Regional differences in small firm development: the case of Poland

Polish small firm development has been impressive in the 1990s. However regional differences in macro-economic development have widened and have been accompanied by regional differences in small firm development at the micro level. The findings of a survey of the Polish small firm stratum reveal substantial qualitative differences between small firms in developed and less developed parts of the country. Small firms in the more developed region have a greater degree of development in eighteen variables, stretching from the legal form of ownership to investment and restructuring. These differences are understood within a systemic competitiveness model. They point to the need for differential, rather than generic, regional small firm policy as well as to a theoretical conception of the small firm in which considerable variation in structure, conduct and performance is acknowledged.