• COVER PAGE

  •  INTRODUCTION

  •  EUROPEAN
     CHAMPION:
THE UNITED KINGDOM

  •  THE RUNNER-UP:
      FRANCE

  •  GERMANY GRABS
      THIRD PLACE

  •  BELGIUM, NO. 4

  •  POLAND TAKES
      FIFTH PLACE

  •  IRELAND, NO. 6

  •  HUNGARY TAKES
      SEVENTH PLACE

  •  SPAIN, NO. 8

  •  THE NETHERLANDS
      RECORD BREAKING
      YEAR

  •  AUSTRIA ROUNDS
      OUT THE TOP 10

It would have been almost unthinkable just 10 years ago. But Poland and other former East Bloc countries are now major players in the global competition for business investment.

"Poland has 40 million people, so it's a sizable market. And its cost structure is good," Bright reports. The country's business appeal is amply evident from the 117 new and expanded facilities it attracted last year, taking the No. 5 ranking among European countries. Even more impressive, Poland's 44 new manufacturing plants took the No. 3 ranking. What's more, Poland lured more than one-fifth of 1998's biggest job-creating facilities (see chart).

A sampling of major new facilities includes AIG's $30 million Lodz insurance office, Mercedes-Benz's $34 million Miedzyrzecz auto steering components plant, McCain Foods' $54 million Wroclaw potato processing factory and Volkswagen Sitech's $72 million Polkowice auto seats plant. For more information on business opportunities in Poland, visit the Polish Agency for Foreign Investment's Website (www.paiz.gov.pl/).