Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine major marketing developments in the Polish food‐processing sector following the EU accession. The aim is to discern the impact of EU integration on several variables characterising the marketing and business strategies; to determine the sources of competitive advantage on the domestic market and abroad; and to distinguish the most popular development directions.

The paper is based on the author's research study. A postal questionnaire survey was conducted among 780 food‐processing companies located in Poland and 30 interviews were conducted with representatives of the industry participating in the International Trade Fair Polagra in Poznan.

There was a systematic growth of export orientation in the study sample after joining the EU. The representatives of the industry usually pointed out either a positive or neutral country‐of‐origin effect. The crucial sources of competitive advantage differed according to the target market. The importance of quality guarantees and successful branding was much higher in exports, whereas taste and price played a relatively greater role on the domestic market. A growing prevalence of the strategy of backward contractual market channel integration was observed. The findings confirmed the growing attractiveness of internationalisation strategies among Polish food processors after EU accession.

The paper provides original insights on the evolution of marketing and business development strategies in Poland after joining the EU. The topic has not been widely discussed at the level of food‐processing industry. The results may be useful to managers from Central and Eastern European food companies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the case study of Bakoma, which is a leading Polish yoghurt‐producing company that has achieved a remarkable success, but now is facing serious challenges from multinationals. The authors aim to analyse its development model, marketing strategy, and competitive position.

The paper is based on the authors' own case study. They gathered the necessary information from company documents, both published and unpublished, as well as a series of in‐depth interviews with representatives of Bakoma and other key players in the Polish dairy market.

The authors found out a strong interdependence of the business and political spheres, especially during the initial phase of the Polish systemic transition. Secondly, foreign partners played a major role in the creation of the company (inflow of capital from an American businessman of Polish origin), acquiring access to technology licence (Onken), and capital investments and transfer of management skills (Danone). A major strength of the company is its innovative marketing strategy based on a perfect knowledge of the specificity of Polish consumer preferences. Nevertheless, the Polish yoghurt market as an important segment of the dairy market becomes gradually more and more dominated by multinational corporations, especially of French and German origin.

This paper provides original insights into the development and marketing strategies of a leading Polish yoghurt company facing strong competition from multinationals. The results may be useful to managers from Central and Eastern European dairy companies.

This study aims to offer a bibliometric analysis of the already substantial and growing literature on global virtual teams (GVTs).

Using a systematic literature review approach, it identifies all articles in the Web of Science from 1999 to 2021 that include the term GVTs (in the title, the abstract or keywords) and finds 175 articles. The VOSviewer software was applied to analyze the bibliometric data.

The analysis revealed three dialogizing research clusters in the GVTs literature: a pioneering management information systems and organizational cluster, a general management cluster and a growing international management and behavioural studies cluster. Furthermore, it highlights the most cited articles, authors, journals and nations, and the network of strong and weak links regarding co-authorships and co-citations. Additionally, this study shows a change in research patterns regarding topics, journals and disciplinary approaches from 1999 to 2021. Finally, the analysis illustrates the position and centrality in the network of the most relevant actors.

The findings can guide management practitioners, educators and researchers to the most meaningful clusters of publications on GVTs, and help navigate and make sense of the vast body of the available literature. The importance of GVTs has been growing in the past two decades, and Covid-19 has accelerated the trend.

This study provides an updated and comprehensive systematic literature review on GVTs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is also the first systematic literature review and bibliometry on GVTs. It concludes by suggesting future research paths.