has been
credited to the payee’s payment
service provider’s account. An-
other example relates to the re-
vocability of payment orders.
Pursuant to a general rule set by
the directive, a payment order
may not be revoked once it has
been received by the payer’s
payment service provider.
The directive also touches on
some controversial issues. For
example, unless member states
decide otherwise, merchants
will have a right to charge a fee
for using particular payment in-
struments. This option would
revolutionize card payments in
Poland, because now cardhold-
ers are generally not charged
extra for using their cards.
Since Poland has not yet imple-
mented the directive, we do not
know whether Poland will allow
these surcharges.
common supervision
Dealing with payments requires
supervision: this is the direc-
tive’s message for the market.
This is nothing new to old mar-
ket players, like banks. However,
recent developments in pay-
ment solutions have brought
new players into the payment
services area. For example,
telecommunications operators
who provide popular Premium
SMS services are, in fact, carry-
ing out payment orders. Fur-
thermore, non-banking institu-
OCTOBER 2010
tions who execute on-line
transactions are also actively
providing payment services.
Until now, many of these new
players have not been subject to
any special financial supervi-
sion, even if in their everyday
business they were dealing with
large amounts of money. Now,
this is going to change. As a
general rule, providing payment
services will require a license
granted by the Financial Super-
vision Authority. Certain capital
requirements will also need to
be met in order to provide pay-
ment services, and special
measures (e.g. guarantees) will
need to be provided by payment
services providers in order to
secure the safety of funds col-
lected from payers.
Polish implementation
Poland was supposed to imple-
ment the Payment Services Di-
rective by November 1, 2009,
but failed to meet the deadline.
Now it is one of just a few lag-
gard E.U. countries
that have yet to im-
plement this major
legislation. Work on
an implementing
act is already very
advanced, and it is
expected to be im-
plemented before
the end of 2010.
Due to the comprehensive
nature of the directive and its
ambition to cover all types of
payment services, any business
involved in any way in providing
payment services should review
its activities in light of the di-
rective. Some companies that
have not been subject to super-
vision may suddenly find them-
selves dealing with the Polish
Financial Supervision Authority.
Therefore, early familiarization
with the new payment services
regulations is strongly recom-
mended.
AMERICAN INVESTOR 29
EXPERT: Labor law
The true colors of mobbing
Managers should be aware that mobbing
goes well beyond psychological pressures
E
mployers are used to the
fact that stressful situa-
tions at the workplace are
an everyday occurrence. Frankly,
we have all learned to live with it,
to a point. The question is: Does
our studied indifference blind us
to truly vile relations between
coworkers, and how bad do rela-
tions have to be before we find
ourselves in the territory of mob-
bing and bullying? Can we really
tell the difference? If we foul it
up, the company may end up on
the wrong end of a lawsuit or in-
vestigation.
what mobbing is
Mobbing was first identified in
the Polish Labor Code in 2004.
The definition reads: “Mobbing
shall mean any actions or behav-
ior relating to an employee or di-
rected against the employee con-
sisting of persistent and long-
lasting harassment or intimida-
tion of the employee resulting in
his or her increasing lack of con-
fidence in his or her professional
Cynics might claim that all workplace misunderstand-
ings between employer and employee could be classi-
fied as mobbing, but mobbing has to be unlawful.
abilities, or aimed at humiliating
or ridiculing an employee, isolat-
ing him or her, or eliminating
him or her from a work team.”
Practical perspective
Fleshing out these legislative
bones, from a practical perspec-
tive the characteristic features of
mobbing are (i) connection with
employment, (ii) connection
with the employee, (iii) enduring
and persistent, (iv) unlawful be-
30 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010
By ADAM BRZEZIŃSKI and
PAWEŁ KRZYKOWSKI,
associates at Salans
havior aimed at denying an em-
ployee’s rights. For the em-
ployer’s behavior to be deemed
mobbing, it must result in (i)
humiliation or ridicule of the
employee, or (ii) isolation or
elimination of the employee
from a team of coworkers.
While the employer’s actions
have to be of a persistent and en-
during nature to be classified as
mobbing, the definitions are
somewhat hazy. Legal doctrine
suggests that such actions
should last at least 6 months for
a charge of mobbing to stick, but
there are contrary opinions on
the subject. Therefore, a case-
by-case approach should be
taken, and this has been borne
out by decisions of the Polish
Supreme Court. The court
stated that factors like long-term
and persistent behavior of the
employer have to be analyzed in-
dividually and in light of the cir-
cumstances of the case. No par-
ticular duration of behavior was
determined.
Cynics might claim that all
workplace misunderstandings
between employer and employee
could be classified as mobbing,
but that is a non-starter. Mob-
bing has to be unlawful. The
employer is entitled to give the
employee official orders, set ex-
pectations and impose penalties
allowed by law. Pursuant to
Supreme Court precedent, giv-
ing official orders to an employee
in compliance with the provi-
sions of law does not constitute
mobbing, but it is not permitted
to exceed those entitlements and
use them to humiliate or intimi-
date an employee.
mobbing by employer
The Polish legal literature cites
the following types of employer
behavior as examples of mob-
bing: (i) ignoring the employee,
(ii) isolating the employee from
the rest of the team, (iii) tasking
the employee with work which is
worthless or below the qualifica-
tions of the employee, and (iv)
using psychological pressure.
These examples are not an ex-
haustive list of all the possible
manifestations of unlawful be-
havior classified as mobbing.
It is worth stressing that the
employer is liable not only for
mobbing taking place between
superior and subordinate but
also for mobbing between em-
ployees, because the employer is
under a legal obligation to pre-
vent mobbing as such at the
workplace.
the employee’s perspective
An employee experiencing mob-
bing may (i) terminate the em-
ployment contract, (ii) seek
compensation (after he or she
has terminated the employment
contract), and (iii) seek com-
pensation for non-monetary
damage if the employee suffered
health issues due to mobbing. It
is crucial to remember that in
mobbing-related cases (as op-
EVENT: AmCham Monthly Meeting
Lawyers and reforms
M
posed to discrimination) the 1 inister of Justice Krzysztof
burden of proof rests on the em- Kwiatkowski was our guest
ployee. The employee has to
prove that mobbing practices
speaker at the AmCham
Monthly Meeting in September.
were used against him or her The event drew crowds eager to hear first-
and, where appropriate, that hand about reforms of the judicial system
they had a negative effect on the that are coming our way this year and next.
employee’s health.
An employee who terminated 2
the employment contract due to
mobbing has a right to compen-
sation of at least one month’s
legal minimum salary. While
that now stands at PLN 1,371
(about USD 420), there is no
upper limit on compensation.
The general rule is that com-
pensation cannot exceed the
damage suffered by the em-
ployee. Therefore if the em- 3
ployee managed to prove that
due to mobbing he or she was
forced to spend money on a psy-
chiatrist or drugs (e.g. tranquil-
lizers), the court may award
compensation to reimburse
4
those expenses.
An employee who suffers
health ramifications due to mob-
bing may claim cash compensa-
tion for the harm incurred as
provided in the Polish Civil
Code. This means that if the
employee manages to prove he
or she suffered health effects as
a result of mobbing, the em-
ployer may be ordered to com-
pensate for the harm inflicted.
5 6
Estimating possible damages is
a fraught business, as it depends
entirely on the harm suffered by 7
the employee. In practice, it
would very much depend on the
employee’s capacity to show and
prove the circumstances of the
non-monetary damage suffered.
The employee may resort to
medical certificates and other
materials to substantiate the
damages. If the employee proves 8
that mobbing inflicted very seri-
ous damage to his or her health,
causing an incapacity to work,
the compensation may be signif-
icant and constitute a serious fi-
nancial exposure for the em-
ployer.
We all cope with work-related
stress in different ways, but we
need to be aware of where the
law draws the admittedly hazy
1. The panel: Roman Rewald, AmCham Chairman; Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Minister of Justice; Grzegorz Wałejko, Deputy Director,
line. No one wants to end up in Common Courts Department, Ministry of Justice; Igor Dzialuk, Deputy Minister of Justice. 2. Kevin Cahill, U.S. Embassy; Roman
court due to a complete lack of Rewald. 3. Angelo Pressello, Direct Communication; Alain T. Bobet, individual member; Bartosz Slebnicki, Hewlett-Packard Polska;
sensitivity. That’s simply bad Paul Fogo, AmCham Board Member. 4. Igor Dzialuk; Judith Y. Gliniecki, Vice Chair of AmCham. 5. Tony Housh, Apco Worldwide;
management. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Executive Director; Alexander Suski, InterContinental Warsaw. 6. Roman Rewald; Krzysztof
Kwiatkowski. 7. Krzysztof Kwiatkowski; Cezary Krasodomski, Cisco Systems. 8. Tony Housh; Tim Hyland, FCm Travel Express.
OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 31
EVENT: AmCham annual business mixer in Wrocław
Platinium sponsors:

Organizers: Gold sponsor: Silver sponsor: Bronze sponsors:

Oktoberfest draws in crowds

9 10 11

W
ith over 700 1 2
quests attending
the 7th Interna-
tional Oktoberfest in
Wrocław, the annual event
has become a remarkable
and memorable event for the
international business com-
munity in Lower Silesia and
beyond.
This year’s event, interna-
tional and multicultural in
nature, also celebrated the
200th anniversary of the Mu-
nich Oktoberfest tradition.
The organizers invited a 12 13
Bavarian orchestra estab- 3 4
lished in 1823, Musikkapelle
Niederwangen, to visit
Wrocław for the event. This
22-person orchestra, with
the youngest artist at 16
years old and the oldest at 60,
is known throughout Europe
for its love of Bavarian tradi-
tion and its passion for play-
ing together. Guests enjoyed
the music as well as the
characteristic, colorful
Bavarian costumes. Between
Bavarian numbers, Celtic 14 15
musicians played the bag-
pipes.
In order to underline the 5 6
event’s multiculturalism and
to illustrate the truly interna-
tional character of the busi-
ness environment in
Wrocław and Lower Silesia,
the organizers outdid them-
selves to provide a wide
choice of flavors this year. In
addition to Bavarian cuisine,
various types of beer and tra- 16
ditional beer pretzels, guests
tasted specialties from Spain
7 8 17
(gourmet sausages, includ-
ing year-old ham and cured
pork), Portugal (selected dry
wines), Belgium and Italy
(fine chocolates), and Amer-
ica (freshly baked chicken
thighs from KFC and the
heady aroma of Starbucks
coffee).

1. Bavarian orchestra 2. Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, Deputy Governor, Lower Silesia Province; Grzegorz Roman, Lower Silesia Province
Marshal’s office; Rafał Dutkiewicz, Wrocław Mayor. 3. Iwona Makowiecka, director of the Wrocław office, Polish-German Chamber
of Industry and Commerce; Ilona Chodorowska, British Polish Chamber of Commerce; Joanna Bensz, AmCham Wrocław Director.
4. Bernhard Brasack, German General Consul in Wrocław; Eugene Hutchinson, Irish Ambassador to Poland; David Warner, U.S.
Consul; Bert van der Lingen, Belgian Embassy. 5. Maxim Woitrin, Belgian Consul; Lars Bosse, General Director, German-Polish
Chamber of Industry and Commerce; Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Executive Director; Martin oxley, CEo, British Polish Chamber of
Commerce; Conall Haughey, President, Irish-Polish Chamber of Commerce. 6. Tapping the keg. 7. Guests tasting beer. 8. A cup of
coffee from Starbucks.
9. The Arsenal by night. 10. This year’s unusual raffle prizes. 11. Scottish pipers. 12. Emcee Tomasz Kammel; Iwona
Makowiecka; Joanna Bensz; Ilona Chodorowska. 13. Bavarian band. 14. Musikkapelle Niederwangen traveled especially from
Bavaria to play in Wrocław. 15. Dorota Dabrowski; Adele Hutchinson.16. Tomasz Kammel; Piotr Lelek, managing director Audi
Autocentrum Wroclaw; TV personality Krzysztof Materna; Joanna Bensz; Martin oxley; Polish olympian Mateusz Kuśnierewicz.
17. Special coins were minted for charity.

32 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010 OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 33

EVENT: AmCham conference, Katowice Sponsors: EVENT: AmCham Business Mixer Supporting sponsors: Media patrons:

Sponsors:

Investing in Silesia Fall Business Mixer

N 1 2
early 200 Am-

I
nvestment opportunities in the urban 1 2 Cham mem-
centers of Silesia were on the agenda at bers and
the conference organized by AmCham friends came to take
Kraków in cooperation with the City of Ka- part in the AmCham
towice, represented by Katowice Mayor Business Mixer in
Piotr Uszok, who also serves as president of September. The Olive
the Metropolitan Association of Upper Sile- Restaurant at the
sia. Among the guests were a trade mission Sheraton Warsaw of-
from Denver, Colorado, as well as experts in fered original food
the field of energy security and shale gas ex- and a cozy and casual
ploration. The second part of the confer- atmosphere. The
ence was devoted to presentations of energy mixer was sponsored
companies in the region and a panel discus- by FedEx Transport &
sion on the region’s energy security. The Brokerage Poland and
event was held at the Angelo Hotel in the the Sheraton Warsaw
center of Katowice. Hotel.

3 4 5
3 4 5 1. Piotr Uszok,
Mayor of Katowice.
2. Jolanta Ja-
worska, IBM.
3. Ireneusz Pyka,
Central Mining Insti-
tute; Chuck Ashley,
Deputy Economic
Counselor, U.S. Em-
bassy.
4.Teresa
Skowroński, SEP;
Monika Pilarska,
AmCham Kraków
Director.
5. Monika Pilarska;
Paul Fogo, Am-
Cham Board Mem-
ber.
6 7 6. The Colorado 6 7
trade mission: Dr.
Kyla Hammond,
University of Col-
orado at Colorado
Springs; Karl Dakin,
Veritek ore Process- 1. Roman Rewald, Am-
ing LLC and Sanz Cham Chairman; Michał
Corporation; Wind- Szczerba, MP; Andrzej
ham Loopesko, Ścisłowski, KPMG.
W.E. Loopesko & 2. The olive Restaurant.
Associates; Linaya 3. Jacek Jońca, Kajima
Hahn, Sunlight Sci- Poland; Sanjay Luthra,
ences, Inc.; Anthony Mattel Poland.4. Michał
Shull, University of Rene, FedEx Trade Net-
Colorado at Col- works Transport & Broker-
orado Springs; age; Marzena Drela, Am-
David Bartlett, Cham; Dariusz
Bartlett Ellis LLC. Dziekanowski, former
7. Łukasz soccer player. 5. Fred
8 9 10 11 Kwieciński, Skan- 8 9 Schardt, President &
ska. CEo, FedEx Trade Net-
8. Lucyna Jarem- works Transport & Broker-
czuk, Ministry of age, Inc.; Natascha Mau-
Economy thner, Area Director of
9. Jan Piński, en- Sales & Marketing, Shera-
ergy panel modera- ton Warsaw Hotel.
tor; Mateusz 6. David Garcia, Country
Skowroński, City of Manager, Air France;
Katowice; Piotr Christopher Brzozka,
Uszok. ICAN Institute. 7. Fred
10. Krzysztof Za- Schardt; Michał Rene; Ju-
masz, Vice Presi- dith Gliniecki, Vice Chair
dent, Tauron. of AmCham. 8. Krzysztof
11. Windham Berta, Avia; Michał Słom-
Loopesko inter- ski, FedEx Trade Net-
viewed by local tele- works Transport & Broker-
vision. age Poland. 9. Tim Hy-
land, FCm Travel Express;
Marcin Gielnik, Air France.

34 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010 OCTOBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 35

SUMMARIES: in Polish

W tym numerze: COVER STORY

czas ucieka:Polska musi
także stworzyć bardziej
przyjazne środowisko dla
biznesu—następny kryzys
może nie być taki łaskawy
dla polskiej gospodarki jak
obecny, str. 12;
lider z charakterem
Stowarzyszenie Miast
Górnego Śląska Silesia to
przykład jak powinny
postępować rządy lokalne i
regionalne aby przyciągać
inwestorów, str. 22.

Monthly Meeting Relacje zdjęciowe

wiele do nadrobienia Zastosowanie nowych technologii i
nowoczesnych technik zarządzania to tylko niektóre sposoby
na zwiększenie efektywności działania polskiego sądownictwa,
str. 20
Spotkanie Miesięczne AmCham, str. 31
Oktoberfest we Wrocławiu, str. 32
Konferencja AmChamu w Katowicach, str. 34
Jesienny Biznes Mikser, str. 35

Focus
inwestycje w kobiety Organizacja Vital Voices wykorzystuje
amerykańskie doświadczenia w walce ze stereotypami na temat
kobiet, str. 24
Działy stałe
Briefing redakcyjny, str. 2
technologie i kryzys Ramón Tancinco z Cisco Systems na
temat trendów w sektorze telekomunikacyjnym, które powstały List Prezesa AmCham, str. 5
w efekcie globalnego kryzysu gospodarczego, str. 25
Informacje o firmach członkowskich Izby, str. 6
Informacje o działalności Komitetów Izby, str. 9
Eksperci Przewodnik po Komitetach Izby, str. 10
Gdzie jest nasze mienie? Pomimo zapewnień rzadu, że za-
Podsumowanie zawartości numeru w języku polskim, str. 36
jmie się sprawą zwrotu mienia utraconego w okresie socjal-
izmu w Polsce, byli właściciele i ich spadkobiercy, ktorzy
pragną odzyskać mienie muszą polegać na postępowaniu są-
dowym, str. 26
outsourcing w bankach Rząd przygotowuje nowe przepisy
dotyczące outsourcingu w bankach, str. 27
efektywne zespoły Stworzenie efektywnego zespołu man-
agerskiego na wysokim szczeblu to sztuka sama w sobie, str.
28
© American Chamber of Commerce
Płatności rządzą światem Nowe regulacje na temat płat- in Poland 2010. All rights reserved.
ności otworzą nowe możliwości przed dostarczycielami usług
płatniczych, str. 29 American Investor to oficjalny magazyn Amerykańskiej Izby Handlowej w Polsce. Magazyn
Prawdziwe oblicze mobbingu Managerowie powinni reprezentuje głos środowisk międzynarodowego biznesu w Polsce. Celem magazynu jest
zdawać sobie sprawę, że mobbing wykracza daleko poza sferę dostarczanie członkom Izby i innym czytelnikom aktualnych informacji na temat działal-
oddziaływania psychicznego, str. 30 ności Izby a także trendów biznesowych i polityce społecznej firm.
listy do rekacji prosimy wysyłać na adres poczty elektronicznej:
tomasz.cwiok@amcham.com.pl

36 AMERICAN INVESTOR OCTOBER 2010