{"title":"Middle-Income Trap - Threat or Reality","authors":"Bozena Leven","doi":"10.5709/ce.1897-9254.452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5709/ce.1897-9254.452","url":null,"abstract":"The middle-income trap (MIT) describes obstacles to sustainable growth experienced by some middle-income countries. The initial growth of emerging economies is often characterized by reliance on labor intense, import driven factors, facilitated by foreign direct investment (FDI). As it matures, that initial growth becomes more dependent on foreign technology imports to produce exports, which can impede sustained growth. Poland is representative of several middle-income East European countries; after the 1990 transition, Poland had inadequate infrastructure and obsolescent industries, but a work force that was highly educated. Since 1990, relatively low labor costs, technology imports, European Union (EU) funding, and FDI have propelled Poland to middle-income status. However, Poland’s comparative labor advantages have recently diminished, while both the quantity and composition of FDI inflows are changing. In this paper, we examine whether some growth factors have been exhausted, leaving Poland subject to MIT. To answer this question, we assess changes in investment and factor productivity, labor force educational attainments, FDI, new product/technology development, imports, export diversification, product complexity, and other factors. We conclude that in Poland several conditions consistent with MIT are gaining importance and may be an early warning sign of challenges to its future growth.","PeriodicalId":53307,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43313359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Methods of Measuring the Effectiveness of Logistics Activities","authors":"R. Dmuchowski","doi":"10.5709/ce.1897-9254.451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5709/ce.1897-9254.451","url":null,"abstract":"Companies which wish to operate on the market must constantly discover and shape new potentials and abilities to create benefits that might ensure them long-term increase in efficiency and development. One of the ways to gain economic advantage is to reduce costs in all possible areas of their generation and maximize consumer satisfaction through more efficient and rational flow of primary products and goods (Manzouri &, Ab Rahman, 2013). Logistics, understood as a modern management concept, allows to achieve such economic and market effects. Comprehensive management of all activities related to material flows, goods or services from supply sources to users of finished products brings benefits in reducing total costs, which results in better economic results. Companies use various sets of indicators for measuring economic and operational efficiency and the most commonly used ones are profitability rates. The main goal of the article is to present an assessment of the efficiency of logistics processes based on the unit costs which arise in the areas recognized as logistic. The research problem is to indicate the method of measurement in order to examine the relationship between logistics management and the reduction of total costs and thus to study the impact of supply chain management on the efficiency and effectiveness of an economic entity. The applied research method is based on calculating the value of logistic cost-effectiveness coefficients and presenting them in dynamic terms. Lower values of the logistic cost-effectiveness coefficients will mean better logistic effects and more rational use of resources. The use of the presented measurement methods will allow company managers to create the most optimal supply chains in their business ventures. The article presents the cost-effectiveness rates calculated for logistics processes in the period 2018-2019 in the Large-area Multi-Branch Materials Warehouse in Kutno (centrally located, modern logistics warehouse) and the Materials Warehouse Jawidz","PeriodicalId":53307,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46741171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}