September 1999
Where Should Private Enterprise Be Looking To Help The Economy?
by Gary C. Granai
MasterPage
Here is a repeat of a news item from last week.
"Social help institutions refuse to pay out benefits because they don't have money. 50% of Polish families in 1998 lived below the minimum social standard. Poverty was experienced by 9 %of village inhabitants, 6% of those living in a towns of up to 20 thousand people and by 1 % of those in cities."
I would expect that none of us are very happy about this. But what do we do?
They key to Poland is in the countryside. Emphasis must be placed on growing tourism, development of agriculture and education. Not in the cities. In the countryside. Warsaw is not Poland. Poland is all around Warsaw.
The farmers are growing more militant. Why? Because no one is paying attention to them. Who is looking at long term solutions?
To quote one of this newsletter's readers, "Let them alone. They will do it themselves. They do not need outside help." Hog wash. Such nationalistic stupidity has no place in a modern world. There has to be help and it has to come from all sources that have the ability to help.
The people need help with the development of tourism that will bring money to the countryside and small towns. They have to be taught how to operate small businesses. They have taught how to use modern management and business system. They have to be show what alternative business opportunities there are in their regions.
They must be taught. Business has to help teach. So we, the publishers of this newsletter are going to give it the old college try and see what we can do.
If any of you can help with this project, you are welcome to contact us.
BUSINESS, TOURISM AND EXPORT DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM
by the Poland Business Association sp. z o.o.
GENERAL
As Poland develops and more companies become private, many people are being left unemployed. Most of these people have a good educational background and could learn new skills if training were provided. With necessary skills training they could fit into the new economy.
With the reform of the Polish economy, the public sector is hard pressed to either institute or fund meaningful training programs. Most emphasis is being placed on instituting reforms and administering short-term cures to the problems that are being created by the reform process. Too much money is being spent on meeting current goals and not enough is being spent on the development of infrastructure and education. As reforms go forward, long term problems are not being addressed and there is a widening of the standard of living and civil consciousness gaps between the employed and unemployed.
To date private enterprise as a group has not been very successful in its efforts to support the reform process by assisting in the retraining of the workforces and individuals moved to the ranks of the unemployed. But many individual companies recognize the problem and are making individual efforts to provide solutions. Even though certain laws actually discourage providing assistance to the needy by private enterprise, these businesses are moving forward with their efforts and many are making major financial contributions that support public service activities. But more can be done.
The Poland Business Association is taking a position in providing solutions to some of the retraining requirements. Specifically the Poland Business Association will provide training to unemployed persons. The training sessions will be tailored to the requirements of the economies of particular geographic regions and to the requirements of particular groups of people in various parts of the economy.
The goals are ambitious. The Poland Business Association intends to assist in 1) adding to the growth of the Polish economy by creating conditions for new jobs, 2) improving the competitiveness of the Polish economy, and 3) increasing job opportunities for the unemployed and the large number of young people entering the job market.
No one program or organization can provide all the required solutions. Therefore the Poland Business Association will place emphasis on areas within its particular scope of expertise and augment its activities using the expertise of cooperating organizations. Specifically it will concentrate on educating local officials, businesses and individuals in the use of modern business systems and technology to develop small and medium enterprises.
One group of programs will seek to 1) improve exports by small and medium enterprises, 2) to encourage exports by companies in the agricultural sector, 3) to improve countrywide tourism that will benefit the small and medium tourism supported facility operator and 4) to develop agro-tourism. Another group of programs will seek to give people information about the use of business systems such as franchises. All training will be designed to result in the creation of new jobs and investment in the targeted regions.
The Poland Business Association will mobilize companies and organizations to train as many people as possible. This mobilization will have the secondary purpose of improving the image of private business in Poland and to increase support for the reform process. The program is structured to allow private companies to participate in public service activities without encountering the problems associated with the Polish legal system.
For example, one of the practical problems faced by companies sponsoring activities is that they get no recognition for their efforts. It is widely understood and acknowledged that many public relations and public service activities by business go unnoticed and unannounced by the press because of the Polish press law. It is also widely known that private business is still held in low esteem by a large segment of the Polish population. Even though individual companies are trying to help, the population in general remains against business in general because they do not know the benefits that private business is bringing and what future benefits it can bring to the local communities and to them as individuals.
Recognition of demonstrated corporate responsibility is important in order to improve the acceptance of government reforms and the shift to the market economy. Therefore, the Poland Business Association has structured its program to provide proper and professional public announcements for demonstrated corporate responsibility and service to the communities. If companies get recognition, the populace will better understand the good that business in general is doing, and just as importantly, the companies that are doing the most will be most rewarded. It will encourage further investment in Poland's "infrastructure of human resources" and help the reform process.
To help mobilize enough businesses, the Poland Business Association will embark on a multi-media advertising campaign to benefit the program and its benefactors. To assure maximum coverage, the campaign will be made up of magazine, billboard, press and Internet advertising.
Training programs will be done on an ad hoc basis. Specific programs will be created as the needs require and the resources are found to accomplish the training. To allow for companies to reach targeted groups they will be allowed to sponsor specific programs. And for those with the ability, they can become general sponsors for the entire program.
CURRENT SPECIFIC PROGRAMS
Upper Silesia Training.
In conjunction with the Union of Municipalities of Upper Silesia and others, the Poland Business Association will conduct training of members of Municipalities and unemployed individuals in the Upper Silesia region. The training program is part of an effort to assist the region in training municipalities to use high technology to promote local business, create jobs locally, retrain unemployed people, and generate income in the local region for people and other organizations.
Franchising
Franchising offers the benefits of proven business models. Companies belonging to proven franchise systems have a higher probability of succeeding than newly formed companies that are operated without a proven business plan. The Poland Business Association will host seminars to teach the basics of franchising. The intent of these seminars is to provide for the establishment of local businesses and encourage investment in franchises to be purchased by Polish citizens.
Pages Related To News And Weather In This MasterPage
The Polish News Roundup |
News And Opinion Journal |
European News Review |
Poland Weather |
About Weather In Poland |
Poland Weather |
Free News By Email |
Poland News Services And How To Get Polish News In English. |
Free English Polish News Services |
About Polish Weather In February |
Poland News And Weather |
Add Polish News To Your Web Site |
Post An Article |
News Submission Guidelines |
Article Contributor |
Call For Papers |
Post And Comment |
Add Pictures - Comments - Information |
