areas may sizably reduce the economic growth in the years to come. these areas include, but are by no means limited to road infrastructure, volume and quality of spending on research and development or business environment in poland, as can be exemplified by an average of three years that it takes to claim one ’ s rights before courts in disputes between business entities. these weaknesses of the polish economy are well known and it is also common knowledge what should be done to eliminate them. it is however not the weaknesses that i intend to discuss today, as i believe that there are other and much more serious areas of concern that significantly reduce poland ’ s economic potential. lack of reform in these areas may deprive poland of the benefits brought by globalization. today, i would like to outline two such problems : • first, for many years there has been no common vision of poland and no leadership that could inspire poles to pursue this vision. • second, we may boast our world ’ s best it specialists, but we are still well backward in terms of e - government – according to the capgemini survey from june 2006 poland ranks third from the bottom in the european union 10. why do i believe the lack of vision, lack of leadership and poland ’ s backwardness in e - government to be major weaknesses that diminish poland ’ s possibility to capture the opportunities offered by the global economy? just imagine a company that has no long - term strategy and experiences management reshuffles every few years, including board members, department directors and often unit heads. every department within this company has its own budget, sets its own priorities and pursues its own often obscure goals ( so as to maximize the available budget ), which are frequently inconsistent with the overall purpose of the company. can such a company compete in the global economy against companies with clear and consistent vision and strategy, companies where all departments ’ activities are subject to this vision? this is a rhetorical question, as after using up all simple reserves of growth, such company would be doomed to bankruptcy unless it changed. the same applies to entire countries. while others continue to paint and fulfil daring visions, for example in2015 ( intelligent nation 2015 ) in singapore, we are still unable to join our efforts and are stuck in a business model where each department silos keeps pursuing its own goals. the ability to capitalize on knowledge will be crucial to poland ’ s success in the 21st century. the country ’ s economic strength will

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