As a series of decisions by major international companies to shift their operations to Poland has shown, this country remains an attractive investment location in times of the omnipresent global financial crisis. 

When exactly a year ago the Dell computer giant officially launched its laptop assembly plant in Lodz, city president Jerzy Kropiwnicki had not expected to what extent his words of joy shall become prophetic barely twelve months later. Especially that the company's boss and founder, Michael Dell, who personally attended the opening had to tone down speculations regarding the plant's future expansion and creating an R&D center for Europe in the same location.

Several months after the grand opening a surprise message put everyone in disbelief - Dell was considering the sale of its newly established plant! The looming global crisis had been quoted as the reason for the planned move. Then, in the first week of the new year, a sudden change of concept had been revealed mainly to the distress of Dell's Irish crew. The company annouced it would cut employment at its plant in Limerick by 1900 starting from April and shift its European operations to Lodz in Poland. 

According to information quoted by the Polska Times daily, similar decisions have been taken by other internationally renowned names such as the Swedish construction company Skanska, British sweats manufacturer Cadbury, even Chinese Lenovo...

Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Slawek Szefs.