Abstract
Research background: A given region's investment attractiveness is a set of conditions that depend primarily on the policy of the country that is the recipient of direct foreign investment, encouraging or discouraging foreign investors from making decisions about locating investments in a given area. These conditions include the economic conditions, the infrastructure, the political and legal system, the business environment, and the sociocultural environment. a foreign investor, the motive for exporting capital abroad is the search for benefits that can be derived from the business activity conducted there, including easier entry into new markets. Purpose of the article: The main aim of the paper is to distinguish groups of voivodeships (NUTS 2 level) that are relatively homogeneous in terms of investment attractiveness, which is conducive to the inflow of foreign capital and the implementation of investment projects involving foreign capital. Methods: Distinguishing groups of voivodeships similar to each other in terms of the level of investment attractiveness is made by applying hierarchical cluster analysis. The dendrogram illustrates the hierarchical structure of clusters of similar objects according to the analysed set of variables. The quality of the clustering result is also assessed by determining the silhouette index. Comparative and descriptive analysis of CSO statistics are additional methods used that have contributed to the achievement of the aim of the paper. The research period covers the years 2000?2018. Findings & value added: The investment attractiveness of a voivodeship is closely related to the level of its economic development. Therefore, the following voivodeships are listed at the top of the investment attractiveness rankings: Mazowieckie, Dolnośląskie, Śląskie, Małopolskie, and Pomorskie. The conducted study has confirmed that the creation of special economic zones and the development of regional smart specialisations contribute to the inflow of foreign capital. It is worth noting that the assessment of investment attractiveness is relative. The comparison of the innovative attractiveness of voivodeships is based on the use of the average value, overestimated by cities, i.e. central hubs, attracting investors. The regional perspective on investment attractiveness using multi-dimensional statistical analysis methods is the added value of the article.
Highlights
In the literature, one can find different approaches to the issue of attractiveness — including investment attractiveness, differing in terms of their message and orientation towards sustainable development (Lee, 2016)
The main aim of the paper is to distinguish groups of voivodeships that are relatively homogeneous in terms of investment attractiveness, which is conducive to the inflow of foreign capital and the implementation of investment projects involving foreign capital
Stimulants are variables whose higher values are desirable from the point of view of the studied phenomenon, which in the article is the assessment of investment attractiveness of NUTS 2 administrative units from the perspective of a foreign investor
Summary
One can find different approaches to the issue of attractiveness — including investment attractiveness, differing in terms of their message and orientation towards sustainable development (Lee, 2016). According to a study by the EY company, Poland is the undisputed leader in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of investment attractiveness. In 2018, there were 6,356 new foreign direct investments recorded in Europe, an annual decrease of 4%. This is still the second highest result recorded since 2000. In the 2019 survey, Poland fell to the third position in the ranking of investment attractiveness of the countries in the Central and Eastern Europe region and the Baltic States. It was preceded by Estonia and the Czech Republic. There are approx. 250,000 programmers in Poland, which is 25% of the total European IT human resources
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