Over the past decade, there has been a rapid growth of the BPO/SSC sector in Poland, which resulted from the development of existing companies and the emergence on the market of new business players investing in Poland. However, in recent times a new trend has emerged in the field, namely investors taking over existing operating centres.
This phenomenon is commonly known in other business sectors, e.g. in real estate trade, where the developer resells the finished property to an external investor, which usually is an investment fund. More recently, in Poland there have appeared questions regarding additional investment or acquisition of existing and operationally functional companies of the BPO type. Foreign investors interested in such activities so far mainly come from Germany and the United States.
The process described above may cause some medium-sized BPO companies to consider new development alternatives. Sometimes projects, despite being very ambitious and based on well-prepared business plans, are not implemented as originally planned, and there arises a necessity of reconsidering further business operations in Poland. Part of the enterprises decides to close down (single cases from the BPO sector are already known), others continue to receive funding from their parent companies and gain time to introduce changes to new assumptions. Some centres may have, in keeping with the latest trend, the option of additional investment, or choose a takeover by the new investor.
At the moment, BPO and SSC companies that carry out their initial assumptions are, however, in the majority in Poland. They develop their activities, both with and without the support of government grants. Are we then to expect a new opening in the BPO sector in the near future? Time will tell.
About Enter Poland:
Our mission is to support actions for development and investment in Poland, as well as the optimal use of the resources of enterprises and the public sector in the country and the world. We collaborate with the public sector (municipalities, agencies of regional development, special economic zones, science and technology parks, industry and technology parks, universities) and with both private and international organizations.
