Andrzej Cieślik
Factors determining spatial distribution of businesses with foreign capital investment in Poland



The article researches factors determining the location of businesses with foreign capital investment throughout Poland. The Head-Ries model, referring to earlier works by Fujita and Rivera-Batiz, is used to provide a theoretical analysis of spatial concentration of businesses with foreign capital investment within Poland. The model enables research hypothesis to be formed, which are then verified empirically with data on businesses with foreign capital that operate in various regions of Poland. For the most part, the empirical study confirms the estimates of the theoretical model. The number of businesses with foreign capital investment within a region is positively influenced by the quantitative parameters related to indirect good and service providers, in particular on the share of service sector employment in the total number of the employed, and on the total length of road network. On the other hand, high average wages and unemployment rates discourage foreign investors, as does a region's location near the border with a country that is neither an EU Member State nor a candidate. Additionally, the study confirms the existence of the feedback phenomenon in Poland, where the number of foreign businesses operating in a given period is positively influenced by the number of such businesses that operated in the preceding period. The results of the study do not give reasons to claim that special business zones were a significant factor influencing the location decisions of foreign investors.



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