WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics
Print ISSN: 1109-9526, E-ISSN: 2224-2899
Volume 18, 2021
Cultural Differences as a Reason for Failure of Investment Projects in the Polish Banking Sector
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Abstract: The objective of this paper is to examine cultural differences as the reason for failures of trans-border investment projects in the Polish banking sector. By investment projects we mean all projects with the participation of foreign investors, which involved a merger, an acquisition, or the establishment of a new bank based in Poland and subject to Polish supervision and legal regulations. The analysis included all transactions of this type which took place in the Polish banking sector in the years 1994-2010. The sample comprised 31 projects: 16 mergers and acquisitions and 15 establishments of new banks. The results do not confirm most of the earlier findings on the subject, which showed a clear connection between cultural dimensions and risk taking. Unlike most other research, our study showed that cultural factors have no significant influence upon risk taking in banking by strategic investors in the Polish banking sector. Only the dimension of power distance proved to explain the reasons for failures. The results can be applied broadly, both as a tool for supporting the decision making in case of new investment projects, and for evaluation of the existing transactions taking place in the Polish banking sector.
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Keywords: cultural differences, banking sector, commercial banks, cross-border mergers and acquisitions
Pages: 152-162
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2021.18.16