Exploring Links Between Cooperation, Internationalization and Proftability: A Study of Polish Manufacturing Companies

The paper is focused on developing a predictive, statistical model depicting the relationships among companies' involvement in internationalization, engagement in cooperation with business partners and their fnancial performance.

Data were collected through a CATI survey of managers of medium-sized Polish manufacturing enterprises. The principal statistical technique employed was binary logistic regression. The regression equation model contained four statistically significant dichotomous predictors: (1) sales abroad above 30% of total sales, (2) cooperation with foreign suppliers, (3) cooperation with domestic distributors, and (4) Export-Only Early-Internationalized status of the company. The two former variables were correlated positively with the profit margin, while the two latter shown negative associations.

The principal limitation of the study was a relatively small sample size of 110 units that, while enough to detect patterns with strong and medium-strong effect sizes, might not have provided sufficient power to identify weaker associations. Generalizations were also constrained by the selection criteria of the sample to medium-sized Polish enterprises from traditional manufacturing B2B industries.

The study yielded a regression model that permitted isolation of the main factors linked to the degree of sales profitability, which could assist managers in their efforts to enhance profit margins and in competitor analysis. The originality of the approach involves using a comprehensive list of 25 potential predictors in analysis that represented salient dimensions of cooperation and internationalization. The predictive capacities of the model were found to be sufficient to make it useful for both scholars and practitioners. The research relied on a sample drawn from the population that has rarely been studied on similar subjects.