PROCEEDINGS OF THE 81

h INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

AND REGIONAL POLITICS IN USTI REGION

Edited by Miloslav Sasek

Faculty of Social and Economic Studies

k2~2

Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Ustf nad Labem

USTI NAD LABEM 27. JUNE AND 28. JUNE 2008 CZECH REPUBLIC

Reviewed by: Doe. RNDr. Milan Viturka, CSc. Doe. RNDr. Vaclav Tousek, CSc.

© Copyright by Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University

in 0 stf nad La be m, Czech Republic

Design & Layout: Petr Hlavacek

ISBN 978-80-7414-094-5

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CONTENTS

NEKOLIK POZNAMEK K VNITROSTATNI MIGRACI OBYV ATELSTV A CESKE REPUBLIKY V LETECH 1992- 2003 Z HLEDISKA VZDELANOSTNI STRUKTURY MIGRANTU Miloslav Sasek ........................ . .... ... .............. . ... . ... . ........ ... .......... .... ..... . ... ... .. 2

SMALL CITIES IN STRUCTURE OF METROPOLITAN AREAS Ryszard Brol. ............. .. ........................ . ... .. ........... . .... . ............................... ll

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TERTIARY EDUCATION CAN'T BE SUBSTITUTED IN THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Zdenek Steptinek ................................................................................... .... .. 20

THE POSITION OF POLISH, CZECH AND SLOV AK REGIONS IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF EUROPEAN REGIONAL SPACE WITH REGARD TO KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY (KBE) LEVEL IN SECTORS- EVALUATION OF CHANGES Danuta Strahl, Malgonata Markowska .............................................................. 24

REGIONAL THEORY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: USTECKY REGION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE Martin Myant .......................................................................................... .. .36

RELATIONS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES Zbigniew Pnybym .... .. . ... ........... . ...................................................... . ......... .46

DEMOGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER SILESIA WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE POLISH - CZECH AND POLISH - GERMAN BORDERLAND AREA Stanismwa Gorecka, Przemyslaw Tomczak ..... . . ........ ... ............ .... 50

SAFETY AND PUBLIC ORDER MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL AUTHORITY UNITS IN POLAND Marian Maciejuk ..... .. ........... ... ... ....... . ....... ... .. . ....... ... ...... ....... ... ......... ... ..... 62

SELECTED PROBLEMS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IN POLISH SELF­GOVERNMENT UNITS Andnej Sztando ... . ... .. ............................ .. ..................................... . ........... 70

MEASUREMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEVEL AND KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY RELATIONS FOR THE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES Beata Bal-Domanska ..... .. .... . ..... ... ... .. ........... . ... .. .................... .. .................. 79

SELECTED PROBLEMS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IN POLISH SELF -GOVERNMENT UNITS

Andnej Sztando

Abstract: The article deals with the subject matter of strategic planning within Polish self-government units. The author presents selected problems encountered by authors of development strategies referring to communes, district and regions in the process of their preparation. They are related to: the process of conditions' diagnosis and local self-government unit development prognosis, as well as the key elements of its environment, strategic analysis, conducting social consultancy, making strategic choices, specifying strategic objectives and tasks and also designing the system of strategy implementation.

Key words: Strategy, self-government unit, planning

The system of Polish self-government units is made up of three levels - regional level (16 regions), district level (314 districts) and communal level (2534 communes\ Regional self-government units perform public tasks of regional nature, which refer among others to: public education, including university education, modernization of rural areas, water management, including protection against floods , public transport and roads, public safety and are related to enhancing economic activity, as well as increasing the level of regional economy competitiveness and inventiveness. District self-government units are engaged in performing public tasks of sub-regional nature, referring e.g. to: land surveying, cartography, cadastre, architectural and construction administration, counteracting unemployment and stimulating local job market, consumer rights protection, public education at secondary and vocational level, and also provide support for the disabled. Finally, communal self­government units carry out local public tasks, among which there are: water supply. sewage system, sewage waste disposal and treatment, landfill sites management and communal waste disposal, the provision of kindergarten care and primary level education, physical culture and tourism, communal green areas and spatial planning.

Realization of the mentioned above and numerous other tasks requires from the due units to prepare and implement numerous plans covering, in their merits, either a part or their overall activity area. As the result of taking up tasks not legally restricted for other public bodies, the plans of self-government units frequently cover also such projects which are not referred to them in due Acts. Some of the plans are characteristic for all three levels of self­government units, others occur only at one of them. In the first of the two groups there are, as follows : development strategy, budget, long-term investment programme, waste management plan, environment protection plan, promotion plan, public safety plan, ecological education plan, programme of cooperation with non-governmental organizations and entities engaged in public utility activities. In case of communal self-government units, the plans which are characteristic for them are, as follows: local development plan, long-term financial schedule, the study of conditions and directions for spatial management, local spatial management plan, the programme for prevention and solving of alcohol addiction problems, drug addiction prevention programme, revitalization programme (usually referring to part of a town), the plan for spatial arrangement of farnling areas, education development programme, local

' 65 of them have the laws and carry out district level tasks.

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economic policy programme, the project of guidelines for heat supply, power supply and gas fuels supply plan, development plans for particular villages. District self-governments prepare plans of local development, programmes for the development of entrepreneurship, programmes for counteracting unemployment, as well as programmes for the benefit of the disabled. In case of regions, the characteristic planning documents for them are, as follows: innovation strategy, social integration strategy, health care plan, the programme for equalizing chances of the disabled and counteracting their social exclusion, regional spatial management plan, water retention programme, the programme for farming and food sector development, the strategy for rural areas development, regional operation plan, regional employment action plan, and also power engineering strategy of the region.

The above lists do not present the whole set of processes referring to planning which are carried out by Polish self-governments. In practice there are many more of them, since both preparing and aprlying a given plan by a parti.cul,:rr self-government unit may. not only result from the due Act , but also represent a facultative- activity related to 1ts condttlons, needs and intentions. The aim of the above lists is to raise the awareness of an extremely extensive scope of self-government units' activities that they refer to, and therefore how grave are the consequences of their social, economic and environmental effects with respect to quality, effectiveness and efficiency of their implementation.

One of the plans, which is almost commonly prepared by all Polish self-government units, is of particular significance . It refers to the most extensive spectrum of activities, its time frame is most frequently the longest and its role, with reference to all other plans, is superior. This obviously regards the strategy of development. Professional literature devoted to strategic planning in self-government units seems to be very rich. It is comprised of publications of books 1, and also of numerous scientific articles" and press releases which

1 An example of the planning process which results from the due Act is the preparation of an environment protection programme for a given commune.

' An example of a planning process of facultative nature is the preparation of touri st functi ons development in a commune.

1 For example: Nowinska E., Strategia rozwoju gmin na przykladzie gmin przygranicV!ych [The strategy of communes development on the example of communes along the border}, Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu, Poznan 1997; Bennan N., Strategiczne p/anowanie rozwoju gospodarczego -budowanie lepszej przyszlosci gospodarczej w polskich gminach [Strategic planning of economic development - creating improved economic .fwure in Polish communes], Municipum, Warszawa 2000; Wysocka E. , Babinski J. , Topczewska T. , Trojanek M. , Mzyk E. , Strategia i polityka rozwoju gmin i wojew6dztw. Podstawy metodyczne [Strategy and policy of communes and regions de~elopment. Methodological background}. Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa- Poznat\- Zielona G6ra 1996; Wysocka E ., Koninski J. , Strategia rozwoju wojew6dztw i gmin. Teoria i praktyka [The strategy of regions and communes development. Theory and practice], Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa - Zielona G6ra 1998. Pawelska-Skrzypek G., Bierikowska D., Pocz<(tek K., Palucha K., Ulasinski C .. Suchanek 1.. Lehan E. A., Planowanie i zarzqdzanie strategiczne [Strategic planning and management], Wydawnictwo Samorz'ldowe Fundacji Rozwoju Demokracji Lokalnej, Warszawa 1997. Biniecki J., Szczupak B., Strategiczne mp'lenie o przyszlosci gminy [Strategic thinking about the fuwre of a commune], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach. Katowice 2004; K.lasik A. , Strategie regional ne. Formulowanie i wprowadzanie w zycie {Regional strategie;·. Defining and implementing them], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice 2002.

' Prusek A. , Strategia rozwoju jako gl6wny instrument dzialania samorzqd6w lokalnych. W: Samorzqd terytorialny, zadania · gospodarka - rozw6j [Development strategies as the main instrument of self­government units' activities. In: Self-government, tasks - economy - development], Wyisza Szkola Przedsi~biorczoki i Marketingu w Chrzanowie, Chrzan6w 2001: Brol R., Teoria i praktyka planowania strategicznego 1w szczeblulokalnym. W : Problemy polityki gospodarczej i gospodarki regiona/nej w Polsce w procesie integracji z UE [The theory and practice of spatial planning at a local level. In: The problems of economic policy and regional economy in Poland within the scope of integration process with the EU structures] , Walkowska Wydawnictwo, Szczecin 1999; Bienieck:i J, Szczupak B, Strategia rozwoju/oka/nego.

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popularize this subject matter. They are well supplemented by many handbooks, guidebooks, directories and the Internet compendia of information3 prepared and published most often by foundations or state institutions, which deal with propagating knowledge in the domain of planning within the scope of self-governments. It should be pointed out that the application of theoretical decisions represents a very difficult task in practice. Besides, there is no theoretical reference to some real conditions of strategic planning. This is proved by numerous problems encountered by Polish self-government authorities , both at the stage of development strategy construction, and at the level of their implementation. They are visible as imperfections of the document itself and the decreased effectiveness and efficiency of obtaining the set objectives. Indirectly they slow down the pace at which a given self-government unit develops. Therefore, such phenomenon requires diversified studies and on their basis correcting and supplementing the present output regarding the theory of strategic planning. In order to participate in the above activities the author conducted research involving fifty strategies of communes development, twenty strategies of districts development and eight strategies of regions development, which were accepted for implementation by Polish self-government units. Among the applied research methods there were, as follows: contents analysis of the above mentioned strategies, personal interviews with their authors and self-government authorities, as well as analyses of the degree of their implementation. The author's many years of experience in constructing such plans was also of great importance in this case. The overall study facilitated the identification of typical problems encountered by self-government authorities in the discussed domain . The hereby article presents seven of them. These problems refer to:

1. the process of diagnosing the condition of a self-government unit and the key elements of its environment,

2. forecasting the self-government unit development and the key elements of its environment,

3. strategic analysis and mainly the application of SWOT analytical procedure, 4. social consultancy, the interpretation and taking into consideration its results, 5. making strategic choices, 6. defining the scope of objectives and strategic tasks extending outside the duties of

self-government units resulting from the due Acts in force, 7. the system of strategy implementation. The problems of diagnosing the condition of a self-government unit and the key

elements of its environment refer mainly to data accessibility. Most diagnoses are based on data which the entity preparing strategy managed to collect, on the basis of such sources as public statistics, monographies, registers and evidence run by the self-government and its units, as well as earlier prepared documents referring to planning. However, the scope of data collected in hi s way is in many cases lacking the required information, therefore many phenomena and processes, especially the most problematic ones, are left unattended. For example, self-government units have more difficult access to information referring to economy, society or environment, since the system of public statistics collects and provides

W: Zarzqdzanie strategiczne rozwojem lokalnym i regionalnym [The strategy of local development. In: Strategic management of local and regional development}, Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice 2001.

1 For ex ample: http://www.frdl.org.pl, http://samorzad.infor.pl

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data about communes to a lesser extend than in case of districts or regions. The problem becomes also the fact that the system of public statistics does not cover some phenomena or processes related to economic entities which employ nine or more workers. Besides it frequently turns out that the data originating from the above mentioned sources are out of date. It is caused by the long cycle of statistical data publication. For example, part of the randomly selected data in communes, available in February 2008, and presented in the Internet Regional Data Bank 1 run by the Central Statistical Office, originated from the first half of 2006. Similar or even bigger delays are true for traditional publications. Conducting full diagnosis of the local system is also made difficult due to the obligation of keeping certain statistics confidential. Numerous problems also occur quite often while conducting surveys during the process of strategy construction. This very popular research method in Polish planning practice only seems to be simple. The key factors of its successful application are: correct preparation of questions and providing optional answers, proper selection of a research sample, full involvement of respondents and skilful analysis of the obtained results. It is in these fields that the biggest imperfections are observed. The most frequently encountered ones are, as follows:

- incorrectly, form the point of view of the study objectives, asked questions, -presenting questions to respondents in an ambiguous way, - leaving respondents without the support of a trained interviewer while filling in a long

and complicated survey, - conducting a survey within a non-representative sample of respondents. Strategic planning becomes, among others, the method for preparing economy,

community and the self-government unit's environment for the most important future events, the occurrence of which is highly likely. Even though such attitude is commonly accepted, it has to be underlined that making forecasts in the process of preparing the strategy of development does not represent a frequently observed phenomenon. The reason for such state of affairs are difficulties encountered by the authors of strategic plans in the process of forecasting phenomena of local or sub-regional nature. The first of them, already mentioned before, are limitations in an access to data characterizing small territorial systems. Due to absent or outdated information the extrapolation becomes a significantly limited task. The second reason becomes high changeability of external factors influencing this type of systems, such as regional development policy conducted by regional and national authorities , extensive investments influencing local job market , as well as dynamic migrations. Other underlying factors are numerous, negative experiences related to making prognoses and, what results from it, reluctance towards continuing such analyses in the future. Many of the forecasts, on which self-government units' strategies, prepared in the 90s of XX-th century, were based turned out to be far from perfect. They referred mainly to supply and demand at the job market, foreign investments, social policy of the state, decentralization of tasks and public means, as well as financial assistance received form the European Union. To a certain extend, unwillingness towards the application of prognostic techniques also finds its cause in differences regarding concepts of development and investment intentions of self-government authorities taking over successive turns of office.

The third problem of strategic planning, referring to Polish self-government units, consists in the application of methods and procedures related to strategic analyses and created for the needs of strategy construction focused on the development of enterprises. This refers

1 Regional Data Bank represents the biggest. in Poland, ordered set of information about the social-economic, demographic or social situation and also about the condition of environment. which refer to regions, districts and communes as entities of social and administrative system of state organization, as well as the regions and sub-regions representing the elements of territorial units nomenclature for statistical purposes.

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particularly to SWOT 1 procedure. Even though it is a commonly used procedure, the diagnoses of self-government units' development, constituting the goal of such procedure application, happen to turn out a failure which, to a great extend, influences the quality of strategies constructed on their basis. The underlying reasons are mistakes most frequently made in the application process, as well as only partial adjustment of the discussed procedure to the needs of communes, districts and regions. Among the typical mistakes one may point to the following:

- misinterpreting opportunities for development with the commonly known methods of standard problems solving. As the result, both internal and external opportunities may become ignored (offers, demands, trends, legal solutions etc.), the implementation of which would make the development of a self-government unit much more dynamic.

- misinterpreting chances for development with strong points - resulting in the consequences described above.

- misinterpreting weak points and threats. Lack of true threats identification may lead, in an obvious way, towards an unavoidable occurrence of problems restricting the development of a self-government unit.

-poor perception of phenomena complexity and their many-sidedness, as they may e.g. represent at the same time a chance and a threat, or a strong and a weak point. In effect, incorrect activities aiming at the elimination of a weak point result in a strong, negative side-effect, taking the form of disregarding the strong point of a commune, a di strict or a region. The loss and profit analysis of such performance does not always present a positive result.

- omitting one of the basic attributes characteristic for territorial systems, which is an unequal spread, or even a visible spatial concentration of some of their attributes. This leads 10 improper generalizations, conclusions and objectives resulting from them, as well as programmes which, in fact , may only refer to just a certain part of a given space. It also leads to abandoning or delaying the implementation of activities aiming at compensating negative differences of social and economic development.

- abstaining from the discrimination of SWOT procedure results, as the result of which all identified attributes and relations represent the same significance. Such strategic analysis, instead of upgrading the level of addressee 's knowledge, offers him or her an information confusion introducing, apart form the well known facts also the new ones, the significance of which is unknown to this addressee. No wonder than, that strategic plans, based on artificially equalized diagnoses results are concentrated, to an equal extend, on properties characteristic for a given territorial system, which are diametrically opposed in their importance for the process of development.

The mentioned above lack of adjustment requires pointing to differences between economic entities, for the needs of which SWOT procedure was created, and the self­government units. The development of an economic entity represents the development of a system, which role is to perform certain functions with regard to its environment and to its owner. Therefore, such development is referred to as an exogenous one. Firms are not established in order to create value for their own use, but for their consumers and enhance profit for their beneficiaries 1• This fact constitutes a great difference between economic organizations and territorial systems, the development of which is also characterized by an autonomous, endogenous aspect. Each territorial unit keeps developing also for its own sake,

1 The author represents the standpoint that SWOT does not stand for a method, but a procedure joining many different research methods. It is the procedure which introduces order into their application and facilitates unambiguous presentation of their results.

1 It also refers to non-profit enterprises. e.g. these of public utility in case of which an owner and an addressee of an economic activity represent the same entity.

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i.e. for the benefit of its inhabitants. Therefore, is becomes indispensable to consider such difference in the procedure of SWOT strategic analysis. It should be reflected, among others, in distinguishing internal and external opportunities and threats, as well as the stimulating and counter stimulating factors of development.

Another problem associated with planning, in Poli sh self-government units, consists in an incorrect realization of social consultancy and an improper way of using its results. Conducting consultancy in an incorrect way mainly deals in the wrong composition of the group of subjects with whom the consultancy is perforn1ed. This composition depends, on the one hand, on the deci sion and will of self-government authorities who invite a certain group of individuals to participate in strategy preparation and, on the other, is strictly connected with real and true involvement of thi s part of the group members who actually accepted the invitation . As it may be easily inferred, it is difficult to obtain the optimal level of such composition, i.e. the one which may guarantee high level of a debate in the merits, regarding development directions and the representation of self-government unit's community, i.e. all its members or at least the majority of social, professional, territorial, age etc. groups representing it . The above fact, in connection with the commonly applied rule "the absent cannot be right", results in emphasizing these strategic goals and tasks which were suggested or even imposed by those present during strategic workshops, even if these goals and tasks are far from perfect and their supporters were entitled to express the standpoint of just a minor part of community. Improper application of social consultancy results consists mainly in their indiscriminate incorporation into the strategy of development. One may assume that it results from an erroneous perception of the idea of social consultancy and improper application of consultancy techniques, including mainly the technique of strategic workshops and visual moderation. The strategy authors, who aim at ensuring social acceptance for it and especially the approval of territorial unit community representatives comprising its self-government body, frequently build it exclusively on the basis of the compilation of proposals collected from social consultancy participants. Such strategy, on the one hand is characterised by an extensive reflection of the community (town councillors) expectations, but on the other it most often defines the path of self-government unit development, which is far from perfect.

The fifth, out of most typical problems characteristic for strategic planning is refraining form making choices, while the baseline objective of strategic planning is just conducting proper selection of these activities which - in the conditions of limited access to resources, changes in developmental conditioning and contrasting interests of planning beneficiaries -become the most favourable. In a theoretical situation of unrestricted resources, especially with reference to financial means, in stable conditions and lack of conflicting occurrences, the discussed planning would not be necessary at all. A list of projects, which can satisfy all needs, solve all problems and conflicts, as well as protect against all threats, would be enough. In other words, a list of wishes would be sufficient. In reality it, however, does not happen to occur and making choices is the more frequent and more important, the less favourable values are represented by these factors. In spite of the above, we experience an abundance of strategic plans in which self-government authorities keep promising to meet almost all needs of all current and future inhabitants and economic entities and even in a surprisingly short period of time. The lack of reference to reality, in case of such plans, is sometimes explained by the need to construct a strategy representing such broad spectrum of tasks , so that its scope in the merits could refer to all and every current and future, also the unknown at the moment of working on the strategy, aid programmes addressed to the beneficiaries, their business relations, units and companies of self-government units' activities. The reasons behind such strategy construction also lie in increased chances for obtaining aid resources by other territorial self-government units, active in the area of the given self-government (e.g. communal self-government units carrying out tasks in the area of a region or a district), non-

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governmental organizations and even economic entities. On the one hand such attitude is fully understandable, since it is expected that the authorities will represents fully active attitude in obtaining any means aiming at the development of the area they manage while, on the other, the idea of strategic planning is becoming distorted.

Performing strategic choices is not a sufficient condition to ensure correct scope in the merits of a strategy. It leaves the case open whether the due choices are supposed to be made only within the scope of statutory tasks or maybe the role of a self-government unit should be understood more broadly. Incorrect conflict solving, which occurs between these two extreme ways of perceiving self-government units, poses yet another problem in strategic planning.

In order to explain it is necessary to study the issue in more detail. According to the first standpoint, local self-government units were appointed in order to carry out statutory tasks, defined or resulting from the needs of local community, on condition that they are not restricted for other public bodies. Accepting such standpoint by strategy authors has to exert an influence on its content. Since in a resolution by a self-government unit constituting authority, referring to strategy acceptance, it makes an executive body liable for executing its decisions, then it should include only these tasks which are covered by its competencies. In another case, the strategy subject, which are self-government unit authorities will not have any influence on its implementation. Therefore who, instead, should be implementing it? What for should one get involved in a strategy construction if one has no influence on its implementation? While representing the above point of view it is difficult to find answers to the above questions. Following the second standpoint, a local self-government unit represents a multilayered social, economic and environmental system within certain, specified by law, boundaries. It is a far more extensive category than just self-government structures. Its evolution in many respects is not associated with statutory tasks, assigned to a self­government unit. Nowadays a self-government unit is expected to be a driving force, stimulating the development of the covered area and representing the interests of its inhabitants as extensively as it is only possible. Therefore, it does not only boil down to meeting current needs, limited to just performing the tasks covered by resolutions. Today the interests of local community are strongly related to creating and keeping up the development of an overall spectrum of performance advantages and the production power of a commune, a district or a region. Such perception of local self-government unit also influences strategy content, making it richer by numerous objectives and activities extending outside statutory tasks addressed to self-government unit authorities.

Problems occur in strategic planning when one of the presented standpoints begins to dominate. It demonstrates itself in an excessive limiting of strategy merits or its extensive enlargement. In the first case it results in losing the significant part of benefits which can be obtained owing to strategic management, but such strategies are undoubtedly characterized by the advantage of being realistic. In the second case it diminishes the probability of obtaining basic goals, despite their being not only correct, but also desired by the society. This problem cannot be solved by, frequently applied in such cases, emphasizing that they represent development strategies of an overall local self-government unit and that they will not be carried out exclusively by their leading creator, i.e. self-government authorities, but also by other entities, such as e.g. enterprises, other self-government units, the state, social organizations etc. The majority of these implementation co-partners not only do not participate in strategy construction, or its implementation, but do not even seek information about its establishment and just keep carrying out their activities, different from these covered by the strategy.

The final problem refers to the system of strategy implementation. Strategic plans of Polish communes are, in most cases, totally lacking such system. Therefore, this most important document for a self-government unit, immediately after passing the resolution,

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stops to perform any role in the activities of its authorities. It is, at the most, used for promotional aims, or as an attachment to applications for aid means. It lacks information who, when and how is supposed to use it, how it should be implemented, how an implementation should be monitored and how it is supposed to undergo corrections and adjustments. It lacks procedures which guarantee its being in line with planning documents at lower levels and assigning means to its tasks implementation in an annual budget. It also happens, that the system of implementation is specified, however, it cannot be used since it is not adjusted to legal, financial, human resources and timing conditions of the self-government unit, for which it was created. This last case usually takes place in rural communes, small town communes and districts.

To conclude the hereby article it should be emphasized how improper it seems to draw conclusions, that as the result of mistakes described above strategic planning, in Polish self­government units, represents a very low level. It is not so. Despite the presented difficulties, strategic planning results, to a great extend, in the development of communes, districts and regions. Imperfect strategies created a few or more years before are being substituted by more precise ones at present. Many strategic plans are being improved already within the process of their implementation. There also occur legal resolutions and standards regulating their contents, as well as the process of their preparation, e.g. for the benefit of regional contacts entered into between regional self-government units and the state government and defining both the size and rules of obtaining financial support for the sake of carrying out the most important investments in a given region. Additionally, it seems substantiated to put forward a thesis that the emphasized problems of strategic planning are not characteristic exclusively for Polish self-government units, but also occur in other countries. Therefore, the due research results should become the subject for discussion not only at national forum, but rather an international one. It is especially important in post-communist countries, where self­government system regained its significance or was established relatively recently and where problems of similar nature are observed. This may result in creating new methodological, legal and organizational solutions improving self-government units' planning systems and what results from it, having a highly dynamic impact on local development.

References [I) NOWINSKA E., Strategia rozwoju gmin na przykladzie gmin przygranicznych [The

[2)

[3)

strategy of communes' development based on the example of along-the-border communes], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu, Poznan 1997. BERMAN N., Strategiczne planowanie rozwoju gospodarczego- budowanie lepszej przyszlos'ci gospodarczej w polskich gminach~ [Strategic planning of economic development - creating better economic future in Polish communes], Municipum, Warszawa 2000. WYSOCKA E., BABINSKI J., TOPCZEWSKA T., TROJANEK M., MZYK E., Strategia i polityka rozwoju gmin i wojew6dztw. Podstawy metodyczne. [Strategy and policy of communes and regions development. Methodological basics.] Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa- Poznan- Zielona G6ra 1996.

[4) WYSOCKA E., KONINSKI J., Strategia rozwoju wojew6dztw i gmin. Teoria i praktyka, [The strategy of regions and communes development. Theory and practice] Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa- Zielona G6ra 1998.

[5) PAWELSKA-SKRZYPEK G., BIENKOWSKA D., POCZJ\TEK K., PALUCHA K., ULASINSKI C., SUCHANEK 1., LEHAN E. A., Planowanie i zarzqdzanie strategiczne [Strategic planning and management], Wydawnictwo Samorzqdowe Fundacji Rozwoju Demokracji Lokalnej, Warszawa 1997.

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r governmental organizations and even economic entities. On the one hand such attitude is fully understandable, since it is expected that the authorities will represents fully active attitude in obtaining any means aiming at the development of the area they manage while, on the other, the idea of strategic planning is becoming distorted.

Performing strategic choices is not a sufficient condition to ensure correct scope in the merits of a strategy. It leaves the case open whether the due choices are supposed to be made only within the scope of statutory tasks or maybe the role of a self-government unit should be understood more broadly. Incorrect conflict solving, which occurs between these two extreme ways of perceiving self-government units, poses yet another problem in strategic planning.

In order to explain it is necessary to study the issue in more detail. According to the first standpoint, local self-government units were appointed in order to carry out statutory tasks, defined or resulting from the needs of local community, on condition that they are not restricted for other public bodies. Accepting such standpoint by strategy authors has to exert an influence on its content. Since in a resolution by a self-government unit constituting authority, referring to strategy acceptance, it makes an executive body liable for executing its decisions, then it should include only these tasks which are covered by its competencies. In another case, the strategy subject, which are self-government unit authorities will not have any influence on its implementation. Therefore who, instead, should be implementing it? What for should one get involved in a strategy construction if one has no influence on its implementation? While representing the above point of view it is difficult to find answers to the above questions. Following the second standpoint, a local self-government unit represents a multilayered social, economic and environmental system within certain, specified by law, boundaries. It is a far more extensive category than just self-government structures. Its evolution in many respects is not associated with statutory tasks, assigned to a self­government unit. Nowadays a self-government unit is expected to be a driving force, stimulating the development of the covered area and representing the interests of its inhabitants as extensively as it is only possible. Therefore, it does not only boil down to meeting current needs, limited to just performing the tasks covered by resolutions. Today the interests of local community are strongly related to creating and keeping up the development of an overall spectrum of performance advantages and the production power of a commune, a di strict or a region. Such perception of local self-government unit also influences strategy content, making it richer by numerous objectives and activities extending outside statutory tasks addressed to self-government unit authorities.

Problems occur in strategic planning when one of the presented standpoints begins to dominate. It demonstrates itself in an excessive limiting of strategy merits or its extensive enlargement. In the first case it results in losing the significant part of benefits which can be obtained owing to strategic management, but such strategies are undoubtedly characterized by the advantage of being realistic. In the second case it diminishes the probability of obtaining basic goals, despite their being not only correct, but also desired by the society. This problem cannot be solved by, frequently applied in such cases, emphasizing that they represent development strategies of an overall local self-government unit and that they will not be carried out exclusively by their leading creator, i.e. self-government authorities, but also by other entities, such as e.g. enterprises, other self-government units, the state, social organizations etc. The majority of these implementation co-partners not only do not participate in strategy construction, or its implementation, but do not even seek information about its establishment and just keep carrying out their activities, different from these covered by the strategy.

The final problem refers to the system of strategy implementation . Strategic plans of Polish communes are, in most cases, totally lacking such system. Therefore, this most important document for a self-government unit, immediately after passing the resolution,

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stops to perform any role in the activities of its authorities. It is, at the most, used for promotional aims, or as an attachment to applications for aid means. It lacks information who, when and how is supposed to use it, how it should be implemented, how an implementation should be monitored and how it is supposed to undergo corrections and adjustments. It lacks procedures which guarantee its being in line with planning documents at lower levels and assigning means to its tasks implementation in an annual budget. lt also happens, that the system of implementation is specified, however, it cannot be used since it is not adjusted to legal, financial, human resources and timing conditions of the self-government unit, for which it was created. This last case usually takes place in rural communes, small town communes and districts.

To conclude the hereby article it should be emphasized how improper it seems to draw conclusions, that as the result of mistakes described above strategic planning, in Polish self­government units, represents a very low level. It is not so. Despite the presented difficulties, strategic planning results , to a great extend, in the development of communes, districts and regions. Imperfect strategies created a few or more years before are being substituted by more precise ones at present. Many strategic plans are being improved already within the process of their implementation. There also occur legal resolutions and standards regulating their contents, as well as the process of their preparation, e.g. for the benefit of regional contacts entered into between regional self-government units and the state government and defining both the size and rules of obtaining financial support for the sake of carrying out the most important investments in a given region. Additionally, it seems substantiated to put forward a thesis that the emphasized problems of strategic planning are not characteristic exclusively for Polish self-government units, but also occur in other countries. Therefore, the due research results should become the subject for discussion not only at national forum, but rather an international one. It is especially important in post-communist countries, where self­government system regained its significance or was established relatively recently and where problems of similar nature are observed. This may result in creating new methodological, legal and organizational solutions improving self-government units' planning systems and what results from it, having a highly dynamic impact on local development.

References fl] NOWINSKA E. , Strategia rozwoju gmin na przykladzie gmin przygranicznych [The

strategy of communes' development based on the example of along-the-border communes], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu, Poznan 1997.

[2) BERMAN N., Strategiczne planowanie rozwoju gospodarczego- budowanie lepszej przyszlosci gospodarczej w polskich gminaclb [Strategic planning of economic development - creating bel/er economic future in Polish communes], Municipum, Warszawa 2000.

(3] WYSOCKA E., BABINSKI J. , TOPCZEWSKA T., TROJANEK M. , MZYK E., Strategia i polityka rozwoju gmin i wojew6dztw. Podstawy metodyczne. [Strategy and policy of communes and regions development. Methodological basics.] Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa- Poznan- Zielona G6ra 1996.

[4] WYSOCKA E., KONINSKT J., Strategia rozwoju wojew6dztw i gmin. Teoria i praktyka, [The strategy of regions and communes development. Theory and practice] Zachodnie Centrum Organizacji, Warszawa- Zielona G6ra 1998.

[5] PAWELSKA-SKRZYPEK G., BTENKOWSKA D., POCZf\TEK K. , PALUCHA K., ULASINSKI C., SUCHANEK I. , LEHAN E. A., Planowanie i zarzqdzanie strategiczne [Strategic planning and management], Wydawnictwo Samorzqdowe Fundacji Rozwoju Demokracji Lokalnej, Warszawa 1997.

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r (6) BINIECKI J., SZCZUPAK B., Strategiczne myslenie o przyszlosci gminy [Strategic

thinking about the future of a commune], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice 2004.

(7) KLASIK A., Strategie regionalne. Formulowanie i wprowadzanie w iycie [Regional strategies. Defining and implementing them], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice 2002.

(8) PRUSEK A., Strategia rozwoju jako gi6wny instrument dziaiania samorzqd6w lokalnych [The strategy of development as the main instrument of self-government units ' activities. W: Samorzqd terytorialny, zadania- gospodarka- rozw6j, [In: Self­government unit, tasks- economy - development] Wyzsza Szkola Przedsit;biorczosci i Marketingu w Chrzanowie, Chrzan6w 200 I.

[9] BROL R. , Teoria i praktyka planowania strategicznego na szczeblu lokalnym [Theory and practice of strategic planning at local/eve/]. W: Problemy polityki gospodarczej i gospodarki regionalnej w Polsce w procesie integracji z UE, (In: The problems of economic and regional policy in Poland in the process of integration with EU] Walkowska Wydawnictwo, Szczecin 1999.

(10) BIENIECKI J, SZCZUPAK B, Strategia rozwoju lokalnego [The strategy of local development]. W: Zarzqdzanie strategiczne rozwojem lokalnym i regionalnym [In: Strategic management of local and regional development], Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice 2001.

Contact address

Dr. Andrzej Sztando Wroclaw University of Economics Faculty of Regional Management and Tourism Chair of Regional Management 3 Nowowiejska Street 58-500 Jelenia G6ra Andrzej@ Sztando.com

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,....

MEASUREMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEVEL AND KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY RELATIONS FOR THE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Beata Bal-Domanska

Abstract At the turn of XX and XXI century the capital in the fmm of knowledge became the background for the functioning of economy and for economic growth. The article takes up an attempt to measure relations between the level of regional development and the level of selected factors characteristic for knowledge based economy in seven countries of Central and Eastern Europe at NUTS-2 level in the period of 2003-2005. Econometric model for panel data, together with due estimation techniques, were used for the analysis.

Introduction to research problems The significant role of regional development is assigned to factors characteristic for

knowledge based economy (KBE), including the promotion of educational triangle (education, research, innovation). The upgrading of regions' competitiveness, with regard to KBE factors, is recognized as providing opportunities for establishing long lasting foundations and increasing the level of social and economic development. It is assumed that the regions capable of generating and absorbing knowledge are able to ensure higher and more persistent economic growth.

The "knowledge" capital is directly connected with human resources, as well as social and human capital. Traditional characteristics of workforce, as the factor of production, lose their significance. They are still observed as an important determinant of social and economic growth, however, it seems that they are insufficient to sustain development in a long run, and especially having considered that an improper workforce may become the j:Jarrier for economic development. Both educating and retraining workers requires taking up costly and long lasting activities. Therefore more and more emphasis is placed upon social and human capital, but also upon the hidden knowledge gained during direct human relations, which becomes cumulated in the historical process and which, results in creating, distributing and implementing new ideas (Gaczek 2007, p. 43-57).

The article takes up an attempt to measure relations between the level of regional development and the level of selected factors characteristic for knowledge based economy in seven countries of Central and Eastern Europe at NUTS-2 level in the period of 2003-2005. Econometric model for panel data, together with due estimation techniques, were used for the analysis.

Specification of variables Econometric analysis of interdependencies between the level of regional development

and the level of knowledge based economy commenced form analyzing "knowledge" economy factors. Quantitative identification of phenomena characteristic for KBE, including human resources and social resources, is not an easy task. There are especially extensive difficulties in defining adequate measuring determinants (variables) presenting the researched phenomena and relations between them.

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