Robert Guzik

Industrial Upgrading Through Foreign Direct Investment in Central European Automotive Manufacturing

This article draws on the global value-chain approach to investigate industrial upgrading in the automotive industry of four Central European (CE) countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. We review post-1990 production trends and the associated changes in the geography of automobile production in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) based on inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI).To evaluate industrial upgrading, we examine the changes in the international trade of CE countries with automotive products classified in three value-added classes between 1996 and 2006, and we consider the increasing location of automotive design in CE by foreign investors.We classify CE automobile assembly plants into four types based upon the role of local design, local content, and their links with domestic economies. Based on the results of the analysis, we consider the effects of FDI and industrial upgrading on the role of CE in the European automotive production system.

The crisis and beyond: the dynamics and restructuring of automotive industry in Poland

The paper considers the effects of the crisis on the restructuring of automotive industry in Poland and its possible impact on the long-term prospects of the sector in the country. The dynamics of Polish automotive exports and the performance of various automotive suppliers located in Poland, depending on their size, ownership, position in supply chain and labour costs, are explored. This is followed by the analysis of foreign and domestic company strategies as well as the regional effects of the changes in the industry. The factors behind the upgrading processes, new plant locations and delocalisation are discussed.

‘Out of Place’ in Auschwitz? Contested Development in Post-War and Post-Socialist Oświęcim

Over the past 20 years the Polish town of Oświęcim, the site of the most infamous death camp, has seen a series of well-publicised disputes over land use around the Auschwitz Museum. Each of these disputes has featured certain groups making certain claims for the ‘appropriate’ use of land. The publics perception outside Poland of these disputes has been guided by Jewish groups prioritising their claims above all others. There has been a failure to recognise how far Polish claims are rooted in other equally valid moral geographies, not least those shaped both by Polish Catholic and communist traditions.

The development of low-emission public urban transport in Poland

Abstract The aim of the paper is to identify the main factors and mechanisms behind the development of low-emission public transport vehicles in Polish cities. This innovation is primarily connected with growing environmental requirements for transport, with the EU environmental and transport policies being the key factors. However, strategies of local governments and municipal transport companies as well as the organization of urban transport - which differs significantly between cities - also play an important role. Three basic types of approach towards low-emission buses can be observed in Polish cities: tests of electric and hybrid vehicles, purchases of small quantities of buses in order to implement new solutions, and finally attempts to replace the majority or even the entire transport fleet with low-emission vehicles. It should be emphasised that an important element which affects the development of low emission public urban transport in Poland is the fact that the country has become one of the main bus producers in Europe - a fact which is a result of both large-scale foreign investments and the success of Polish manufacturers.

European semi-periphery under environmental pressure: the case of urban public bus transportation and private bus-makers in Poland

The authors explore the factors shaping the adoption of low-emission vehicles in urban public transportation in Poland. The country has leapfrogged to a position among European leaders in the manufacturing of hybrid and electric buses within 20 years due to foreign investors (Volvo) and domestic enterprises (Solaris). At the same time, the adoption of new powertrain technologies in urban public transportation has lagged behind Western Europe. Contrary to the hypothesis there is no hierarchical diffusion of hybrid and electric vehicles from major cities to medium-sized and smaller towns in Poland. EU regulations provide a general legal framework for environmentally-friendly public transportation; however, they do not determine the adoption rates of particular low-emissions technologies. The actual pattern of use of hybrid and electric vehicles in urban public transportation in Poland seems to depend on local factors in the main, including institutional arrangements, social and personal characteristics.