Volume 5, No. 1

Joanna Bednarz

Prosumption as a Result of Changes in Consumer Behavior with the Example of Food Industry

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Contemporary consumption is characterized by contradictory trends of consumerism and sustainable consumption, as well as the increasingly raising inclination towards prosumption. More and more consumers cease to be passive, uncritical, and open towards goods and services offered by entrepreneurs, imitating existing lifestyles. Contrary to this, they are sovereign, aware, active, creative, commonly manifesting their individuality and by such behaviour expressing themselves among other people. This trend was noticed by food manufacturers, who progressively engage their clients in the process of creating the offer. The most involved prosumers are invited to create new products, packaging or invent marketing slogans. Customers who are less active participate in actions organized by the producers, evaluate and comment on products online on forums and e-shops. The article has a theoretical and empirical character. The aim of this paper is to show the changes in consumer behaviour with the example of the food industry with a particular emphasis on the trend of prosumption.

Denis Pokotycki

The Creation of User Experience in the Policy of Enterprises as an Answer to New Trends and Changes in Customer Behaviour

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Technological development leads to the birth of new trends and changes in the behaviour of customers who contribute increasingly to the co-creation of the offer directed towards them (the so-called value co-creation). The traditional approach based on the study of the standard needs in the marketing department seems to give way to the one focusing in establishing the actual needs and answering the desires of potential, clearly defined buyers. A lot of companies may perceive such changes as a threat, but if used properly they can be translated into opportunities. What can be particularly helpful within that scope is the approach based on creating user experience, which is, using the knowledge from a relatively young field, the genesis of which lies in the new technologies sector. It has been taken to a significant extent from the world of marketing, resulting in convergence with it. However, the above mentioned field seems to answer better the changes taking place on modern day markets. Meeting the expectations, needs and desires of consumers with the use of user experience creation may translate to an increase in sales, better brand reception or the greater loyalty of customers. Because of noticing the nature of new trends and changes in customer behaviour, such an approach should lead to measurable benefits and, therefore, the success of many progressive companies on the market.

Anna Maria Nikodemska-Wołowik, Konrad Bugiera

A Concept of a Shared Guarantee Trademark in Polish Family Enterprises

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This article shows the role of a shared guarantee trademark in creating the identity of a family enterprise and presents the results of authors' own empirical research focused on the evaluation of the aforementioned symbol by Polish buyers. The article fits in the current mainstream discussion between scientists and business practitioners about the significance of family enterprises to the economy in the global sphere. Although the entrepreneur himself/herself was also in the range of authors' focus, the centre of their attention was the buyer of goods and services offered by Polish family enterprises and marked with a specific trademark. These two perspectives - of a consumer and of an entrepreneur, were crucial to focusing attention on the semiotic and legal aspects of using such a trademark. The result of authors' consideration is a suggestion of enforcing the family enterprises' identity and sanctioning family ownership with giving such enterprises a specific symbol by a certifying unit. In the Polish legal system a symbol of this kind is treated as a shared guarantee trademark.

Remigiusz Gawlik

The Choices of Young Europeans in the Post-Crisis Reality - Proposal of an AHP - Based Decision - Making Model

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The paper proposes a decision-making model that would allow young Europeans to make conscious choices in the early stages of their professional and private life. The motivation for such a study comes from the lack of feeling of stability between young people that can be perceived as one of the repercussions of the last global financial crisis. A decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process method has been proposed. Decision-makers are young people who are on the verge of their adult lives. The subject of the decision-making is such a ranking of determinants of quality of life that would provide individuals with the highest level of life satisfaction in the future. The analysis embodies material (quantitative) and non-material (qualitative) determinants of decision-making. After application of the presented model young people could make more conscious choices, consonant with their hierarchy of values, needs and individual expectations. As a result, the economy will obtain more motivated employees, whereas society has less frustrated and happier citizens.

Paweł Folfas

Regions in the United States and the European Union - GDP per Capita, Convergence Processes and Spatial Dependencies

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Forthcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership may become a crucial element in the post-crisis world of economics and politics. Consequently, it is worth scrutinizing the economic performances of the United States and the European Union. This paper is aimed at answering the question of whether absolute GDP per capita beta-convergence exists in the case of regions of the United States (US counties) and in the case of regions of the EU-28 (NUTS 3) during the period of 2000-2011 and where (in the United States or in the EU-28) speed of convergence used to be faster. The research is based on econometric models, namely on the spatial lagged model (SLM) and spatial error (SEM) which contrary to ordinary the least squares (OLS) model include spatial dependencies. The SLM and SEM models detect the absolute GDP per capita beta-convergence among regions of US and among regions of the EU-28.During the period of 2000-2011 the average annual speed of convergence among regions in US was faster than between the regions of the EU-28. Moreover, according to the statistical analysis the EU-28 regions are characterized by stronger spatial dependencies than regions of the United States. But disparities (according to the results of general sigma-convergence analysis) among the EU-28 regions are bigger than among the US regions.

Marian Gorynia, Tadeusz Kowalski, Andrzej Matysiak, Witold Orłowski, Ryszard Rapacki, Andrzej Wojtyna, Anna Zielińska-Głębocka, Maciej Żukowski

The Polish Economy: Achievements, Failures and Development Opportunities

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Konstrukcja dzisiejszego panelu jest niezwykle prosta. Chcielibyśmy, aby nasi paneliści odpowiedzieli na kilka pytań, z których główne koncentrują się na osiągnięciach, jakie polska gospodarka zanotowała po 1989 roku. Chcielibyśmy także usłyszeć odpowiedź na pytanie o porażki, niepowodzenia, jakie spotkały naszą gospodarkę. Następnie podyskutujemy o szansach rozwojowych. Szanowni Państwo, a zatem najpierw o osiągnięciach. Nie będę robił długiego wprowadzenia i oceniał powyższych osiągnięć, ale - nie odbierając Państwu możliwości sformułowania autorskiej trzyminutowej wypowiedzi na ten temat - chciałbym dodać ewentualnie pytania pomocnicze, które Państwo uwzględnicie w swoich wypowiedziach. W jakim stopniu osiągnięcia zawdzięczamy prowadzonej polityce gospodarczej, czyli szerzej roli państwa, a w jakim są one wynikiem spontanicznych procesów? Jaka jest rola planów, które mieliśmy, np. planu Balcerowicza oraz Strategii dla Polski, którą przygotował Grzegorz Kołodko (nienazywanej co prawda planem Kołodki, ale pewnie można by tak mówić) w wygenerowaniu tych osiągnięć. Jak zrywy, których dokonaliśmy, przyczyniały się do osiągnięć, o których mówimy? I pytanie z pogranicza psychologii: Czy opisując osiągnięcia, wystarczy porównywać się z benchmarkami, których możemy nazywać rywalami, czy też należy uwzględnić poziom aspiracji, który również może stanowić punkt odniesienia? (fragment tekstu) We celebrate the 90th anniversary of our University and today's panel discussion is one of the academic events in honour of the celebration. I am pleased that so many people accepted an invitation to our discussion. I would like to welcome the audience. I am also very glad to see the seven professors invited to participate in the discussion. Let me first introduce the panellists and then take you briefly through the topics that we would like to cover and the time frame the discussion. We are pleased with all of our achievements but now the time has come to thoroughly analyse failures and draw conclusions. That is why we need to discuss the things of which we cannot be too proud. There were times we simply failed. The criticism of what we praised began at the moment of transformation. (fragment of text)