THE POWER OF ESG: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENTERPRISES IN POLAND

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Integrates legal, practical, and bibliometric methods; useful for ESG research design.

🏢実務担当者:Provides case studies and regulatory guidance for ESG implementation and reporting.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights SME challenges and needed support; informs policy design for ESG adoption.

Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to track the increasing importance of the ESG approach among Polish companies. It presents the primary challenges and opportunities of ESG integration in light of present legal standards, changing market demands, and corporate sustainability goals. It combines legal developments (CSRD, ESRS), corporate cases studies and bibliometric ESG research trends. Design/methodology/approach: The present study represents a three-dimensional research structure: a review of law and policy on ESG reporting in Poland and the European Union, multiple case study of three companies consistently implementing ESG approaches and a bibliometric study with VOSviewer of Web of Science data (2012-2025), investigating leading keywords, co-occurrence networks and international research patterns on ESG and sustainability. Findings: The results indicate that ESG in Poland is becoming both a regulatory pressure and strategic tool. ESG is becoming more embedded into larger companies and their operations, but the SME sector isn’t quite as prepared. Despite barriers to implementation – including being short on expertise and scarce funding, ESG is recognised as increasingly being a source of competitive advantage, better access to sustainable financing options and further enhancing the credibility of corporations in the market. Research limitations/implications: The downside of the article is its lack of anchor in primary empirical research (e.g., interviews or surveys with company representatives). The study is based on secondary data, at official reports of big companies and in case towards some real cases selected among large corporates that may not fully represent the whole market especially at micro and small enterprises level. In addition, the rapidly changing regulatory landscape could also limit the long term applicability of some observations. Practical implications: The manuscript contributes with practical implications and recommendations for business leaders, regulators, and CSR/ESG practitioners in relation to concrete reporting requirements (CSRD, ESRS), as well as on best practices of ESG implementation. It also points to areas in need of institutional, educational, and technological support to help especially SMEs adopt and comply with ESG. Originality/value: The manuscript's originality is in the integrated approach towards ESG in Poland, i.e., legal, practical and bibliometric analysis. It is uncommon to find above mentioned study that on one hand reveals context of ESG implementation practice in UE and references ongoing international research. This is why it is a contribution to the interdisciplinary debate on sustainable management and responsible business conduct in Central and Eastern Europe. Additionally, the paper introduces an original conceptual framework – the ESG CIRCLEPOWER Model – which integrates the internal and external dimensions of ESG performance. The model provides a novel perspective on how credibility, innovation, resilience, competitiveness, leadership, and environmental awareness (CIRCLE) generate purpose, openness, worth, ethics, and resilience (POWER), thereby explaining the transformative potential of ESG within organizational strategy and culture.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.29119/1641-3466.2026.244.6first seen 2026-05-15 18:31:24