With nothing really going on this week in Polish news, I'm going to allow myself to take a look ahead into the things that might be coming up.
Just on Friday, the Polish Government announced that they will be paid a visit by American President Barack Obama. The trip won't take time until May 27th and 28th, but high expectations have been already put on the meeting. Obama will meet with Polish President Bronislaw Komornicki in the Polish captial. Lee A. Feinstein, a U.S. Ambassador to Poland also announced his high hopes for the outcome of the meeting. He said that it's a big step in the "tightening of bilateral relations" between the two countries. Throughout his interview, Feinstein stressed that Obama's visit is proof that Poland is still a very important strategic partner and ally of the U.S. Obama is coming to Poland following a visit from Komornicki last December. The purpose of those talks was the lifting of Visa's for Polish citizens wanting to come to the United States. Supposedly, progress has been made towards that project, but we have yet to actually see any of those "promises" that both countries are talking about.
In my comparative analysis, I have touched the problem of high unemployment rates in Poland. Part of the reason was the fact that consumers prefer buying foreign products over homemade ones that could actually help boost the economy. Because of the fact that Polish companies are being ousted by the competition, they are having to lay off workers which obviously causes the unemployment rate to skyrocket. The comparison country is Germany, and ironically, it's German products in Poland that are the main competition. In a recent article, a German washing detergent was compared to the Polish detergent of a comparable quality. The Polish detergent is the same brand as the German one, but studies still show that women prefer the German brand unanimously. After several tests, it has been proven that the German chemicals are a little bit more concentrated, and have better effects and long lasting smells that accompany the newly washed clothes. The German product may be a little bit more expensive, but for better proven quality, sometimes it's better to pay a little bit extra. This will continue to be a problem for as long as the Polish market doesn't step up their quality. If companies with just slightly higher prices and better quality will continue to show up on the Polish market, then this trend of rising unemployment rates in Poland will certainly keep rising.
On a much more positive note, there is a lot of promise for the unemployment rates to go down, after a recent survey revealed some positive results for the Polish market. This survey produced results claiming that Poland is the second most popular country in which companies are hoping to invest. The country just above Poland and at the very top of the list is none other than Germany itself. The survey asked some 323 retail chains in 73 countries revealed that over a third of the companies polled said they plan to set up some retail branches in Poland. Another third of those that were polled, had said that they already are invested in Poland or are in the process of setting one up as we speak. The most attractive place for retail companies is Warsaw, but Krakow has already benefited from this with 8 international chains having opened up there in 2010. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, and we can avoid things such as a rising unemployment rate.
Happy Reading, enjoy your Sunday!
Haha. I started cracking up about the German laundry detergent. It just made me think of all the commercials touting one brand over another in the U.S., but I don't think any are made in Mexico or Canada. However, I am not sure I could imagine laundry detergent becoming an issue of country origin, unlike the various imported cars have been in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the Poland economy, nicely done!