Foreword

We start the New Year with a new title and a new look: Welcome to the Top 50 Executives in Business Services.

First, that new look. Our highly successful “Top” series of publications has been rebranded “Top 50 Executives.” Thus, “Top Business Services Executives” becomes “Top 50 Executives in Business Services.” Next month will see another new title, which started life on the planning board as Top Energy Executives, and now becomes “Top 50 Executives in Energy.” Each publication, which also has new headline typography, features a listing of the Top 50 executives (though we actually include 60 in this title). There are also detailed biographies of many of these leaders, introducing the personality behind the position, and editorial content specifically tailored to each particular field.

Business Services fully warrants its own publication in the “Top 50 Executives” series. It is a sector that has evolved in front of our eyes over the past couple of decades. It started out with lowly call centers and workbench platforms; basic roles were brought here by multinationals because Hungary offered a labor cost benefit. You don’t have to be an employment genius to realize that is an evolutionary dead-end. When the “Big Bang” expansion of the European Union brought in a sizeable chuck of the old Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc in 2004, the stated aim of all those states was “convergence,” that is bringing their economies, living standards and salaries into line with the more established EU states. Once that is achieved, the cost benefit evaporates, and soon after that, so would those simple jobs, heading further east or south in search of newer, cheaper labor pools.

Having proved the quality of the labor force, the sector thus started actively going after higher skilled, more complex roles that build on Hungarian skillsets such as math; Morgan Stanley, for example, does a lot of its mathematical modeling work in Hungary. The point is that these roles won’t simply be shipped to a cheaper market once Budapest hits pay parity with Berlin. For a start, the accumulated knowledge of the people inside what are now known as business services centers and centers of excellence is itself an example of added value.

According to the latest figures available on the statistica.com website, released in December 2022, the services sector contributed a 57.01% share to Hungary’s GDP in 2021 (a broadly consistent figure, though the highest in the period dating back to 2011), with industry responsible for 24.25% and agriculture 3.35%. The Association of Business Service Leaders in Hungary estimates that the business services sector employs about 90,000 people in the country. This, then, is our look at one of the most significant sectors of the local economy. We hope you find it informative and useful.

Robin Marshall Editor-in-chief Budapest Business Journal