The Customer Orientation Competence of People Starting A Business and Its Importance to The Process of Investing in Employee Development (Kompetencja „orientacja na klienta” u osób zakladaj¹cych dzialalnosc gospodarcza oraz jej znaczenie dla procesu inwestowania w rozwoj pracownikow)

According to research, training of employees in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises is the area of human resource management in which decisions are made in a random manner. In Poland, less than half of the entrepreneurs invest in their employees’ competencies, even though it is established that there is a definite relationship between this activity and companies’ effectiveness and innovation. One reason for this kind of entrepreneurs’ attitude to employees’ development is the lack of strategic vision of the company and the consequent focus on customers’ needs. An employee training system should be designed to remedy the lack of employees’ competences that support business objectives. This study presents the results of research carried out among business start-ups. Its purpose is to determine whether the respondents have developed the “customer orientation” competence. The low level of this competence, according to this approach, results in low involvement in the development of employees.