Chapter 21: Strategies to Face Brexit: The Case of Polish Companies

Purpose: Since the referendum in 2016, European companies have taken pre-Brexit measures to face the uncertainty over the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The purpose of the chapter is to identify and discuss the strategies of Polish companies in face of Brexit.

Methodology: The chapter presents results of an empirical quantitative analysis. The data have been collected with the use of Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) method with a pre-defined questionnaire. The research focuses on 500 Polish companies active in the British market and involves a cluster analysis.

Findings: The conducted analysis enabled us to distinguish four main groups of companies: observers, cautious expanders, opportunity seekers, and diversifiers.

Most of the companies decided to adjust their strategies and take an active approach in the time of uncertainty. The majority relied on their existing product/service portfolio and only the diversifiers engaged in both: new market entries and new product/service development. Data from the survey show that companies feared mostly the “no deal” scenario and many of their decisions ahead of Brexit were motivated by it.

Value: The strategies identified in the analysis relate to those we can find in the Ansoff’s matrix. It has been shown that cautious expanders and diversifiers coincide with the exact Ansoff strategies of Diversification and Market development. Two other strategies, on the other hand – observers and opportunity seekers are hybrids of the existing Ansoff ones.