Professor/Dr. Iga Rudawska, University Szczecin, Poland

This special edition of International Journal of Management Cases presents collection of cases from Poland. They have been written by people who work at the University of Szczecin, in the Department of Marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Management.
The papers in this special issue of IJMC cover a broad spectrum. They are drawn from a range of different industries, but mainly addressing the economic and social changes in Polish society and business. The collection of seven cases involves entrepreneurship, healthcare, banking services, marketing efficiency, retail, and consumption. Their authors are themselves representative of the discipline of economy and management, particularly marketing.

Jolanta Witek presents a case concerning the issue of the self-employment and entrepreneurship in the Polish households. She explores the determinants of building a new socio-economic system in Poland. The paper shows also selected aspects of the living conditions of the households of the self-employed.

Next two cases report on the primary research studies conducted in the service markets. They have been written from the managerial perspective. Iga Rudawska identifies the differences between public and private healthcare providers in respect of motivation system as well as determines the relative importance of attributes associated with this system in healthcare settings. Next, Edyta Rudawska presents a case concerning shaping a bank’s value. She evaluates the impact of changed market conditions on the aims and operating strategies of banks in Poland. She also discusses the issue of increasing of values for the clients and shareholders in the strategies of banks.

Mateusz Wiscicki and Krzysztof Blonski show the problem of assessing the marketing effort from the perspective of marketing matrix. Their conceptual case tackles the problem of surveying marketing operation, both in theory and in practice. The authors present several concepts of assessing marketing actions. They focus on surveying methods and techniques of marketing actions efficiency and effectiveness.

Magdalena Sobon presents tendencies in Polish retail trade. She analyses the structure of trade in Poland since 1999 and its economic situation. The paper focuses also on e-commerce and its impact on the development of Polish trade.

Last two cases report on the changes at the social and economic level that have been occurring in the Polish society. Augustyna Burlita explores the relations between working time and leisure time and assesses the position of theses activities in the hierarchy of values as well as Poles’ budget of time. She analyses Poles’ behaviour at the workplace and in leisure time and their attitude to theses two activities form the perspective of civilisation changes. Next, Sylwia Bakowska discusses the issue of creative class potential in Poland. The study concerns the measure methods of a global creative class index, as well as the estimation of the creative class potential in Poland. There are some statistical data provided.

I hope that the variety of the topics which covered in this issue you will find interesting and beneficial. All of them include some questions so they can be used in the teaching process.