Developing a competitive advantage by Cash & Carry wholesalers on emerging markets the case of Poland

Purpose: The idea of the paper came from the observation that small wholesaler managed by Portuguese - Eurocash has been able to capture most of the segment of “mom-and-pop” and middle-sized Polish stores. Its sales have been growing when at the same time the global company MAKRO Cash & Carry, which as a first mover was very successful, is losing the market. So, the attempt has been made to analyze Eurocash success in the framework of existing theories of developing competitive advantage on international markets. Design/methodology/approach: The concepts of dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurship theory are shortly described due to the fact that they were found out as the most appropriate to discuss the issue of gaining competitive advantage on Polish wholesale market. The longitudinal case study, in which international strategies of MAKRO Cash & Carry and Eurocash are compared, is presented Findings: Dynamic capabilities are path dependent so when the company wants to sustain advantage on the foreign market characterized by a different structure than is prevailing in its other international markets it could face problems. Such a market is the chance for the entrepreneur which sees the market opportunities and could size them. Originality/value: Paper contributes to the theory of international entrepreneurship showing that that entrepreneurs could be successful on foreign emerging markets using knowledge learned when their domestics markets were exposed to similar changes. It shows how wholesalers and small shops could successfully compete on FMCG market in contemporary economy, characterized by the growing role of networks.