Transformations  in
Business & Economics

The Influence of Accession to the European Union on the Investments in the Sector of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Poland. The results of a study carried out among Silesian entrepreneurs
Izabella Steinerowska-Streb

ABSTRACT. After the period of recession, the Polish economic condition has been characterized by distinct improvement in macroeconomic indicators. One could expect that favourable changes in domestic economy, support from EU programs and demand of modernization of SMEs in face of Polish accession to the EU will definitely result in an increase of investments in the sector of SMEs. However, non-economic factors, such as a political situation in Poland and accession to the EU by itself, might result in uncertainty and thus influence the entrepreneurs’ decision about investments. The paper presents the results of a study aimed on the estimation of recent and planned expenses regard the investments among SMEs located in Upper Silesia. The main objective of this study is the review of the theory, regarding investments, which basically refers to the large firms. Therefore, little is known about the behaviour of investors in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the case of post-transformation economies, such as Poland in a pre-accession period.

KEYWORDS: investment, small and medium enterprises, European Union, Poland.

JEL classification: G31, D40, O52, P2.