american investor november 2010

American

InvestorNovember 2010Vol. XX, No. 8 • ISSN 1506-3240

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

4 pages of photos from the AmCham 20th Anniversary Ball FOCUS: Amway and its new business center

AmCham PioneersThe chamber honors its most

entrepreneurial souls

NOVEMBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 1

what’s on

www.amcham.com.plYour online guide to AmCham activities

MONTHLY BREAKFAST MEETING

Tomorrow is another day The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is working on crucialreforms of Poland’s social security system to eliminate privileges enjoyed by variousgroups in favor of a fair and consistent approach. But first the coalition wants to be re-elected, p. 23

FOCUS

A new era? Poland’s previous heads of state have been earnestly pro-American. Incum-bent President Bronisław Komorowski offers a more nuanced approach to U.S./Polish bi-lateral relations, p. 26

Don’t tax and don’t spend While the business community slams the government for itsdecision to raise VAT next year, it also expresses its concern about the apparent lack of acoherent policy for dealing with the impending budget deficit, p. 28

A long-term commitment With the opening of Amway’s business support center in Za-bierzów, near Kraków, the company aligns its business values with the local community’sneeds and aspirations, p. 30

THE EXPERTS

Getting things done A unique business model coupled with a well-crafted competitivestrategy can do wonders for value delivered to clients, employees and shareholders.But if the implementation of the strategy is poor, then the benefits of the strategy areweak or non-existent, p. 32

Trademarks may not last forever What’s in a trademark? At first glance it is often littlemore than a squiggle. But seldom in commercial history has so much value beenwrapped up in something so small, p. 33

A court that means business Choosing arbitration instead of judicial proceedings paysoff, p. 34

EVENTS

Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jolanta Fedak was our guest speaker at the AmChamMonthly Meeting in October, p. 35; AmCham 20th Anniversary Ball, p. 36-39

DEPARTMENTS

From the Editor, p. 2; From the Chairman, p. 5; Newsline, p. 6; Agenda, p. 9; Guide toAmCham Committees, p. 12; Content summaries in Polish, p. 40

American companies played a major role in pioneeringPoland’s market economy. In the 1990s, at a time of high infla-tion, poor infrastructure, and outdated socialist-era laws, thesecompanies blazed the trail with many of the first greenfield in-

vestments in manufacturing, banking,R&D, logistics, and the service industry.Thanks to their efforts, other companiesfollowed with similar investments. Behindthese pioneering companies were individual entrepreneurs whose driveand vision allowed them to overcomethe barriers on the trail. AmCham hasnow recognized and honored these pio-neering individuals. Each pioneer has aunique story and extraordinary experi-ences. However, all have one thing incommon: creating value in the uncertainand volatile times of the 1990s.

We are pleased to present here the profiles of the AmCham Pi-oneers, page 14.

Other useful sites

U.S. Chamber of Commercehttp://www.uschamber.comAmerican Chamber of Commerce in the European Unionhttp://www.amchameu.beEuropean Council of American Chambers of Commerce http://www.amchamseurope.com

COVER STORY:

American

InvestorNOVEMBER 2010 Vol. XX, No. 8

People who pushed the boundaries

Calendar

By clicking on red links in the Calen-dar you may visit photo coverage ofour past events. Blue links will takeyou to the announcements of upcom-ing events.

Download this magazine!

American Investor is available in full asa pdf for download from the www.am-cham.com.pl website. Go to "AboutUs" in the horizontal menu, andchoose American Investor Magazine

from the pop-up menu. You can down-load past issues of American Investor

dating back to October 2010.

Policy Watch

Intelligence: For AmCham positionpapers, policy statements, official let-ters to government ministers and re-search papers, visit the Advocacy linkon the horizontal menu to downloadthe latest AmCham position papers.

Regions

AmCham may be closer than youthink. Apart from Warsaw, AmChamhas two regional branches which areactive 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 ofsouthern Poland, and Wrocław, go toRegions in the horizontal menu bar,and pick your region of interest.

Events

AmCham Monthly Meetings are one ofthe flagship events organized by thechamber. While American Investor cov-ers each Monthly Meeting exten-sively, including full-page pictorials,you can search through picturearchives of past events that includenever previously printed material. Justgo to Events and Activities, pickMonthly Meetings and scroll down forlinks to archived events.

AmCham online

2 AMERICAN INVESTOR NOVEMBER 2010

BOARD OFDIRECTORS

The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

SPONSORS

Roman Rewald – Weil, Gotshal & MangesChairman

Judith Y. Gliniecki – Wierzbowski EvershedsVice Chair

RichaRd lada – TelestoVice Chairman

PeteR kaY – KPMG PolskaSecretary

Stan PoPow – FinacorpTreasurer

MEMBERS

Tony HoushAPCO Worldwide

Joseph WancerDeloitte

Paul FogoMiller Canfield

Robert L. KońskiKulczyk Investments

John LynchLynka

Mac RaczkiewiczEx officio

AmCham Auditor:

A non-existent dilemma

Recently we have seen a little debate circulating around the top echelons

of the corporate world, who argue that state-owned companies may be

just as efficiently managed as privately-owned companies. It looks as

though some parts of the debate, namely those generated by former bosses

of big state-owned firms boasting about their ability to manage their firms just

as well as their colleagues in the private sector, are nothing but assertions of

self-proclaimed greatness.

But it is also a misplaced and naive argument.

This argument takes me back to the time when behemoth state-run com-

panies were indeed the primary source of Poland’s gross domestic product.

Yet back then there was no private sector, and the behemoths enjoyed a

total monopoly in their respective sectors of the economy. Then, too, the

bosses boasted about the high efficiency of the operations under their man-

agement, which “sometimes exceeded earlier expectations.” This was all in

line with state-generated propaganda. The objective truth could not be

measured, because there was no competition and no benchmark.

After the beginning of the economic transformation in 1989, however, the

free market gave all that a reality check. It was clear that the state-owned be-

hemoths were run in an extremely wasteful fashion and had to be privatized if

they were to survive on the marketplace.

Despite over 20 years of economic transformation, state-owned enter-

prises that enjoy a total monopoly still exist today. One example is Totalizator

Sportowy. Since 1957 the state-owned lottery has been advertising to wide

masses that becoming a millionaire may be just a matter of choosing six

numbers out of 49 and making a bet on its lottery. This is Totalizator

Sportowy’s flagship drawing, Lotto (until October last year known as Duży

Lotek).

Many people place their bets with Totalizator Sportowy, and Lotto is obvi-

ously a cash cow for its owner, the State Treasury. However, the issue of

whether it is efficiently managed has been recently called into question, fol-

lowing the rebranding last year from Duży Lotek, as it was known since 1957.

The Lotto drawing was moved up from three times a week to four, the mini-

mum main prize was raised from PLN 1 million to PLN 2 million, and the

price of a single bet went up from PLN 2 to PLN 3.

The rebranding, aimed at making the lottery a more attractive proposition

to a wider group of players, was apparently ill-conceived. While it drew more

occasional bounty-seekers, it put off quite a few systematic players—Lotto’s

loyal customers.

A loyal customer is someone who has a system for placing bets and does

not want to miss any drawing. Suppose a loyal customer was placing 10

bets every drawing. In the old system, a weekly gambling dose cost PLN 60.

Now it costs PLN 120. Statistically, the chances of winning the main prize re-

main the same, but subjectively, four drawings a week instead of three pro-

vides an illusion of improving the odds. The odds of winning the main prize

in Lotto are 1 in 13,983,816. In other words, if you played every time a draw-

ing takes place, four times a week, the chance that you win would be

roughly 1.1% in 1,000 years.

Free-market practice dictates that you can charge more if you give more.

This is not the case with the Lotto offer. Apparently, a relatively large propor-

tion of loyal customers were not taken in by this trick. They play less, not

more. Lotto’s revenue from the flagship lottery for the year following introduc-

tion of the change, October 9, 2009, to October 9, 2010, dropped by 25%,

from PLN 1.97 billion to PLN 1.48 billion. Totalizator Sportowy management

anticipated a 16% increase, according to the business daily Puls Biznesu.

Tomasz Ćwiok

YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE EDITOR

For a lottery in existence since 1957, operating a state-of-the-art satellite system for many years to relay data from the extensive

network of betting kiosks all around the country, and whose drawings are covered live on nationwide television, to lose a quarter of

its revenue is odd, to say the least, and it is tempting to jump to many conclusions here. One would be that when it comes to

drawing the right strategy for market development, someone at Totalizator Sportowy picked a terribly wrong number.

Totalizator Sportowy top brass say nothing of the sort, but blame the global economic crisis. What is more, those responsible for

the massive drop in revenue were not dismissed, as would be the case in any private company concerned about effective man-

agement. In other words, those who made the error of “reforming” the oldest lottery drawing in Poland are still there at the com-

pany and apparently can err on.

According to Puls Biznesu, following the poor yearly performance of Lotto, a blame game has taken place at Totalizator

Sportowy. Some managers point the finger at their advisors. Others, as mentioned, blame the crisis. No one feels accountable for

what happened.

But someone is accountable: the owner of Totalizator Sportowy, the State Treasury. If someone has to go at Totalizator Sportowy,

it is ultimately the decision of the Minister of Treasury. But it is a structural screw-up as well, because the minister’s power is only

bureaucratic, nor meritocratic. He knows nothing about running a big company, has no experience as a CEO, and is not himself

an expert on gambling. The knowledge on which he can base his assessment of the situation is of a political kind, and if he wants

to know anything about the gambling business he has to resort to experts himself. In other words, he cannot act like the owner of

Totalizator Sportowy, but only as a public servant. His inquiry into the Totalizator Sportowy problem may take years. Putting the

blame on the global economic crisis, as some Totalizator Sportowy managers do, may therefore prove an effective way of push-

ing any consequences off into the unforeseeable future.

Blaming the global economic crisis, for instance, is in stark contrast with the overall performance of the domestic consumer

market in Poland, not to mention the performance of the private sector. While the former has been relatively robust, the latter, as we

all know, managed to implement strategies to dwarf the negative effects of the global economic crisis on their core businesses. In

fact, very few private companies in Poland have actually seen their revenue drop enough to qualify for the state aid program of-

fered by the anti-crisis legislation until the end of 2011. And no company which did seek refuge in the program enjoyed a monop-

olistic position in their business niche.

In other words, the private sector could have been flexible enough, while a state-owned company, which enjoys the position of

a state monopoly, somehow could not. And it is not their managers’ fault!

Totalizator Sportowy generates profits from different types of gambling, small lotteries, horse racing bets and others. They have

not been “reformed,” and still generate robust income. But if Totalizator Sportowy’s flagship product Lotto were the only source of

income for the company, with a drop of 25% in revenue (roughly PLN 500 million not earned), it would have qualified for the state

aid program devised for private companies in need of momentary aid to survive the rainy day of the global economic crisis.

It is rather a wry coincidence that a state-owned company with a monopoly on the marketplace should theoretically qualify to

benefit from a state aid program designed for private companies, when hardly any private companies needed it. If the example of

Totalizator Sportowy’s mismanagement of Lotto does not prove that state-owned companies are far less effectively managed than

private ones, no further argument probably will.


American InvestorYour ultimate source to AmCham PolandCall to find out about advertising opportunities +48-22-520-5993


Hurray, AmCham is 20 years old! It seems just yesterday that seven business-people gathered at an appointment with the U.S. Commercial Counselor toshake hands on forming this glorious organization. During those 20 years we

have made a real difference for American investors and for Poland, and we havehad a lot of fun doing it.

For our anniversary we distinguished ourselves from our sister business organi-zations, who commemorate their anniversaries with symposia or concerts, bythrowing a real American-style ball. With a Marilyn Monroe theme at that! On theserious side, we took time to pay tribute to our pioneers, our good investors, and

some special personalities we thought were instrumental inthe formation of the excellent new Poland we enjoy today. Forthis, we asked Dziennik Gazeta Prawna to help us, andTomasz Wróblewski was there at the ball helping to giverecognition to the award winners.

For the last 20 years we have fought and cajoled anyoneand everyone to improve the investment climate in this countryfor our American investors and all other investors. I am person-ally honored that for the last six years I have had the privilegeto chair this magnificent organization. I appreciate the workdone by Mac Raczkiewicz, my predecessor, and numerousBoard members, and I trust that with this present Board andour fantastic staff, headed by Dorota Dabrowski, we have

been doing a decent job running the Polish AmCham.A round-number anniversary is always a good opportunity not only to examine

the past, but also to look into the future. What kind of organization do we want Am-Cham to be in the next 20 years? There is clearly a strong relationship between theU.S. and Poland, which will only grow stronger in both the political and the eco-nomic spheres. As the Polish economy grows, Polish businesses will achieve theircapacity to export goods and services to the United States, as well as capital in theform of direct investments. That is one of the reasons we welcomed the creation ofthe US-Poland Business Council in Washington, D.C., which was announced inWarsaw at the end of October this year. As for today, we see the development ofAmerican investment in Poland in the energy sector and the promotion of Polandas a place for more investments as obvious grounds for good cooperation withthis new business organization. In any case, the future looks bright.

Happy Anniversary to all!

American

Investor

© American Chamber of Commercein Poland 2010. All rights reserved.

American Investor is the official publicationof the American Chamber of Commerce inPoland. It is a voice for foreign investors andthe business community in Poland. Themagazine strives to keep our members andother readers up to date by following cham-ber news and reporting on the leadingtrends in business and policy.

letters to the editor should be e-mailed [email protected]

AMCHAM STAFF

Dorota DabrowskiExecutive Director

[email protected]

Marzena DrelaDeputy Director

[email protected]

Anita KowalskaEvents & Media Manager

[email protected]

Robert KruszynaOffice Manager

[email protected]

Barbara Pocialik-MalinowskaMembership and Committees Coordinator

[email protected]

Marta PawlakResearch and Policy Coordinator

[email protected]

Robert ChomikProject Assistant

[email protected]

AmCham in KrakówMonika [email protected]

AmCham in WrocławJoanna [email protected]

Printing

Q Invest Ltd +48 22 424 6600

To contact AmCham please write or call:

ul. Emilii Plater 53, WFC 00-113 Warsawtel: +48 22 520 5999 fax: +48 22 520 5998e-mail: [email protected]

Time flies

Roman RewaldAMCHAM CHAIRMAN

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

tomaSz Ć[email protected]

EDITOR-AT-LARGEchRiStoPheR [email protected]

Published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE CHAIRMAN

We’re allin this

together

AmCham Member to Member


The new place on the map of Warsaw restaurants—MERLINIEGO 5—is located just acrossfrom the Warszawianka pool. Intriguing interior with a towering bar, exposed brick walls,slatted shutters, tawny wooden panels and soulful jazz playing in the background gove offtruly sophisticated vibes. What makes this wine bar even more special is the fact that on thegreat wall of wines you will find wines hand-picked by sommelier Sławomir Kojło.

One look at the menu andyou know that this is theright place not only for finefood but fine wine as well.

Reservations and information: +22 646 08 10, +22 646 08 49, www.merliniego5.pl

Visit restaurant and wine barMERLINIEGO 5 and make atruly great discovery!

RESTAURANT AND WINE BAR MERLINIEGO 5IS THE PLACE FOR CONNOISSEURS OF GOOD FOOD AND WINE

NOVEMBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 76 AMERICAN INVESTOR NOVEMBER 2010

AmCham AdvocacyFollowing the September Monthly Meeting atwhich the Minister of Justice presented the min-istry’s plans to create business-friendly legisla-tion and amend Poland’s corporate law, we haveprepared a position paper about the process ofregistering a limited-liability company (sp. z o.o.)via Internet. In the paper AmCham positivelyevaluated the ministry’s proposal to allow onlineregistration of limited-liability companies in 24hours. We underlined that saving time and sim-plifying the process of registering a company issignificant in lowering barriers to operating abusiness in Poland. AmCham supported theproposal to allow use of an ordinary electronicsignature when registering a company online,without the need to verify it with a security certifi-cate, which would increase the cost of registra-tion. AmCham also stressed that the “no obliga-tion” procedure for judicial review of documentsprior to registering a company online should beuniversal and cover not only the procedure forregistering a limited-liability company via Inter-net, but other procedures as well. AmChamcalled for the possibility of registering othertypes of enterprises online and the introductionof standard documents for online registration ofcompanies. AmCham stressed that simplifyingadministrative procedures for business is per-fectly in line with a recommendation by the Eu-ropean Commission issued in 2007, whichurged E.U. member states to reduce the cost ofadministrative burdens for operating a businessby 25% by end of 2012.

AmCham Anniversary Ball

Over 350 guests, including leading business-people as well as figures from the world of poli-tics, diplomacy, science and the arts, turned upat the Marriott Warsaw for the AmCham 20th An-niversary Ball to celebrate two successfuldecades of AmCham in Poland. Among theguests were Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, formerdeputy prime minister and head of the NationalBank of Poland; Minister Michał Boni, chief ad-visor to the Polish Prime Minister; U.S. Ambassa-dor Lee Feinstein; and Jerzy Koźmiński, formerPolish ambassador to the U.S. and formerdeputy foreign minister, Wiesław Rozłucki, co-founer and former president of the WarsawStock Exchange, and Prof. Michał Kleiber,president of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The ball took place on October 23 and wasdevoted to the theme of Marilyn Monroe. In ad-

NewslineNews from AmCham and its members

dition to the Marriott’s Grand Ballroom, the eventextended to several rooms decorated in a 1960sAmerican theme.

One of the many attractions of the eveningwas a surprise appearance of Ray Wilson, bestknown as former frontman for Genesis, who dida mini-performance with piano accompaniment.

In picture on the previous column, AmChamChairman Roman Rewald cuts the anniversarycake.

AmCham AwardsFor the seventh time, AmCham has recognizedmember companies for their outstandingachievements in Poland. The Corporate SocialResponsibility Award went to Fluor, in recogni-tion of the company’s support for the local com-munities’ educational system and the underprivi-leged in the company’s operating areas. Coca-Cola and IBM Polska received honorable men-tions for the AmCham CSR Award.

This year, the 20th Anniversary AmCham En-trepreneur of the Year award has gone to HenryMcGovern for his commitment to Poland andthe entrepreneurial spirit that he exemplifies.Within 17 years from opening Poland’s first PizzaHut, in Wrocław in 1993, McGovern has createda fast-food powerhouse with nearly 500 restau-rants and seven major brands in seven coun-tries.

General Motors received the Investor of theYear Award, in recognition of the company’scontinued commitment to invest and develop itsoperations in Poland. Since starting its Polish op-erations in 1996, GM has invested PLN 2.8 billionin state-of-the-art technology. It employs 2,800people. While GM Poland sells 82% of its pro-duction abroad, it has added 135 local produc-ers to its global supply network. This year thecompany has created 150 new jobs in its Astraproduction facility in Gliwice. Honorable men-tions in this category went to 3M and IBM.

The title of AmCham 20th Anniversary Out-standing Investor went to McDonald’s Polska.Since opening its first restaurant in Poland in1992, McDonalds has invested more than PLN 1billion and today operates 243 restaurantsthroughout the country. McDonalds supports15,000 part-time and full-time jobs. For the last17 years the company has been perfecting itsstandards of excellence in food safety, qualityand service, while at the same time supportinglocal suppliers and actively executing its CSRprograms.

In addition to its traditional awards, this yearthe AmCham awards recognized the accom-plishments of people and companies who arenot AmCham members but whose activities havehad a significant impact on the wellbeing of theentire business community in Poland.

The title of the 20th Anniversary EconomicPolicy-Maker went to Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz,whose economic program for Poland developedin the early 1990s proved to be a pivotal contri-bution to the country’s remarkable economictransformation. Balcerowicz is also an indefati-gable promoter of free-market principles.

Jerzy Koźmiński, former Polish ambassador

to the U.S. and former deputy foreign minister,received the title of 20th Anniversary Ambassa-dor for his successful diplomatic work in bring-ing Poland into NATO and the European Union.

Wrocław Mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz acceptedthe award for City and Mayor Most Supportive ofInvestments. The title honors Dutkiewicz’s long-time efforts and accomplishments in attractingspectacular U.S. investments, putting Wrocławon the map as one of the most investor-friendlycities in Poland.

AmCham also honored 14 of its most entre-preneurial members who received the title ofAmCham Pioneer (see the cover story in thismonth’s issue).

BoeingThe Boeing Company reported third-quarter netprofit of USD 0.8 billion, or USD 1.12 per share,on revenue of USD 17.0 billion. The results re-flect higher volume in commercial airplanes andstrong performance across the company’s corebusinesses.

“Our results and revised outlook reflect thecontinued strong performance of our commer-cial production and services programs and theability of our defense businesses to producesolid results in a challenging environment,” saidBoeing CEO Jim McNerney. “Orders were par-ticularly encouraging, with a multi-year produc-tion contract for 124 F/A-18 aircraft and morethan 200 net commercial airplane ordersbooked in the quarter, increasing our backlogand demonstrating improved overall marketconfidence.”

CB Richard Ellis

Real estate agency CB Richard Ellis has beenappointed exclusive agent for Green Corner, anenergy-efficient office building in the center ofWarsaw developed by Skanska PropertyPoland.

“CBRE is excited to represent Skanska atGreen Corner,” said Łukasz Kałędkiewicz, Of-fice Agency Director at CB Richard Ellis. “Thebuilding is perfectly situated in the city center,boasts numerous amenities, and provides greataccess to public transportation. It all makes theproject highly attractive to a variety of qualitytenants, as well as proves its environmental en-gagement.”

Green Corner will provide 27,500 sq. m. ofClass A office and retail space when it is com-pleted in 2Q 2012. Preliminary work at the site

FLASHBACKFrom the pages of American Investor

NOVEMBER 2000

“It is increasingly likely that in addition to strong competition in the e.U., a

Polish town may find itself in a white-knuckled bid for the latest foreign in-

vestment against a little-known location in China, India or Ukraine. Without

proper focus, clear legislation and modern infrastructure, it will be an in-

creasingly uphill battle.”

MArEK SoWA, AMCHAM BoArD MEMBEr

on Chłodna and Wronia streets is planned forNovember.

Cushman & Wakefield

Real estate advisory firm Cushman & Wakefieldhas designed a new Internet tool to help guideinvestment decision-making. The portal cwin-vestment.pl, developed by the Capital MarketsGroup of Cushman & Wakefield, is dedicatedto investing in commercial property in Poland.It contains updated information on over 1,000office, retail, industry and hotel facilities, includ-ing properties for sale. The new service also of-fers the opportunity to submit a commercialproperty for sale.

Among the interactive tools available for theportal’s users is an investment calculator whichenables the user to forecast IRR from a com-mercial real estate investment. After enteringthe relevant variables into the calculator, theuser can determine the projected profit fromthe invested capital.

“Our calculator is a first in Poland for suchan advanced Internet tool designed for com-mercial real estate investors,” said WojciechPisz, head of the Capital Markets Group atCushman & Wakefield. “What is important isthat access to data is now free of charge. Thenew service was presented during the ExpoReal fair in Munich, and from the start it has at-tracted much interest. However, it must bestressed that the results obtained from the useof both the property base and the calculatorprovide only preliminary estimates and shouldnot be treated as a substitute for professionaladvice.”

In other news, Cushman & Wakefield hasrepresented Baltona, a foreign trade company,in signing a lease for 1,094 sq. m. of ware-house space and 762 sq. m. of office space atthe business park Ideal Idea II in Warsaw. Thepark is located close to Warsaw Chopin Air-port. Baltona operates the largest Polish net-

work of duty-free shops, at nine airportsaround the country.

Enterprise InvestorsPolish Enterprise Fund VI, a private equityfund managed by Enterprise Investors, hassigned an agreement to acquire a significantminority stake in X-Trade Brokers, a global bro-kerage house which is the largest brokeragefocused on forex, commodities, indices andCFD products in Central & Eastern Europe.The EUR 57 million transaction will be finalizedfollowing approvals by the Polish Office ofCompetition and Consumer Protection as wellas the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

“We watched and admired the dynamicglobal expansion of X-Trade Brokers,” said Se-bastian Król, the partner at Enterprise In-vestors who is leading this investment. “In ourview the company clearly has capacity for fur-ther rapid growth. We want to contribute ourexperience in building the value of financialfirms and our support for the strategy pre-sented to us by X-Trade Brokers.”

FCm Travel Express

FCm Travel Solutions has been named Eu-rope’s Leading Travel Management Companyin the 2010 World Travel Awards, one of themost prestigious and comprehensive awardsprograms in the global travel and tourism in-dustry. FCm won the same category in the2008 awards. Described by the Wall Street

Journal as the “Oscars” of the travel industry,the World Travel Awards aim to separate thegood from the outstanding and identify com-panies that consistently exceed expectations.This year 185,000 industry professionals fromthe travel, tourism and hospitality sectors par-ticipated in the voting process.

The FCm Travel Solutions partner in Polandis FCm Travel Express.

Members on the move

Dr. Stanisław Wajda hasjoined the Energy and In-frastructure Projects de-partment at the Warsaw of-fice of CMS CameronMcKenna. Wajda is re-sponsible for coordinatingenvironmental protectionprojects in the CEE region.He is an expert in the fieldof Polish and E.U. environmental protection law.He has a Ph.D. in law from Jagiellonian University.He specializes in issues related to the climate andenergy package, emissions trading, environmen-tal impact assessments, waste management,cross-border shipment of waste, ecological re-sponsibility and polluted land.

Dominika Uberman, apartner at CMS CameronMcKenna, has been ap-pointed the head of theBanking & Finance practicefor regulatory, bankruptcyand structural realignmentissues. Uberman is respon-sible for project finance is-sues relating to the energyand infrastructure sectorsand real estate investments. Uberman, who hasbeen recognized many times in international rank-ings of law firms (including Chambers) as a proj-ect finance expert, advises the firm’s key ac-counts on banking issues, investment financing,and transactions in major branches of the econ-omy.

Starwood Hotels & ResortsPolandNatascha Mauthner hasbeen named Starwoodsales and marketing direc-tor for Poland. In her newposition she coordinatessales and marketing forSheraton hotels in War-saw, Kraków, Poznań andSopot, as well as theWestin and Le MéridienBristol hotels in Warsaw. Her main responsibilitiesinclude creation of a marketing strategy to boostthe chain’s market share. Mauthner has 16 yearsof experience working for 5-star hotels in Europe,Asia and the Middle East, including the SheratonBeijing.

CMS Cameron McKennaMałgorzata Chruściak, a partner at law firmCMS Cameron McKenna,has been appointed headof the Banking & Financepractice for regulatory,bankruptcy and restructur-ing issues. Chruściak spe-cializes in commercial law,with particular emphasis onbanking law. She hasbroad experience in the es-tablishment of banks in Poland and the acquisi-tion of shares in Polish banks and other financialinstitutions by foreign investors, including throughmergers of international financial institutions.

Change of nameMCE Industrietechnik Polska Sp. z o.o. has changedits name to BIS Industrietechnik Polska Sp. zo.o. The company’s e-mail contacts have alsochanged ([email protected]). Thecompany’s tax number and address remain un-changed.

Panattoni Europe. “Each company has its ownlogistic needs depending on the type of prod-uct offered. Today’s warehouses meet the mostdemanding expectations for location, size,shape and functionality. This is why we de-cided to focus on nature, which illustrates awhole array of solutions.”

In other news, Panattoni Park Mysłowice re-ceived the 2010 Best Industrial Developmentaward for Europe in the International PropertyAwards, a U.K.-based real estate competitionconducted in association with Bloomberg Tele-vision.

Panattoni Park Mysłowice is one of thebiggest distribution centers in Poland and willultimately comprise 6 buildings. It is locatednear the junction of the A4 motorway and theS1 expressway. At full build-out, the park willtotal approximately 200,000 sq. m.

ProLogisGlobal provider of distribution facilities ProLo-gis has conducted the 5th annual “ProLogis forthe Best” competition to recognize the topgraduate of the Poznań School of Logistics in2010. The title was awarded to Tamara Mądra,who has earned a bachelor’s degree. Mądrapicked up a check for PLN 4,000 and a certifi-cate.

“It was extremely difficult to identify the bestgraduate, and pick only one among many am-bitious young people who participated in thecompetition,” said Marta Tęsiorowska, ProLo-gis vice president for marketing and communi-cations in Central & Eastern Europe. “Out-standing academic performance is not the onlycriterion. We also assess the student’s involve-ment in non-academic activities and look forcreative, hard-working and committed stu-dents.”


NewslineNews from AmCham and its members Intelligence from AmCham and its committees

Agenda

New MembersEducation and training specialist Crestcom Inter-national has joined AmCham. The company’smanaging partner, Andrzej Kuras, can be con-tacted at (+48) 516 475 205 or [email protected]. The company's website is www.crestcom.com.

Java Coffee Company, a provider of coffeeroasting for wholesale, has joined AmCham. Thecompany is represented in Poland by Glen Gre-gory, who is available at (+48) 22 835 3985 [email protected]. The company’s website iswww.javacoffee.pl.

Construction and manufacturing specialist Wood-ward Governor Poland has joined AmCham.The company’s managing director is DominikKania, available at (+48) 12 295 1301 or [email protected]. The company is based inNiepołomnice, near Kraków. The website iswww.woodward.com.

CorrectionIn the october 2010 issue of American Investor (p.9), we incorrectly identified the affiliation of Dr. Ma-ciej rogalski. He is now Director of the regulatoryBranch at Telekomunikacja Polska Capital Group.

Burning issues

As Poland takes the first steps to adjustits laws and practices governing themanagement and utilization of waste so

that different types of trash may be reused asa heating source for communal purposes orrecycled, it is becoming increasingly clear thatthe country will find it extremely difficult tomeet the schedule Poland has agreed on withthe E.U.

Beata Kłopotek, director of the Waste Man-agement Department at the Ministry of Envi-ronment, who met with the AmCham Energy& Environment Committee in September, saidthat by 2015 Poland is obliged to enforce themanagement of waste at different points of thedisposal chain, including separate collectionof paper, metals, plastics and glass. By 2020Poland is obliged to have a fully functional re-cycling system in place that is capable of uti-lizing 50% by weight of the nation’s paper,plastic, glass and metal waste. In addition, by2020 Poland is obliged to recover and reuse70% by weight of non-hazardous waste fromconstruction and demolition sites. “Those arethe fundamental E.U. requirements,” Kłopoteksaid. “Before Poland is able to think of energyrecovery from waste, however, it has to thinkabout how to prevent waste from piling up.”

The roadmap does not end with non-degradable waste. When it comes tobiodegradable waste that is disposed of inlandfills, by 2010 Poland must cut the outputto 75% of the estimated 4.38 million metrictons (the amount of output produced in 1995,treated as the baseline year), a further 50% by

2013, and 35% by 2020. Kłopotek noted that until 2010 Poland was

in a transition period when it was not requiredby E.U. regulations to meet specific figures forwaste reduction. The targets were left to thediscretion of policy makers and legislators.This is the first year that reduction of outputmust be achieved.

Meanwhile, Poland has drafted a nationalwaste management plan which specifies notonly what needs to be built and when, but alsoassigns financing to certain projects. “Thisyear we will have a final decision on what willbe financed in the first financing period, 2010–2013, and what in the second period, 2014–2020,” Kłopotek said.

The plan addresses the issue across differ-ent types of waste and disposal technologies.When it comes to waste utilization, the prob-lem, according to Kłopotek, is that to be incompliance with E.U. environmental protectionstandards, Poland has to build infrastructurefrom scratch. “We have to close a lot ofdumps because they are not in line with thenew regulations,” she said.

On the front of solid waste incineration, atechnology also envisioned by the nationalplan, Kłopotek said that there is only onewaste incinerator in Poland that meets E.U.standards. “The facility, located in Warsaw, israther an experimental endeavor. At best it canutilize only 10% of Warsaw’s daily communalwaste.”

In her view, the reason that waste incinera-tion infrastructure is poor in Poland is that pri-

While Poland has the giant task of adjusting its biodegradable and non-degrad-able waste regulations and practices to E.U. standards, the lack of interest inthe market on the part of private business is a major drawback.

Energy & Environment Committee

Poland has to master re-use of waste materials by 2020

vate companies are chasing other, more lucra-tive infrastructure projects, which Poland hasplenty of thanks to E.U. funding.

There is some good news about waste re-cycling, however. According to Kłopotek,Poland has enough plants that can adapttechnologically to receive waste for recycling.The problem there, however, is managementof waste segregation, because this cannot bedone by the plants but must be effectively car-ried out earlier in the process. As Kłopotek ex-plained, “The problem is generally not solvedin big cities and urban clusters.”

NOVEMBER 18, 2010 Time: 9:00 A.M.Place: AGH University of Science and Tech-nology, al. Mickiewicza 30, KrakówEvent: IT Giants - AmCham Conference onIT and Business; more www.itgiants.org

NOVEMBER 18, 2010 Time: 6:00 P.M.Place: Bristol Hotel, WarsawEvent: AmCham Business Mixer

DECEMBER 7, 2010 Time: 5:30 P.M.Place: Marriott WarsawEvent: AmCham General Meeting andBoard Election

For updates on our events visit:www.amcham.com.pl

Mark your calendar

“To be voted the leading travel managementcompany in Europe for a second time in theWorld Travel Awards is a tremendous achieve-ment,” said Tim Hyland, president of FCmTravel Express. “We are extremely proud tohave won this award, as it acknowledges ourreputation Europe-wide for great service, re-gional industry knowledge and the strength ofour network. FCm’s global presence continuesto go from strength to strength, and our levelof regionalization is quite unique in the travelmanagement sector. This strategic approachenables us to offer regional clients a strongerfocus on their local requirements and greaterknowledge of their local market. At this level,we can also be more flexible and more re-sponsive to clients’ needs.”

Hewlett-PackardHP has officially opened its Center of Educa-tion and Research in Szczecin. The center, af-filiated with the West Pomeranian University ofTechnology, was established as part of the HPInternational Institute of Technology to educateworld-class specialists in IT as well as providestudents and university teachers with accessto the newest information technologies. Sincethe beginning of this academic year the centerhas offered an IT curriculum taught by bothuniversity instructors and HP specialists. Thetraining covers IT, operational system manage-ment, and software and hardware skills, aswell as IT infrastructure management and ad-ministration.

IBMIBM has presented for the first time in Polandits Portable Modular Data Center, a fully-func-tioning data center “pod” that can be shippedand installed into any environment. Designedto power businesses ranging from large globalenterprises to small organizations in remoteareas, the portable modular data center canreduce energy consumption by as much as50%. It can also support multiple technologyvendors and multiple systems in an industrystandard rack environment.

Mamaison Hotel Le Regina

Andrzej Strzelczyk, sommelier of La Rotis-serie restaurant at the five-star MamaisonHotel Le Regina Warsaw, won second place inthe 10th edition of the Polish SommelierChampionships organized by the Polish Asso-

ciation of Sommeliers. “I’m very happy to havethe opportunity of taking part in the finals ofthe Polish Sommelier Championships for thethird time,” Strzelczyk said. “The tasks of thecompetition, which include decanting wine,serving sparkling wine, correcting errors in thewine list, wine tasting, identifying wines andselecting wines matching the menu, are agreat pleasure for me.”

The nationwide tournament is a regular partof the annual trade calendar in Poland as wellas an elimination round for the internationalcompetition. The competition is designed toidentify and evaluate the knowledge and skillsof professionals in food and beverage disci-plines. To qualify for the final round, contest-ants had to complete a theory test and evalu-ate two white wines to match the Burgundiancheese Époisses. During the practical test thejudges assessed professional service skills,such as opening and serving champagne anddecanting wine.

PM GroupProject management company PM Group hasprepared an environmental impact assess-ment of navigation installations planned to bebuilt by the Polish Air Navigation ServicesAgency by 2015. The agency’s plans, evalu-ated at over PLN 500 million, are to be fi-nanced from the European Union’s Infrastruc-ture and Environment operational program.“The analysis will determine which of theagency’s investment projects will require anenvironmental impact assessment license,”said PM Group environmental expert AndrzejRak.

Panattoni

Industrial real estate developer Panattoni Eu-rope has launched a new campaign tostrengthen the company’s image in Polandand elsewhere in Central & Eastern Europe.The campaign underlines Panattoni’s techno-logical advancement in logistics by focusingviewers’ attention on various natural phenom-ena involving storage, with the tag line: “Na-ture has found many ways to satisfy needs.Strength lies in flexibility.”

“As the market leader we wished to presenta fresh, modern and friendly approach andconcurrently illustrate the complexity of possi-bilities our facilities offer,” said AnitaPietrykowska, marketing & PR manager for

HOT DATENov.18.10Event: AmCham Business Mixer

Place: Bristol Hotel, Warsaw

Time: 6:00 P.M..

Competency models revisited

Zero costs plenty

The role of high-performing human re-sources professionals was on theagenda at the meeting of the Employee

& Labor Relations Committee in September,which took the form of a discussion and work-shop led by Peter Strupp, president of the su-pervisory board of United Business Develop-ment.

With the target of reducing its currentCO2 emissions by 80% by 2050,the U.K. has become a good test-

ing ground for the feasibility of various en-ergy-saving technologies, including retro-fitting and the concept of the “passivehouse,” said Con Murphy, managing direc-tor of project management company PMGroup at the meeting of the AmCham En-ergy & Environment Committee in Septem-ber.

“It is a compact country and they have ahuge housing stock, old houses, a lot builtafter World War II and built poorly,” Murphyexplained. “There are houses in the U.K.that have been built without insulation. Theobjective is net zero-carbon emission, whichmeans that you cannot be carbon-neutral allyear long, but you can utilize renewable orsolar energy in the summer.”

Easier said than done. In the U.K. at themoment, following the building regulationsresults in a house that still makes heavy en-ergy demands. The idea is that as you re-duce your demand for energy, the produc-tion of energy to match it obviously goesdown too by the same amount. So first re-duce the loss of energy, and then you canreduce the production of energy, whichmeans low CO2 emissions in the case ofcoal-generated energy. At this point, green

power comes into play.At present, however, renewable energy

sources are very costly, which limits thescope of available solutions. In fact, cuttingenergy use and learning how to be more en-ergy-efficient at home is the most cost-effi-cient way to limit CO2 emissions now. “Thehouses people have has a huge impact onhow energy is used,” Murphy said. “How ef-ficiently you can manage that is an area ofresearch.”

Murphy said that along with the Britishconcept of retrofitting old buildings with newgear that helps increase their energy effi-ciency, the idea of the “passive house” wasdeveloped in Germany. “The ‘passivehouse’ refers to a construction standardwhere you have a comfortable house insummer and winter without having the needfor a traditional heating system,” Murphy ex-plained. “The principles there involve ‘su-perinsulation,’ which is one way to improveenergy efficiency.”

For energy efficiency, hot air loss is a sig-nificant factor. But with superinsulation thereare other problems not experienced in old-style houses. “With superinsulation the airinside tries to find new ways of getting outof the building through gaps in the walls,ventilation systems, and so on,” Murphysaid.

Superinsulation is also about windowsthat reflect heat back into the house. “Withthis, however, you have to keep your ventila-tion within certain standards,” Murphy ex-plained. “But you have to dump a lot of heatfrom your building, because you need freshair and heat exchange. When you start tosuperinsulate, you have to watch out forthings. Your home is still home, and youmay leave your door open or something,and lose energy.”

The objective for designers for the mo-ment is to reach as great a reduction in car-bon emissions with no significant boost inconstruction cost. “That’s where the smartdesign is,” Murphy said. But he added thatthe same technologies are already beingapplied to existing old houses. “There is alot of old housing in the U.K., and the truenumber of different ways of insulation man-aged to reduce the overall heat demand.”

In the U.K. the existing building stockconsumes an average of 180 kW per squaremeter per year in traditional buildings. “In apassive house you can reduce the amountof energy by tenfold, in theory,” Murphysaid, adding that different ways in whichpeople use houses may have a significantimpact on the amount of hot air that gets re-leased outside. “Some people don’t usemuch heating because they prefer three

Strupp said that the true mission of HR pro-fessionals is to make an impact on the busi-ness by looking at value drivers. “We say peo-ple are our most valuable asset. But are theytreated that way? Are they being put in a posi-tion where they are able to create value for thecompany, being engaged and making surethey get more clients?”

Not all HR professionals have a positive impact onthe company. A workshop by the Employee & LaborRelations Committee was determined to find out why.

Financing may be the critical issue for achieving energy efficiency in buildings

Employee & Labor Relations Committee

Energy & Environment Committee

Peter Strupp in action

Housing stock in the U.K. tests the feasibility of energy-smart construction technology

In other words, happy and motivated em-ployees may not necessarily be an asset forthe company if they are not productive andnot engaged in the business.

For instance, Strupp referred to a study onthe impact of human capital practices onshareholder value, which revealed that trainingmay have a negative correlation to share-holder value. As Strupp explained, “The valueis created, but it is created for the employeesand their CV. The training is not integrated intothe business process strategically.”

Reviews which Strupp refers to as “multi-reader feedbacks” may also have a negativecorrelation to shareholder value, because theynegatively affect people who receive them un-less they truly enable employees to becomemore engaged in the business of the com-pany.

Strupp warned that one of the dangers ofcompetency models is that they can go toofar, effectively trying to create something thatdoes not exist—some kind of super-personwho has all the competencies imaginable andwho can do all. “Competence models are likeapple pie—everything is good about them,”he said. “A strategic architect is one such ex-ample, but what exactly that means to a cer-tain business may be rather unclear.”

These models must be taken with a grain ofsalt, Strupp said. “Just think what they can doin certain areas that they think they can im-prove—especially in those areas which arevery obvious to us.”

HOT DATEDec.07.10Event: AmCham General Meeting and

Board Election

Place: Marriott Warsaw

Time: 5:30 P.M.

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10 AMERICAN INVESTOR NOVEMBER 2010 NOVEMBER 2010 AMERICAN INVESTOR 11

overcoats. Other people prefer warm interi-ors and resort to electric heating for thefreedom of having to wear only T-shirts in-side in wintertime.”

At present it is estimated that a fullyequipped house that complies with all theheat-saving requirements—superinsulatedwindows with passive solar capability, solarpanels, and heat converters—will generateannual savings on the energy bill of approxi-mately GBP 600 to 900. “For passive hous-ing, the bill is something like GBP 68 peryear,” Murphy said. “For some people GBP1,000 is not a huge amount of money, but itis the environmental impact of the energyproduction that is really important.”

The savings require spending, however.“Energy-efficient houses cost, and the costsgrow exponentially,” Murphy said. “If youdesign smartly you have to invest up to GBP400 per square meter additionally to get to azero level of carbon emissions.”

For a house of 100 sq. m., the extra costwould thus be GBP 40,000, which meansthat the investment will start to pay off onlyafter 40 years. For many people this is anon-starter when it comes to fitting their

homes with energy-efficient gear and payingfor it.

While introducing energy-saving tech-nologies in residential real estate in Polandlies somewhere further down the line, an-other speaker at the meeting, Jerzy Chle-bowski, business development manager atMitsubishi Corp., said his company hasbeen successfully introducing advancedtechnologies to public buildings, throughpartial financing from a fund set up withinthe Green Investment Scheme, a state-man-aged emissions allowance system that wasgranted to countries under the Kyoto Proto-col. In Poland the financing is managed bythe National Fund for Environmental Protec-tion and Water Management, which cansubsidize up to 30% of the total investmentcost. Mitsubishi finds big public buildings,such as hospitals and schools, that need tochange their heating systems. Mitsubishithen installs its state-of-the-art heat pumpsthere.

The trick, however, is that the companytries to bundle several buildings from differ-ent neighborhoods and submit them as asingle project for financing from the national

fund. This is necessary because the mini-mum value of investments that qualify for fi-nancing from the fund is PLN 10 million.

Chlebowski explained that Mitsubishi alsocooperates with the Communal Fund, an or-ganization that promotes new technologiesaround local communities. “They have goodrelations with local communities,” he said.“They educate them about projects and thelike.” The Communal Fund also helps pre-pare applications for submission to the Na-tional Fund for Environmental Protectionand Water Management.

According to Chlebowski the program ismutually beneficial for the company and thelocal communities. “The benefit for localcommunities is that their communal build-ings get an environment-friendly source ofheat. They get those things fixed with themoney donated to the community. Theyhave to pay it back, but they do not requireinvestment upfront. This is a good way toutilize state help and organize an infrastruc-ture project that is attractive to the localcommunity.”

HOT DATENov.18.10Event: IT Giants - AmCham Conference on

IT and Business

Place: AGH University of Science and Tech-

nology, al. Mickiewicza 30, Kraków

Time: 9:00 A.M.


Agri & Food www.amcham.com.pl/agri_food

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing andsolving issues and identify-ing opportunities for com-panies in the agriculturaland food sector by creat-

ing a base for dialogue and expertise leveragedamong producers, sector professionals, experts anddecision-makers. Co-chairs: Andrzej Pawelczak,Animex; Maciej Łubieński, Universal Leaf TobaccoPoland.

Healthwww.amcham.com.pl/health

Mission: To provide aunited forum for U.S. com-panies to share their ex-pertise on the healthcaresystem and exchangeknowledge and experience

with national counterparts, contribute to the positivedevelopments 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.

Infrastructurewww.amcham.com.pl/infrastructure

Mission: To discuss is-sues of the developmentof 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.

Tax www.amcham.com.pl/tax

Mission: To provide a platformfor identifying tax issues andcreate an educational forum tokeep AmCham members in-formed on current and up-coming legislation. To create a

network to share information, comments and best prac-tices. To lobby decision-makers in the government. Co-Chairs: Peter Kay, KPMG; Piotr Bartuzi, Bank BPH.

Political Discussion Forumwww.amcham.com.pl/pdf

Mission: To build relation-ships with key players inPolish politics, regardless ofwhether within the govern-ment or not, in small groupsand in private settings, toserve as a vehicle into the

world of Polish politics behind official curtains. Co-chairs: Richard Knauff; Marek Matraszek, CEC Govern-ment Relations.

Corporate Social Responsibilitywww.amcham.com.pl/csr

Mission: To encourage andfacilitate responsible busi-ness practices among Am-Cham members to supportthem to improve the qualityand effectiveness of their

CSR programs. Co-Chairs: Wojciech Arszewski,UPS Polska; Anna Jawor, IBM Polska. Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises

www.amcham.com.pl/sme Mission: To provide a forumfor exchange of ideas/bestpractices to improve the per-formance of SMEs; to iden-tify and promote solutions tofacilitate and support themanagerial 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 www.amcham.com.pl/labor

Mission: To create an infor-mation exchange forum ofHR professionals and so-cial policy experts frommultinational and localcompanies to share, dis-

cuss and learn about the latest trends in HR man-agement and collectively influence local policy anddecision-makers for modern solutions in labor leg-islation. Co-Chairs: Jolanta Jaworska, IBM Poland;Peter Strupp, United Business Development.

Consumer Productswww.amcham.com.pl/consumer

Mission: to provide aforum to share knowl-edge and exchange ex-perience in all areascommon and relevant tomanufacturers and dis-

tributors of goods. Co-Chairs: Małgorzata Surdek,CMS Cameron McKenna; Agnieszka Dzięgielewska-Jończyk, HP Polska.

Telecom www.amcham.com.pl/telecom

Mission: To create a platformunder the AmCham umbrellafor the exchange of mem-bers’ ideas and views ontrends in the telecommunica-tions sector in Poland; to take

steps to influence decision-makers in telecommunica-tions legislation, policy and practice; to promote inno-vative trends in telecommunications; to modernizecommunications technology for business and the aver-age Polish consumer. Co-Chairs: JarosławRoszkowski, Crowley Data Poland; Krzysztof Stefano-wicz, Salans.

Real Estate Committeewww.amcham.com.pl/real_estate

Mission: To discuss issues regarding thecomplexities of the real estate market inPoland, and exchange information. To bean educational and networking forum formembers and to lobby and influence leg-islative departments of the Polish govern-

ment.Chair: Halina Więckowska, K & L Gates.

Pharmaceuticalwww.amcham.com.pl/pharmaceutical

Mission: To discuss andidentify common interestsand 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-MyersSquibb Polska; Roberto Servi, Eli Lilly Polska.

Outsourcing/High Techwww.amcham.com.pl/outsourcing

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing, identi-fying and addressing com-mon SSC/BPO issues re-lated to high tech opera-tions; to maintain contact

with local authorities, educational and governmentalinstitutions to present a unified business perspectiveand to suggest ways of possible cooperation. Toidentify the possibilities/areas of state assistance, toshare experience and leverage knowledge. Co-Chairs: Ramón A. Tancinco II, Cisco SystemsPoland; Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge.

Intellectual Property Rights www.amcham.com.pl/ipr

Mission: To advocate forIPR protection and provideleadership that will bringtogether interested part-ners; to share informationwith decision-makers and

law enforcement. The police, judiciary, prosecu-tors, customs officials, legislators and journalistsare among the target groups, while the curriculumof law schools should have more emphasis on IPR.Co-Chairs: Agnieszka Wyszyńska-Szulc, Philip Mor-ris; Anna Lasocka, Łaszczuk & Partners.

European Union Affairs www.amcham.com.pl/eu

Mission: To providemembers with relevantinformation on E.U. re-lated issues, includingE.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.

Defense & Security www.amcham.com.pl/defense

Mission: To serve as a plat-form for defense industry is-sues and exchange relevantinformation. The committeecreates a networking forumand fosters a positive work-

ing relationship with the government and people ofPoland. Co-Chairs: Leda Zilinskas, Raytheon Inter-national; Paul Zalucky.

Financial Services www.amcham.com.pl/financial

Mission: The FinancialServices Committee aimsto 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.

Environment & Energy www.amcham.com.pl/environmental

Mission: To help membersdevelop their environmentaland renewable energy busi-ness and help learn about,identify and overcome anydifficulties connected with

environmental laws, and develop a discussion forumamong members about environmental issues andmaintain contacts with Polish authorities responsiblefor making and implementing environmental policies.Co-Chairs: Adam de Sola Pool, Jerzy Chlebowski, Mit-subishi.

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

AMCHAM: Guide to Committees


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COVER STORY: AmCham Pioneers

People who pushedthe boundaries At the time of the demise of commu-

nism in Eastern Europe, RomanHildt had already retired from

North American Van Lines after 20 years ofservice in transportation, in senior positionson five continents. Earlier his work experi-ence in logistics started with marine insur-ance in the City of London, from shippingand forwarding in Africa to internationalmoving and business relocations around theworld.

A dramatic shift in the world’s politicalscene made him decide to drop his retire-ment plans and create a modern interna-tional logistics operation in Poland, wherehe was born. The company had to be ownedand managed by private entrepreneurs, re-placing state monopolies, to show how torun an efficient business in a competitiveeconomy.

With a friend, John Ferris, Hildt incorpo-

rated the first foreign-owned logistics com-pany to operate in Poland, and started activ-ity in early 1991. Shortly afterwards Hildt’sson Stefan joined the team, and today he isrunning the group.

The early days were challenging, withprimitive conditions, inexperienced staffand hardly any business infrastructure, butthe company, benefiting from the owners’worldwide contacts and experience, quicklybecame the undisputed leader of the movingindustry in Poland. It maintained the high-est professional and ethical standards—es-sentially implementing American principles.Its great efforts and performance attractedother foreign logistics companies and setnew standards for Polish companies.

It gave Hildt great satisfaction and pridewhen, as a result of the company’s spade-work, he saw for the first time ever thename of a Polish company—Universal Ex-press—on a list of members of a major in-ternational industry association. That was in1992, at the International Convention ofHousehold Goods Forwarders Association ofAmerica, in San Diego. Today Universal Ex-press managers regularly attend conventionsaround the world and are highly regardedfor their skills by their international col-leagues.

Tim Hyland first came to Poland in1978–1979 on a one-year aca-demic exchange program. As he

recalls now, “It would have been pure fan-tasy then to imagine running my own busi-ness in Poland today.”

During a consulting assignment in Polandin 1992–1994, Hyland spoke with many ex-pats about their experience with travel agen-cies, and consistently heard about poorservice and high prices. “Detecting a busi-ness opportunity, I decided to start up myown travel agency in 1994, following a verysimple, ‘original’ idea: high-quality cus-tomer service and low ticket prices. Ourcompetitors mostly stressed that they coulddeliver tickets. Our motto was: ‘We DeliverService!’ Not just tickets. And it worked!”

The company faced numerous obstacles.At the beginning, nothing was electronic orautomated. A long, tedious flow of actions

followed each client inquiry. As Hyland re-calls, “We first wrote down clients’ flight re-quests, then called the airline for reserva-tion options, then called back the client withoptions, then called the airline to confirmthe selected option, then called the client toconfirm the reservation with the deadline.At deadline we called the client again forfinal confirmation, then we called the airlineto confirm the form of payment (cash orcredit card), then we picked up the ticket atthe airline, then we invoiced and deliveredthe ticket to the client, while collecting pay-ment.” With so many steps, customer con-tact and quality service were critical to thesuccess of Travel Express. “All this with onlyone dedicated telephone line and one sharedtelephone line! We had to wait two years foradditional telephone lines.”

Since the humble beginning, the companyhas grown to become one of Poland’s 10largest travel agencies, with 40 employees.With over 16 years in operation, Travel Ex-press has a strong, well-established reputa-tion for delivering high-quality professionalcorporate travel services. The company haseven become a reference travel agency forother agencies who would also like to com-pete on the quality of their service.

Roman Hildt

Established thefirst multi-na-tional logisticscompany inPoland

Introduced high-quality customerservice in thePolish travel in-dustry Robert Faris has committed 20 years

of his professional life to Poland’ssocioeconomic transformation. As

president of the Polish-American Enter-prise Fund, as founder, first president andnow chairman of Enterprise Investors, andas a member of the board of directors of thePolish-American Freedom Foundation, heinitiated and realized a number of projectsthat were not just exceptional but alsobroke new ground in Poland.

In the beginning, Faris developed an op-erational blueprint for the Polish-AmericanEnterprise Fund, a pioneering institutiondedicated to supporting entrepreneurs byproviding them with capital and knowhow.The fund carried out large lending projects,creating the necessary banking and finan-cial institutions. It managed direct invest-ments and took part in the privatization ofthe economy.

Faris also generated additional capital forthe Polish economy by establishing Enter-prise Investors, which has raised more thanEUR 1.5 billion in total from renowned in-stitutional investors. It has carried out 120investments and actively contributes to thedevelopment of the capital market inPoland, for instance through IPOs.

Faris has been and continues to be a pa-tron and tutor to a large group of Polish en-trepreneurs and capital market players fromthe younger generation, and he has activelysupported educational grants for young Pol-ish entrepreneurs.

On many occasions Faris has shown greatsensitivity to social needs. For example, in1997 he organized a special loan programfor companies affected by the catastrophicfloods that year, and he played an enormouspart in establishing the Polish-AmericanFreedom Foundation and furnishing it withcapital of USD 250 million. Over the last 10years the foundation, where he serves onthe board of directors, has transferredUSD 90 million for educational programsand for building a civil society.

Robert Faris

Set the standard for private equityin Poland

American companies played a major role in pioneering Poland’s market econ-omy. In the 1990s, at a time of high inflation, poor infrastructure, and outdatedsocialist-era laws, these companies blazed the trail with many of the first green-field investments in manufacturing, banking, R&D, logistics, and the service in-dustry. Thanks to their efforts, other companies followed with similar invest-ments. Behind these pioneering companies were individual entrepreneurs whosedrive and vision allowed them to overcome the barriers on the trail. AmChamhas now recognized and honored these pioneering individuals. Each pioneer hasa unique story and extraordinary experiences. However, all have one thing incommon: creating value in the uncertain and volatile times of the 1990s.Nominations were submitted by AmCham members, and the final decisions weremade by the Board of Directors. We are pleased to present here the profiles ofthe AmCham Pioneers.

Tim Hyland



Thomas Kolaja has been in Poland forthe last 20 years. He has been in-volved in numerous projects to bring

mismanaged enterprises up to speed in thefree market economy.

Kolaja is the managing director of Alvarez& Marsal in Warsaw, where he specializes incorporate restructuring and interim manage-ment. He is the head of the A&M turnaroundand performance improvement practice inPoland, and brings almost 20 years of experi-ence in restructuring, business strategy andoperating improvement advisory services.His primary areas of concentration are devel-oping and structuring operational and finan-cial solutions to maximize value in corporateturnarounds. Kolaja has worked with PEfunds, multinationals and banks across arange of industries, including manufactur-ing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and energy.

Prior to joining A&M, Kolaja served as an

investor, manager and advisor across Central& Eastern Europe, including Serbia, Hun-gary, Romania, Ukraine and the Czech Re-public. Most recently, he was instrumental inbuilding and leading a premier interim man-agement and restructuring firm in Warsawdedicated to servicing CEE, where notableroles included COO of Frantschach ŚwiecieS.A. and VP of Operations at CarlsbergOkocim S.A. Previously, he was responsiblefor the development of transactions in Polandand the Czech Republic for Goldman Sachsas a member of both the emerging marketsand the chemicals teams, and at McKinsey &Company he developed strategies for CentralEuropean markets and advised industrialcompanies on how to increase their competi-tiveness, leading the restructuring of one ofthe major Polish banks.

Kolaja earned bachelor’s degrees in chem-istry and Russian from Ohio State Universityand an MBA from the Kellogg School ofManagement at Northwestern University,with a focus on manufacturing. Kolaja was aFulbright fellow at the University of Warsaw.

Thomas Kolaja

Starting in 1990, Rick Lada not onlytrailblazed business for Apple andMotorola in Poland’s newly created

market economy, but also worked with offi-cials and supporters to convince high-techleaders to transfer knowhow, engage in co-operation, and undertake trendsetting directinvestments.

Lada successfully drove several projects.He set up the first greenfield software de-velopment investment undertaken by amultinational in Poland (Motorola). To makethis happen, Lada, along with JagiellonianUniversity Rector Aleksander Koj and Na-tional Chamber of Electronics & Telecom-munications President Stefan Kamiński,convinced the Polish Ministry of Economyto create the country’s first special eco-nomic zone for R&D and BPO projects inKraków, and worked with local governmentand universities to offer needed infrastruc-ture incentives. This new R&D/BPO specialeconomic zone concept was then adopted bythe ministry for other Polish cities andmade possible subsequent investments by

In early 1991, while working as a man-agement consultant in New York, JohnLynch learned that USAID was looking

for recent business school grads to helpkick-start the new economies of post-com-munist Europe in a new program called theMBA Enterprise Corps. Having recentlyfinished his MBA at Wharton, Lynchjumped at the opportunity.

After moving to Kraków in August 1991,he worked as a consultant to small Polishfirms. The experience was exhilarating, and

the likes of IBM, Google, Hewlett-Packardand many others.

Lada introduced Total Quality Manage-ment systems into Poland. Motorola’s “Pol-ish Supplier Program” involved ground-breaking licensing and training cooperationwith the Warsaw University of Technology,providing the first-ever training in 6-SigmaQuality and Design for Manufacturing con-cepts to 40 Polish suppliers and scores ofuniversity students, and resulted in whatwas one of the first supply chain programsin high tech in the country.

Lada led two BPO investments: a regionalpurchasing oversight center and a regionalfinancial services center. The financial serv-ice center was initially destined for a differ-ent CEE country as a result of apparentlybiased data disfavoring Poland. In a success-ful last-minute effort, Lada exposed the dis-crepancies and convinced senior Motorolamanagement that Kraków offered superiorresources.

Driven by a desire to help rebuild andmodernize a country that had been devas-tated by war and then held back by commu-nist mismanagement, Lada and his support-ers helped lay the foundations for Poland’sthriving R&D and BPO sectors, which todayhost dozens of world-class multinationals,tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, andhundreds of millions of investment dollars.Rick Lada

John Lynch

Successfully re-structured nu-merous misman-aged companies

Blazed the high-tech trail in theearly 1990s

Grew his Polishmanufacturingbusiness to Eu-ropean-wideprominence



Don Mucha has some 40 years of inter-national marketing, management andinvestment experience. He has a B.S.

in engineering from the University of Illinoisand an MBA in international finance from theUniversity of Chicago. He also attended KentCollege of Law. Mucha has served on a num-ber of supervisory and management boards inthe United States and Poland. He was until re-cently a co-chairman of the Real Estate Com-mittee at AmCham, which he helped to form.

At the beginning of his career he was in-volved in computer-related sales and thensales management. Later he formed, financed,operated and sold several computer-relatedcompanies.

In 1974 he formed the first joint venturecompany between Poland and the U.S., Uni-tronex Corp., an import/export business

which was very successful. Mucha later soldthe company and began venture capital opera-tions in Poland in the 1980s. Here he pur-chased or formed a series of companies, in-cluding R.P. Telekom, which later changed itsname to Netia and is now the second-largestlandline telephone company in Poland. Inorder to enable adequate financing for Netia,Mucha helped to introduce it to the U.S. stockmarket through NASDAQ. This was anotherfirst for Mucha, as Netia was the first Polishcompany to enter the U.S. stock market. Thecompany grew in size to over USD 1 billion inassets.

Mucha later sold most of his stake in Netiaand turned his interests to real estate. He co-founded and financed immobel.com in 2002,which has become a leading worldwideprovider of Internet-based multilingual IDXreal estate listings, and Real-Buzz, an interna-tional real estate portal.

In 2009, Mucha turned his attention to thedistressed residential market in the U.S. andformed the MREI (Mucha Real Estate Invest-ments) group of companies, which are nowoperating profitably in the U.S. market.

Don Mucha

Henry McGovern has earned his rep-utation as one of the leading entre-preneurs and most successful busi-

nesspeople operating in Central & EasternEurope today. The founder of AmRest andits CEO since inception in 1993, McGovernis the embodiment of the “Everything IsPossible!” culture. In 2008 Fortune maga-zine named him one of the Top 5 businespeople of Poland.

Born in 1966, Henry showed interest ininternational markets and being an entre-preneur early on. Living in Germany withhis parents for three years (1970–1973) in-fluenced Henry’s decision to return to Eu-rope later on in life. For the first time hecame back for schooling at Ettal Abbey inGermany.

At Georgetown, McGovern decided thatbusiness was a better direction than thepre-med major he had been pursuing, andhe left for a year at the London School ofEconomics. After two years back in Wash-ington, curiosity for what the fall of the IronCurtain would mean became an irresistiblepull. Selling 50% of his D.C. real estatecompanies provided seed money for seeingwhat could be done in Central Europe. InMay 1993 McGovern moved to Poland andfounded American Retail Systems, whichchanged its name to AmRest in 1999 and

has grown from one restaurant to be the re-gion’s leading restaurant company.

Today AmRest S.E. is the leading inde-pendent restaurant company in Central Eu-rope. AmRest is a multi-concept operator ofquick service and casual dining concepts,including such world-class brands as KFC,Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks and Ap-plebee’s, across 7 countries (Poland, theCzech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Bulgariaand Serbia, as well as the United States).The company’s hallmark is its unique high-energy culture, built around the belief that“Everything Is Possible!” Since 2005 Am-Rest has been a public company traded onthe Warsaw Stock Exchange (trade symbolEAT).

Henry McGovern

Engaged withPoland in the1970s, co-foundedAmCham

Introduced a whole new standard of dining

at the end of the 12-month program, Lynchdecided to remain in Kraków. After a stintas marketing director for the Polish-Ameri-can Enterprise Fund’s First Polish-Ameri-can Bank (now Fortis Bank Polska), Lynchco-founded Lynka in 1993.

Having spotted a total lack of tourismproducts in Kraków, John started Lynka as asmall operation, with three employees andminimal capital. In spite of enormous chal-lenges, they managed not only to sustainthe business but turn it into Poland’s lead-ing supplier of promotional apparel andworkwear.

Today, Lynka is a thriving enterprise,with thousands of customers and more than40 international awards. Almost 50% ofsales are exported to 25 E.U. and CEEcountries, plus the United States.

Lynch’s uniqueness lies in his persist-ence, creativity and positive outlook. De-spite founding the company at age 29, hedid not have any corporate support struc-ture. He created the strategy, systems andteam to turn a dream into reality. Lynch im-plemented an American business model

that to this day makes Lynka a valued em-ployer and a role model for many compa-nies. Lynka was an early promoter ofwomen in the workplace and still employs amajority of women at all levels. Lynch ispassionately anti-corruption.

In addition, Lynch was founder of Am-Cham Kraków in 1995, and has served onthe AmCham Board for 9 years. Both Lynchand Lynka have received numerous industryawards and recognitions, including Am-Cham’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in2004.

Brian Patterson


Born, raised and educated in Poland,George Osypowicz graduated from theUniversity of Warsaw, where he special-

ized in international law. For several years heworked for international business organiza-tions around the world, including Switzerlandand the U.S., and served as president ofDonau Trading Corporation for years.

Osypowicz is one of seven founders of Am-Cham, and served as vice chairman of Am-Cham for 10 years.

While in Washington he established the firstpersonal contact with U.S. Congressman DonRostenkowski, who visited Poland three timeswhen the country was on the brink of enor-mous change, as a special envoy of U.S. Presi-dent Ronald Reagan. Rostenkowski’s help andencouragement were a major factor behind

the quick formation of AmCham in Poland.In 1988 Osypowicz participated in meetings

between Rostenkowski, Polish Premier Zbig-niew Messner, and U.S. Ambassador John R.Davis, Jr. During these meetings, the future ofthe American presence in Poland was dis-cussed. At the time a strong American pres-ence was key to developing market-orientedinstitutions in Poland’s transforming econ-omy.

In 1995 Osypowicz became the chairman ofthe Organizing Committee of the First WorldConference of Polonian Businesses.

During the early 2000s he was vice chair-man of the Institute for Strategic Issues, thefirst Polish think-tank, modeled on the Wash-ington-based Center for Strategic and Inter-national Studies.

In 2002–2009 Osypowicz was the organizerof 10 Polish-American Conferences of De-fense Industries—seven in Washington andthree in Warsaw, the last two in cooperationwith the U.S. National Academies of Sciences.

Osypowicz was a key figure in creating busi-ness-friendly policies even before Poland re-claimed its independence in 1989. Down tothis day, he puts his energy and ideas into con-structive bilateral U.S./Polish relations.George

Osypowicz

Born in Texas, Brian Patterson gradu-ated from Rice University and Stan-ford Business School. He moved to

Poland in 1992 and subsequently developedtwo of the first three modern industrial realestate projects in Poland: the Warsaw Distri-bution Center and Diamond Business Park–Warsaw. He has been the managing partnerof real estate development and property man-agement company AIG/Lincoln Poland since1997, as well as AIG/Lincoln Russia from2002 and AIG/Lincoln Europe from 2008.

Under Patterson’s leadership, AIG/Lincoln

Poland has developed 16 projects over thepast 13 years, including office complexes,light industrial and warehouse properties,shopping centers and residential communi-ties, in six different cities around the country.His team also manages 18 properties totalingover 550,000 sq.m. throughout Poland. Else-where in Europe, Patterson has handled proj-ects in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hun-gary, Italy, Romania, Russia and Spain.

Patterson is also the cofounder and largestshareholder of Iron Mountain Polska, thelargest information management firm in the

Nurtured U.S./Pol-ish business rela-tions in the 1980sand co-foundedAmCham in 1990

Developed real estate and informationstorage from the ground up

“Itis clear that the election in thenew Polish democracy held onJune 4, 1989, brought a fresh

breeze not only to the political life inPoland,” Stan Popow recalls. “It also openedup business opportunities by reuniting thecountry with the developed world. At thatmoment, I worked for J.P. Morgan in Lon-don.”

When in 1990 Bankers Trust Companyapproached Popow with the offer to opentheir investment banking branch in Poland,he did not hesitate long. While the ideaseemed exciting, Popow also thought it wasan extravagant move. He kept asking him-self why he should trade his comfortablelife in London for the gray realities ofPoland in the early 1990s. “Quite frankly,”Popow admits, “even today I still won-der….”

Nevertheless, the move certainly gavehim the opportunity to be involved in sev-eral “first of” deals that changed the reali-ties of this country, hopefully for the better.He oversaw Bankers Trust’s establishment

of their commercial banking subsidiaryAmerbank, which secured a foreign bankinglicense with the enviable number “1.” AsPopow says, “Leading Bankers Trust to par-ticipate in the first Eurobond issuance forthe Republic of Poland after 1989 was also amemorable event.”

Another landmark deal was to originatethe first-ever corporate aircraft financingfor LOT Polish Airlines, for their first 10Boeing 737 aircraft. Popow says, “These arejust a few examples of many milestones thatall of us reached here, in the hope that ourachievements, beyond personal satisfaction,were important and necessary to changethis country and to create durable value forall of us.”

Stan Popow

After graduating from the Warsaw Uni-versity of Technology, MacRaczkiewicz moved to the U.S. in the

late 1960s. He is a former co-owner andpresident of Epstein Development. He hasbeen an active participant on the Polish andEastern European markets for 30 years, andhas completed projects and investments inexcess of USD 1 billion. Currently, he is aprivate investor and developer in Poland.

Raczkiewicz was a founding member ofAmCham and served as Chairman of theBoard from 1990 through 2004. During histenure, AmCham maintained direct work-ing contacts with every Polish government,at the same time maintaining a balanced,non-political stance, which allowed the de-velopment of the credibility that the organi-zation enjoys today.

Throughout his years as AmCham Chair-man, Mac organized and participated indozens of conferences and official visitspromoting American investments and tradein Poland. He accompanied Poland’s headof state or government on many of thesemissions, including former President LechWałęsa and several prime ministers.

Aside from his diversified business

achievements, Raczkiewicz also contributedhis knowledge and expertise at several or-ganizations, serving as chairman of theboard of the Polish Foreign InvestmentAgency, vice president of the Polish Busi-ness Roundtable, and a commissioner ofthe U.S.-Polish Action Commission estab-lished in the early 1990s by Prof. ZbigniewBrzeziński. Raczkiewicz was a co-founderof the Entrepreneurship Council and par-ticipated as a board member in the develop-ment of major media companies ITI andTVN, among others.

President Aleksander Kwaśniewskiawarded Raczkiewicz the Knight’s Cross ofthe Order of Merit of the Republic ofPoland.

MacRaczkiewicz

Initiated investment bankingin Poland

Co-founded AmCham and served as AmCham Chairman for 14 years


country. Iron Mountain has over 500 employ-ees and serves over 1,000 customers inPoland, with operations in seven cities. Healso oversees Iron Mountain operations else-where in Europe (Denmark, Russia andUkraine).

Patterson has given much back to Polandthrough philanthropic activities, serving onthe board of directors of Litewska Children’sHospital and founding the Amber Founda-tion, a charity that helps children overcomedifficult circumstances and improve their op-portunities in life.

Download this magazine!American Investor is available in full as a pdf for downloadfrom the www.amcham.com.pl website. Go to "About Us"in the horizontal menu, and choose American InvestorMagazine from the pop-up menu. You can download pastissues of American Investor dating back to October 2010.


MONTHLY MEETING: Labor issues

“The government that I’m amember of has many virtues,”said Minister of Labor and So-

cial Policy Jolanta Fedak, guest speaker atthe AmCham Monthly Meeting in Septem-ber. “The most important one is that it hasa majority of votes in the parliament.”

Fedak went on to highlight the accom-plishments of the government made up ofCivic Platform (PO) and her own party, thePolish People’s Party (PSL), who three yearsback managed to create a stable coalition.The stability has helped government minis-ters do their job. “I have been fortunateenough to finish some of the earlier re-

forms,” she said, “which my predecessors,some of whom were very influential politi-cians, failed to accomplish because theywere in minority governments.”

Fedak noted that many labor-related lawsand regulations are under revision at pres-ent to bring them into compliance with Eu-ropean Union requirements or coordinatethem with other regulations. Some laws alsoneed to be amended to bring them into linewith the Polish Constitution. “At present weare working on all regulations that havebeen found to be unconstitutional,” Fedaksaid.

According to the minister, one of the

Tomorrow is another dayMinister of Labor and Social Policy Jolanta Fedak with AmCham Vice Chairman Richard Lada

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is working on crucial reforms ofPoland’s social security system to eliminate privileges enjoyed by variousgroups in favor of a fair and consistent approach. But first the coalition wantsto be reelected.

greatest accomplishments of the govern-ment was introduction of temporary legisla-tion (in force through 2011) implementingmeasures to counteract the economic crisis,along with reforms of the Polish pensionsystem. She noted, however, that because oflocal government elections this year andparliamentary elections next year, the gov-ernment has resolved to abstain from intro-ducing “revolutionary reforms” until afterthe 2011 elections, and focus on improvingthe existing legislation governing labor andthe pension system, issues which Fedak re-ferred as “minor.”

Fedak also said that in the first year of

Piotr Rymaszewski graduated from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and CornellLaw School. He is a U.S. citizen who

moved to Poland when he spotted an opportu-nity to change Polish reality into a modernfree-market economy with developed financialmarkets.

Since the early 1990s Rymaszewski has splithis time between the business and public do-mains. He began in 1991 with the Ministry ofFinance, where he worked as an advisor to theminister. At the ministry he researchedplanned legal changes on secured transactionsand co-authored and worked on implementa-tion of the law on bank restructuring. Thisunique regulation temporarily introducedChapter 11-like procedures to deal with thedramatic bad debt problem in the Polish bank-ing sector.

On the heels of the bank restructuring re-form, he left the ministry and joined Octava

NFI S.A., one of the mass privatization funds,now part of the Elliott Group. He continues torun Octava, which operates now as a real es-tate company. Since the mid-1990s, Ry-maszewski has been directly involved in oper-ational and financial turnarounds of over 50companies and has overseen transactions ex-ceeding USD 400 million. Octava introducedthe share buyback concept to the WarsawStock Exchange and successfully battled theMinistry of Privatization in court to imple-ment it.

Rymaszewski has served on many boards oflisted and private companies. As a manage-ment board nominee of the internationalbondholders’ committee, he was involved inthe financial restructuring of Elektrim’s EUR450 million debt.

Rymaszewski is the author of numerouspublications and articles covering such topicsas bad debt portfolio restructuring, Poland’ssystemic competitiveness, reform of the Polishlegislative process, and operational efficiencyof government institutions. He has workedwith the Gdańsk Institute for Market Eco-nomics and the CASE Center for Social andEconomic Research. Since 2008 he has been amember of the Prime Minister’s Strategic Ad-visory Board. Rymaszewski co-authored thestrategy whitepaper Poland 2030.

Piotr Rymaszewski

Joseph Wancer, a citizen of Poland andthe United States, began his career inthe banking sector at Citibank of New

York, where he worked for almost 25 years.He served as vice president and held mana-gerial positions at bank branches in Japan,Austria, the U.K. and France.

Wancer’s Polish career began in 1991with a position as advisor to the EuropeanBank for Reconstruction and Developmentin London and the Polish-American Enter-prise Fund. In that capacity he led manybanking projects, including establishingBank Rolno-Przemysłowy (currentlyRabobank Polska).

Wancer was also a co-founder of Citibankin Poland. Recommended by the Minister ofFinance, he was a member of the supervi-sory board at Powszechny Bank Kredytowy,one of nine regional banks created from thestructures of the National Bank of Poland.During 1995–2000 he was vice presidentand then president of Raiffeisen Cen-trobank in Warsaw. In March 2000 he be-came chairman of the board at Bank Prze-mysłowo-Handlowy in Kraków. He was re-sponsible for strategy, integration, commu-nications and internal audit.

In May 2001, after Bank BPH and PBK

merged, Wancer became the chairman ofthe board of the new bank, still known asBank BPH. This merger was named themost successful merger in the Polish bank-ing sector, and Bank BPH received manyawards for carrying it out. Wancer played asignificant role in the bank’s success andgrowth on the capital market.

After the split in November 2007, BankBPH under Wancer’s leadership began toreconstruct its business. After joining theGeneral Electric group and merging withGE Money Bank at the end of 2009, it againbecame one of the top ten banks in Poland.Bank BPH is viewed as an institution that isdevoted to good corporate governance andcorporate social responsibility.

Joseph Wancer

Pivotal to thecreation of mod-ern financialmarkets inPoland

Transformed the Polish bankingsector



“We are afraid that an overnight reform of KRUS may causemore harm than good when you take into account the cur-rent structure of the farming industry. A tough reform couldresult in an uncertain retirement for as many as 1.5 millionpeople.”

JOLANTA FEDAKMINISTER OF LABOR AND SOCIAL POLICY

Limbering up theLabor CodeLast year at the AmCham Manufacturers’Forum, an annual conference devoted tothe problems of member manufacturingcompanies in southern Poland, thespeakers said that it had dawned onlabor unions at their companies that co-operating with management to achievemore efficiency and flexibility in employ-ment was a win/win approach that couldsave money for the employer and savejobs for the employees.

The managers at the conference said itwas union leaders who carried thatknowledge down the ranks of the union’sorganizational structure, encouraging allmembers to cooperate more closely withmanagement. In some cases wheregroup layoffs were unavoidable, it wasthe unions who did research to minimizethe social impact. They helped identifyworkers whose private economic statusput them most at risk if they lost theirjobs, such as single mothers or membersof households with one partner alreadyout of work.

Under the Anti-Crisis Act, some aspectsof the rigid approach to employment, pre-served in amber in the Polish LaborCode, have been suspended from Au-gust 2009 until the end of 2011. Duringthis time, management and labor arepausing to consider the temporary flexi-bility in the system. Now there are calls toallow more flexibility going forward, bymaking permanent revisions to the LaborCode. AmCham is one of the organiza-tions supporting more flexible employ-ment laws.

Meet the speaker

Polish Minister of Labor and Social Pol-icy JOLANTA FEDAK was born in 1960and is a graduate of the University ofWrocław Faculty of Political Science.She also completed postgraduate stud-ies in administration and educationalmanagement.

Fedak’s political career started in the1990s, when she began work at the Pol-ish People’s Party (PSL) regional officein Zielona Góra. From the very begin-ning Fedak’s political mentor was JózefZych, than the speaker of the lowerhouse of the Polish parliament. In 1998Fedak was named deputy head of theLubuskie province government, with apolicy brief including education, cultureand the arts. In 2001 she was namedgovernor of Lubuskie Province. After-wards she was the municipal govern-ment secretary for Krosno Odrzańskie,and in 2006 she became a member ofthe Lubuskie Province Board.

In 2007 Fedak was named Minister ofLabor and Social Policy in the coalitiongovernment of Civic Platform and PSL.

the current governing coalition, formed in2007, the government’s zeal in introducingmuch-needed reforms to the social securitysystem, and other reforms, were kneecappedby late President Lech Kaczyński, who ex-pressed his negative attitude toward reformand threatened the coalition with his vetopower. In such circumstances, the govern-ment had to focus on the reforms that wereboth necessary and beyond the political di-vide. “We managed to finish the reform ofthe financial part of the social security sys-tem, and the open pension funds paid outretirement benefits to the first group ofwomen who gained pension rights on Janu-ary 1, 2009,” Fedak said. “We also managedto cut some early retirement privileges.Today, thanks to our continuous majority inthe parliament, we can continue the re-forms, and will be able to do so after thenext elections.”

keeping jobs goingWhen it comes to its strategic approach tolabor policy, the ministry’s focus is on creat-ing conditions that allow for the largest pos-sible number of people to earn a living onthe job. With this end in mind, the govern-ment seeks to enact regulations that en-courage people to work instead of relying onsocial security or other governmental sup-port for the poor and unemployed. “Themain incentive for people who are employedis the system that links the amount of theirfuture pensions to the number of years theyhave worked,” Fedak said.

In her view, the system is working. Thenumber of people now employed in Polandis the highest since 2000. The problem,however, is that many people do not under-stand that the longer they remain employedthe higher their pension will be. “Peopledon’t seem to care what will happen to them10 years from now,” Fedak said. “We try todo our best to keep them employed as longas possible regardless of their retirementage.”

That is harder and harder to achieve inreality, however. Poland is currently facing ashortage of people with the right skills andqualifications to find employment. Deep re-form of the educational system is necessary,Fedak said, including primary and voca-

tional schools as well as retraining programsfor adults. According to the government’sdiagnosis, the main problem is a lack ofyoung people who have technical talent andwant to pursue a career in fields like engi-neering and IT. “One of the big accomplish-ments of this government is reintroductionof mathematics as an obligatory exam forhigh school graduation,” Fedak said. Thisrequirement is meant to effectively boostthe echelons of future professionals in tech-nical fields.

Fedak also noted that the government ini-tiates many different retraining programs,many of which are financed by E.U. funds,including the Human Capital OperationalProgram and the European Social Fund.“Retraining is expensive, but we do our bestbecause our economy is in need of highlyspecialized professionals.”

keeping laws flexibleTemporary revisions to the labor law intro-duced in 2009 to aid employers in theirstruggle with the global economic recessionhave proved an important instrument forkeeping as many jobs as possible going inthe domestic economy, Fedak said. One ofthe tools aimed at helping companies main-tain jobs was a special grant available tocompanies whose turnover dropped by 25%.The 25% requirement, however, turned outto be harsher than the market reality. “Thebulk of companies did not need this type ofaid because they did not see their turnoverdrop so low,” Fedak said.

Flexible work-time regulations, whichallow employers to pay wages based on aone-year calculation period rather than aone-month period, proved necessary and ef-fective, Fedak said. Although she did nothave the recent data on how many compa-nies resorted to that option, she said thatbetween 500 and 600 did so within a yearafter the law was introduced.

Fedak noted that if the economic crisiscontinues across the European Union in2011 and beyond, the government will try tomake some of the regulations permanent byintroducing them directly into the LaborCode. This, however, would require consul-tations among the government, labor unionsand business representatives.

kRuS or zuS? Fedak noted that the government has a firmgrip on reforms of the social security systemfor farmers, administered through a sepa-rate Agricultural Social Insurance Fund(KRUS), which requires token contribu-tions from farmers and is heavily subsidizedby the government. Fedak explained thatwhile KRUS requires low contributions, italso pays low pensions and is thus dysfunc-tional altogether. The best solution for re-forming KRUS is to let as many peoplechange their jobs from farming to otherjobs. With this shift, they would automati-cally be subject to the regular social securitysystem, administered by the Social Insur-ance Institution (ZUS). Fedak said that thisis indeed the trend on the labor market. Thegovernment’s position, therefore, is not totry to push too many people to change atone time, but wait for the natural forces ofthe labor market to take their course. “Weare afraid that an overnight reform of KRUSmay cause more harm than good,” Fedaksaid, “especially when you take into accountthe current structure of the farming indus-try in Poland.” She added that tough reformcould result in an uncertain retirement foras many as 1.5 million people. She under-lined that the government is working on asystem of incentives for people to shift fromemployment in farming to non-farmingjobs.

A related issue is that the same token so-cial security contributions have been paid bybig farmers and small ones. Fedak said thatin 2009 farmers with larger holdings wereassessed a higher fee, but their pensionbenefits still remain “close to the povertylevel,” as she put it.

Pension fund reformsFedak devoted much of her talk to reform ofthe open pension fund system (OFEs). Thesystem, introduced in 1999, is supplemen-tary to ZUS. While ZUS is a simple pay-as-you-go system, which takes contributionsfrom working people to pay current pen-sions to retirees, the open funds are a capi-tal system which invests contributions. Bothpillars are obligatory, but while there is justone ZUS, there are several OFEs, and fu-ture retirees are free to choose one. Eachparticipant in an open fund has his or herindividual account, and the capital accumu-lated there is then paid back when theyreach retirement age. The full retirementcontribution is paid to ZUS, which then for-wards a third of the contribution to the OFEin which the individual is enrolled.

The first generation of pensioners cov-ered by the open funds—women who en-rolled in OFEs in 1999—became entitled todraw pensions in 2009. The first generationof male pensioners will start to receive pen-sion benefits from OFEs on January 1, 2014.

OFEs are managed by private investmentmanagement firms and as such are privateenterprises.

The problem that Fedak is facing now isto decide how future retirees will be com-pensated by OFEs. One of the ideas pro-duced by the Ministry of Labor and SocialPolicy is to let ZUS handle the pensions forthe OFEs. The beneficiaries would havethree options to chose from: a pension paidby ZUS equal to twice the minimum pen-sion, payable until death, plus a one-timecash withdrawal from the OFE account in-cluding interest. Other options encouragefuture retirees to save the money they accu-mulate with OFEs, instead of using it, by of-fering them tax cuts if they do not withdrawit. This is a rather controversial proposition,however, because it is hard to imagine thatan individual who has been saving with anOFE for his or her entire professional lifewould want to keep saving even after retire-ment.

But the question is how much OFEs willbe effectively able to generate for theirclients. On one hand they are very restrictedin the investments they are allowed to make,and in practice a substantial bulk of theircapital goes into buying government debt.On the other hand, however, the effective-ness of OFEs has been questioned by somekey ministers in the current government, in-cluding Fedak, who in fact is one of thestrongest proponents of reforming the OFEsystem if not liquidating it altogether. In ad-dition, the capital generated by the OFEs,approximately PLN 200 billion, is notcounted as an asset of the state budget, al-though in many E.U. countries such an itemwould be. If it were, Poland’s budget deficitwould not be seen as approaching the criti-cal level of 55% of GDP.

According to Fedak, OFEs are not effi-cient enough because they know that newclients will flock to them because they haveno choice. If they had a choice—betweensaving for their retirement with an OFE orZUS—it would boost competition betweenOFEs and lead to increasing effectiveness ingenerating capital for future retirees. Fedakalso said that OFE management is verycostly. She is a strong proponent of cuttingthe OFEs’ management fee by 60%, fromthe current 7.3% of the total premium paidto ZUS and OFE to 3%. With this measurethe government would be able to temporar-ily help maintain public debt levels belowprecautionary thresholds.

Tomasz Ćwiok

MONTHLY MEETING: Labor issues


Marek Matraszek

sor, Lech Kaczyński, lay. Kaczyński was acommitted and outspoken Atlanticist, andworked hard to promote a closer strategicpartnership between Poland and the U.S.This was especially the case in the first fewyears of his presidency, when he was a publicsupporter of the Bush administration’s Mis-sile Defense proposals for Central Europe,which would have seen a battery of missilesestablished in Poland during the nextdecade. His pro-Americanism was essen-tially driven by a trio of impulses that causedhim to view the reliability of Europe as astrategic partner for Poland with great suspi-cion: first, his opposition to Russia in termsof what he perceived as its anti-democraticand neo-imperialist ambitions in the region,deployed either through direct military forceas in Georgia or via softer economic meth-

ods in the energy sphere; second, his Euro-skepticism, directed at Brussels, which hesaw as both weak on Russia and as a politicalproject that was inherently anti-democraticand anti-American; and third, a deep suspi-cion towards Germany and its regional eco-nomic and political ambitions. Taken to-gether, this forced Kaczyński into an uncriti-cal pro-American position on most if not allareas of policy.

Kaczyński’s stance was not shared by thegovernment of Donald Tusk, with whomKaczyński was forced to “cohabit” after the2007 parliamentary elections which broughtthe current ruling Civic Platform (PO) partyto power. The period of 2007–2010 wasmarked by both policy and institutional fric-tion between Lech Kaczyński and the gov-ernment, with policy towards Russia, Europe

Union, a further factor in concentrating Ko-morowski’s attention on Europe. Finally, asEurope itself starts to focus on deepening itsrelationship with Russia, Komorowski doesnot want to be seen as the head of a statetorpedoing this initiative: hence his relativedrawing away from support for Ukraine’s orGeorgia’s pro-Western aspirations. Not with-out significance either are the initial nomi-nations of Komorowski’s advisors, some ofwhom have clear pro-European tendencies.These include defense and security adviserRoman Kuźniar, and Jaromir Sokołowski,Komorowski’s international affairs advisor,whose specialty is relations with Germany.

u.S. relations revisited?Time will tell whether the office of Presidentwill cause Komorowski to rebalance his at-tention towards the U.S. He is scheduled totravel to the U.S. towards the end of the year,but some topics of discussion may not becomfortable for the U.S., including Poland’sdesire to withdraw from Afghanistan soonerthan the U.S. would like. It will be on energysecurity that Komorowski will be tested, asthe United States is especially keen to seeU.S. companies start exploiting shale gas re-serves in Poland—an initiative that Ko-morowski has displayed some skepticismabout. On the other hand, the United Stateswill be relieved to be hosting a country thatis rebuilding its influence in Europe, ratherthan being a near-pariah state. Insofar as theU.S. has always looked to Germany as Eu-rope’s key player, and is interested in seeingthe E.U. take up more of the security burdenglobally, the fact that Poland once again has aseat at Europe’s head table will help Wash-ington take Warsaw seriously.

Bizarrely, in the last two decades it hasbeen Poland’s political Right and Left thathave been most consistently pro-U.S. AsPoland, with the election of Komorowski,confirms a more centrist domestic politicalconsensus, so the relationship with Americawill increasingly be based around real inter-ests rather than on sentiment and illusion.Where these interests take the two countriesin the future, however, is anyone’s guess.

tual and political environment and the viewsof those he regarded as his political mentors,especially the first Prime Minister of inde-pendent Poland in 1989, Tadeusz Ma-zowiecki, who has long regarded himself aspart of the community of European Chris-tian-Democratic politicians.

However, Komorowski’s position wasclearly most shaped by the broader politicalconflict with President Kaczyński and thedesire by Komorowski and Civic Platform toput as much deep blue water between them-selves and Kaczyński’s domestic and foreignpolicy positions, and reverse what they sawas the isolation of Poland in Europe thatKaczyński was in danger of bringing about.In this sense, a major realignment of rela-tions with the E.U., Germany and Russia—from Komorowski’s perspective—wouldhave to go hand-in-hand. A rapprochementwith Russia would open doors to Poland inBrussels and Germany, where for longPoland had been viewed as “unconstructive”in its perceived anti-Russian attitudes. Bymoving closer to Brussels, Poland would beable to influence E.U. policy towards itseastern neighbors, and by making Germanyits strategic partner, Poland would gain anally for its own interests vis-à-vis Brusselsand Russia. This shift, in the eyes of Ko-morowski and his party allies, would not onlyelevate Poland’s European influence, butalso would be welcomed by the domesticelectorate, tired of Poland being perceived asan oddity in Europe, and also—because oflabor migration—seeing its interests as tiedmuch more to Europe.

close ties with the e.u.In this shift, Komorowski’s enthusiasm forthe U.S. cannot have been helped by the per-ception that the Obama administration alsohad different priorities than Central Europe,or even Europe. The decision to cancel Pres-ident Bush’s missile defense project wouldhave been merely confirmation to Ko-morowski that there was a shift in the Amer-icans’ attitude to Poland.

Political timing has conspired to shift theU.S. even further away from Komorowski’sattentions. His desire to commence his pres-idency with a symbolic transition away fromPresident Kaczyński was behind his high-profile initial visits to Paris, Brussels andBerlin, and the decision to reinvigorate theWeimar Triangle relationship betweenPoland, Germany and France. Secondly, 2011sees the Polish Presidency of the European

and Germany being the most visible areas ofconflict. During this period, however, atten-tion was focused on the public differencesbetween Kaczyński and Minister of ForeignAffairs Radek Sikorski, with Bronisław Ko-morowski remaining in the background byvirtue of his post as Speaker of the Parlia-ment. It was with some interest thereforethat analysts wondered where Komorowskistood on the issue of Polish-U.S. relations,and whether his presidency would mark adeparture from Kaczyński’s strident pro-Americanism.

Pro-american as anyoneKomorowski’s own background prior to win-ning the presidency would have been amixed indicator of his position. His politicalbaptism had come in the late 1970s and the1980s, when as an anticommunist dissidenthe had been incarcerated in communistprisons. He was a historian by profession,and in the 1980s devoted himself to under-ground publishing, editing the ABC journalthat was focused on supporting the op-pressed nationalities of the Soviet Union andWarsaw Pact countries. He had some oppor-tunity in the 1990s to display his foreign pol-icy sympathies, as his activity in politics wasfocused on defense policy. He was firstdeputy defense minister in the early part ofthe decade, before becoming Minister ofDefense himself in 2000–2001. He was alsoan active member of the parliamentary de-fense committee. It was in these defense andsecurity roles that he was seen as having At-lanticist sympathies, working hard for Polishmembership in NATO. Most significantly, hewas also a supporter of the decision by thepost-communist government of LeszekMiller to purchase American F-16 aircraftfor the Polish Air Force, working hard in par-liament—despite his opposition role—tocreate a cross-party political consensusaround the procurement decision.

evolving viewsYet over the last few years, as Komorowski’scareer developed, it was clear that any overtpro-U.S. sympathies he might have pos-sessed were on the wane, and he was in-creasingly seen as moving towards a moreEuropean perspective. Much of this shift wasdriven by what Komorowski saw as Poland’sreal geopolitical interest, which was to en-gage actively in Europe following Poland’sE.U. accession in 2004. In his perception hewas additionally shaped by his own intellec-

A new era?

FOCUS: Polish-American relations

Poland’s previous heads of state have been earnestly pro-American. Incum-bent President Bronisław Komorowski offers a more nuanced approach toU.S./Polish bilateral relations.

It was more than symbolic that BronisławKomorowski was elected President ofPoland in the second round of voting on

July 4—American Independence Day. Al-though the timing was purely random, andthe result of an electoral calendar suddenlyimposed on Poland following the tragic deathof former President Lech Kaczyński in theApril 10 Smolensk air disaster, those hopingfor a new chapter in Polish-U.S. relationscould not but have seen it as an omen. But towhat extent does the election of PresidentKomorowski indeed presage a new positivechapter in transatlantic relations—business-wise and politically—for Poland?

a different presidentThere was never any doubt where the politi-cal sympathies of Komorowski’s predeces-

President Bronisław Komorowski

Komorowski’s enthusiasm for the U.S. was helped by the perceptionthat the Obama administration also had different priorities than Cen-tral Europe. The decision to cancel President Bush’s missile defenseproject confirmed to Komorowski that there was a shift in the Ameri-cans’ attitude to Poland.

The author is is the Founding Partner of CEC Government Relations, and can be e-mailed [email protected].

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Tomasz Ćwiok

hike in our long-term business strategies.”Pilawski noted that with late publication of

specific regulations governing the VAT hike,business will effectively have two months toadjust before the new VAT becomes law in2011. “Retail companies will have to repro-gram thousands of cash points, for in-stance,” he said. “Telecommunications com-panies, who are under an obligation to give 3to 6 months’ notice about changing the con-ditions of their contracts, will have to slateall the promotion programs they have linedup for the first part of 2011.”

Same old bluesThe hike in Polish VAT from 22% to 23%,announced suddenly by a government thatwas universally recognized as liberal andpro-business, has sharpened the businesscommunity’s criticism of the three years inoffice of Prime Minister Donald Tusk andhis cabinet. The main irritant to the privatesector is not the VAT hike itself, althoughcostly and troublesome for many companies,but the fact that this government has be-come just one more in a row apparentlyditching structural reforms of Poland’sbudgetary expenditures for the immediatesake of its political survival in the next elec-tions. What is more, it is sticking to the goodold trick of raising taxes which, after all, issimple and does not require any creative andrevolutionary approach to public finance—and is not going to cure its ills.

“What the business community is lookingforward to is a government-inspired debateabout long-term measures for cutting thepublic deficit,” said Agnieszka Durlik-Khouri from the Polish Chamber of Com-

merce. “This should come about as a wide-ranging social dialogue embracing the busi-ness community, and allowing all sides con-cerned to contribute to stopping this irre-sponsible policy.”

Adam Ambrozik from the trade associa-tion Employers of Poland (Pracodawcy RP)

said he was deeply concerned about the gov-ernment’s determination to search for addi-tional budgetary revenues at the same timethat it is “doing nothing significant” aboutbudgetary expenditures. “It is a very danger-ous trend,” Ambrozik said. “Even smallcharges have been raised, such as those forvehicle registration. In the aggregate theywill be of small significance to the entirebudget.”

What would be of great significance, ac-cording to Durlik-Khouri, would be for thegovernment to reform the social security sys-tem to include such professional groups asmilitary and police, farmers, and judges, whoso far are exempt from paying their shareand whose contributions are covered by thestate budget. On the other end, Durlik-Khouri would like to see the extension of theworking age and cuts in employment-relatedcosts that employers shoulder for theirworkers.

inconsistency all aroundWhile the failure to put big reforms into mo-tion may be explained as the governing coali-tion’s attempt to give themselves a clear shotat the 2011 parliamentary elections, the gov-ernment seems chaotic in its approach tomatching up public revenues and expendi-tures.

Christian Schnell from the German-Pol-ish Chamber of Industry and Commercesaid that instead of boosting budgetary rev-enue, the government should focus on cut-ting social privileges that former govern-ments doled out to their constituencies.Among other reforms, the governmentshould introduce income tax for farmers, get

rid of the Internet tax break, which costsPLN 40 million annually, and take away thematernity payment introduced by the lastgovernment. “No government wants to touchthose things,” Schnell complained.

“The government should have a clear andcoherent policy,” Schnell said. “The crisis is

opinions are very dangerous, and we need tofight them.”

According to Rewald one of the mostpainful impediments to running business inPoland, and a costly one, is the inefficient ju-diciary system. Company registration, tobegin with, is carried out with judicial trepi-dation not encountered in other countries.“Judges examine the correctness of the doc-uments submitted before a company is reg-istered,” he pointed out. Indeed, he said,judges are so involved in the registrationprocess that there are not enough of themwhere they are really needed—to decidecommercial disputes.

Survival instinctThe government’s reluctance to push for-ward reforms that will be painful for some,axing spending rather than boosting rev-enues, may be understandable as a strategicploy to safeguard the next parliamentaryterm after the 2011 elections. But criticismof this ploy on the part of the private sectoris an expression of survival instinct. Accord-ing to a recent study from the InternationalMonetary Fund, published in late Septem-

ber, fiscal consolidation equivalent to 1% ofGDP leads on average to a 0.5% decline inGDP after two years, and an increase of 0.3percentage points in the unemployment rate.The report also said that spending cuts doless damage than tax rises, because centralbanks see spending cuts as a stronger signalof a commitment to fiscal prudence and soare more willing to provide some monetarystimulus to soften the blow. With this inmind, it is small wonder that business cir-cles in Poland are tolling the alarm bell.

as much of it as possible should be owned byprivate companies.”

In addition to cutting the menace of run-ning business in Poland for owners, Am-Cham underlined the need for government-run institutions handling foreign investmentto increase their efficiency. This applies tosuch institutions as the Polish Informationand Foreign Investment Agency, as well asregional and local governments, who aredeeply involved in big investment projects intheir areas. Rewald noted that this is not onlyconsistent with common sense, but also withthe Services Directive from the EuropeanUnion, binding to all member states, whichadvocates simplification of such procedures.“Meanwhile,” said Rewald, “instead of sim-plification, we have seen an increase in theimpact bureaucracy has on our activities.This is something we have to stop.” Headded that the Entrepreneurship Congresshas been advocating that a one-stop shop bedeveloped for foreign and domestic investorsdealing with state agencies.

Another problem that Rewald pointed to isthe lack of full privatization of state-ownedcompanies. “The efficiency with which busi-

ness is managed by private owners instead ofstate owners is much higher,” Rewald noted.“In addition, state-owned companies have anegative impact on the public debt, as theygenerate a need for loans with which thestate intends to improve the market positionof the companies it owns.” He added that in-stead of running the economy, the stateshould limit itself to being a market regula-tor—not a market player.

Rewald also slammed some opinionswhich recently had been echoed by themedia that state ownership of companies is“maybe not so bad after all.” He said, “Such

a fact for the state budget, but what we areconcerned about is that the government ap-parently lacks a coherent, systemic approachto the issue of public finances.”

Among the measures that the governmentcould resort to, according to Schnell, is taxa-tion of capital groups, which if introducedwould boost the competitive edge of the Pol-ish economy.

Schnell said that the Polish government isapparently not in line with the pan-Europeantrend to introduce economic austerity pro-grams. “We are under the impression thatthe government could have tried harder,”Schnell concluded.

the amcham viewAmCham Chairman Roman Rewald notedthat any reforms that aim at improving theinvestment climate in Poland will translateinto a more efficient economy for both em-ployers and employees to benefit from. “Ifwe cut the administrative costs of running abusiness by 20%, Polish firms would hiketheir revenues by PLN 13 billion in 2009,which would in turn generate an additionalPLN 2 billion in corporate income tax for

that year,” Rewald said. “Cutting administra-tive burdens carries over into the entireeconomy, because higher incomes generatedby corporations mean higher taxes paid tothe state. Meanwhile, administrative bur-dens for business not only dwarf the incomeof the existing companies, but constitutereal barriers for the inflow of new investmentfrom abroad.”

Referring to commercial activities by localgovernments, Rewald said, “The problem ofbureaucracy is the problem of local-level ad-ministration. Our position is that when itcomes to business run by local governments,

Don’t tax and don’t spend

FOCUS: Economic policy

While the business community slams the government for its decision toraise VAT next year, it also expresses its concern about the apparent lackof a coherent policy for dealing with the impending budget deficit.

In a podcast for the MBA class he teachesat MIT, Jack Welch, the iconic formerCEO of General Electric, says that win-

ning in business is everything because win-ning companies give back to the society. Heargues that winning companies pay taxes,and their employees pay taxes and volunteeras mentors to support social causes: “Do youthink that the dotcoms that blew up hadtheir volunteers mentoring the kids in cities?They were trying to survive.”

The threat of being reduced to the level atwhich companies are not necessarily fightingfor survival, but witness a significant down-sizing of their winning potential, was ex-pressed in September by the Entrepreneur-ship Congress, an association of business or-ganizations of which AmCham is a member.At a press conference, the congress issued ajoint statement blasting the government forits plan to raise VAT by one percentage pointfrom the start of 2011.

The measure is expected to generate anestimated PLN 6.2 billion to temporarily re-lieve the overstretched system of public fi-nance in Poland, which is dangerously edg-ing toward 55% of Poland’s annual GDP. Ifthe 55% redline is crossed, it will automati-cally unleash austerity measures. A freeze ofpay raises for state-supported jobs is justone of the measures, but one that may haveugly political implications for the govern-ment.

less competitiveBut now the VAT raise will have ugly conse-quences for business. Elżbieta Lutow fromthe Polish Crafts Association said that evensuch a small hike in VAT will have a notice-able negative impact on firms, as it will beconsumers who will pay for it. For smallcompanies, especially sole proprietorships,whose budgets are often linked with theirhousehold budgets, the VAT raise will be adouble burden, as they will see their rev-enues downsized on one end while theirhousehold expenditures rise on the other.

Big companies will not be spared a hassletoo, but of a different kind. “They will be af-fected by the imminent correction of theirbusiness plans,” said Lech Pilawski from thePolish Confederation of Private EmployersLewiatan. “If the government informed usabout the hike two years in advance, wewould have had enough time to include the

Entrepreneurship Congress: Adam Ambrozik, Employers of Poland; Elżbieta Lutow, Polish Crafts Association; Lech Pi-lawski, Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan; Andrzej Arendarski, Polish Chamber of Commerce; RomanRewald, AmCham; Agnieszka Durlik-Khouri, Polish Chamber of Commerce; Christian Schnell, German-Polish Chamberof Industry and Commerce

“If we cut the administrative costs of running a businessby 20%, Polish firms would hike their revenues by PLN 13billion in 2009, which would in turn generate an addi-tional PLN 2 billion in corporate income tax for that year”

Roman RewaldAmCham Chairman


dation efforts of the past: cheap labor, gen-erally poor working conditions, and an in-and-out strategy pursued by global corpora-tions taking profits off the backs of the lo-cals.

The Amway center does not live up tosuch critics’ expectations. With a long-termdevelopment strategy in place for the Za-bierzów center, Amway set up a modern fa-cility supporting the latest technology, whichalso adheres to “Green Office” require-ments, a set of tough standards for environ-mental workplace responsibility, establishedby the Partnership for Sustainable Develop-ment. Amway is the first company in theKraków Business Park to meet these re-quirements.

catering to professionalsAt the opening ceremony for the center, Bei-derwieden was visibly proud of the fact thatby then over 70 young people had alreadyfound employment at the center. “The cen-ter is a member of a growing internationalcommunity and is staffed with extremelytalented, highly educated and multi-lan-guage skilled people,” he said.

For a portion of those already employed,Amway is not their first job, but the firstglobal company they have worked for. Prof.Grażyna Śmigielska of the Cracow Univer-sity of Economics said that university stu-dents and recent graduates are looking for-ward to employment in global companies togain experience, meet other people fromdifferent parts of the world, and find outhow it feels to work for a global company.“For some people this experience is evenmore important than money,” Śmigielskasaid, adding that young employees can alsoverify whether the skills taught at their uni-versity have practical applications in a globalbusiness environment.

Just as Amway is a place to start for youngprofessionals, for Amway they are, as theysay, the company’s most precious assets.

Leszek Kręgielewski, Amway’s director ofsales in Eastern Europe and general man-ager of Amway Polska, said that the avail-ability of a well-educated workforce was oneof the most important aspects for Amway inits search for a new business center loca-tion, and one aspect in which Zabierzówtopped the shortlist. “Our experience in thefirst few months confirms it,” Kręgielewskisaid. “Our people learn and become profes-sional fast. Amway Polska is nearly fully sup-ported from the Zabierzów center.”

At the official opening celebrationKręgielewski revealed that Amway had been

Positive vibrationsFor Elżbieta Burtan, head of the Zabierzówmunicipal government, siphoning off suchcompanies as Amway to establish them-selves comfortably in the newly openedbusiness park is the right thing to do. Za-bierzów borders on Kraków, one of thelargest academic centers in Poland. Just a15-minute train ride away from downtownKraków, it offers a convenient, have-all loca-tion for international companies. “Krakówhas its strong brand, and many companieswant to be there,” Burtan said. “We have todo some extra work to attract investors,hence the idea of establishing a businesspark. I’m happy that Amway took notice ofthat project.”

But for Burtan, Amway, apart from being aglobal corporation which would be a jewel inthe crown of the Kraków Business Park ten-ants, struck a very original note that wasnonetheless in tune with what she has beenlooking forward to hearing as head of thelocal community. “At the first meeting withAmway, the company made a proposition toour municipality that it would cooperatewith local NGOs and would donate financialaid for the establishment of a communalplayground,” Burtan said. “It does not hap-pen too often that a potential investor makessuch pledges at the first meeting. I wish Imet more such companies. It is an excellentpoint to start cooperation.”

Eventually Amway increased its originaloffer. Along with a check for EUR 10,000came a very precious commodity: time. Thecompany publicly declared at the officialopening ceremony for the center in Octoberto contribute 1,000 man-hours of its em-ployees’ labor.

Strategic locationLong before the introduction of the Euro,Amway set out to operate in Europe as if theEuropean countries were a type of unity,where it made sense to do so commercially.This meant the company has consolidatedits support and service activities, wheretechnically and fiscally possible, and focusedits local efforts on sales and marketing todevelop business. As Beiderwieden said, “Itis an ongoing process of defining and pol-ishing our European support model to findthe right balance between regionalizationand centralization and local decision-mak-ing. The European Shared Services Centerin Zabierzów is our next big step forward inour regional support model.”

There are certain negative associationswith call centers and other business consoli-

When Amway started a search for thelocation of a new shared servicescenter to offer the best possible

support to its distributors in the field aswell as decision-making information forAmway management in Europe and in theU.S., no one involved in the search processhad a clue that it would lead the company toa new business park in the tiny town of Za-bierzów, one of the satellite towns ofKraków. Amway initiated its search last yearby looking at over 30 cities in several coun-tries in Europe. An array of soft as well ashard decision-making criteria were appliedto the elimination process. In the filter ofAmway requirements were reliable techno-logical infrastructure, a multi-skilled andmulti-lingual employee talent pool availablenear the location, and easy local and inter-national infrastructure for access to Amway

employees. Finally there was the CSR di-mension: Amway was looking for a locationwhere it could grow as a member of thelocal community and the business commu-nity as well.

The search provided great insights intoglobal benchmarks as well as what is avail-able across Europe. As a result, the shortlisthad three locations, including, in Poland,Warsaw and Zabierzów.

According to Mark Beiderwieden, SeniorVP and Managing Director of Amway Eu-rope, “The favorable decision for Polandwas supported by the fact that we havenearly 20 years of extremely positive experi-ence here of employing dedicated and tal-ented employees that we have relied uponas an organization across Europe to manageour success as we expanded across the mar-kets of Eastern Europe and into Russia.”

With the opening of Amway’s business support center in Zabierzów, nearKraków, the company aligns its business values with the local commu-nity’s needs and aspirations.

A long-term commitment

Next to the market analysis, number-crunching and other activities, wasAmway’s desire to be located in a commu-nity that has a progressive political leader-ship aimed at making the community a bet-ter place for everybody. “We were thor-oughly impressed with the attention thatwas given to us and our search teams by thebusiness as well as the political communi-ties as we investigated our choices,” Bei-derwieden said. “We were also very im-pressed with the vision of the town of Za-bierzów to transforming farming fields intoa business park, a magnet to attract tal-ented people with young families to grow inthe community and provide a better qualityof life to so many people, which is verymuch in sync with the values that Amwayupholds to help people live better lives.”

Tomasz Ćwiok

Opening Amway’s Business Center: Mark Beiderwieden, Senior VP and Managing Director, Amway Europe; StanisławKracik, Małopolska Governor; Elżbieta Burtan, head of the Zabierzów local government; Russell Evans, Executive VPand CFO, Amway Corporation; Aaron Daviet, Consul, U.S. General Consulate, Kraków

engaged in talks with a university-levelschool in Kraków to start a cooperation pro-gram. “Amway is not exclusively aboutmoney-making business, but also aboutgood citizenship in local communities.”

mutual benefitsFor Amway’s Beiderwieden, the choice ofZabierzów was important in terms of the lo-cation’s ability to withstand the test of time.The company does not intend to relocateanytime soon, and a steady supply of talentas well as good relations with the local gov-ernment are key factors for future develop-ment. “We are investing millions of dollarsinto a long-term concept and a long-termrelationship with our employees and withthe community of Zabierzów,” he said.

This does not mean that those who find ajob there will be confined to Zabierzów forall of their lives. As Kręgielewski said,“Amway offers a lot of career opportunities.I’m sure that young people now get evenmore opportunities that I have ever had.Many career paths remain open beforethem, in Amway Europe and beyond.”

For Zabierzów’s municipal head Burtan,the Amway case is just the beginning of amajor test. “By getting such a big companyhere we hope other companies will follow inAmway’s footsteps,” she said. She addedthat she hopes in five years’ time Amway willconfirm it was a good decision to park theirbusiness in Zabierzów, which will encourageother companies to come to Zabierzów aswell. “But that is an even greater challengethan attracting Amway here.”

Zabierzów hopes to benefit from Amway,and Amway from Zabierzów. For now thecenter employs over 70 people, and supportsnearly all of Amway’s Polish operations. Thefirst step is done. Next year the center startsfull-scale recruitment and aims at boostingtotal employment to 200, who will deliversupport services to 25 regional marketswhere Amway is present in Europe. Theirresponsibility will be big: in Europe, Amwayoperates in 29 markets, generating USD 1.2billion in total sales out of total global salesof USD 8 billion in 60 national marketsworldwide.

FOCUS: Amway

“We are investing millions of dollars into a long-term concept and a long-term relation-ship with our employees and with the community of Zabierzów”

Mark Beiderwieden, Senior VP and Managing Director, Amway Europe

A unique business model coupledwith a well-crafted competitivestrategy can do wonders for valuedelivered to clients, employeesand shareholders. But if the imple-mentation of the strategy is poor,then the benefits of the strategyare weak or non-existent.


EXPERT: Human resources

“Plan B” if highly skilled mem-bers leaves the project), andwork flows designed to supportthe project initiatives. Theremust also be proper informationflow, and any obstacles to theproject must be met head-on.

An executive committee spon-sor should be dedicated to eachlarge project. The best situationwould be to have a centralizedproject-clearing resource forproject monitoring and control.However a project managementoffice should not be a substitutefor executive leadership of theportfolio of projects.

Fifth, accountable organiza-tions are highly transparent intheir goals. Large project statusreports could obviously beposted on an asp system such asBasecamp (ww.basecamphq.com)or an intranet for key stakehold-ers to see any time they need to.

creating a robust cultureThe senior leadership teamshould regularly articulate to therest of the organization the sta-tus of the large operating proj-ects and how they are aligned toboth the purpose and strategy ofthe organization. If projects arerunning into roadblocks, thesenior team should have the in-tellectual honesty to communi-cate the problems or shortfallsin order to help solve the issuesrather than sweeping themunder the carpet.

Getting the right things doneon time and under budgetshould be considered a funda-mental competency for organi-zations. Unfortunately the ra-tional ability to view projectmanagement through the lens ofstrategy implementation is stillvery poor in many organizations.Project management and strat-egy still seem not to be inte-grated properly.

It is the key requirement ofsenior leaders to create a robustproject initiative culture, with avery hands-on approach to look-ing at the portfolio and how itaffects business and financial re-sults. Otherwise, there is atremendous waste of time andmoney. If the opportunity cost isfactored in, the price for lack ofprogress can be astronomical.

team sign-off. (By the way, agood resource on decision analy-sis is the book Smart Choices: APractical Guide to Making BetterDecisions, by John Hammondand others (2002, now in paper-back).)

Second, hurdle rate criteriaare needed to accept a project.Key project criteria should con-nect to one of four results: 1) anincrease in revenue (on a risk-adjusted basis), 2) lower operat-ing costs, 3) improved employeeeffectiveness (on an absolutebasis and relative to the compe-tition), or 4) freeing up assetsfor investment at higher rates ofreturn on capital. All projectsshould have a strong correlationto one of these four result areas.Is there a clear net present valuecriterion, or does the proverbial“hockey stick number” get bythe team without carefulscrutiny?

It should be noted that somemanagers object to trying tomeasure financial results in “in-tangible asset” project-based in-vestments, such as improve-ments in organizational cultureor human capital strategy initia-tives. However, they can certainlybe measured on a NPV/ROIbasis in terms of quality im-provement, increased customerrepurchase rates, employee out-put, cost reduction and time sav-ings. Most managers simply donot bother to do it. Actuallythese intangible non-capitalizedinvestments tend to have consid-erably higher NPV returns thanfixed-asset investments.

Third, the senior leadershipteam needs to be clear on the or-ganization’s “project capacity.”Every organization has its own“bandwidth.” There is specialsensitivity to the amount of peo-ple hours, focus and moneyneeded to support the portfolioof initiatives. When a project nolonger makes sense, it is prop-erly terminated to free up the re-sources for higher-value-addingprojects.

Fourth, the culture and orga-nizational design needed to sup-port the project is in place. Thisincludes clear roles, an under-standing that the talent in theproject often rotates with newmembers (there should be a

However, as we can see, the talentis not enough. Can you imaginethe results if the new restaurantmanagers who were given a man-date for innovation had to contendwith three layers of bureaucracy?It would not have worked. Organi-zational design and new leadershipbehaviors need to be in place aswell.

The alignment of strategy andstructure is a pretty basic princi-ple. What tends to be the big prob-lem with strategy implementationis the lack of competency by seniorexecutive teams in terms of utiliz-ing a portfolio project manage-ment (PPM) system. The funda-mental objective of PPM is to de-termine the optimal mix and se-quencing of proposed projects tobest achieve the organization’soverall goals.

Often an organizational auditwill show that a company’s portfo-lio of projects has little correlationto building shareholder value.There are no proper criteria in se-lecting projects and there is a lotof subjective political influencefrom people who have not thoughtthrough the consequences of initi-ating the project in the first place.Many times projects are process-focused instead of results-focused.

key steps for managementHere are some key steps that asenior team needs to implement toensure that large projects are suc-cessfully aligned to strategy:

First, for the large projects,there should be clear criteria forhow a project will be considered.Why should we initiate this proj-ect? Are there alternative ways toaccomplish the same goals? Arethere clear decision-making crite-ria in place? Projects of a certainsize obviously should have a senior

Strategy implementation re-ceived a lot of attention in2002 with the publication

of Execution: The Discipline ofGetting Things Done, by LarryBossidy & Ram Charan. How-ever this mentality towards exe-cution often belittled the role ofstrategy, and it was still prettyambiguous about what wasneeded day by day to get thingsdone.

Streategic allignmentLet’s be clear. An organization’sstrategy, culture and structureneed to be in close alignmentwith each other for effective im-plementation to take place. Inaddition, the talent you procurefor your strategy needs to func-tion within an organization de-signed to achieve results. Newtalent only works when the orga-nizational design and culture arethere to support it.

In the 1980s John Martinwanted to transform the TacoBell restaurant chain in theUnited States into a low-costfast food provider while main-taining high-quality food andservice. Among other steps toimplement his strategy, he let gomany unskilled, low-paid restau-rant managers and replacedthem with highly educated,highly paid professionals whohad the power to innovate onboth service system improve-ments and creating new saleschannels (such as selling to of-fice cafeterias, universities, andso on). He gave bonuses basedon EBIT improvement and re-placed three layers of middlemanagement bureaucracy with anew Marketing Manager posi-tion, which had 30 restaurantmanagers as direct reports.

Getting things done

EXPERT: Intellectual property

What’s in a trade-mark? At first glance itis often little morethan a squiggle. Butseldom in commercialhistory has so muchvalue been wrapped upin something so small.

addition, it may induce anotherentity, in particular a competi-tor, to submit a petition to thePatent Office to declare the ex-piration of trademark protectiondue to the loss of distinctivefeatures. It is hard to believethat competitors would ignoresuch a golden opportunity.

The second rule is to gatherevidence of our rights and theirvalue. In order to avoid difficul-ties and to guarantee effectiveprotection of the trademark,every brand owner should main-tain up-to-date documentationregarding the trademark. Itshould cover data concerninguse of the brand, locations andways of distribution of brandedgoods or services, outlays onpromotional activities, informa-tion concerning the period ofactual use of the trademark, in-formation regarding customers’opinions about the brand orbranded goods and services,and so on.

The trademark owner doesnot have to disclose all this in-formation. Heaven forbid. But itis an excellent rainy-day insur-ance policy, and if your night-mare scenario unfolds and youend up having to defend your-self in court or at the patent of-fice, this evidence will certainlyput a smile on your lawyer’sface.

In the end, it is worth keepingin mind that legal moves areevery bit as important as mar-keting and promotions when itcomes to protecting your trade-mark. The trademark ownermust be ready, willing and ableat all times to take a proverbialshotgun to protect a vulnerablebrand. Determination, initiativeand complementary activitiesare the order of the day. Onlythen will we be able to build thepopularity and reputation of ourbrand safely and enable thetrademark to fulfill all its pur-poses for the benefit of thecompany.

a competitor, or an “objective”social (or even linguistic)process consisting of, for exam-ple, spreading of the brand incommon parlance or mutationinto a generic name for a prod-uct. Paradoxically, this lastthreat may even be the result ofthe popularity of the brand. Pol-ish examples that cry out for at-tention here are adidasy fortrainers, walkman/discman forpersonal audio devices, andelektroluks for vacuum cleaners.

On occasion, the loss of thedistinguishing features of thetrademark may be irreparable.

how to keep itThe features of the trademarkthat we worked on for years maybe protected only thanks to anactive policy of care. The firstrule is of course to register thetrademark in the Polish PatentOffice or the Office for Harmo-nization in the Internal Market(as a Community trademarkprotected in the whole E.U.)And do this quick.

However, registration on itsown may not be enough. Fullprotection of the trademark mayrequire a more holistic ap-proach, including the imple-mentation of two basic rules.

First, in every event of in-fringement, particularly by acompetitor, the reaction of thetrademark owner must be im-mediate and firm. You can senda pre-trial demand to cease in-fringements, but court actionmay be inevitable.

Similarly, if there is a threat ofthe trademark losing its featuresas a result of the objective mar-ket (social) situation, the reac-tion must also be rapid and ro-bust. Here, there is no bad guyto inflict legal pest control on, sodefense of the trademark comesthrough marketing actionsaimed at restoring the desiredmeaning of the trademark in thecustomers’ mind.

Ignoring these threats, evenwith smaller infringements, mayeventually lead to a loss of thefeatures of the brand and a rightof exclusivity to use the brand. Itis a slippery slope. Toleratinginfringements may even per-suade a court to dismiss futureactions to protect the brand. In

generic product type or featureand, as a consequence, may losethe ability to distinguish theproducts of one company fromanother’s. “Hoover” is a case inpoint in the U.K., where thename means little more than“vacuum cleaner.” In addition,competitors may try to use thetrademark in a humiliating orridiculous manner, which maycause a loss of reputation.Everything goes to pot.

Under the Polish IndustrialProperty Law, a trademark is asymbol that must have the abil-ity to distinguish goods of oneentity from another. If a brandloses this feature, it cannot be atrademark. This applies to bothtrademarks registered by thePolish Patent Office or the Of-fice for Harmonization in theInternal Market (with respect toCommunity trademarks) and tounregistered marks.

Following a loss of reputation,a trademark loses its commer-cial abilities. In some situations,it may even provoke a repulsiveeffect. Food poisoning is a par-ticularly effective way of losingbusiness, sometimes for genera-tions! It also turns people offentire countries: Delhi Belly,Montezuma’s Revenge,Pharaoh’s Curse….

A loss of the features that thevalue of the trademark is basedon is most often a result of un-controlled use of the trademarkwhich the owner failed to op-pose in timely fashion. The usemay be down to unfair activity by

Abrand’s primary purposeis to tell the customerabout the origin of the

product. Trademarks at firstglance merely distinguish item Afrom item B, but they do somuch more. Brands can providevaluable information about thequality or features of the prod-uct, in a sense acting as a guar-antee badge. See Coca-Cola andyou know what you are going toget. The dynamic ribbon trade-mark is a sign of prestige, so itscommercial value is sky-high.

Building up the guarantee orcommercial features of trade-marks is a long, hard slog—theresult of many years of effort, in-cluding financial and organiza-tional outlays, in particular ad-vertising campaigns, quality as-surance and many additionalsupporting activities. Making atrademark commonly recognizedor even trusted can result inlarge profits, but comes at a costin terms of money and sweat.This all deserves guardingagainst the cheapskate predatorsout there who are more thanwilling to use and abuse yoursometimes decades of invest-ment and expertise for a quickbuck.

threats, dangers, fearsThe value of a brand is unfortu-nately ephemeral in some sense,as it is based only on perceptionby customers. Creating value,recognizability or specific fea-tures of a trademark takes a longtime, but a cataclysm can hap-pen overnight through dirtytricks by smalltime hucksters ornegligence by the trademarkowner.

As a result a trademark mayend up lending its name to a

Trademarks may not last forever

By PETER STRUPPpresident of the

supervisory boardUnited Business

Development

By EWA KACPEREKattorney-at-law, counsel at Salans

and PIOTR ZAWADZKI lawyer, associate at Salans

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EXPERT: Arbitration

Choosing arbitration instead of judicial proceedings pays off.

proceeding. Together with thearbitrators, they establish theschedule and the deadlines. Theparties’ self-discipline and theavailability of the arbitratorsmake it possible to focus on theproceeding and save a significantamount of time. A dispute maybe decided in a matter of weeksor months, not years.

Savings: Arbitration enablescompanies to budget their litiga-tion costs, because the partieshave an influence over the feesthat will be charged for resolvingthe dispute. The fee structuremay play an important role whenselecting a permanent arbitra-tion institution.

neutral ground: When adispute arises between compa-nies that operate under differentlegal and economic systems,there is a concern that submis-sion of the dispute to the judi-cial institutions in one of thecountries may come at the costof objectivity, upsetting the prin-ciple of equality of the parties.International arbitration pro-vides an opportunity to resolvedisputes on neutral ground, witharbitrators selected from differ-ent legal systems and cultures.The parties are free to select anarbitration court abroad, in aneutral third country.

Force of award: An arbitra-tion award is a private docu-ment, but when it is recognizedor enforced by a state court itobtains the binding force of astate court judgment. Both in-ternational and domestic arbi-tration awards are subject torecognition or enforcement. Ad-vocate Justyna Szpara will ad-dress this topic in more detail inan upcoming issue of AmericanInvestor.

An arbitration award issued inPoland may be challenged by ei-ther party through a petition toset aside the award, filed withthe state court. The practice inrecent years indicates that only ahandful of arbitration awards areset aside each year under thisprocedure, which demonstratesthat arbitration is achieving suc-cess in Poland.

cipline that will apply through-out. There is no compulsion in aproceeding before an arbitrationcourt. Finally, the parties volun-tarily undertake to comply withthe decision and enforce theaward that is issued. All of thistakes good will and greater com-mitment than would be requiredin a proceeding before a statecourt. There, the parties are re-quired to comply with fixed pro-cedures over which they have nocontrol, and the dispute will bedecided by an unknown judge.

Fair play: Arbitration is notthe place for procedural tricks, orexploiting technicalities to defeatthe opponent. When companiesfall into a dispute, they know fullwell that they may need to dobusiness with their current op-ponent in the future. They aresensitive to the commercial reali-ties, which encourages fair play.

confidentiality: Arbitrationis a private process, and assuresconfidentiality to the businessesinvolved. An arbitration award isnot public information and is notaccessible under the freedom ofinformation act. The parties de-cide whether the award issued bythe arbitration court will be an-nounced publicly, or if it is intheir interest to maintain fullconfidentiality. Arbitration helpsprotect trade secrets.

Flexibility: Arbitration is amodern, flexible tool for resolv-ing disputes. Arbitration re-sponds quickly to economicchange. The intent of the partiesis decisive when it comes to se-lection of the method for pro-ceeding—there are no inflexibleprocedures set in stone, such asfixed evidentiary rules that ex-clude certain types of relevant ev-idence from being considered.The parties decide how to usethis tool most effectively. For ex-ample, they can select the lan-guage of the proceeding based onthe contract between them,avoiding the need for translationof voluminous documentation.The quality of the arbitration islargely up to the parties, becausethey have significant influenceover how it is conducted. In statecourts the parties’ influence isnegligible.

Speed: The parties’ choice ofprocedures and arbitratorsclearly affects the speed of the

the proceeding will be con-ducted. Together with the arbi-trators, they can decide onwhether to hold hearings or not,as well as the schedule, and theycan set a deadline by which thedispute should be resolved. To-gether with the arbitrators, theycan select the type of evidence tobe considered and how evidencewill be admitted. They can es-tablish the rules especially tosuit the particular needs of thespecific case, or they can use the“off the rack” procedure setforth in the regulations of a per-manent arbitration institution.This freedom given to the par-ties makes them jointly respon-sible for the course of the arbi-tration proceeding.

Professionalism: As busi-nesses have an influence on se-lection of the arbitration panel,they may submit the dispute tospecific individuals who are pro-fessionals in the particular field,with recognized standing withinthat community. The partiesknow who will decide the case.An important case will not bedecided by randomly chosenjudges, as would be the case in astate court.

cooperation: Arbitration re-quires agreement in the midst ofdisagreement. The parties dis-agree about the dispute, but theyagree on an arbitration clauseand the court that will decide thedispute. They are free to choosedomestic or foreign arbitration,under the auspices of a perma-nent arbitration institution orusing an ad hoc arbitrationpanel. Generally the parties se-lect the arbitrators. As a rule,each party appoints one arbitra-tor and then the arbitrators to-gether select the third arbitratorwho will chair the panel. Theparties agree on the course ofthe proceeding and the self-dis-

Arbitration is an alternativemethod for resolving dis-putes. Its purpose is not to

replace the state judicial system,however. In highly developedlegal and economic systems, ar-bitration courts and state courtsare not at war, but peacefully co-exist and complement one an-other. Arbitration supplementsthe system for resolving dis-putes, adding new methods thatenable conflicts to be resolvedprivately, without directly involv-ing state institutions. Arbitrationis a service—a private procedurefor resolving disputes.

why choose arbitration:Arbitration is collegial and de-formalized, allowing the partiesto have a say in the proceduresthat will be used. It is flexibleand open to changes and re-duces the uncertainty of the pro-cedure. The arbitration ethosalso has certain advantages, be-cause it is a mutual processrather than a scorched-earthbattle.

dialogue: Arbitration is aservice designed for businesseswho want to make a consciouschoice on how to resolve a dis-pute. This conscious approachcan be seen in the way that busi-nesses faced with a disputestrive to take an active part in re-solving it, on the basis of a dia-logue, rather than turning every-thing over to the judicial system.Arbitration enables them to co-operate in resolving the dispute.The more dialogue, the more ef-fective arbitration is. The statecourt is set up as a battleground,and arbitration is more like adiscussion.

influence on procedures: Ifa business wants to have somecontrol over the way the disputeresolution proceeding will behandled, it will choose arbitra-tion. In arbitration the partiesand arbitrators together decideon the nature of the procedure.The parties participate in selec-tion of the arbitrators. Togetherthey establish the rules of thegame which will apply when re-solving a conflict. The partiesmay select the place of arbitra-tion and the language in which

A court that means business

By AGNIESZKA KOCONlegal advisor,

Łaszczuk & Partners

The author is editor in chief ofwww.arbitration.pl

EVENT: AmCham Monthly Meeting

1. richard Lada, AmCham Vice Chairman; Jolanta Fedak, Minister of Labor and Social Policy; Marek Bucior, Deputy Minister ofLabor and Social Policy. 2. Jolanta Fedak provides an interview to a business radio station. 3. Donald Mucha; roman Hildt, Uni-versal Express. 4. Jolanta Jaworska, IBM; Anna Jaros, U.S. Embassy; Zofia Schnitzer, Ministry of Economy. 5. Jolanta Fedak;Joseph Wancer, Deloitte. 6. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Executive Director; Glen Gregory, Java Coffee Company; Angelo Pres-sello, Direct Communication; Alexander Suski, InterContinental Warsaw. 7. Stan Urban; Monika Thieme, Kałużyński & Madeja. 8. rick Lada; Jolanta Fedak. 9. roman Hildt; Barbara Grabowska, U.S. Commercial Service.

Laboring over labor issues

Minister ofLaborand So-cial Pol-

icy Jolanta Fedak wasthe speaker at theAmCham MonthlyMeeting in October,addressing key issuesin the Polish LaborCode during theglobal economic cri-sis and reforms ofthe public pensionsystem.

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EVENT: AmCham 20th Anniversary Ball

1. rafał Dutkiewicz, Mayor of Wrocław; U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein; Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz; AmbassadorJerzy Koźmiński; roman rewald, AmCham Chairman; Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Executive Director. 2.Dorota Dabrowski; roman rewald, Lee Feinstein, U.S. Ambassador; Henry McGovern, Amrest; Ewa olesińska,Fluor SA; Arkadiusz Suliga, General Motors Manufacturing Poland; Piotr Jucha, McDonald’s Polska; Judith Glin-iecki, rick Lada, AmCham Vice Chairs. 3. Dorota Dabrowski; roman rewald; Anna Jawor, IBM; Lee Feinstein.4. Dorota Dabrowski; roman rewald; Jolanta Jaworska, IBM; Lee Feinstein; Henry McGovern. 5. DorotaDabrowski; Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz; Jerzy Koźmiński; Tomasz Wróblewski, editor-in-chief of Dziennik GazetaPrawna; roman rewald. 6. Award statuettes. 7. roman rewald; Lee Feinstein; Paul Woodward, Coca-Cola. 8.Prof. Michał Kleiber, President, Polish Academy of Sciences; Mac raczkiewicz, AmCham Board Member ex offi-cio; Tony Housh, AmCham Board Member; Judith Gliniecki; rick Lada.

1. The Kulczyk Investments team. 2. Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz; Elaine Monaghan; Lee Feinstein; roman rewald. 3. George osypowicz,AmCham co-founder; Barbara Grabowska, U.S. Commercial Service; roman Hildt, Kinga Motyka, Universal Express; Ewa osypowicz.4. Joseph Wancer, AmCham Board Member, with his wife; Wiesław rozłucki, former president of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and hiswife; Dorota Dabrowski; Michał Boni, Chief Advisor to the Polish Prime Minister; Krzysztof Jaworski. 5. PM Group table. 6. Andrzej Ja-caszek, Harvard Business Review, with his wife; Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge, with his wife; Teresa Łaszczuk; Maciej Łaszczuk,Łaszczuk & Partners; Cezary Mączka, Bank BPH, with his wife. 7. Deloitte table. 8. Wiesław rozłucki; Joseph Wancer; DorotaDabrowski; Michał Boni; Paweł Panczyj, Ernst & Young; Jolanta Jaworska, Elisabeth Asirifi, IBM; Krzysztof Jaworski. 9. CH2M Hill table.10. Bill Heidt, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, with his wife; MP Paweł Poncyliusz; Edyta Poncyliusz; Lucyna Jaremczuk, Ministryof Economy; Paul Woodward, Coca-Cola, with his wife; Piotr Jucha, McDonald’s Polska, with his wife. 11. Monika Pilarska; TomaszSzczerbina; Arkadiusz Suliga, Paweł Wideł, General Motors Manufacturing Poland; Krzysztof Pokrzywnicki, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna; Ewaolesińska, Fluor, with husband; Marzena Drela, AmCham Deputy Director, seated. 12. Enterprise Investors table 13. Ewa and Georgeosypowicz; former Senator Andrzej Kawecki with his wife. 14. The toast. 15. Jim Wilson, U.S. Commercial Counselor; Vicky Wilson;Michael Sessums, U.S. Embassy; Janice Sessums; Tony Housh; Agnieszka Kosowska.

AmCham in the mood to celebrate 20 years of success

The leitmo-tif of Mar-ilyn Mon-

roe juxtaposedwith an MM/JFK-themed picturecorner and livebig band musicto mark the Am-Cham 20th An-niversary Ball atthe Marriott War-saw in October.The flavor wasenhanced by twoglamorous Cadil-lac cruisers ondisplay in front ofthe hotel. Theevent sparked anostalgic mood,p a r t i c u l a r l yamong those whoremember “backin the day.” Thespirit of the1950s and 1960sreigned amongthe 350 plus par-t y g o e r s — A m -Cham members,supporters andfriends. Politi-cians and govern-ment membersshared tableswith diplomatsand businessleaders who havemade great con-tributions to thesuccess of thePolish economictransition, whichstarted more than20 years ago.Some took homeAmCham awards.All took homegreat memoriesand gifts of co-rona cigars andgleaming neck-laces.

Gold sponsor Silver sponsors

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Sponsors in kindMedia Patrons

1. PawełPudłowski,Marathon Petro-leum Poland Serv-ices, with his wife.2. Jeffrey Ben-jamin, KatarzynaChmurzyńska,CH2M Hill; LeeFeinstein. 3. Peter Kay, Am-Cham BoardMember; JustynaSobień.4. MichałBoni; SławomirSikora, Citi Hand-lowy; IwonaWałach, IronMountain Polska.5. Paweł Pon-cyliusz, EdytaPoncyliusz; rickLada; DorotaDabrowski, JudithGliniecki. 6. Hen-ryka Bochniarz;Małgorzata Niez-abitowska. 7. KatarzynaLynch; JohnLynch, AmChamBoard Member. 8. McDonald’steam. 9. JudithGliniecki;Katarzyna Woj-ciechowska,Procter & Gam-ble; DorotaDabrowski;Joanna Bensz,PM Group. 10. roman re-wald; Macraczkiewicz; rickLada. 11. PaulFogo, AmChamBoard Member;Judith Y. Gliniecki.

1. Dancing: Ketty Popow; Stan Popow, AmCham Board Member; Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz; Ewa Balcerowicz; Elaine Monaghan;Lee Feinstein; Henryka Bochniarz, Boeing; Zbigniew Bochniarz. 2. ray Wilson, former Genesis vocalist. 3. Lee Feinstein; HenrykaBochniarz; Michał Boni. 4. Judith Gliniecki; Brian Bode. 5. roman rewald; Dorota Dabrowski, and AmCham birthday cake. 6. Fore-ground: Jacek Stryczyński; Ewa Styczyńska; Maciej and Teresa Łaszczuk. 7. Bols provided drinks. 8. robert Chomik, MarzenaDrela, AmCham. 9. robert Kruszyna, robert Chomik, AmCham. 10. Cigar corner.

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EVENT: AmCham 20th AnniversaryBall


W tym numerze: COVER STORY

Pionierzy przemianAmerykańskie firmy odegrałyniebagatelną rolę w transformacjipolskiej gospodarki. W czasachwysokiej inflacji, przestarzałej in-frastruktury, regulacji prawnych zpoprzedniej epoki, amerykańskiefirmy przecierały szlaki biznesu wtworzeniu pierwszych inwestycji wsektorze produkcyjnym,bankowości, badaniach i techno-logii, logistyce, komercyjnychnieruchomościach i innych. Firmyte były prowadzone przez os-obowości, których wizja i wolaodniesienia sukcesu były silniejszeod barier, które napotykali na swo-jej drodze. Po dwudziestu latach wPolsce. AmCham honoruje swoichnaj-bardziej przedsiębiorczychczłonków, str. 14.Monthly Meeting

Jutro jest kolejny dzień Ministerstwo Pracy i PolitykiSpolecznej przygotowuje reformę systemu ubezpieczeńspołecznych by wyeliminować przywileje wielu grup za-wodowych na korzyść spójności systemu w naliczaniu emery-tury wszystkich grup zawodowych, str. 23

Focusnowa era? Poprzedni prezydenci Polski byli prostolinijnieprzyjaźni w stosunku do Stanów Zjednoczonych. Obecnagłowa pańswa, Bronisław Komorowski, podchodzi do relacjipolsko-amerykańskich w sposób mający znacznie więcej ni-uansów, str. 26

nie zwiększać podatków, nie zwiększać wydatkówŚrodowisko biznesowe krytycznie odnosi się do powzyżki po-datku VAT jako recepty na kryzys finansów pubilcznych ioczekuje od rządu restrukturyzacji i ogranicznenia wydatkówpublicznych, str. 28

długoterminowy zwązek Otwierając Centrum WsparciaBiznesu w Zabierzowie pod Krakowem Amway łączy wartościbiznesowe z potrzebami i aspiracjami lokalnej społeczności,str. 30

Ekspercito się da zrobić Niezwykły model biznesu w połączeniu zkonkurencyjną strategią rozwoju mogą zwiększyć wartość do-daną dla klientów, pracowników i udziałowców firmy. Trzebawiedzieć jak to zrobić, str. 32

znaki towarowe nie trwają wiecznie Ochrona znaku to-warowego to wyzwanie dla firmy, str. 33

arbitraż się opłaca Wybór arbitrażu zamiast zwykłegopostępowania sądowego zazwyczaj przynosi obustronnąkoszyść, str. 34

© American Chamber of Commercein Poland 2010. All rights reserved.

American Investor to oficjalny magazyn Amerykańskiej Izby Handlowej w Polsce. Magazynreprezentuje głos środowisk międzynarodowego biznesu w Polsce. Celem magazynu jestdostarczanie członkom Izby i innym czytelnikom aktualnych informacji na temat działal-ności Izby a także trendów biznesowych i polityce społecznej firm.listy do rekacji prosimy wysyłać na adres poczty elektronicznej:[email protected]

Relacje zdjęcioweSpotkanie Miesięczne AmCham, str. 35

Bal na 20-lecie Amerykańskiej Izby Handlowej, str. 36

Działy stałeBriefing redakcyjny, str. 2

List Prezesa AmCham, str. 5

Informacje o firmach członkowskich Izby, str. 6

Informacje o działalności Komitetów Izby, str. 9

Przewodnik po Komitetach Izby, str. 12

Podsumowanie zawartości numeru w języku polskim, str. 40

SUMMARIES: in Polish

November 18, 2010.

AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, Kraków

ITgiants

Giants for Giants

Large IT systems in big applications

This is a physical hyperlink (semacode) to AmCham Kraków Branch Facebook Website. Please scan the code using your cell phone.

More information: www.itgiants.org

american investor november 2010

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