Research Issues of Structural Changes in Polish Industry in Geography of Industry

The research themes of geography of industry are continually evolving. The dynamic development of this sector of the economy after 1945 in the conditions of the socialist economy, in which the processes of industrialisation of the country were treated as priorities, as well as the processes of economic transformation in Poland after 1989, influencing the changes in the previously developed socio-economic structures, including industry structures, influenced the shaping of the research problem of this sub-discipline of geography in Poland. These changes, leading to the adaptation of these structures to the changing management principles, take place under the influence of impulses from the international environment associated with building a knowledge-based economy and moving from the industrial and post-industrial phase to the informational phase of civilisation development. These essential issues of transformation of industrial structures in the period of economic transformation and the development of a knowledge-based economy have become the subject of interest of many researchers, including economic geographers. The article presents the evolution of the themes and the main directions of research on structural changes in Polish industry in the conditions of transition from the centrally planned economy to market economy. In conclusion, it is shown that Polish geography of industry has undertaken significant scientific and economic problems of structural changes in industry during the period of economic transformation, continually updating its research priorities. Researchers quickly reacted to changes in the legal and political conditions of the functioning of the national economy, despite numerous barriers, related to, among other things, limited access to data on industrial activities, resulting in the lower interest of geographers in industrial research. The paper ends with recommendations regarding future possible research directions and a comprehensive bibliography of the studies