Chinese and South Korean investment in Poland: a comparative study

Abstract

The paper is a comparative study on Chinese and South Korean foreign direct investment (FDI) in Poland. The comparison is presented in the broader context of Poland's systemic transformation and the accession to the European Union, and comprises the FDI inflows into Poland. The characteristics of Chinese and South Korean companies operating in Poland include their entry strategies and motives of investment. A special attention is paid to linkages between FDI trends and trade, given a huge Poland's trade deficit with Asian countries. The paper also analyses the incentives used by the Polish government and local authorities to increase Poland's attractiveness as a location for foreign investors, mostly tax preferences in the economic special zones.

The CEECs in global value chains: The role of Germany

“…To a lesser degree, the CECs were also investment destinations for Asian and US corporations. However, unlike European enterprises, they were mostly motivated by the desire to evade tariff barriers and maintain previous export markets -the so-called tariff jumping investment (Kaliszuk 2016). For Asian and US firms, the CECs were "a gateway to more developed markets in the EU" (Cieślik et al 2016).…”

Asian Foreign Direct Investments in the Visegrad Countries: What Are Their Motivations for Coming Indirectly?

“…While in the nineties there was a clear dominance of multinationals from Western European and other developed countries (mainly the United States and Japan), later on multinationals from other nondeveloped countries, among them Asian companies, started to discover this destination for their foreign direct investments. (Kaliszuk, 2016), for example, shows the different timing and paths of South Korean and Chinese FDI in Poland.) Important projects realised in the Visegrad countries by Asian investors include those by companies from Japan (Matsushita, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Sanoh, Alpine, Sumitomo, Panasonic and Asahi Glass), Korea (Samsung, Hankook and Hyundai), China (Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Wanhua), India (SMR, Apollo Tyres and Tata), Singapore (Patec) and Taiwan (Foxconn (Hon Hai)), just to name a few.…”