European spirit, adaption to market economy and national identity in Poland and Ukraine

The major objective of this work is – besides economic considerations – to estimate how far Poland and Ukraine have grown on the social and cultural EI path – layer of inter-country convergence which is assumedly even more difficult to achieve than consensus in an economic and political state union - what are the causes of the present state of evolution and what inferences for future transformations steps can be deducted thereof.

In terms of more specific terms of reference, so-to-speak research question antedating each chapter of the corpus, the author posed the following hypothesis:

In the section about national identities, the embracing question is the following, since it is suspected that the course of history of both nations observed moulded the tangible layers of NC and thus indirectly the development of mental EU convergence:

Hypothesis 1: Design and intensity of national identity contribute to Polish and Ukrainian aggregated opinion about their home countries` role on the European theatre and general emotions about the contact to Europe In order to be able to proceed solidly on the territory of BHN, the frame of research is meant to be solidified by retrieving answers to whether the very existence of needs varies across nations or merely their degree of intensity by claiming the following fact:

Hypothesis 2: The scan of advertising in Poland (Pl) and Ukraine (Uk) reveals types of human needs which are not part in commonly cited BHN theories; in other words: human needs are culture-specific instead of universal.

The structure and intensity of BHN like in the case of other features alongside the N-B-V-A (Needs-Beliefs-Values-Attitudes) axis are a fairly difficult entity to seize; what may be observed and thus measured at utmost is when the bearer satisfies a need by an overt action, e.g. when he buys soap to satisfy his needs of body spruceness. However, purchase decisions are decided by so many factors, e.g. branding, packaging, CRM (Customer Relations Management) etc. that it seems more rewarding to observe what conditions of internal tension are activated by advertising as intermediate entity and possible incentive of acquiring the item promoted.

Hypothesis 3: Advertising of fast-moving resp. durable consumer goods delivers indications on single elements of Poles` and Ukrainians` human need structure Experts of transformations studies commonly consider a brisk small-business sector and salubrious entrepreneurial spirit as high-impact fuel for economic growth. Given that all economic subjects, ergo self-employed as social subdivision as well, absorbed their macroculture´s body of thought and finally economic behaviour, the main point of interest of the last chapter is:

Hypothesis 4: Entrepreneurial motivation and the founding rate as well as design of Small and Medium-Sized enterprises (SME) are influenced by the set of national values prevailing in the Polish and Ukrainian society Concerning methodology and approach, it shall be mentioned that the thesis is backed on secondary data resp. that the initial half provides an introduction into the topics of transition and NC is given while in the main section, three issues are theoretically handled, then subsumed on both countries separately; afterwards, the outcomes are compared and the findings digested with regard of the target countries` transition process.

As for the agenda provided for the two following main parts, the proceeding will be roughly designed as follows:

In the first chapter, general particularities, e.g. content and length, of transition phases in CEEC are discussed on the basis of two stage models elaborated by the EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development) and Van den Mortel. In addition, macroeconomic benchmark data are briefly presented to round up the economic founding of the thesis.

In chapter 2, the complex of culture is narrowed down on NC by effecting a literature review about definitions like Cateora`s and Ghauri`s, an extensive discussion of classic models like Hofstede`s, Trompenaars` or Hall`s and a fugitive outlook on ulterior suggestions like Throsby`s thoughts on cultural capital.

Chapter 3 eventually extracts dimensions of the deployed model sample which are expected to suit the corpus` observations. In this intention, the selected NC characteristics are assorted and digested into four overall entities – mainly meant as instruments for ulterior research due to problems of data procurement.

The corpus begins with chapter 4, which deals with the development of Polish and Ukrainian NI (National identity) in the course of history, the impact of communist body of thought and life under real socialism thereon and repercussions of the detected NI structure on the nations` position towards the EU and ingoing transition.

The first section of chapter 5 provides a theoretical basis for the BHN concept, though. Afterwards, suitable model elements are applied in the approach to scan advertising productions published in the post-socialist era in the aim to examine whether BHN are universal or culture-biased resp. to draw a sketch of local BHN activation levels and contingently detect changes therein since the collapse of the East Block.

The thesis ends with the transfer of Dyczewski`s resp. Rays NV listing to the question how SME (Small and Medium-Sized enterprises) scope and structure, entrepreneurial behaviour and the start-up process are influenced by the central element of the B-V-A (Beliefs-Values-Attitude) continuum. After the common theoretical entering, the accent is laid on attachment to family surroundings in Poland resp, the „foul rules and views of existence“ in Ukraine. Key readings for this section were the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) Report for Poland resp. papers by Dixon & Polyakov resp. Senchuk & Yacoub for Ukraine.

Text Sample:

Chapter 6.3.1.1, Extraction of socio-economic sources of entrepreneurial incitations retrieved by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Poland:

In order to tackle this largely veiled, since psychology-moulded topic, (only the entrepreneur's behaviour is visible and thus precisely measurable) the researchers involved in the GEM project tried to enlighten the encrypted personality and motivation of entrepreneurs by effecting a survey among potentially and in fact active persons in several dozens of countries and enjoyed an exceptionally high reply ratio . The set of questions was above all related on whether people ran their own business, if yes what incited them to do so and how they provided the financial means for the start-up.

Since unfortunately and in contrast to Poland, no corresponding scholars from Ukraine have participated in the GEM project, we are obliged to proceed in this respect unilaterally, thus without the familiar bi-national comparison at the end of each chapter, and generally process the data of the contribution on Poland as thoroughly as the author of this thesis is capable do do, given that the GEM initiative is composed of independent research teams for each country and that the findings on economic and psychological properties of EN in Poland compiled in the latest report are kept in the national language and thus defies the author's linguistic comprehension considerably. Yet, it seems as if the scholars around Baclawski have blended the examination of inner and outer drives of Poles for starting up with econo-political and geographic features of Polish SME and approached to the phenomenon of motivation for BO (Business Ownership) by and large by asking whether the respondents are ready to open a business, bear the risks of failure or how candidates estimate the acceptance of EN in Polish society. Though, the researchers represent at least some catalysts for Poles to dare the adventure BO: seemingly, unemployment or exiguous professional activity as push factor and the material hardships due to financial straits, given that among these employment status groups, the intention to become self-employed was highest – interestingly above all among male interviewees resp. sensibly more potential entrepreneurs, a group which consists to a huge degree of unemployed, stated to be incited by start up due to the perspective to escape their present state of neediness than it was the case with businesses who have been running for up to 3.5 years and even less for enterprises founded more than 3.5 years ago (figure 20).

Despite the cushioning effect of established companies, the outlook to attain a higher standard of living thanks to self-employment obviously spurs Polish potential entrepreneurs a lot more than their colleagues in the EU-15 member countries (figures 21-23).

Yet, a motivational feature which might deter almost half of the respondents who were unemployed at the time of the study estimated a.o. their economic competences too poor to open their own business whereas less than 40% of full-time employed had such a negative opinion of their set of abilities and knowledge. Obviously, though, the entrepreneurial spirit seems to be strong among the cohort of un- or partially employed working-aged Poles, since at least according to GEM findings, more than 88% of latent self-employed believe their skill-set to be sufficient to dare the leap into BO – more than it is the case with newly founded resp. experienced companies (figure 24).

Yet, slight doubts occur as far as the correctness of these researchers´ data processing is concerned, since in fact the question on the self-estimation of entrepreneurial know-how was posed in the same form, just once referred to employment status and next on potential and actual BO and yielding fairly different results.

Other details of the study concerning e.g. the age structure of Polish latent or actual entrepreneurs shall be covered in the corresponding sections below. As final result extracted of the Baclawski report, the fact is to be mentioned that roughly 60% of respondents answered that the public opinion in Poland considers BO as right step to climb the career ladder, that self-employed gain in social status. The figure of approving answers moves between the 50% and 60% thresholds anyway, whether the question was broken down to income cohorts (sinking tendency moving from persons deprived of revenues to respondents disposing of more than PLN 5,500 monthly), chronological development of business administration (decreasing share of positive answers from potential business owners to firms operating for more than 3.5 years), age cohort (decline from 18-24 to 55-64, with maverick in the layer of female respondents aged 55-64), level of education (decrease from basic to academic) as well as general level of development of Polish governmental districts (number of affirmative answers rising function of development standard). Thus, the quintessence of these cognitions on the correlation between achievement and rise in the social hierarchy and self-employment as option to fulfil the values of honour, self-esteem and communitarian orientation is especially high with low-income households – starting up may represent a possibility to escape from one's present social class. The same is true for people situated in the pre-opening stage – freshly launched entrepreneurs may be so frustrated of the harsh start-up phase resp. established merchandists are probably content with their social situation that their want to climb in society's hierarchy is saturated. Young and prime-aged people are apparently also especially attracted by BO – youngsters have not gained a high respective ranking yet resp. professionally experienced actives in their thirties and early forties may perceive clearance upwards departing from their present employee or officer position by occupying the title of entrepreneur to be less attractive.

Finally, the GEM Poland unveiled surpassing inclination to start-up among basically skilled people – the wish may be prevalent within persons of this strata to place themselves ex equo with academic businessmen or just to measure up to free-lance masters of craftsmanship of their guild – and finally with the circumstances of general economic height in the single wojwodship as propulsive effect of working in one´s own account.