Współdziałanie podmiotów na rynku lokalnym

The article examines the development of economic cooperation and partnerships on local markets. It specifically focuses on relations between enterprises and local governments, cooperation among enterprises and cooperation between enterprises and business environment institutions. The analysis also covers various forms of cooperation among municipalities. The analysis is based on the results of a survey carried out by the Institute of the Home Market and Consumption in mid-2005 among 100 municipalities from 11 provinces—classified according to the level of development (five provinces representing highly developed regions and six with a poor level of development), size and economic specialization—and 309 enterprises varying in size and type of activity. The results obtained were confronted with similar surveys carried out by other research centers in Poland. The author concludes that cooperation among entities on local markets is at an inceptive stage in Poland. Particularly weak is the relationship between enterprises and local governments; it shows no signs of permanent cooperation based on confidence, good communication and mutual support, though some positive changes have taken place in this area since Poland’s accession to the European Union. The relationship between enterprises and local governments should improve further with an adequate flow of information about problems encountered by local companies and the support that they expect from local authorities. Inevitably, the author notes, local markets need a business philosophy whereby cooperation would be treated as an important source of value added to stimulate entrepreneurship and the development of the local community.