It is a school in the area of quantitative methods aimed at economic practice, especially regarding the use of mathematical statistics for microeconomic models. The founder and organiser of
the school was Jan Falewicz and his students developed and continued his creative ideas, as evidenced by numerous works on the theory of costs, construction of general models
of expanded reproduction, construction of demand models, adequate shaping of economic indicators of the company, statistical aspects of the standardisation of work, as well as the theory of
statistics. As a result of numerous years of research, Jan Falewicz developed a model of basic functioning of a business unit, which is the basis for making correct economic decisions. The
beginning of the development of quantitative methods and their possible use in economic studies can be attributed to two cycles of lectures by Jan Falewicz on the subject of enterprise
economics and statistics. The text of the first lecture was published by PWN in 1963. A huge achievement of J. Falewicz is the fact that he engaged contemporary achievements of the theory of
mathematical statistics in microeconomic models in a very modern and innovative way. The theoretical and empirical research conducted under his supervision developed methods for detecting and
measuring the strength of trade. The research was also focused on the development of methods for analytical description of the forms of interdependence, mainly in the form of econometric
models.
The school was founded by a student of Professor Falewicz, Stanisława Bartosiewicz. Her works cover several research trends: econometrics in the strict sense, statistics,
operational research, multidimensional comparative analysis, one of her publications even contains elements of cybernetics. In several publications, there is also some original thought
concerning the accounts of balance in the economy (e.g. the method of input-output). Here, econometrics is understood more broadly, because it also includes the balance sheet accounts
(analysis of input-output). She also broadened the scope of econometrics with decision-making and organisational issues (network analysis). The most important area of theoretical and
methodological research of Prof. S. Bartosiewicz, however, was econometric modelling.
The creator of the School of Mathematical Programming was Władysław Zygmunt Bukietyński. He worked on quantitative methods supporting decision-making processes in the
economy. He wrote about issues of production optimization, resource allocation and investment of funds. Moreover, W. Bukietyński worked on introducing some important optimisation problems
into discrete programming tasks. He dealt with the use of mathematical methods in the economy and methodological problems associated with economic systems. After the death of prof.
Bukietyński, the Department continued his research in the fields of optimisation, such as artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, multi-criteria decision analysis and optimisation,
quality management and the theory of deterministic chaos. In 1995, the Department of Operational Research created a new unit – the Department of Logistics, headed by a graduate student of
Prof. Bukietyński, Prof. Stanisław Krawczyk. The newly established department was designed to continue the research on the development and application of optimisation methods
in the area of broadly defined management and development of the new field which is logistics.
A characteristic feature of the School of Forecasting, founded by Maria Cieślak, is to consider the whole forecasting process, not only on quantitative methods of determining
forecasts. This means that the emphasis is on the process of formulating all the steps of the predictive procedure, i.e. determining the prognosis, the rationale underlying the choice of
forecasting methods, the choice of forecasting methods and the interpretation of the forecasting results, as well as the compatibility of these measures. The study area of the School includes
inquiry into the essence of forecasting, a critical analysis of forecasting methods, proposals for new methods of forecasting, and analysis of the problems of forecasting economic and social
processes.
Zdzisław Hellwig continues working with Prof. Falewicz’s school of quantitative methods and he is the creator of a scientific school in the field of statistics, widely
understood econometrics, forecasting, and the initiator of a scientific school in the field of economic informatics. The achievements of Prof. Hellwig is a major contribution to the
development of quantitative methods and their applications, it is original on an international scale and it had a pioneering significance in Poland. One of the areas of Prof. Hellwig’s
research is important in the field of statistics, i.e. verification of hypotheses.
The second important stream of research prof. Hellwig is the widely understood econometrics, ie. Econometrics as econometric modelling, operations research, forecasting and taxonomy and
multivariate comparative analysis. In addition to the interests and innovative achievements of Prof. Hellwig in the field broadly understood econometrics, also vitally important are his
contributions in the field of instrumentation thereof. These are his initiatives in the computerisation of the Wroclaw University of Economics, which resulted in the initiation of the Wroclaw
School of Business Informatics. A computing centre created on his initiative enabled research in the field which today can be called economical informatics. The impact of Prof. Hellwig on his
students and colleagues was and is extremely important. Professor Hellwig had a large impact on Prof. Falewicz’s students, directing their interest in selected areas of knowledge.
Antoni Smoluk is the creator of the School of Economical Metrology developed in the Academy of Economics by professors: Wanda Ronka-Chmielowiec,
Stanisław Heilpern, Andrzej Baniak and Janusz Łyko. The dominant issue of Prof. Smoluk’s School is the approximation theory, especially the
spline functions and their use. Spline functions occur naturally as the extreme values of certain functionals. The approximation theory is divided into three broad sections: optimal
approximation - the most important department associated with the construction of econometric models and all means of smoothing empirical data, sequencial approximation and potential
approximation. The most important achievements include the economic interpretation of Newton's law. These studies explained the crucial role of the logarithmic spiral in the stock market
fluctuations and became the foundation of the intuitive theory of Elliott’s waves. Moreover, there was formulated the law of diminishing interest rate as a function of economic development.
It was also proven that cyclical development is as natural as the exponential growth. The studies of the network effect empirically verified the hypothesis that the phenomenon of the network
effect is equivalent to an exponential increase. There was also developed a natural way to select an elite group; these recent studies have a great potential for application, as they may in
fact form the basis of a pan-European electoral system and diverse selections: local, regional, at the state level, in the EU; they may also serve to determine the optimal work teams.
The School of Data Analysis from Jelenia Góra was developed on the basis of close cooperation with schools in Wroclaw, counted among a group of "quantitative" schools: the School of
Statistics, Econometrics and Cybernetics of Professor Zdzislaw Hellwig, the School of Forecasting of Prof. Maria Cieslak, and the School of Econometric Modelling of Prof. Stanislawa
Bartosiewicz. The School of Data Analysis was shaped in the process of developing two main research trends: methods of econometric modelling (under Prof. Danuta Strahl) and
multivariate statistical methods (under the guidance of Prof. Tadeusz Borys).
The main research trends developed in the School of Data Analysis include: synthetic measures, econometric analysis of regional econometric modelling, statistics, cross-border, qualimetrics,
issues of sustainable development and quality of life, statistical multivariate analysis, generalized measure of distance, multi-dimensional analysis of comparative testing method preferences
(methods of conjoint analysis and discrete choice method), methods of marketing research, methods of classification and data analysis, simulation methods in economic research, the use of
economic methods in microeconometrics, computer software, methods of data analysis.
The School of Business Informatics recognizes prof. Zdzislaw Hellwig as its patron, the creator of a scientific school in the field of statistics, econometrics and cybernetics, who was one of
the pioneers of computing in the economy, as well as the educator of many of later professors who contributed to the emergence and development of the School. A major impact on the shaping of
subsequent directors was attributed to the subsequent heads of the Institute of Computer Science (Prof. Elżbieta Niedzielska and Prof. Henryk Sobis), and
later the Institute of Business Informatics (Prof. Elżbieta Niedzielska and Prof. Adam Nowicki).
In the period of 1974-1980, the research team for the term of prof. E. Niedzielska undertook bold and pioneering nationwide challenges, primarily in terms of methodology and design tools and
management of information systems and accounting - singled out in the country and popularized abroad. In the period of 1986-2001, there was initiated research in the following areas:
computer-aided data processing, methodology of creating information and decision-making systems, economic communication, and methods of artificial intelligence. In the period of 1981-1986,
prof. Henryk Sobis, continuing the development of the Institute, contributed to the consolidation of the initiated research directions, and above all to the design methodology of information
systems and accounting, as well as computer-aided teaching.
The creator of the school is Prof. Ber Haus. Among the many fields of prof. Haus’ research, and the work of his colleagues and followers, we should mention primarily the
following:
- organisation of work (with special emphasis on team forms)
- organisation of production, with special emphasis on operative production planning,
- organisational structures and business management of multidimensional entities,
- mechanisms of functioning and transformation (at the strategic level) of enterprises, with a particular focus on management methods and tools that create them,
- principles and methods of management of the enterprise’s resources (including human resources management).
These and related trends of research followed one another in varying ways, coexisted and underwent evolution. A characteristic feature of most of the programs and research projects realised
in the environment of the School was and still remains their empirical origin and original methodological approach - induction. Research via identification and description of the economic
processes and trends through their analysis and evaluation, allowed to formulate a number of practical recommendations (the value of usability), and enriched the achievements of the
organisation and management sciences (the cognitive value).
The achievements of the School’s representatives, usually identified with the achievement of Wroclaw’s scientific society in the field of management science, is widely known and widely
respected in the Polish scientific community. Many elements of these achievements used to correspond or still corresponds to the standards of European and worldwide science in this field.
Prof. B. Haus’ students and successors often refer to the fields inspired by his work.
Its organizer and creator is Prof. Arkadiusz Grossman. The research fields initiated by the Professor and developed by his colleagues and followers mainly include:
praxeological aspects of the management of the institution, research methodology of organisational structures, praxeological approach to the decision-making processes, methodology of studying
the capital groups, modern management concepts, using the agility criteria for human resources management and assessment of the personnel function, organisational behaviour and organisational
culture issues shaping the qualifications of managers, and management methodology of active learning in the form of business games.
The above-mentioned and other trends are subject to constant enrichment at the School. The essential characteristics of the research carried out by its representatives are: embedding them in
practice, organisational management, exploitation of praxiological basis to study the organisational and management reality, i.e. the holistic recognition of studied phenomena and the
application of the criteria for efficient operation, the pursuit of theoretical reflection in the form of general and utilitarian principles. Numerous research results presented by the
representatives of the School were considered innovative and pioneer on a national or even European scale at that time.
It is worth mentioning e.g. the results of research on the organisational structure of enterprises and their groups, organizational documentation, broadly understood qualifications of
executives and the structure of decision-making in business. A characteristic feature of the School is also an emphasis on the methodological reflection. A continuation of research initiated
by Prof. Grossman and his team is Mieczyslaw Przybyła, who is among the first employees to form the Department of Theory of Organisation and Management. He continues the trend of research
focused on the problems of research methodology of organisational structures and management theory.
The organisers and co-creators of the Wrocław School of Accounting are Stefan Górniak and Boleslaw Siwoń. The name of the Wroclaw School of Accounting (given
after the Congress of Polish Science in 1951 by the economical scientific community) stemmed from the need to highlight the scientific achievements of professors from the interwar and
post-war period, as well as the tradition of economic science. Wrocław School of Accounting has a long history, because it is a continuation of the traditions of scientific research led by
the academic staff from Lviv and professional experience (e.g. regarding the functioning of the stock exchange market). S. Górniak, J. Treter and B.
Siwoń were in the postwar Wrocław a team teaching accounting in Poland. Prof. S. Górniak, the first head of the Department of Accounting, is considered to be the organiser (the
father) of the Wroclaw School of Accounting. His students, and also his successors (in continuing his research) were professors: R. Stadtmüller, B. Siwoń,
W. Malc. The common feature of their scientific research was the development of accounting theory and the improvement of accounting (and micro- macroaccounting – in
practice). The domain of scientific research and cooperation with business practice consisted of three research areas, namely:
- Accounting theory – the balance theory (present name: standards of financial reporting)
- Money measurement of the economic activity,
- Cost accounting - the income statement.
Research on the measurement of monetary parameters of economic activity (1975-1996) opposed the claim of a large number of academics and business practitioners who insisted that the
historical price is the "sanctification" of property resources and for this reason it is the only acceptable notion of value.
Equally important is the research undertaken in the years 1988-1990 on inflationary accounting (the impact of inflation on the valuation of wealth - costs etc.). Political changes had set a
new direction of research, namely the harmonisation of Polish accounting law with the EU regulations (the EWG directives) and international regulations (accounting standards - currently
financial reporting). Since 1994, the employees of the Department of Theory of Accounting and Financial Analysis conducted research in this area. In 2007, there was continued research on the
improvement of accounting law and with regard to changes in international accounting standards for the public sector. An important direction of research for the staff of the Institute of
Accounting is also cost accounting (cost accounting systems for management purposes).
The creator of the School of Financial Law at the University of Economics and the University of Wroclaw was prof. Lesław Adam. A characteristic feature of research interests
for L. Adam was to show the relationship between law and economics. In his works, he focused on the basic problems of the general theory of finance and financial law, with particular emphasis
on financial control, the problems of the state budget and the tribute law, as well as the financing of local government units. In his work Taxes and fees under capitalism (1962) for
the first time in Polish science he established the theory of costs as separate tributes, pointing out that in a socialist economy taxes have a completely different content than in the
capitalist economy.
This work provides a valuable theoretical study based on a deep critical economic and law-related analysis of the discussed issues. The depth of the analysis and the ability to formulate
critical applications were the mark of the scientific work of prof. L. Adam. His interests were, moreover: socialist finance, financial control, economic control, financing local government
units. The work prepared by the professor are an example of a skilful combination of theory and financial practice. Directions of research initiated by L. Adam were continued by his students
- Józef Kaleta, Maria Myszkowska and Wanda Romanowska.
Their research focused initially on the issues of financing environmental protection and technological progress. Transformation of the Polish economy and development of international contacts
meant, however, that in the spectrum of research there were included new areas and institutions of the financial system. First of all, it is important to mention international finances. It is
also worth to emphasize a strong current of legal aspects of business entities, including financial institutions. It can be considered that this element is a direct reference to the tradition
of schools created by prof. L. Adam. Commercial banking is an area which became the subject of interest for the team at the Department of Finance at a later time. However, the intensity of
research and the involvement of many of the employees resulted in numerous group publications.
The creator of the Wrocław School of Economic and Regional Policy was Bolesław Winiarski. The history of the development of this School is inextricably linked to the
evolution and development of the academic community in the post-war Wrocław and the history of the development of the Department of Economic Policy at the Higher School of Economics. The
first head of the Department of Economic Policy was prof. Włodzimierz Boerner.
The concept of rational planning, according to the traditional Polish understanding, is based on the praxeological definition of the principle of rational management of Tadeusz Kotarbiński
and the application of this concept in the economy, referring to the economic calculation in programming socio-economic development and economic policy, which became the basis of scientific
research, as well as the basis the explanation of the mechanisms governing the economy by professor Boerner and his team. The School emphasised the need to take into account the spatial
factor in the process of management.
Prof. Winiarski together with his employees also participated in these studies. Their results were among the important contributions to shaping the opinion about the need to create a common
European regional policy within the European Community. The end of the sixties and the following years were a period during which the Department developed an extensive cooperation with
economic institutes of foreign dealing with economic and regional issues, including institutes in Bordeaux, Lille, Perugia, Neuchâtel, Dresden, St. Petersburg, Kiev and
Novosibirsk.
In some cases, the cooperation of the departments created the basis for the conclusion of broader agreements on scientific cooperation between Wrocław Academy of Economics and foreign
universities. The achievements of this period concerning the cooperation with universities and institutes abroad and in terms of regional research, in addition to the later publication of the
team, contributed greatly to the achievement by the Department, headed by prof. Winiarski, of the status of the Department of Jean Monnet by the European Commission in Brussels in 1993. The
Professor’s team not only continued and further developed their research in the field of regional policy and spatial development, but also included research on major issues of economic policy
in Western Europe integrating itself with Central and Eastern Europe.
The creator of the School of Urban Economics in Jelenia Góra was prof. Adam Ginsbert-Gebert. His contribution to the Department of Regional Economics and Tourism in Jelenia
Góra are priceless. Established in 1972 under the guidance of prof. Ginsbert-Gebert, the Department of Municipal Economy was the beginning of the education of students in this specialisation
and the development of academic staff. Along with the socio-economic changes, the employees of the Department of Regional Economics adapted their teaching curricula for both full-time
students and part-time students, to the market needs for staff training. Until 1996, it was "urban management", in 1996-2000 it was "city management" and since 2000 it has been "the economy
and public administration." Research interests of prof. Ginsbert-Gebert focused on the following issues:
- monographs about cities and regions,
- urbanization processes and their communal aspects,
- Infrastructure and its role in urban development,
- issues of housing,
- analysis of living conditions in different cities on the basis of surveys,
- economic aspects of environmental protection.
An important part of the research developed by the professor was also the issue of the economic aspects of environmental protection. The employees of the Department of Regional Economics
continue Professor’s work started thirty years ago in the new realities of the local economy, in terms of both teaching and research on the economics of the city, the development of
municipalities, cities and regions in Poland and in the European Union. This results in numerous scientific publications, publication of academic books and numerous development strategies for
municipalities, districts and regions.
The creators of Jelenia Góra’s School of Tourism and Tourist Economy are prof. Józef Krynicki and prof. Aleksander Stefan Kornak, who should be regarded as
precursors of the research focused on tourist traffic and tourism as a social phenomenon, as well as market and tourist economy. The School of Tourism and Tourist Economy was shaped in the
process of developing two main research trends: tourism and tourist traffic (under the guidance of prof. J. Krynicki) and research on the market and tourist economy (under prof. A. Kornak).
The first field of research was associated with the perception of tourism by the end of the seventies of the last century only in terms of a social phenomenon (i.e. social tourism), whereas
the beginnings of the second stream date back to the mid-eighties, when studies were undertaken on tourism as a complex socio-economic and spatial phenomenon.
The main research trends developed at the School of Tourism and Economy Tourist include issues of economic governance, tourism, consumption of goods and tourism services, with particular
emphasis on changes in structure and spatial layout, the market of travel agencies, hotel companies and spas, methods and ways of shaping and evaluation of the quality of services in tourism
and the usefulness of the concept of public-private partnership in the development of the tourism product in towns and regions, its distribution and promotion.
The creator of the Wrocław School of Marketing and Economics of Trading Commodities was Teodor Kramer. The formation of prof. Kramer’s research team falls at the beginning of
the sixties, when it was customary to doctrinally negate the category of the market and its motor importance for the development of the country. Professor Kramer drew attention to the failure
of central planning and the need for efforts to launch the function and mechanisms of the market. The research problems undertaken in the framework of the school mainly included market
processes in the conditions of the restrictions, the processes of consumption in various sections, and processes of development of the service sector. Market and consumption research were
also cognitively important.
They were dominated by their spatial solutions, which in the period of the planned economy allowed to develop a basis for decisions of regional policy, and gradually also for industrial and
commercial enterprises. These studies helped to lay the foundations of today's marketing, to formulate the mission and tasks of the market, and they also made it possible to develop
cooperation with business practice in the context of open seminars, doctoral studies, postgraduate studies and other forms. Initiated by prof. Kramer in the late sixties, the directions of
research were continued by his colleagues and students, among whom several must be especially distinguished: prof. Józefa Kramer, prof. Leszek
Żabiński, prof. Marek Prymon, prof. Krystyna Mazurek -Łopacińska.
The School was founded by prof. Aniela Styś and it was a continuation of the School of Marketing created by Teodor Kramer. It focused especially on the sphere of services,
particularly in the area of economics and organization services, services in the socio-economic development, market services in spatial terms, economics and marketing management in the sphere
of services. The centre in Wroclaw was considered to be the creator of the foundation of a new discipline in the Polish economy - the economy of services. Research grown on the basis of the
theory of the three sectors allowed employees of the Institute to determine the relationship between the development of service and the economy as a whole. The results of the studies on the
real transformations of the service sector in Poland complement the global and European maps of economic development.
In the studies, aided by especially constructed metrics, there was specified a particular distance necessary to be overcome by the Polish economy. The introduction of the spatial dimension
resulted in insightful regional diagnoses and revealed deep disparities in spatial development services. The results of the research provided assessments of the opportunities and risks for
the development sphere for non-profit organisations, and the ability to adapt achievements of marketing for non-profit organisations. It was recognised that there is a legitimate need for
levelling the development gap of the services sector, and marketing achievements in this regard can become useful.
The team of the Institute of Marketing headed by prof. A. Styś, and now by prof. K. Mazurek-Łopacińska also has substantial achievements in adapting the principles and tools of marketing to
the Polish economy, pointing to cognitive research and application ranges. It helped create a school of marketing research, recognised in Poland, under the guidance of prof. K.
Mazurek-Łopacińska, characterised by multiparadigmatic treatment of marketing with a strict methodical regime and development of new approaches and methods used in the exploration and
advanced analyses of different areas of marketing.
The school was founded by prof. Joseph Berak. Prof. Berak’s interest in phosphorus and research of phase equilibrium date back to the beginnings of his scientific career.
After returning to Poland in 1949, he resumed his work in this area, as well as started to address the problem of mineral fertilisers, so-called termophosphorates and feed phosphates. This
was his response to the appeals addressed by the Ministry of Chemical Industry for universities to undertake scientific issues related to the key economic problems for Poland. Another issue
which prof. Berak, along with six people from his team devoted a lot of attention was the chemistry of apatites. It was mainly fluoro, chloro, and calcium hydroxyapatite. This resulted in the
following achievements:
- creating a phase-theoretical basis of the production process of a thermal fertilizer called supertomasyna and thermal feed phosphate (which enabled discussion of the reactions occurring
during technological processes in rotary kilns, as well as prediction of the composition of the finished product, and therefore management of the processes),
- creating a phase-theoretical basis of pre-produced phosphate fertilizers: potassium-calcium and magnesium-potassium. Research on apatites also enabled discussion of the phosphors
produced in the country on the basis of apatite and calcium and the improvement of their quality, and it enabled better knowledge of raw materials for chemical phosphorus as apatite and
phosphorite.
In the early eighties, at the initiative of prof. Berak a large part of the Department’s employees took up studies of the phosphates of selected yttrium lanthanides and their reactions with
alkali metal and beryllium. Prof. J. Berak’s fascination with phosphorus and its compounds resulted in the initiation of his cyclical conference "Inorganic compounds of phosphorus."
The school was founded by prof. Jerzy Ziobrowski, head of the Department of Technology of the Food Industry, which conducted research in a number of specialties from the food
industry, especially in the broad area of biotechnology and fields indirectly associated with it. The main scientific problems were related to the submerged and surface lemon fermentation,
lactic acid fermentation, automation and computerization of baker's yeast culture and feed, receiving natural food colouring, the possibilities of increasing the capacity of gelling pectin
preparation, as well as the use of the oil industry waste for the production of fodder yeast and obtaining and using the enzyme specimen of the Penicillium roqueforti mycelia, with yeast of
the cell sap and reworking of potatoes in a starch factory.
At the same time, there was conducted research on the construction of new types of bioreactors and equipment for automatic control and adjustment of the pH, the level of foam in the dissolved
oxygen concentration, temperature and the like. Among particularly valuable research there were studies on fermentation technology. Research on said issues was implemented as part of the
central programs of basic research, central research and development programs and direct contracts with economic entities. The main characteristics of the research undertaken by the group led
by prof. Ziobrowski were the team nature of the work, conducting a number of research topics in the full development cycle, the use of the most modern equipment, often of their own design,
striving to automate the processes, openness to the needs of industry and manufacturing practices and the undertaking of ambitious research topics.
Founded by Jan Sondel, the School dealt with the agricultural progress and its dissemination, including the agronomy of society, and it created the basis for theoretical and
practical agricultural advisory. Special attention was paid to the problems of economics and organisation of livestock production, especially dairy cattle and milk production. Furthermore, it
provided a foundation to promote the progress of agriculture and the organizational structure of agricultural services, as well as the theory of agricultural progress. It conducted extensive
research on spatial problems of agriculture, including the determination of a feeding zone within the city of Wroclaw, the resource bases of food industry companies, and the situation of
agriculture in the industrialised regions.
There was also studied the extent of progress in agriculture and its economic efficiency and social effects, as well as the economic efficiency of plant protection. Much attention was also
paid to the change of the political system in agriculture and in the whole Polish agribusiness, including structural transformation and ownership. The scientific works of the School were
presented in numerous scientific and popular science publications and at national and international scientific conferences. The School’s achievements contributed to the acceleration of
progress in the Polish agriculture and to the increase of agricultural production, as well as the removal of a number of barriers to the development of agriculture and to its modernisation.
Some of the results were used for the development of agricultural policy and the formulation of agricultural legislation. Currently, the work focuses on the problems of agribusiness, with
particular emphasis on the theory of agribusiness, development of agribusiness in Poland and in other countries, and the impact of various factors on its development, inventions in
agriculture, marketing of agricultural and food products, trade in agriculture and its transformation, trade in food and its changes, and agricultural and food industry markets. In addition,
within the scope of interest there are also problems of the agribusiness abroad.
