In-house Offshored Business Processes and Degree of Embeddedness of Foreign Enterprises' Offices in Trójmiasto/Gdańsk (Poland)

Abstract

Due to today’s globalization, international companies compete across the continents and not only goods, but also many internal tasks and processes are dispersed all around the world. Services are often conducted in service centres, so-called “Business Services Centres” or BSCs. These may be operated by the company itself or by other suppliers, often providing these services for more than one client. Since these services most often do not rely on natural resources like ore and other strictly location specific components, in theory, they can be conducted all around the world. In a strictly profit oriented theory of economy, these centres naturally move to locations, where the labor costs are as low as possible, the laws, with respect to lay-offs, are the most flexible ones, taxes are low and other directly service-related requirements are met. For the region, this reduces unemployment and contributes in a modest way to welfare, for the companies, the return on investment (ROI) is higher. If any conditions for these centres change in an unfavorable way, they are ‘up and away’ and settle somewhere else - where the situation seems to be better - because their main resource (besides electricity and internet connectivity), the human labor, is said to be ubiquitous. So such centres are called ‘footloose’, as they are said to have a very low degree of embeddedness, or not to have will or need to stay in one location. In this study, on the examination of Trójmiasto (Gdańsk), another picture is drawn. Indeed, a certain amount of embeddedness is to be found.

The preliminary results of this research may help local investors’ supporters to increase the attractiveness of their location and it may help companies in finding a suitable location for their BSCs.