Scandinavian companies are standing strong

The West Pomeranian branch of SPCC associates forty members, which is the second best result in Poland. Kaare Nordbo, the regional representative of SPCC tells us about how companies from the North are managing in our region and whether Polish businesses have a chance of becoming recognised on the Scandinavian markets.

Szczecinbiznes.pl: What were the last year’s results of the Scandinavian companies operating in our region?

Kaare Nordbo: According to the information from the businesspeople I have spoken to, I know that companies are managing well and some of them have even recorded a high growth. There is a company operating in Goleniów that employed only 50 people a year ago and now it has a hundred employees. So I don’t hear any complaints when I talk to them. The company HG Poland, manufacturing cages for breeding fur animals, can be a good example. Initially, the firm relied on outsourcing at a large scale and now it is beginning to sell its products across the whole of Poland. Their story is a great example that even when you are a company starting up in Poland for the sole purpose of cutting your costs, you can grow your business and gain new market share here. The development of those companies is also marked by their increase in the number of employees.

How does that translate into the number of members of the Chamber?

Unfortunately, the stagnation that is present on the market to some extent has also been reflected in our activity. Some member companies have even had to leave us. Cost-cutting was the main reason for that; slashing the membership fee, although it is not very high, usually takes priority over making employees redundant in a situation when a company is trying to save money. But at the same time, we have seen a steady increase in the number of members. For example last year, we gained eight new companies, mostly from Warsaw. It shows that the number of Scandinavian firms in Poland is growing, but I also hope that this is a result of our active engagement and the many meetings that we organise.

What does your cooperation with the local business circles and authorities look like?

We cooperate very closely with the head of the local government, mainly with the Service Centre for Investors and Exporters. We also work with the municipal offices in Szczecin, Goleniów, Koszaln and other towns. We haven’t had any problems with that cooperation; on the contrary, we’ve had very good contacts with the Deputy Mayor of Szczecin, Aleksander Buwelski for example. We often take part in meetings, events and conferences. We can feel the support coming from them.

What is the interest in the activities of Scandinavian companies among Polish businesses?

Polish businesspeople are increasingly interested in the Scandinavian markets, in particular the Danish and Norwegian. As far as I know, Norway is planning to open a Polish-Norwegian chamber of commerce. Regarding some other areas of activity, I think the energy sector enjoys the greatest interest and offers the best opportunities, especially the oil and gas industry and the associated deliveries, as well as the construction sector. In the nearest future, the highest number of investments is planned in Norway, providing opportunities to players from the outside.

On our part, in the nearest future we anticipate very active promotion of those markets among local businesses. Popularisation of the knowledge about Scandinavia, its culture, differences among the individual countries, conditions for running a business there, etc, is one of our key objectives. As an example, recently, we organised a conferences for transport companies intending to operate in Scandinavia, and discussed the issues related to the Scandinavian road infrastructure. Perhaps they are not the types of enterprises that create jobs straight away, but they are a good preparation for future investments.

What will be the Chamber’s focus till the end of the year?

As usual, we anticipate organising a number of events for our members, such as meetings and presentation of new member companies. In June we are going to hold a big meeting co-hosted with the Service Centre for Investors and Exporters. And of course, we’ll have meetings with our potential members, companies interested in investments on the Polish market. In this respect this year looks very promising. A few days ago, I met representatives of two companies from Sweden and one from Denmark. They are planning to open their branches and launch production here. We have seen much better attendance as far as meetings with investors are concerned.

KZ