Benchmarking of mining companies extracting hard coal in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

The article presents findings derived from the benchmarking comparison of four mining companies extracting hard coal in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin located on the boarder of the Czech Republic and Poland: OKD a.s. operating in the Czech Republic and three Polish entities Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa S. A. (JSW), Katowicki Holding Weglowy S. A., and Kompania Weglowa S. A. Although all companies extract the same mineral resource in analogous mining-geological conditions, their economic results differ significantly. The article benchmarks the mining companies in a 5-year period: from 2009 to 2014. Six financial indicators were used in order to achieve the goal: ROE, ROS, ROA, Debt to Equity Ratio, Assets Turnover, and Cash Flow Liquidity Ratio. In addition, the standard variable method was used together with Fuller's method to determine the weights of the different criteria. The benchmarking results, based on the values of integral ratio, show JSW as the leading company in 2009, while in 2014 Czech OKD gained the prime position. In general, during the 5-year observation period, JSW achieved the best financial results. The study presents JSW as the benchmarking leader due to the best performance achieved among the four mining companies extracting hard coal in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin positioned in Central-Eastern Europe.