When the storm comes – run! How the ‘turbulent’ environment affects the internationalisation processes of the Polish small-medium enterprises

Abstract

The body of research on the market orientation used most representative samples from post-communist country – Poland and its small-medium enterprises sector. According to the literature review, very few studies have been conducted about effect of turbulent environment in home country and internationalisation of SMEs. Additionally, previous studies from developed countries might not be applicable to post-socialists countries, whereas entrepreneurs differ with their entrepreneurial attitudes. The research is integrative and focuses on the role of environmental turbulence caused by recent political swift in Poland. Study also focus on governmental support programmes. This study employs semi-structured interviews to gain understanding of the phenomenon. The study also benefited from input from the different Polish sectors (IT, healthcare, construction, technology), whereas sample is chosen by the most varied companies as well as leaders from the sectors in order to gain additional insights.