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The theory of business networks has attracted increasing attention in recent years. It assumes that the competitive advantage of a firm depends on its business relationships with various entities. The quality and number of business relationships a firm maintains shape its network position, which influences the firm’s performance. The aim of this paper is to propose a framework for analysing the development of the firm’s position in the business network in the context of the firm’s performance. A literature review method was used in the paper. Based on a literature analysis and the authors’ earlier research, the proposed framework suggests that a firm’s network position changes constantly due to continuous changes in the determinants of its network position and continuous changes in the firm’s behaviour as it develops its network position. In turn, changes in the network position impact the firm’s performance.

Objective: The objective of the article is to fill a research gap regarding the impact of psychic distance on the initiation of relationships by managers from Poland-based firms and to analyze the psychic distance’s influence on firm performance. Research methodology: The article is based on quantitative research conducted among managers from 201 Poland-based companies operating in foreign markets. The study used a structured questionnaire consisting mainly of closed questions. The dataset contained companies representing all sizes, industries, and ownership status from all over Poland. Findings: Two types of companies were identified following managers’ (un)willingness to initiate relationships with actors located in psychically distant markets. The study conclusions reveal that psychic distance matters for Polish managers and that business activities conducted in psychically distant markets are often perceived as more complex than in close markets. These activities involve additional risk, but they bring companies better performance. Limitations: The limitation of the study is that the measurements are based on the subjective perceptions of psychic distance. The research was conducted in Poland only. Originality: The article is a pioneer work on the psychic distance paradox among Polish managers from a diversified group of companies (from small to multinational). The article seeks to identify to what extent Polish managers perceive psychic distance as an important factor in the decision-making process concerning the initiation of relationships with foreign partners.

Traditionally, the internationalisation process of a company has been analysed from the perspective of entering foreign markets. Currently, it is often analysed within the so-called network models, which take into account the importance of business relationships. The process of entry is not understood as a process of entering a foreign market, but a process of entering a network of business relationships on a foreign market. Insidership in such networks is necessary for successful internationalisation. Being an insider in the network means having a certain network position. The aim of the paper is to identify based on a pilot study the possible way of building network position on foreign markets by Polish food companies. The paper will present a picture of one company, focusing on its operations on German market since the entry in 2006. The researched company started building network position on foreign markets by developing a strong relationship with one actor, who acted as key intermediary with the market. As a result of major change in the business environment, the company decided to revise the strategy and develop a number of weaker links with various actors. The paper presents a number of questions which raise from a pilot study and require further investigation.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the role of a company’s external informal relationships in the internationalization process.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the aim of this paper, a qualitative research was undertaken. The data used for analysis were obtained through face-to-face interviews with representatives of 20 companies.FindingsThere are two main findings of the research. First, on the basis of the analysis of the interviews, it was possible to identify 14 different outcomes of informal relationships with external actors in the internationalization process. Second, the outcomes have been assigned to different stages of the internationalization process, thereby covering the whole range of a company’s development timeline.Originality/valueThis paper illustrates and confirms the important and positive role of the informal relationships developed by a company with external actors in the internationalization process and indicates that it can change over time depending on the stage of the internationalization.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to indicate how conflicts in foreign business relationships are handled by small firms from a relational point of view and how these conflicts can be used by small firms in a positive way. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses qualitative study and presents the results of in-depth interviews conducted with six small, Poland-based firms. Findings The paper indicates the nature of conflicts in foreign business relationships from the perspective of small firms, including the sources of conflict and its outcomes. The main sources of conflict indicated include service or product quality, financial aspects of cooperation and cultural differences. The study exposes the existence of both negative (e.g. financial consequences) and positive (e.g. gaining new experience) outcomes of conflicts. It shows that positive conflict handling often constitutes a significant challenge for small firms and that the authors cannot really speak of one optimal method of conflict handling. Regardless of the method adopted, the costs involved should be taken into detailed consideration. Practical implications The paper points to actions that could be taken by small firms to handle conflicts in a way that will produce positive outcomes. Originality/value Managing international relationships is a more challenging task compared with domestic ones, especially for smaller firms. The paper exposes the impact of two categories of conflict (called day-to-day problems and severe conflicts) in a foreign relationship on small firms and considers different methods of handling the conflict situations.

Objective: To explore in a pilot study which types of trust may be particularly important at different stages of the development of international business relationships. Research Design & Methods: The article presents results of qualitative research in the form of 27 interviews with representatives of top management of companies located in Poland and operating in foreign markets. Findings: Based on the interviews, the authors identified three stages of international relationship development, which are important in the context of trust. The article suggests which types of trust that exist in business relationships are the most important at the identified stages and should be developed by a trustee. It also stresses the sources of trust from a trustor angle. Implications & Recommendations: The article presents implications for companies trying to build trust in relationships with foreign counterparts. It stresses the types of trust which should be of a special interest at various stages of the relationship development, as well as gives some hints as to possible trust-building actions. Contribution & Value Added: First of all, the research concentrates on the development of the international business relationships, which are proven to have a considerable impact on company’s success in foreign markets, yet are more difficult to study and identify compared to domestic relationships. Secondly, it brings attention to specific types of trust which should be built at various stages of the international relationship development, if they should bring the expected results.

Change in business reality can be understood by adopting the perspective of IMP approach that is based on the assumption that business entities are interrelated. It highlights interaction processes as the underlying mechanism of change in business relationships and networks – their processes, atmosphere and structure. According to this perspective, the focus of attention shifts away from ways of managing a company to ways of managing business interactions between companies which contribute to change. The paper presents different aspects of the process of change affecting business relationship, with particular emphasis on changes in the relationship (its processes and atmosphere) and the reconfiguration of business network.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to evaluate how companies use the relationship capital when initiating the internationalisation process and how the development of a business network affects this process. Research Design & Methods: The paper presents a comparative analysis of case studies of seven companies based in Poland and operating in foreign markets. This set of primary data and a comprehensive literature review served as a stimulus for the development of a typology of relationship capital mediating agents. Findings: The cornerstone of the article is the assumption that in order to accelerate internationalisation, entities trying to enter foreign markets have to “borrow” relationship capital from one or more of several mediating agents. The article identifies these agents and outlines the role of different types of relationships during the market entry phase. Implications & Recommendations: The article proposes a typology of relationship capital mediating agents such as: foreign and domestic intermediaries, individual insiders, own international and corporate network, own network expansion, and corporate or personal referrals. It also outlines the limited role of social relationships in concluding a successful market entry, placing them as one of the possible, but not necessary, options. Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in the application of the concept of the relationship assets/capital to the network approach in internationalisation as proposed by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) and the development of a typology of relationship capital mediating agents.

Conflicts are incorporated in any company’s business activity. The development of company’s international operations entails higher probability of conflict situations with foreign partners. The aim of the paper is to analyse the sources of conflict in inter-organisational foreign relationships of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and to identify how these conflicts affect MNEs’ activities. The outcomes are analysed both for inter-organisational relationship and for MNE’s activities in general. Also, formal and informal actions undertaken by managers in order to resolve a conflict situation and to minimise potential negative consequences are investigated. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews conducted in five different units (headquarters and subsidiaries) of Polish-based MNEs. After internal and comparative analysis, obtained results are compared with the existing research. The results show that identified conflicts in foreign inter-organisational relationships of MNEs’ units were not severe. The conflicts had sources mainly in everyday problems or cultural differences. Regardless of the source, in the majority of analysed MNEs’ units, conflicts had a positive effect on the external relationships themselves and the MNE’s activities.

The phenomenon of the international Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP Group) is, that despite the fact that it is informal in character, it has been possible to build close and lasting relationships between many researchers from all continents who have been developing their research over the last 40 years. The research carried out in the beginning by the IMP Group was very phenomenon-driven in character. Researchers associated with the IMP Group were linked because they viewed companies as being a network of interdependent entities and this view was commonly described in literature as the IMP network approach. Change is a fundamental assumption embedded in the network approach. Changes occurring in networks are caused by interdependency, interactions and mutual adaptation. The issue of change and transformation is important not only due to the aforementioned nature of the IMP network approach, but also due to the need to take into consideration new phenomena appearing and/or gaining strength in the context of company networks, technological changes facilitating the development of direct relationships on the business to consumer market, the change in the behaviour of a range of market leaders, based upon vertical integration, a change in the position of entities, which to-date have been peripheral within the network (e.g. subcontractors), the development of technology and global communication networks influencing a firm's ties within the internationalisation process, ever-growing competition drives the need to look for the actual impact of the overall relationships of a company on its economic performance. Referring to these issues this article serves to announce the 32nd Annual IMP Conference that will be held in Poznan, Poland, this year where discussion will focus on change and transformation of networks and relationships.

The Narver and Slater market orientation scale is tested in the context of service firms in the transition economies of central Europe and found to be both valid and reliable. The survey examined levels of market orientation in 205 business to business services companies and 141 consumer services companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. As predicted by the predominantly western marketing literature, those service firms with higher levels of market orientation; were more often found in turbulent, rapidly changing markets; were more likely to pursue longer term market building goals rather than short term efficiency objectives; more likely to pursue differentiated positioning through offering superior levels of service compared to competitors; and also performed better on both financial and market based criteria. A number of different business approaches, however, are evident in the transition economies suggesting that other business orientations may co‐exist with a market orientation creating a richer and more complex set of organizational drivers.

The paper considers the market orientation and performance of companies in Poland. Four different company groups are considered comprising SOEs, former SOEs privatised by domestic capital, companies having some FDI involvement, and private companies which were never SOEs. Considerable differences in the market orientations are found with FDI companies the most market orientated and SOEs the least. Despite these differences, no significant differences were found in aggregate company performance.

The Narver and Slater (Narver, J.C., and Slater, S.F.: The Effect of Marketing Orientation on Business Profitability. Journal of Marketing 54 (1990): 20–35.) market orientation scale is tested in the context of the transition economies of central Europe and found to be both valid and reliable. Relationships between market orientation and both marketing strategy and performance broadly follow predictions from the Western literature indicating that the adoption of a market orientation is equally applicable in transition as in Western economies. A number of different approaches, however, are evident in the transition economies suggesting that other business orientations may coexist with a market orientation creating a richer and more complex set or organizational drivers.

The industrial organisation and evolutionary economics traditions in international business and the resource-based view of the firm in strategic management provide a rich and related set of perspectives on the question of performance in an international environment. This paper draws on these perspectives to examine the nature of marketing capabilities across a range of firm types in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. A number of key strategic capabilities are examined including market orientation, the time horizon of strategic decision making and positioning capability. The study finds that firms with foreign participation have been able to develop a sophisticated level of marketing capability with a resulting positive impact on financial and market performance. Wholly-owned subsidiaries and international joint ventures emerge as equally effective mechanisms for the transfer of marketing capability. Conclusions are drawn and implications from the research are outlined.© 2000 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (2000) 31, 63–81

The resource based theory of the firm (RBV) is briefly reviewed together with its recent application in the marketing literature. Significant contributions by Webster (1992) and Day (1994) are identified and an integration of the two presented as a hierarchical model of marketing capabilities. Three research propositions concerning the relationships between marketing capabilities and performance are developed and tested empirically in the transition economies of central and eastern Europe. In line with expectations from the theory of the RBV, higher order marketing capabilities are seen to be more important than operational capabilities in explaining superior competitive performance. The overall model is shown to be a helpful conceptualization of marketing capabilities and a number of issues for further research are identified.

Privatization has been a major element of reform in Central and Eastern Europe, however its effects on firm marketing capability and performance are unclear. This study tests a number of hypotheses concerning the effects of privatization on marketing capability, activities and performance in Poland. The main conclusions are that privatization leads to enhanced marketing capability, to more pro-active marketing activities, such as the adoption of longer term priorities, to an emphasis on delivering superior quality to customers and to more active new product development. On both financial and market-based criteria, the privatized firms are seen to outperform their state-owned counterparts.

Summary Privatization is an essential part of the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe. In this process the major stakeholders have a variety of different objectives. The conventional Western literature views of the objectives of governments, investors, and privatized companies are identified. The research then studies the importance ol'thcsc in Central and Eastern Europe and the degree to which they have been achieved in Hungary, Poland, and Slovcnia for former state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which are now fully or partly private and for organic private firms. The paper concludes that the major objectives are more likely to be achieved by fully privatized former SOEs.

The first of several articles on the temporal development of intra‐firm marketing organizations, relates how Hungary and Poland have progressed strongly towards the free market economic system. However, social and political opposition is now threatening further rapid reform. Moreover, infrastructure deficiencies and managerial problems are constraining effective marketing. Outdated production orientation is inhibiting the adoption of marketing orientation in the state sector while firm smallness is limiting managerial specialization in the private sector. Concludes, from a mail survey of 1,786 Hungarian and Polish firms, that most existing organizations are inadequate. Marketing orientation is extensive in Hungary but sparse in Poland. Although companies adapt flexibly to market changes and assign marketing responsibility to chief executives, most do not have specialist marketing departments. In the minority of cases where specialist departments do exist, they do not have inferior status to other function...

Suggests that, although Poland has made much progress towards becoming a market‐led economy, powerful environmental developments are now confronting Polish firms and these have elevated the necessity for effective marketing strategy and organization. Provides findings from a survey of 893 Polish companies which indicate that many have adopted a marketing orientation and assembled organizations conducive to effective marketing. However, many companies have not yet fully overcome time, attitudinal and other barriers to the adoption of marketing philosophies and the creation of a dedicated marketing organization. There is some evidence that marketing is embraced at a strategic level among many of the firms studied. However, marketing activities are assigned to non‐specialist functions among many of the companies and some of them do not assign key activities to anyone. Concludes that an extensive programme of education may be required to enhance awareness of the importance of, and knowledge for, marketing amo...

The economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have seen substantial changes in the last decade, as they have, with varying levels of success, sought the transition from centrally planned to market-led economics (Fingleton et al., 1996).

Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe was introduced to encourage competition in companies with subsequent beneficial effects on company performance and market orientation. Companies have been privatised by four main methods in these countries depending on the company circumstances before privatisation and leading to different dominant stakeholders after the privatisation. The performance and market orientation of companies privatised by each method are surveyed by mailed questionnaires and differences are found that are attributable to different stakeholder influence as a result of the privatisation method. Privatisierungen wurden in Mittel- und Osteuropa durchgeführt, um den Wettbewerb anzukurbeln, welcher in der Nachfolge positive Effekte auf Unternehmensleistung und Marktorientierung haben sollte. Unternehmen in diesen Ländern wurden nach vier verschiedenen Methoden privatisiert, abhängig davon, in welchen Umständen sich das jeweilige Unternehmen vor der Privatisierung befand. Je nach Methode führte die Privatisierung zu verschiedenartigen Hauptanteilseignern. Die Leistung und Marktorientierung von Unternehmen, die je nach einer der vier Methoden privatisiert wurden, wurde anhand von Fragebögen untersucht und es haben sich Unterschiede gezeigt, die aufgrund der verschiedenen Möglichkeiten zur Einflußnahme seitens der Anteilseigner zustande kommen.

In recent years, authorities in Poland have recognised the need for greater internationalisation of business. As with many other socialist countries, the development of internationalisation has been under the control and guidance of the state authorities. The authors attempt to identify whether any long‐term internationalisation policy has been implemented and whether or not Polish companies follow the customary internationalisation path. They have found that despite attempts to implement economic reform, there is both a lack of integration and the omission of key elements. These failings have hindered development and export strategy has not been successful to date. The discussion takes place on both a macro and microeconomic level, examining the various types of enterprise carrying out foreign trade. The conclusion is that macroeconomic and micro‐economic conditions create formidable barriers to the internationalisation of Polish enterprises.