Although Dell Computer Corp generated only $3.5m turnover from its Polish operations compared with $23m for Eastern Europe as a whole, it has decided to set up regional headquarters there, and is aiming for Polish revenues of $10m in 1993. Dell only set up its Warsaw operations last May. Marketing manager for Poland, Michel Jaworski said that there is more competition in Poland than in other East European countries and that the market is less centralised than that of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Revenues here were boosted by an order for 4,000 personal computers from the Komercni Bank. He added that the company was looking for value-added resellers with Unix, OS/2 and NetWare expertise in Poland, but would sell direct when it became viable to do so – perhaps 1994. But, he said, this was impossible at the moment because of the poor telecommunications infrastructure, in particular due to the presence of tolled lines, and because of the time it takes to process low-value transactions. On average, it currently takes two weeks for a cheque to clear, although this could be reduced to between two and three days by the end of the year, when the $5m Unisys Corp electronic clearing system goes on line at the National Clearing Centre.
