This book provides an overview of the situation of rural food-processing micro-enterprsies in Polish transition. The results presented in this book cover the period between the fall of Communist regime in Poland and the Polish accession to EU in May 2004. The book's focus and scope are quite unique since as opposed to relatively large literature dealing with micro-enterprises in developing countries it concentrates on rural micro-enterprises in post-transitional Eastern Europe. The book fills the gap in the prevailing micro-enterprises literature dealing predominantly either with first world or third world.

First published in 1999. Small businesses now constitute the most dynamic element of growth in the emerging markets of the Central and Eastern European region. This book argues that the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector has contributed more to the growth of these countries in transition than have privatized state enterprises and the public sector. In 1989 most of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe were still under an economic system dominated by state-owned enterprises. Since then a process of liberalization has been unleashed to promote free market policies. This has involved programs of privatization and restructuring of public enterprises, as well as the promotion of policies to enable a private sector to develop. Small businesses are creating thousands of new jobs while large companies are "retrenching and downsizing" their work force. In some countries of the region this process is much further along than in others. However, the SME sector has developed at a more rapid pace than has the privatization of the large public companies. There has been a flurry of new enterprises springing up throughout the region which are "trickling up" in a frequently hostile environment against tremendous odds, and yet managing to have a pronounced impact on their respective economies. Small businesses have taken over in sectors that used to be dominated by big enterprises, primarily in services and consumer products. They have provided a crucial outlet for pent-up entrepreneurial talent that had remained dormant during the long period of state domination. This work urges legislators, policy-makers, and development agencies alike to take account of the importance of the SME's in their legislation and planning. Given a more favorable environment, these small businesses will provide even greater impetus for economic growth. Equally important is for entrepreneurs themselves to be convinced of the rightness of their path in societies that have traditionally looked down upon profit-seekers as unscrupulous and selfish. If the CEE region is to achieve its full potential of economic growth, policies and support mechanisms to promote the SME sector will be needed to assure a favorable environment.

This book aims to fill a gap in the current literature by tracing the rural transformation process and the development of rural tourism functions in Poland over the last 30 years. It examines the socioeconomic transformation between 1989 and 2019 that resulted in the formation and development of Polish rural tourism and the various practices associated with it. This timely topic is addressed in a central and eastern European context and sparks interest in further in-depth analysis due the diversity and magnitude of the transformation processes undertaken by the Polish rural areas. Since Polish rural areas constitute as much as 30% of the total rural areas in all new European Union member states, this book adds value through an in-depth statistical analysis of the pace of socioeconomic changes in Polish rural areas. It delves into the creation and consumption of tourism services locally, as well as the impact of global trends on the development of rural tourism in Poland. This book will be of interest to economists, sociologists, political scientists and postgraduate students across eastern and central Europe who deal with rural tourism issues.

Reluctant Socialists, Rural Entrepreneurs examines historical and recent changes in Poland and their agrarian consequences. Nagengast makes chilling forecasts about the impact of the accelerating development of capitalism on the culture, politics, and economy of Poland.