'Poland is no longer an emerging market'
Matthew Tebeau: How has doing business in Poland changed over the last five to 10 years?
Wojciech Mądalski, chief executive of Netia: Starting from regulatory issues, laws and directives now must conform to EU standards and things are definitely moving in the right direction. On the other hand, this needs to be understood not just at the legislative level; changes are not yet necessarily taking place in practice, but implementation is also moving in the right direction, even though sometimes the pace of change still leaves a lot to be desired.
The financing of business activity has also improved substantially. Some years ago it was more difficult to find modern, commercially oriented banks. Now financing is becoming easier to access and cheaper.
Operationally, a very important positive change is that 10 years ago you often needed to source key management talent outside of Poland, especially in finance and human resources, where there was no business tradition. Now the candidate pool has become quite rich, which is a significant positive change for doing business.
One thing that hasn't changed much, and this is negative, is that the interference of administration, government and politicians in business is still quite pronounced.
You have worked across many industry sectors. Is there a big difference in doing business in different sectors in Poland?
The high-tech sector seems to have changed more quickly than some of the more traditional industries, especially those in manufacturing. Relatively younger or newer sectors have changed and developed, especially in terms of international business orientation, more rapidly. This is probably because they were without legacy businesses. By legacy businesses, I mean acquisitions that have had many, many years of a traditional way of doing things. For instance, many consumer goods companies invested in acquisitions and it takes longer to culturally restructure an acquisition than a new or greenfield business.
What do you value most in a senior manager in Poland?
Actually, I would value the same criteria here as anywhere else that I have worked. It was the case in Poland that cross-cultural fluency was a more important success factor. But the workforce is changing, it is getting more modern and international, so such factors are not as crucial.
The core things I look for, in addition to professional competence, are related to executive maturity. By executive maturity, I mean having a good and balanced judgment-the ability to react to new business issues, appropriate performance under stress and the ability to deal with demanding people decisions as well as solving business problems.
Who has had the most positive influence on your career?
There are really two influences that I remember. Relatively early on in my career, after the first five or six years, I became general manager of a division and reported to a very senior executive in the corporate hierarchy. I was exposed to how he operated at the executive level.
I was also positively influenced by my five years at Pepsi. In this case, it was not one particular executive, but the business systems and management philosophy that Pepsi used. I not only used it, but I also saw it work. So I still try to use some of the things I learned. I am sure there are a number of similar companies, I just happened to see the Pepsi system.
What would you suggest foreign investors do to maximize their business performance here?
It depends on the sector and the market entry strategy. Of course, operational excellence and whatever it takes to achieve that, is critical. Investors need to recognize that Poland is no longer an emerging market but that it has really emerged.
As such Poland does not represent the huge opportunities it did some years ago (there is less risk too) and you need to really work hard on getting growth and realizing the opportunities in the marketplace now.
Wojciech Mądalski is chief executive of Netia SA, a publicly traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Netia is the largest alternative fixed-line telecommunication operator in Poland. Prior to Netia, Mądalski worked with a number of international groups in the U.S., Japan, Canada, the UK and Poland. He has significant experience in restructuring, in particular as chief executive of Wedel in the early 1990s after it was acquired by PepsiCo.
Wojciech Mądalski, chief executive of Netia: Starting from regulatory issues, laws and directives now must conform to EU standards and things are definitely moving in the right direction. On the other hand, this needs to be understood not just at the legislative level; changes are not yet necessarily taking place in practice, but implementation is also moving in the right direction, even though sometimes the pace of change still leaves a lot to be desired.
The financing of business activity has also improved substantially. Some years ago it was more difficult to find modern, commercially oriented banks. Now financing is becoming easier to access and cheaper.
Operationally, a very important positive change is that 10 years ago you often needed to source key management talent outside of Poland, especially in finance and human resources, where there was no business tradition. Now the candidate pool has become quite rich, which is a significant positive change for doing business.
One thing that hasn't changed much, and this is negative, is that the interference of administration, government and politicians in business is still quite pronounced.
You have worked across many industry sectors. Is there a big difference in doing business in different sectors in Poland?
The high-tech sector seems to have changed more quickly than some of the more traditional industries, especially those in manufacturing. Relatively younger or newer sectors have changed and developed, especially in terms of international business orientation, more rapidly. This is probably because they were without legacy businesses. By legacy businesses, I mean acquisitions that have had many, many years of a traditional way of doing things. For instance, many consumer goods companies invested in acquisitions and it takes longer to culturally restructure an acquisition than a new or greenfield business.
What do you value most in a senior manager in Poland?
Actually, I would value the same criteria here as anywhere else that I have worked. It was the case in Poland that cross-cultural fluency was a more important success factor. But the workforce is changing, it is getting more modern and international, so such factors are not as crucial.
The core things I look for, in addition to professional competence, are related to executive maturity. By executive maturity, I mean having a good and balanced judgment-the ability to react to new business issues, appropriate performance under stress and the ability to deal with demanding people decisions as well as solving business problems.
Who has had the most positive influence on your career?
There are really two influences that I remember. Relatively early on in my career, after the first five or six years, I became general manager of a division and reported to a very senior executive in the corporate hierarchy. I was exposed to how he operated at the executive level.
I was also positively influenced by my five years at Pepsi. In this case, it was not one particular executive, but the business systems and management philosophy that Pepsi used. I not only used it, but I also saw it work. So I still try to use some of the things I learned. I am sure there are a number of similar companies, I just happened to see the Pepsi system.
What would you suggest foreign investors do to maximize their business performance here?
It depends on the sector and the market entry strategy. Of course, operational excellence and whatever it takes to achieve that, is critical. Investors need to recognize that Poland is no longer an emerging market but that it has really emerged.
As such Poland does not represent the huge opportunities it did some years ago (there is less risk too) and you need to really work hard on getting growth and realizing the opportunities in the marketplace now.
Wojciech Mądalski is chief executive of Netia SA, a publicly traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Netia is the largest alternative fixed-line telecommunication operator in Poland. Prior to Netia, Mądalski worked with a number of international groups in the U.S., Japan, Canada, the UK and Poland. He has significant experience in restructuring, in particular as chief executive of Wedel in the early 1990s after it was acquired by PepsiCo.
