Polish printing in the transition period

Abstract

In 1989 the Polish printing industry ceased to require industrial licensing. The last quarter of a century was a period of reconstruction of the printing industry structure and technological modernization. In the period of transition, Polish enterprises entered with a huge technological gap in relation to European countries. The source of the realized investments was most frequently the purchase new technology materialized in machinery and manufacturing equipment. Such investments created only a temporary competitive advantage in the local market. In fact, they had been present on the European market for over a decade, and increasing demands of the market in comparison to the quality of printing services quickly proved their insignificant value. Furthermore, the purchase of equipment from the secondary market outside of Poland actually built a competitive advantage only on the local market, as in the country of origin it was already being replaced with new technologies that had better parameters.