Academic literature on the topic 'Family services – Poland'

Abstract The purpose of this article is to present the research on family businesses in Poland commissioned by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The study allowed for estimating the share of family businesses in the MSME sector and for identifying the differences in the functioning of family and non-family businesses in the Polish economy. Training and advisory services designed for family businesses thanks to the study resulted in development of tools specifically adjusted to the features of this group of enterprises, supporting their organizational, financial and legal aspects. The article also discusses two innovative tools developed as part of the Przewodnik po sukcesji [A Guide on Succession] and Kody wartości [Codes of Values] projects, allowing for independent completion of a succession process.

ABSTRACTA comparative analysis of the life circumstances of older people in Poland and Norway is presented. It examines differences and similarities in attitudes to both family- and state-provided care, for those living in their own homes. In more prosperous Norway, public services are more frequent, elderly people are more independent and play a more active role in the labour market. In Poland formal care is seen as the last resort, with the responsibility for supporting elderly people placed firmly with the family. State services are directed towards those without families. The Norwegian system places no legal obligation on families, which results in a higher proportion living in institutions.

Purpose: The study aimed to identify differences in the level of innovation of the two types of firms – family (FB) and non-family (NFB) – and understand how the expectations of the management and/or business owners vary regarding the impact of innovations on business performance. Design/methodology/approach: Research questions were formulated based on the review of the findings of the surveys that compared innovation in family and non-family firms worldwide. Then, empirical research was conducted in 334 family and non-family firms in Poland. Findings: The findings do not confirm significant differences in the level of product innovation between FB and NFB. On the other hand, they point to a higher level of innovation measured with the number of process innovations in NFB. Research shows that firms rate the degree to which the expectations of innovation effects were fulfilled relatively low in both types of firms. Research limitations/implications: The applied measurement of the level of innovation according to the number of implemented innovations does not take into account their qualitative aspect, whether they are radical or incremental. The survey (questionnaire and interview) was based solely on the number of innovations declared as implemented by the respondents. Practical implications: The survey findings should inspire managers of family and non-family firms to analyze both the expected effects of the implementation of a particular type of innovation and to assess its actual outcomes. Social implications: Studies show that FB are not less innovative when it comes to implementing new or modified products and services. This contradicts both the opinions and some research results about the conservatism of FB or their stronger orientation towards family goals at the expense of a firm’s growth. Originality/value: This comparative study on FB and NFB innovation fills a gap in the area where knowledge concerning this issue is still scarce in Poland

Summary Medical Family Businesses in Poland - Model and Managerial Challenges There is a deficit of data in Poland about characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services. The medical sector in Poland faces a rapid development of family businesses and is diverse because it encompasses various size business entities that specialize in many possible aspects of the medical business. The article is about the characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services and extent to which they resemble family businesses, and to which they are derived from medical service activities. The article is of theoretical nature and its aim is to propose the model for the functioning of family-owned medical businesses, taking into account the impact of the type of activity and the family organization. The first part of the article is focuses on characteristics of family businesses, there is relatively little representative research analyzing the share of family enterprises in the Polish economy and describing their character. The second part of the article is the problem of ethos of medical professions in relation to business and economic logics of an organization. In the third of the article part there is a proposal for a model combining both aspects of the functioning of this type of economic entities.

Small and micro businesses form the largest group of entities offering services to tourists in tourist destinations. A majority of them are family businesses accommodation facilities. The study tests the hypothesis that the family nature of a business offering accommodation services can be a source of real competitive advantage being of significance for a certain group of clients. The advantage can be shaped by creating an image based on the owner’s involvement and hospitality. As the literature research indicated, in the case of the businesses described, it is relatively easy to develop a bond between the facility’s manager and their clients. The deliberations were extended by an empirical study conducted on a group of young people from Poland and Ukraine. Its results have indicated that accommodation services are significant elements of the satisfaction among the clients surveyed, and that in the group surveyed, the key reason for a trip is the intention to “experience and learn” and not comfort. It has also been confirmed that the determinants of accommodation services related to broadly defined hospitality are significant, however, not key in the group analyzed.

Introduction: Medical tourism is gaining popularity all over the world. This term in this paper refers to patients of Polish nationality living abroad but using health services in Poland as well as foreign patients who use health services in Poland. Objective of the paper: The objective of this study was to investigate the magnitude and characteristics of medical tourism in Poland from the perspective of the physicians. Material and methods: a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 700 physicians in Poland. The questionnaire included 29 questions regarding healthcare services in Poland. Results: Completed questionnaires were obtained from 498 physicians (67.9% females; average age 41.8±10.5 years), with a response rate of 71.1%. Clinical encounter with a Polish patient who resides on permanent basis outside the country was declared by 67.5% of respondents. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the frequency of domestic medical tourism depending on the medical education level as well as practice type. Most of the participants (72.3%) declared an encounter with a foreign patient who has used health services in Poland. Except the urgent health need, as factors determining domestic or international medical tourism, the doctors mentioned: quality of healthcare services, price competitiveness as well as the possibility of combining treatment with a visit to the family. Conclusions: Most physicians in Poland have had the opportunity to consult a patient who has used health services as part of national or international medical tourism.

Tourism is one of the main factors that encourage students to participate in the Erasmus programme, and many Erasmus students are eager to travel while studying abroad. The article highlights an important segment of the Polish tourism market, namely foreign students enrolled in the Erasmus programme. The article aims to identify opportunities for the tourism industry associated with Erasmus students in Poland, taking into account experiences of other countries. The study is based on empirical data obtained from the Polish Tourism Organization and from Erasmus Family in Cordoba, a Spanish travel agency for the period 2015-2018. In addition, the author conducted a literature review, analysed relevant documents, and relied on her own observations. The growing socio-economic benefits of the Erasmus programme for countries participating in the programme stimulate competition between them in an attempt to attract more international students, where success of particular host countries and their educational institutions depends on a number of factors, including those associated with tourism. Significant competitive advantages can be achieved in this respect by combining the efforts of educational institutions and those responsible for tourism policy.

The aim of the article is to show that the modern civilization of technological, medical, structural and world-view progress determines the negative changes in the structure of families and the growth of the elderly population. Among the research hypotheses, in particular, it should be pointed out that the modern family policy should take into account the procreative context, as well as the family context with the participation of the older generation, as a consumer and participant in market services. The conclusions proposed by the authors concern a number of solutions in the field of social policy. The unfavorable demographic situation in the European Union raises specific challenges for social and demographic policy, among which, we should point out the changes in attitudes and individual behavior towards marriage and starting a family, changes in procreation attitudes, improving the quality of life of all generations, ensuring active participation of all generations in the demographic and socio-economic development of the country. The article has been written using the following research methods: descriptive, comparative and historical analysis.

Poland’ population will be ageing at a fast rate in the coming decades. It is projected that in 2070 the Polish ratio between people aged 65 and over and those aged 15-64 years will be 62.6, the highest among EU-27 countries. Population ageing appeared in the public debate in Poland as a separate subject in the 1990s, following a negative natural population increase and the looming impact of the massive withdrawal of baby boomers from the labour market on the pension system. One of the reasons for older persons’ growing interest in retirement was pension system reforms planned by successive governments. The announcement of the year 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations (decision no. 940/2011/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2011) contributed in Poland to the emergence of a senior policy from a social policy and initiated major legislative, institutional, and organisational changes at the national, regional and local levels of government. It also inspired the redefinition of measures used hitherto in line with the evolution in the perception of older people from social care recipients to active members of their communities entitled to education and economic, social, civic and political activity. In 2013, the Senior Policy Council was established as a consultative and advisory body to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and then similar councils supporting regional and local authorities were organised. In order to encourage greater activity among seniors, a special governmental programme was created in December 2013, which grants funds on a competitive basis to projects concerning social activities, education, and intergenerational cooperation submitted by informal and formal groups of seniors. The national government’s key documents on senior policy, one for the period from 2014 to 2020 and the other spanning the years until 2030, are Resolution 238 of 24 Dec. 2013 by the Board of Ministers on the Adoption of Long-term Senior Policy in Poland for the Years 2015-2020 and Resolution 161 of 28 Oct. 2018 by the Board of Ministers on the adoption of Social Policy Towards the Older Persons 2030. Security-Participation-Solidarity. In 2015, the Polish Parliament passed the elderly people act, which requires institutions in charge of the well-being of older persons to monitor and report on their situation. The reports submitted by the institutions are used by the Ministry of Labour to compile and present an annual evaluation of the status of the older population in Poland. The regional governments’ senior policy is reflected in their social policy strategies. The strategies’ operational goals started to address needs specific to older people since 2002, focusing in particular on improving their quality of life, developing round-the-clock care services, at-home care services, and rehabilitation services, and on reducing social exclusion and marginalization of seniors. Social security and the safety of older adults are progressively improving in Poland, but the greatest progress has been made in the area of active ageing. Social care services for the elderly still require improvement, because the predominant family care model is inefficient in many ways due to: limited financing of care services by public institutions, the growing proportion of single elderly persons, the increasing number of people aged 85+ (the so-called double population ageing), social insurance disregarding long-term care to an elderly family member as an insurable risk, a lack of legislation allowing employed people to seek a long-term leave to give care to an older family member, the informal expectation that women who retire at the age of 60 years will take care of the oldest family members. While neither the scale nor the quality of home care services given to older persons is regularly surveyed in Poland, it can be presumed that the scale of care services is insufficient and that they excessively burden families with a member in need of care. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of persons aged 65+ increased in Poland by over 1.5 million, the number of the users of attendance services and specialised attendance services by 29,000 (from 99,000 to 128,000), and the number of residences in homes and facilities providing assistance to aged persons by 7,000 (from 20,000 to 27,100.)

Every year many companies disappear from the market due to the fact that there is no possibility to find the successor, who could take over the business activity. The owners do not wish to transfer their business to the heirs, not even mentioning the external successors. Thanks to the indication of needs and barriers of the family business successions, it will be possible to develop tools and services, which will improve the succession process in family companies and will help to maintain family companies in the future. In the article, the author presents the latest state of knowledge about the needs of and barriers to the succession of family businesses in the Mazovia Region in Poland. The author focuses on the results of unstructured interviews with entrepreneurs from family companies and representatives of local authorities.

Defence Date: 25/09/2009
Examining Board: László Bruszt (EUI); Jula S. O'Oconnor (University of Ulster); Ann Shola Orloff (Northwestern University); Sven Steinmo (EUI) (Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The starting point for the thesis is the striking difference between the mixes of family policies in the two post-communist countries: Hungary and Poland. I argue that Poland can be best viewed as a case of implicit familialism, and Hungary as a case of what I call, optional familialism. Polish family policy is largely residual in the sense that social programs in Poland leave the sphere of care almost solely to the family. In Hungary, in contrast, we find a much more ‘progressive’ family support system with relatively generous benefits and services in support of women and childcare. In my view, the differences in family policy between these two countries are in themselves substantively interesting. We need to know more about family policies in this part of the world. But I am also interested in explaining these differences. I find it puzzling that these two countries share broadly common historical experiences having both undergone massive and similar regime changes over the past 50 years - yet appear to have developed such different policy systems. It would be reasonable to expect that they would have similar social (and in this case: family) policies. What we find, however, is that in spite of the common political and economic transformations - from early democratizing nations, to communist dictatorships, and finally to capitalist democracies - family policies have followed remarkably consistent patterns in each country. Indeed, the family policy regimes found today in each of these countries have more in common with the regimes found in each country 50 years ago than they do with each other. The question is: why? My main argument is that the development of family policies in Hungary and Poland is the example of a path-dependent institutional evolution. Following the authors that have recently emphasised the role of agency, the thesis presents family policy development in these two countries as the case of an agent-based mechanism of institutional evolution. In particular, I describe the role of different kinds of actors in defining the problems and providing solutions within the field of professional and family life. Furthermore, the mechanism focuses on the role of public bureaucrats playing with the formal and informal rules governing the administrative mode of operation.

AbstractThis chapter explores how exclusion from care provision in rural areas can be understood as place-based social exclusion. The analysis focuses on case studies of Czechia, Poland and Germany and compares their approaches to providing care to older rural dwellers. While recognising the heterogeneity of these nations and their rural areas, a spatial framework is used to illustrate how some specific features of rural areas may influence the provision and availability of care. Two examples are explored: the use of professional homecare services by older people; and informal care and assistance provided by older people in the community. Our research shows that, regardless of the size of the country or its proportion of remote or depopulating areas, discourses on care in rural areas share various common features. A large amount of informal care is provided in both the family-oriented Polish countryside and in Czechia, a country with a midsize rural population and comparatively common use of professional homecare services. In Germany, a growing number of rural communities were found to have established local aid associations to support disadvantaged older people in the past decade; however, this approach is viewed as unsustainable given the specificities of the rural contexts.

An interest in the fate of ancestors influences the overall way we perceive the past, above all, how we understand history through their prism. The title fashion for genealogy is inextricably linked with technological development - quick access to historical sources published on the Internet. Provision of this type of service has become an important element of the global economy. Global genealogy websites have billions of user profiles, indexed and digitized documents in their databases. Genealogists around the world organize into groups, associations, to structure the process by which genealogical information is more accessible. Genealogical DNA tests are also becoming more and more popular - they help to go back much further in the family history than the preserved written sources allow. Genealogy is also a field of science that is increasingly present in traditional media as well as in scientific discourse - it is the subject of symposia, conferences and scientific publications both local and international. The Polish market of genealogy services is much smaller than the American market, but also consists of thriving organizations and commercial companies. One of them is Your Roots in Poland, which presents the entire range of this type of services offered in our country.

This chapter is a flashback to a refugee camp on the German-Polish border in October 1944, just after the end of the Warsaw Uprising. Told through the eyes of John Shalikashvili’s mother, Countess Marie “Missy” Shalikashvili, the chapter continues discussion of nature vs. nurture by overviewing the family’s difficult and dangerous life in German-occupied Poland since Hitler invaded in 1939. It demonstrates Missy’s resilience, diplomatic skills, bravery, and commitment to family—all qualities her son will later exhibit in service to the US military.

This chapter is an obituary for Jan Karski. He was a Polish Catholic who, as a courier for the Polish underground, risked his life and bore witness to the Holocaust and who was hailed as a hero of the Jewish people. He was raised in an ardent Catholic and patriotic family, but one free of the antisemitism characteristic of the political culture of the Polish right at that time. A brilliant student, Karski went on to receive degrees in law and diplomatic studies at Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv in 1935. He did military service in 1935 and 1936 in an artillery training school, and then studied in Germany, Switzerland, and Great Britain, mastering languages. He entered Poland’s foreign service in 1938, a step towards his dream of becoming an ambassador. He was mobilized in 1939 and captured by the Red Army when it joined Nazi Germany in invading Poland.

LIEUTENANT DR GRZEGORZ FEDOROWSKI “GRYF”: IN THE SERVICE OF THE MEDICINE AND HOMELAND Grzegorz Fedorowski, the code name “Gryf” (1901-1983) – a doctor born in Warsaw into a family with Jewish traditions. He was, like his father, a graduate of the Medical Faculty of the University of Warsaw. During his studies, as a volunteer, he took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war. In the interwar period, he continued his military career. Professionally he was associated with the Infant Jesus Hospital, Society for Emergency Medical Assistance, Social Insurance Company, and finally – as a factory doctor – with the Special Ammunition Workshop and the laboratory of Pharmaceutical Industrial Plants of Aleksander Wieniewicz. As World War II broke out, he was mobilised as a lieutenant and assigned to the 85th Infantry Regiment. His Jewish origin, despite his joining the Evangelical- Augsburg Church, meant that he was verified by the German authorities as a Jewish doctor. Initially, he was sent to work in the camp hospital in the Sawina labour camp, then he and his family were imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto. After getting out of the ghetto, he was active in the underground for some time, and then, in 1943, he was transferred to Volhynia, where he served as a military doctor in the partisan unit “Gromada”, then in the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army. In 1944, he was interned in prisoner-of-war camps in the USSR. He returned to Poland in 1947. He continued his work as a doctor, and he also devoted himself to writing.

Although cooperative banks in Poland have a small share in the banking system, their competitive advantage lies in an extensive network of branches in rural areas and small towns. They aim at ensuring an access to financial services in poorly urbanised areas which are endangered with financial exclusion. The main aim of the present study is to identify these advantages and various aspects of activities conducted by cooperative banks that place them in a role of local initiators of economic development in Poland. The study includes a review of the literature on the subject, an analysis and synthesis of issues discussed, as well as an analysis of data from the reports of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF) and the National Association of Cooperative Banks (KZBS). The analysis of financial data covered the years 2016-2021 and was carried out with the use of structure and dynamics indicators. Cooperative banks stimulate local economic development through cooperation with local governments, offering preferential loans for farmers and family businesses. They also provide consulting services to various groups of clients. An important element of their activities resulting from their mission are pro-social activities which aim at educating and supporting local sport and cultural initiatives.