Ekonomiczne Problemy Usług

Research hidden champions is a discipline that developed in Germany at the end of the 1980s. At its beginning, publications of H. Simon, which tried to show that German exports are not driven only by large and well-known companies, can be considered such as, for example, Volkswagen, BASF and Siemens, but by many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are often unknown, because the recipients of their products are primarily other enterprises (B2B), and their products belong to narrowly specialized industries. Hidden champions appear on every continent, but the success of their activities is characterized by certain common features regarding the principles of running a company’s activity in terms of culture, strategy and leadership, but also above all, a high innovation potential. Such companies can also be identified in Poland, with leadership in narrow markets on the one hand and some degree of invisibility on the other. The aim of the study is to define and present selected hidden champions from Germany and Poland, compare the results of research on them in both countries and attempt to identify those factors that could affect the formation of new unknown leaders in Poland and facilitate research on this group of enterprises. As a research method was selected comparative analysis, which showed that research on unknown leaders in Germany is much more widespread than in Poland. Therefore, it would have to be intensified; it can be assumed that the number of hidden champions disclosed so far is understated in Poland, in Germany about 1,300 hidden champions were identified, in Poland only ca. 70, which, with a large share of exports in generating GDP, seems unlikely to be low.