Warsaw old town

The Ireland Poland Business Association (IPBA)is a well-established bilateral trade association whose main objective is to promote trade and business relations between the island of Ireland and Poland. At the invitation of the Honorary Consul for Poland in Northern Ireland, the IBPA has decided to form a branch in Northern Ireland.

The launch of this association will take place on Friday 5th June 2009 at 12.00 noon at the Canal Court Hotel, Merchant’s Quay, Newry. A light lunch will be served at 1.15pm. The event will give participants an overview of the many opportunities available to companies looking for new markets or to grow existing business interests in Poland. Speakers at the event will outline the business opportunities in the Polish market, as well as the benefits of membership of the Northern Ireland Poland Business Association.

Topics and speakers are as follows:

Opening address: Seamus McCaffrey, Chairman, Ireland Poland Business Association

Poland – an overview of the current economic climate: Jerzy Bartosik, 1st Counsellor (Commercial), Embassy of Poland in Dublin

Overview and benefits of the IPBA: Seamus McCaffrey

Practical experience of doing business in Poland: Eamonn Crowley, AIB CEE Division & Matthew Creagh, CQS Chartered Surveyors

Northern Ireland & Poland: an overview: Jerome Mullen, Honorary Consul for Poland in Northern Ireland

R.S.V.P. Tess Byrne: admin@irelandpoland.com or +353 87 317 1960.

Part 2: Failure to carry out sufficient or appropriate market research

Carrying out good market research prior to entering a new market is vital for a number of reasons, not least for saving you time and money through making sure you get it right first time.

The more information you have on your target market, the better your ability to make informed decisions on the best strategy for business development. This is particularly important for SMEs where they may have very limited resources to develop their export activities. Many companies will approach new markets in an ad hoc way, especially in SMEs where the owner / manager is the key person looking after export development as well as one hundred other things! Sometimes they do not see the merit in spending time on market research, although this is ultimately short-sighted – although market research is time consuming, it is one of the most effective ways of saving you money in the long term.

Detailed information is required on your competitors, the structure of the market, who your potential customers are, what the market size is, what the product and service requirements are, and relevant legislation in the market. Other general information is also important such as background on the politics and economics of the country, and one of the most important things of all – finding out about the culture of the country and how business is conducted there.

The most successful exporters and export sales people we know are those who make an effort to find out as much as possible about the market they are doing business with, not just in advance of their first market visit, but also during their market visit. Showing an interest in the market and people you are doing business with goes a long way to establishing successful business relationships. Spending extra time in the market, going early and spending the weekend there to get a feel for the country can really help you to understand how the market ticks, what will work and what will not work in terms of sales and marketing.

Handel Export offers a market research service to exporters, to provide them with key market information to enable the company to make the right decisions about how to approach a new market, without burdening them with reams of information that reduces their will to live! Contact us for more information on our services.

His resignation is of particular concern as the Czech Republic currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. This has led to some discussion over whether or not the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have sufficient political and economic stability to be capable of taking the presidency of the EU. What do you think? Should the countries of Central and Eastern Europe who joined the EU in 2004 be allowed to take the presidency of the EU or should this be left to the original 15 member states for the time being?