Business Review No. 17, May 16 - 22

3Q: HP is planning to create 600 new jobs in Bucharest this year at its Global eBusiness Operation Center. Alexander Weigl, the center’s GM, details the company’s further HR plans »page 3

ROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY

SPECIAL REPORT MBA PROGRAMS AFTER A DIFFICULT PAST YEAR, THE LOCAL MARKET FOR MBA PROGRAMS SHOULD PICK UP SLIGHTLY, SAY INDUSTRY REPS, WHO OUTLINE THE PROFILE OF THEIR STUDENTS »PAGES 16-17

May 16 - 22, 2011 / VOLUME 16, NUMBER 17

NEWS

Mobile money

PREMIUM FOCUS

Telecom operator Orange is planning EUR 110 million of investments this year to expand its network and simplify the customer experience » page 7

Johan Gabriels, CEO of RBS Romania, says that the British lender is putting its big corporate and premium retail customers at the center of its local strategy »page 10

NEWS

One for all?

Media reports suggest the Cosmote CEO may take the helm of group company Romtelecom in a move towards consolidation » pages 7 EVENT

British business Participants at BR’s British Country Focus see the local economy on a measured path to recovery » page 8 FILM REVIEW

Courtesy of RBS

EMPLOYMENT HR specialists see an increase in job opportunities on a market that is moving towards maturity as it comes out of the crisis. BR surveys current trends » page 12-15

TOURISM Piatra Neamt was named a tourist resort last year, but the city struggles with being perceived as a transit point for other destinations in Moldova » page 18-19

Find out what our reviewer Thor-t of the new superhero flick » page 20

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

3Q AlexanderWeigl GM, HP Global e-Business Operations Center

NEWS 3

NEWS in brief WEEK in numbers

0.6

What is the overall investment in this operations center since it opened?

Over the course of the five years we have been here, the total investment HP has made in this center amounts to a couple of hundred million dollars. The other HP centers in the region have a slightly different focus. In Romania we focus mainly on sales administration while other centers can focus for instance on administration for human resources or marketing and financial administration for organizations in HP. The key focus in the center in Poland is on HR management and financial management services. From a shared services perspective, we have another very big center in Sofia which is more for technical support for all HP customers. We have other centers, not as big as the three mentioned, for instance in Slovakia.

What is the career path of a new employee at the GeBOC center?

Let us take the example of a university graduate joining us for a sales administration job.

Typically, what they start with is a set of training courses and then there are a couple of areas you can develop: the most common one is to increase the complexity of the work they cover. After that, they have the opportunity to move into the management chain, to become a supervisor of a team or a manager in the organization. The other opportunity is to become a subject matter expert, either in the way we optimize and structure the processes or more on the analytical side. In theory, there’s also the opportunity to move into a local HR department, into the local training department. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

Courtesy of www.primaevadare.ro/Florin Raducanu

What was the training budget for the certification of the HP GeBOC employees?

The total budget for training was EUR 320,000, of which HP invested roughly 50 percent. The project was co-financed by the European Social Fund, the state budget and our own resources. A total of 309 employees of the HP GeBOC Center received certification for their foreign language skills. At the moment 3,000 people with advanced foreign language skills work in the Bucharest center. Our personnel growth rate over the past two-three years was around 600 people annually, and this year we want to grow at the same level. We occupy three buildings in the Novo Park campus and soon we will sign a contract to rent the fourth one.

IMAGE of the week Cyclists get on their bike to kick off season Almost 1,000 people joined the cross-country cycling marathon

percent – is the GDP growth in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter, according to ISN data

2.2 billion euros – is the value of the local telecom market in 2010 as estimated by A.T. Kearney

22 billion dollars – is Romania’s expected contribution to global construction output by 2020, according to a study sponsored by PwC

Priva Evadare (first run off) last Sunday. The 55km marathon started in front of the Police Academy in Bucharest, went through

LEASING

forests and country roads and ended on the shore of Snagov Lake.

Arval reports 10 percent increase in market share

POWER Petrom sees EUR 200 million growth in Q1 The oil and gas company, Petrom, has announced Q1 sales of EUR 1.17 billion, up 27 percent compared to the same period of 2010. Net profit in line with international accounting standards reached EUR 199.1 million, up 4 percent on the first quarter of 2010, mainly affected by a EUR 43 million financial loss. “The retail market dropped 4-5 percent in the first part of the year. On the one hand, it was caused by the decrease of salaries in the public sector and on the other it was a response to high oil product prices. I am not really optimistic about a rebound in demand this year considering forecasts point to a mere 1-2 percent economic growth for Romania," said Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of Petrom.

Adrem Invest plans cogeneration project in Suceava Industrial engineering company Adrem Invest says it has plans to develop a cogeneration project in Suceava.

The company registered last year a turnover of RON 74.8 million, representing a 70 percent increase compared to 2009 results.

Adrem Invest concluded this year a partnership with E. ON Gaz Distributie, through which, starting May 1, the company has taken over the gas consumption index reading service. Currently, the company operates the same service for energy company CEZ Romania.

STOCK EXCHANGE Fifth of Tarom shares to be sold on BSE or to strategic investor The government will sell at most 20 percent of shares in Tarom through a stock exchange listing or to strategic investors, according to the letter of intent that the government has agreed upon with the IMF. The state has also dropped the idea of selling minority stakes in Bucharest and Timisoara airports. Initially, the agreement with the IMF involved the complete privatization of Tarom and the sale of 20 percent stakes in Henri Coanda airport in Bucharest and Traian Vuia airport in Timisoara.

The Romanian authorities are expected to select a legal consultant and an investment bank to manage the national airline’s IPO. The government has committed to appoint private management for Tarom by the end of November.

Operational leasing company Arval has reported a 10 percent increase in its market share for 2010. At the end of last year the company had a fleet of 3,500 cars, up 30 percent compared to the end of 2009, and a turnover of EUR 21 million, a 40 percent rise on the year before.

Investments made in 2010 amounted to EUR 11 million, and the budget for this year stands at EUR 16 million. In 2011 Arval plans to expand its fleet to 4,300 cars and increase its turnover by 20-25 percent.

TELECOM Telecom market reaches EUR 2.2 bln in 2010 After a period of rapid growth, Romania still faces the delayed impact of the crisis with no immediate sign of recovery, according to the survey Romanian Market Development – Challenges and Opportunities, carried out by AT Kearney. The telecom market has been especially affected, declining over the last two years due to churn and customer base shrinkage, falling ARPU and adoption of substitutes such as VOIP and neighboring networks.

The mobile market fell 4 percent between 2008, when it was worth EUR 2.5 billion, and 2010, when the market amounted to EUR 2.2 billion.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

4 NEWS

NEWS in brief Romtelecom Q1 revenues fall 11 percent to EUR 166.3 mln The revenues of telecom operator Romtelecom dropped by 10.9 percent in the first quarter of this year on the same period of 2010, to EUR 166.3 million. The company’s EBITDA plummeted by 62.6 percent in the first quarter, to EUR 22.2 million. However, the EBITDA that does not include restructuring costs was EUR 42.9 million, according to a report by the Greek company OTE. Romtelecom announced at the beginning of the year that it would start an efficiency program through which it would axe 1,400 positions.

The company’s customer base in the landline sector continued to diminish, and Romtelecom lost 5.1 percent of its customers, taking the total down to 2.57 million landline subscribers.

However, the firm’s number of internet clients increased by 24.5 percent in Q1, 2011, surpassing 1 million. Meanwhile, Romtelecom’s TV customer base also exceeded 1 million clients, a 14.9 percent growth compared to the first quarter of 2010.

PROPERTY & INFRASTRUCTURE Bucharest office stock reaches 1.55 million sqm in Q1 of decline Bucharest’s stock of office space reached 1.55 million sqm at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to The Advisers Knight Frank. In Q1, 32,000 sqm of new office space was delivered in Swan Office Park (29,000 sqm GLA) in northern Bucharest and in Frumoasa Center (3,100 sqm GLA) in Victoriei Square. The demand for offices continued to be focused on central and semi-central areas.

Compared to the same period of last year when 65,000 sqm was transacted in Bucharest, in the first quarter of this year around 50,000 sqm was rented, a 23 percent drop.

The decline is due not to a slowdown in demand but to lengthier negotiations, taking an average of six months until closure of the deal.

The most active tenants come from the pharmaceutical and medical services sector, followed by the professional services sector and IT&C.

US Embassy completes three assistance projects in Tulcea The US Embassy has completed three humanitarian projects worth USD 449,000 in Tulcea county. The projects were financed through the Humanitarian Assistance Program of the US European Command (EUCOM). The projects involved the construction and renovation of a kindergarten, a clinic and a foster home in Ceamurlia de Jos, Maliuc and Tulcea. A 280-sqm kindergarten for 25 children was built in Ceamurlia de Jos at a cost of USD 250,000.

The clinic in Maliuc, refurbished for USD 48,000, serves 2,500 people in an

area where unemployment is higher than 50 percent. The Cristian foster home in Tulcea, which was renovated for USD 150,000, accommodates 65-70 children of up to 17 years of age.

Government approves EUR 283 mln for modernizing 16 railway stations The government has approved a EUR 283 million program aimed at modernizing 16 railway stations. The works will be financed through non-refundable funds granted by the European Commission, the European Regional Development Fund, and the state budget through the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry budget.

The project entails the refurbishment and modernization of railway stations in Giurgiu, Alexandria, Slatina, RamnicuValcea, Pitesti, Resita Sud, Sfantul Gheorghe, Targu Mures, Zalau, Bistrita, Piatra-Neamt, Botosani, Vaslui, Braila, Calarasi and Slobozia.

Romania to bring USD 22 bln to global construction output by 2020 Romania is expected to contribute USD 22 billion to global construction output growth by 2020, according to the Global Construction 2020 report, a global study on construction sponsored by global advisory firm PwC. This would be the fourth largest contribution in Central and Eastern Europe after Russia with USD 117 billion, Turkey, USD 81 billion, and Poland with USD 51 billion and ahead of the Czech Republic with USD 13 billion, Bulgaria on USD 8 billion, Ukraine with USD 7 billion, and Hungary at USD 5 billion.

Altex posts EUR 195 mln turnover in 2010 Altex Romania, the retailer of IT equipment and home appliances, posted a turnover of EUR 195 million in 2010, which represented a 7 percent growth compared to the previous year. In 2009 the company posted a turnover of EUR 180 million. In the first three months of 2011, all categories of products registered growth, according to company officials.

The photo-video range posted 30 percent higher sales, IT products saw sales hike 20 percent while sales of home appliances grew by 10 percent.

EBRD approves EUR 10 mln loan for water sanitation in Buzau County The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a EUR 10 million loan for water sanitation services for more than 200,000 people in the county of Buzau.

The credit was given to Compania de Apa Buzau (ApaBuzau) and will be used to part-finance the construction and rehabilitation of wastewater collection and treatment facilities in five towns in Buzau.

The loan is part of the EUR 200 million Regional EU Cohesion Fund Water Co-Financing Framework.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

6 NEWS BANKING PARTNER CONTENT

Problems specific to the challenge of acts issued by public authorities in public procurement procedures prior to concluding the contracts Given the current economic background, public proc u r e m e n t procedures are attracting more and more undertakings eager to build contractual relationIoana Gelepu ships which should Partner at Ţuca be highly reliable in Zbârcea & Asociaţii terms of finance.

As it is only natural, the manner of solving the lawsuits related to pre-contractual acts issued by the contracting authority within procurement procedures is a determining factor for undertakings in deciding to engage resources to participate in such a procedure. More exactly, if these lawsuits raise various barriers for the undertakings seeking to challenge a decision of the authority, this would automatically operate as an inhibiting factor for their involvement in a procurement procedure. As far as the general interest is concerned, this would lead to an unfortunate outcome: a lower competitiveness in procurement procedures brings less advantageous bids for the contracting authority.

This field is currently affected by the limited ways to challenge the authority’s pre-contractual acts. Thus, the two-tier system existing before January 2011, which allowed interested parties to bring their case before either the NCSC[1], i.e the administrative body competent to solve complaints in public procurement procedures, or the courts of law, was replaced by a onetier challenge method, that before the NCSC. Under the new system, the court action is only available at a later stage, when contesting the NCSC decision, by lodging an appeal before the competent court of appeal.

Aside from the legal controversy surrounding the unconstitutionally repealed provisions which allowed bidders claiming an injury by the authority’s acts[2] to bring a court action, the lawmaker’s new vision on the mechanisms of solving complaints in this area of practice raises certain obstacles as regards the process through which the legality of such acts is verified.

The first such obstacle is related to costs in the circumstances where, if NCSC rejects the complaint, the authority is to retain a portion of the performance bond in an amount that differs from case to case, being established mainly on the basis of ratios that vary based on the value of the procurement contract. For instance, for a contract worth approximately EUR 10 million, the amount retained will be around EUR 2,800. This measure is the result of a change of the relevant provisions instituted in July 2010. However, its inhibiting effects were not felt at the time because the bidders in public procurement procedures were then able to elect to challenge the authority’s acts in court, which entailed re-

duced costs. Under the same hypothesis of a EUR 10 million contract, the court fee amounted to approximately EUR 350. It was not until NCSC was established as the only authority competent to settle such complaints in first instance that the effects of this regulation were felt, as regards the costs entailed by the complaints against the authorities’ acts.

The second major obstacle concerns the manner in which bidders are allowed to sustain their case, i.e. illegality of the authority’s act. It is worth noting that the complaints in this field usually involve technical issues (for instance, the qualification criteria imposed under the awarding documentation or the technical specifications established in the tender book), i.e. elements that would require a thorough expert investigation. Although the applicable legislation allows expert reviews to be conducted before NCSC, the time limit within which complaints are solved before this institution (20 days) is unrealistic for the completion of expert reviews - a highly time-consuming procedure which in courts takes months or even years.

This time limitation (solving the complaint within 20 days), instituted for reasons that are otherwise salutary, i.e. an expedited settlement of these proceedings, probably determines a certain reluctance on the part of NCSC to allow this evidentiary means (technical expert review), which is crucial for the complaint lodged before it.

The restrictions are maintained in the second stage of the process of challenging the authority’s act – the court appeal against the NCSC decision.

This appeal has the characteristics of a final appeal, a stage when expert reviews are not allowed. This limitation has now been emphasized by the change instituted in January 2011, according to which interested parties are no longer allowed to contest directly in courts, acts that pertain to public procurement procedures. Thus, when it came to approving an expert review, the courts were much more comfortable with the idea of extending the trial duration which, in the lawmaker’s opinion, should have been a swift one, finalized after only 1-2 hearings.

Having in view both the costs entailed by the challenge procedure and also the remote chances that NCSC allow the conduct of expert reviews seeking to clarify the objections of illegality raised by the bidders in public procurement procedures, we would welcome a legislative intervention that remedies the shortcomings referred to above which inhibit the participation in procurement procedures, with visible consequences in terms of general interest.

1] Reference is made to the National Commission for Solving Complaints.

2] The controversy arises from the fact that the Constitution establishes as optional the administrative jurisdictions as well as the free access to justice.

Garanti plans further investments in expansion and IT infrastructure

Garanti Bank operates in Romania as a universal bank

G

aranti Bank registered a profit of EUR 2.4 million (according to IFRS standards) in the first three months of 2011, while continuing its steady growth of the last four years.

The lender had EUR 1.5 billion in assets at the end of March. Its loan portfolio rose to EUR 835 million, while deposits reached EUR 470 million during the same period. The number of debit and credit cards exceeded 200,000.

Murat Atay, general manager of Garanti Group, said, “We remain committed to the Romanian operations and will continue to invest in our local development.

Such investments will be mainly directed towards local expansion, as well as the IT infrastructure needed to bring very successful products and services launched by our mother bank in Turkey to the local market.”

Aside from the lender, Garanti Group now includes Garanti Leasing, Garanti

Credite de Consum and Garanti Credite Ipotecare, which carry out their operations on the local market under the firm’s umbrella.

They complete the bank’s range of products and services with specific leasing products (financial leasing for cars, equipment and real estate, plus sale and leaseback) and fleet management services, consumer finance products such as sales finance and personal loans, as well as dedicated mortgage products for house or land acquisition or for refinancing purposes.

Garanti Bank operates in Romania as a local universal bank serving all business segments – retail, SME and corporate.

Present on the local market since 1998, it currently has more than 200,000 customers and a network of 75 branches, 170 ATMs and more than 7,000 POSs. Corina Dumitrescu, Istanbul

FMCG

Nestle brews up Nescafe Milano brand in Romania

N

estle has launched a new brand on the local market through its local Nescafe Professional division.

Nescafe Milano offers an integrated business solution for coffee beverages and is addressed solely to horeca operators.

The launch took place last week in the newly opened Nescafe Milano café in Romana Square, which is the first such café in the world according to the company.

Launching the brand in Romania demonstrates Nestle’s belief that the local market has strong potential, said Jacques Reber, country manager of Nestle Romania.

Company representatives added that it is not Nestle’s intention to enter the coffee house field but simply to provide an integrated business solution for horeca operators. “With the new Nescafe Milano

concept we plan to become market leaders on the horeca segment for coffee based beverages,” said Ovidiu Tunaru, country manager at Nestle Professional Romania.

The Nescafe Milano business solution includes products, equipment and programs for partner cafes – staff training, maintenance, business planning, marketing and communication strategy.

The Nescafe Milano café in Romana Square is situated in the grounds of the former Everest restaurant and is owned by businessman Georgios Repidonis, who is also one of the shareholders in the Lacoste importer in Romania. EUR 200,000 has been invested in opening the cafe, which has an area of about 100 sqm, 80 seats inside and 110 outside.

Simona Bazavan

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

NEWS 7

TELECOM

TELECOM

Orange plans to invest EUR 110 mln this year, EUR 500-600 mln by 2015

Cosmote CEO ‘may also take helm of Romtelecom’

S

Agerpres

Thierry Millet, CEO of Orange Romania, has outlined the firm’s investment plans

O

said Madalina Suceveanu, chief technology officer of Orange Romania. The company also aims to reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent. Suceveanu said that for efficiency purposes, Orange would make use of the option to share infrastructure with other operators.

The CTO also said Orange Romania covers 88.8 percent of the country’s surface and 99.5 percent of the population, being market leader in its voice services coverage.

The operator also announced the launch of two new products on the market. It has introduced for the first time in Romania the HD Voice product, available to all Orange customers free of charge for national and local calls between two compatible handsets in the 3G coverage area The 3G platform is available in several thousand localities while the 3G+ service (14.4 Mbps) is available in 119 cities.

The company has in its portfolio three handsets that are compatible with the HD Voice service, Samsung Galaxy mini, Nokia E5 and Nokia N8. The range will be expanded over the next months.

The other service launched by Orange is the Extra Signal solution which targets companies. It is based on Femtocell technology which is meant to ensure better quality of voice and mobile data at the office by improving the 3G/3G+ coverage inside the building.

Otilia Haraga

panies will remain separate entities.”

The analyst said that he expected there to be high demands regarding the EBITDA from the new management.

The revenues of Cosmote in Romania decreased by 6.5 percent to EUR 107.3 million in Q1. The company’s EBITDA increased from EUR 6.6 million in the first quarter of last year to EUR 17.9 million in Q1, 2011. Romtelecom revenues sank by 10.9 percent in the first quarter of this year from the same period of last year to EUR 166.3 million.

The company’s EBITDA plunged by 62.6 percent in the first quarter, to EUR 22.2 million. However, the EBITDA which does not include restructuring costs was EUR 42.9 million, according to a report by the Greek company OTE. Romtelecom announced at the beginning of the year that it would start an efficiency program through which it would axe 1,400 positions.

Representatives of the Romanian state will meet representatives of OTE and Deutsche Telekom to make a final decision regarding the takeover of the shares the state owns in Romtelecom.

OTE has a 54.01 percent stake in Romtelecom while the Romanian state has the remaining 45.99 percent of the shares, which it evaluates at EUR 1 billion. Deutsche Telekom is also present in Romania, with a 30 percent stake in OTE. Otilia Haraga

Photo: Laurentiu Obae

range Romania plans to invest EUR 110 million this year into network expansion, increasing coverage of rural areas, the launch of new products and the simplification of the customer experience.

“The EUR 110 million we will invest this year is more than we invested in Romania in 2009 and 2010,” said Thierry Millet, CEO of Orange Romania, during a press conference. Millet also announced that Orange would invest between EUR 500 million and EUR 600 million in Romania by 2015, but the exact volume of investments will depend on how the company is affected by external factors such as the erosion of financial indicators on the telecom market, the lack of balance on the market, and most of all by regulations and other decisions made by authorities. The operator will modernize its existing network of communications in rural zones and supply broadband services to customers living in these areas.

“This project will start in June this year in the Ardeal area and will be completed at the end of 2012. The total investment in this project alone will be EUR 100 million.

It will consist of changing all the network elements in the respective areas.

We will work with our partners Huawei, Alcatel and Cisco who will help us implement the internet speed which will be 14.4 Mbps. What’s more, the technology we will implement in this project is LTE ready,”

tefanos Theocharopoulos, currently CEO of mobile operator Cosmote Romania, may also be appointed as head of TV, internet and telephony operator Romtelecom, according to media reports.

Neither of the companies would comment on the suggestion when asked by BR. Both Romtelecom and Cosmote are part of the Greek company OTE. At the moment, Romtelecom is led by GM Yorgos Ioannidis.

“This has happened in other places where Deutsche Telekom or OTE has changed management. The mobile industry is much more efficient from the point of view of costs. It is a logical move, as a general principle, to prefer to have the management of the mobile company at the top,” Nicu Pana, independent telecom consultant, commented to Business Review. “However, I do not expect the entire management of Romtelecom will be changed.”

Pana added, “What will most likely happen will be a much higher level of integration from the point of view of the offers made to the end user. A first step in this direction has already been made. I expect for instance that Romtelecom will push the voice and data of Cosmote much further forward, there will be better integration of the sales channels and coordination of the management of the two companies. But I think the two com-

Stefanos Theocharopoulos, CEO of Cosmote Romania

STOCK EXCHANGE

TELECOM

Property Fund receives approval to invest in NYSE securities

Romtelecom and Cosmote to supply ‘million euro’ services to BCR

T

he National Securities Commission (CNVM) has given the green light to the Property Fund to invest in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) securities.

The New York market is authorized and regulated by the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Property Fund shares were being traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange at a price of RON 0.5 per share last week.

In March the fund started buying shares outside local capital markets, when it purchased EUR 63 million of stock on the Austrian market.

At the end of March, the fund had net assets worth EUR 4 billion invested in

over 80 companies such as Petrom, BRD, Transelectrica and Transgaz.

The Property Fund was set up by the Romanian government in December 2005 to compensate people whose assets were abusively expropriated by the communist regime, especially in cases where restitution in kind was not possible. Compensation was awarded by the granting of shares in the Property Fund, proportional to the loss. The government meets the value of compensation claims by reallocating shares from its holding to eligible claimants. It is intended that the government will over time become a minority shareholder in the fund. ∫

R

omtelecom and Cosmote will supply telecommunication solutions to Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR).

The contract was awarded to the two telecom players following a public auction organized by BCR last fall.The value of the deal is several million Euro and it is the largest contract of integrated telecom services on the market, company officials told Business Review.

Following the signing of the contract, Romtelecom will supply electronic services (via a VPN with over 600 points of presence) and IP telephony (via an IPTel solution integrated with the SIP Trunk

service for more than 6,000 IP telephones). The contract also covers the integration of new communication equipment. Cosmote will supply mobile telephony and data services.

Romtelecom’s division Romtelecom Business Solutions has more than 1,000 large companies as clients (including banks, governmental institutions, pharma and retail firms) as well as more than 100,000 small and medium businesses.

Cosmote Romania had more than 6.6 million customers at the end of March 31.

Otilia Haraga

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

8

UK gives market A-OK despite long-standing obstacles There are positive signs that the local economy is on the right track to recovery, albeit at a measured pace, argued company representatives present at the second British Business Forum organized by Business Review last week.

Nevertheless, RBS Romania’s results last year were positive, with the lender reporting a profit of a little over RON 150 million.

Romanian exporters look to do battle in Britain

From l-r: Iulian Patrascanu, managing partner at Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates; Brian Davies, chairman of the BRCC; Johan Gabriels, CEO of RBS Romania; Kurt Weber, managing director of Horvath & Partners

Almost all the drawbacks to doing business in Romania pointed out by businesspeople present at the event are the same as more than ten years ago. Unsuitable infrastructure, unpredictability and volatility persist and the reason why these deep-rooted issues have still not been solved lies in the lack of mediumto long-term planning by the public authorities.

Raymond Breden, president-elect of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce (BRCC), who moderated the discussions, argued that short-termism is also common among Romanian companies and businesspeople.

Is the local economy out of the woods and on the right path to sustainable recovery? While there are positive signs, the recovery can only be gradual from this point on, was the opinion of company representatives at the event. We are looking at another three to five tough years ahead and people will have to get used to spending money more wisely, argued Brian Davies chairman of the BRCC, at the BR event.

One positive sign is a shift in companies’ priorities from defensive action to finding new business opportunities and ways to further grow their business, said

Kurt Weber, managing director at Horvath & Partners.

“Things are definitely getting better.

Our clients’ priorities have changed.

While in the last two years it was about liquidities, risk management and nonperforming loans, now it is about developing new business, being more clientoriented and improving sales. It is about, let’s say, being more aggressive, more active and visible on the market side,” he added.

Iulian Patrascanu, managing partner with Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates, also voiced his view that local companies are becoming more proactive and the time of large-scale restructuring projects is over.

Addressing market rumors that RBS could be selling its local subsidiary, Johan Iulian Patrascanu “Major restructuring projects are over. Companies are now focusing on ways to preserve the cash, to prevent future losses and how to further develop”

Gabriels, the bank’s CEO, said at the event that there has been interest from other players but no actual offer has been made so far.

Presently, the bank’s operations in Romania are not of strategic importance to the RBS group.

Raymond Breden

Brian Davies

“Most investors, if not all, despair at the absence of medium- to longterm strategy.

Frankly, one expects this of political parties but it also applies to local business partners”

“In recession cash is king and everybody should manage their business for cash – what will kill you is not losses but running out of money”

Johan Gabriels “There has been interest in RBS Romania following the announcement of our results but I can say that there have not been any offers made to buy the local subsidiary”

Kurt Weber

All photos: Laurentiu Obae

∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN

“Foreign direct investments are a little bit like banking. It gives you an umbrella when the weather is fine; when the rain comes, it goes back home,” said Davies.

Romania does need more foreign direct investments but the focus should not be just bringing companies here but also a clear strategy as to what should be done with the money that comes to Romania.

And right now the country’s best chance for future growth is exports, Davies added. In 2010 Romanian exports to the UK went up by 50 percent against the previous year while British exports to Romania increased by only 13 percent.

Commenting on this disparity, Kurt Weber noted that Romanian exports have increased to all countries, not only the UK, fueled by the faster recovery of external markets.

Also, exports have been driven by local companies, especially multinationals, who looked for new business opportunities outside the country.

The second British Business Forum was held last week at JW Marriott Grand Hotel Bucharest and gathered around 70 attendees.

The event was sponsored by RBS, Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates and Horvath & Partners and was organized with the support of BRCC and Interdean.

“Romania’s big advantage is not just competitive labor costs, but a good industrial base, good engineers and former state companies that have adapted to new market conditions”

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

10 INTERVIEW

RBS puts money on corporate and retail customers CV Johan Gabriels

Johan Gabriels, CEO of RBS Romania, tells Business Review about the current state of the banking scene and the lender’s local strategy.

Johan Gabriels was appointed CEO of RBS Romania in September 2009, after spending 20 years in management positions at companies from the financialbanking and FMCG fields. Before he came to Romania he had worked as financial director for the European consumer finance division of RBS plc and as CFO for the retail & commercial markets, Europe and Middle East division of ABN Amro (Netherlands). After graduating from the faculty of engineering in Belgium, Gabriels worked in many countries and for companies such as Arthur Andersen, Mars (Netherlands, Russia and France), PepsiCo (France, Italy and Spain), Capital One (US and Great Britain), MasterCard (Belgium) and Eli Lilly (Netherlands).

∫ ANDA SEBESI What is the outlook for the Romanian banking market in 2011?

From a system perspective, the banks’ performance is closely connected to the overall economy. The Romanian banking system will probably stagnate in 2011.

If this prediction becomes a 2 percent fall or 2 or 3 percent rise, then so much better or worse for lenders. It is actually very difficult to say with certainty how things will pan out, as there may be some surprises coming up.

Courtesy of RBS

All the banks have joined the race for refinancing. What are your thoughts on this?

Refinancing loans has become more common recently, which also resulted in many promotional campaigns run by various banks. There are several reasons for this trend, one of them being the fact that customers have become more pragmatic and are paying more attention to the relationship they have with their bank. RBS Romania actually encourages this pragmatic attitude, by offering free and impartial financial advisory services through the MoneySense program to any who is interested, no matter if they are customers of the bank or not.

Refinancing a loan is a win-win situation because customers get lower monthly installments and consolidate their debts and the bank gets clients who are “educated”

tication grow, we can expect continuous investment from financial institutions in the quality of the services offered. That said, the level of financial literacy is quite low (30 out of 100) according to the study I mentioned earlier, so we expect banks to continue to invest in financial education programs in 2011.

from the financial point of view, as they already know the procedures and modus operandi of the banking services because they have had other loans before.

How would you characterize RBS Romania’s financial performance in 2010?

We are very happy with the financial indicators from last year.

The results showed a profit of RON 142.7 million, which brought our ROA to 2.23 percent and our ROE to 18.43 percent. Compared to the average banking system indicators, we had very good results last year.

What level has the credit market reached in Romania and what will 2011 bring in this domain?

We don’t foresee a significant increase in crediting. Retail loans will continue to be cantered on refinancing, whereas corporate crediting will probably increase slightly only in the context of growth for the economy. At the same time there is a large segment of the population (52 percent) that is under-banked in Romania (according to a study by the World Bank), which will allow the growth and diversification of products and services offered to retail clients. As customers’ demands and the level of sophis-

What will be the main components of RBS Romania’s strategy in 2011?

We will continue to concentrate on our target audience (big corporate and premium retail customers with above average incomes); therefore the products and the new features attached to the existing products and services that we are going to launch will be customized for this type of client.

How many branches are operational at the moment and what are your plans for the future in this respect?

We have 25 branches in 15 cities serving both corporate and retail customers and four lounges dedicated to Royal Preferred Banking clients. We intend to conserve our network; we don’t foresee a significant increase or decrease in the number of our outlets.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

WHO’S NEWS Sandor Csepeli is the new CEO of CIG Romania. He is taking over from Istvan Kadar who was given another position with the group in Hungary.

Csepeli has extensive professional experience in the life insurance industry having worked both in Romania and Hungary over the years. Prior to joining the team, he worked as chief sales officer (CSO) at ING insurance Hungary. Between 2007 and February 2011 he was sales director and later CSO at ING Insurance Romania.

Csepeli holds an MBA from the University of Economic Sciences in Budapest.

Bogdan Dobre is the new manager of Holcim’s concrete & aggregates division. He has been part of the Holcim Romania team since 2000, and was previously national cement sales manager. Dobre is replacing Anastas Dimovski, who will continue

WHO’S NEWS 11 Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers.

Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro his career within Holcim Group. Dobre started at Holcim in 2000. He graduated from the Organic Chemistry Faculty of the Bucharest University, has an EMBA from Tiffin University, USA, and built his career by combining his experience as a technologist engineer with that acquired in sales in various industries. His previous professional experience also includes a two-year stint at Danone Company. Holcim (Romania) S.A. has two cement plants in Campulung and Alesd, and one grinding station in Turda, 19 ecological concrete stations, five aggregate plants and one cement terminal in Bucharest.

Ioana Momiceanu has been appointed head of asset management for Dinu Patriciu Global Properties’ (DPGP) Romanian investment portfolio. She has over 17 years’ experience in the commercial property business and is a member of the Board of the Romanian Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

She has previously managed two startup offices in Romania: Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in 1995 and the CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) franchise in 2001. She was

CBRE’s managing director for seven years, from 2001 to 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, Momiceanu was the CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate Romania. To date, she has advised on the disposal/acquisition of more than 100,000 sqm of commercial space to/by international occupiers and has gained expertise in landlord representation and built on numerous landlords’ instructions of office developments in Bucharest. Estimated at approximately EUR 1.3 billion, the Dinu Patriciu Global Properties (DPGP) portfolio was formed by combining four distinct portfolios.

These were the Astra portfolio, together with Fabian Romania Limited, Deutsche Land PLC and Rutley European Property Limited. The DPGP assets are managed

by Dinu Patriciu Global Services (DPGS), a dedicated investment and development asset management Company.

Alexandru Munteanu has been promoted to sales operations senior manager by Cosmote Romania.

He has worked as sales operations manager within the company for the past two years. Previously, he was commercial manager at Ger-

manos Telecom Romania. Munteanu began his career in telecom retail in 1999. He started working in retail as a sales consultant, gaining broad experience in the GSM and IT sales business, holding positions from store manager at Goldstern International to GSM division manager at KTech Electronics to country sales manager for a large GPS distributor, in 2007.

Munteanu has a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Bucharest, a post-graduate degree in History and a master’s in Business, from the Academy of Economic Studies.

Emanuele Butta (44), is the new vice-president of the retail division of UniCredit Tiriac Bank following the approval of the National Bank of Romania (BNR). He is taking over from Zoltan Major who was appointed to a regional position within the group.

Butta previously served as head of CEE retail sales. He has been working for UniCredit since 1992 and over the years has held various retail positions in Italy and elsewhere.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

12 FOCUS EMPLOYMENT

Local employment market matures with crisis Courtesy of Stanton Chase

duction of this code to that of the flat tax in 2005. Many people were predicting catastrophic scenarios, but in the end, everyone gained.”

But what of the specter of unemployment? Over the last few years there has been constant and increasing demand for university graduates in industries such as IT, sales, commerce, engineering, client service and accounting.

This has led to fierce competition in these fields and lower demand in others.

The financial crisis and oversaturation of the market are throwing alarming numbers of graduates onto a market that is not ready for them.

The loyalty factor

Dreamstime

Although the crisis has provided an excuse for some employers to make their “The crisis has had the staff’s conditions worse, other companies effect of abruptly maturare still investing in the development of their employees. ing both employers and “Any job is valued nowadays. However, employees. Once the treating staff badly because they don’t have any alternative is not the best moneed for retention betivation, since a dissatisfied employee is half as productive,” says Sorin Faur, outcame obvious, many sourcing and human resources director companies successfully at BDO Romania and HR Club member.

“Employees can be motivated to remain implemented policies in with the company through more than one method: salary increases and perthis regard,” Lara Maria, formance bonuses (in most cases), proConsultant with Stanton motion opportunities for the best performing employees and access to trainChase ing and specialization courses,” says Mrejeriu.

In spite of this, fluctuation in the in this regard. A very well drawn up calevel of personnel still occurs, he adds. “A reer plan and support for it through prolevel of personnel fluctuation of up to ten grams provided by the employer are percent per year is not alarming for a production company, but in the services area, good ways to retain an employee.” the figure should be a bit lower.” Adriana Human resources specialists see an increase in emBoscanici, managing partner at Trainart Outsource or in-house? ployment opportunities, which is a good sign for joband HR Club member, adds that training Smartree CEO Adrian Stanciu estimates seekers and bosses alike. Until then, however, the mar- is one of the top three priorities of a HR that his firm made around RON 9 million department, which is also a result of fifrom recurring outsourcing projects and ket is slowly absorbing global trends, such as home nancing from European funds invested temporary employment, while RON 1 working, outsourcing, loyalty programs and internships. for this purpose. million came from regular projects in Miriana Matei, human resources busi2010. Outsourcing, locally, is still develLocal experts told BR where they think HR is heading. ness partner at Schneider Electric Rooping, he says, although it is an efficient mania, gives an employer’s perspective means for cutting costs. on the matter of employee retention, “Romania is a country in which com∫ CORINA DUMITRESCU which, at her firm, is 95.5 percent. “A panies have difficulty adopting new To back up his statement, Stanciu common practice in the company is betrends in business management. An exadds that his aim is for the company to yond-borders mobility. There are colplanation for this might lie in the fact that double its turnover this year, to RON 20 leagues who chose to continue their cathe economy is still facing basic issues, million.

Browsing through the National Employreer in other subsidiaries, who were rather than complex and advanced eleHe notes that most of the company’s ment Agency ads reveals that between supported in their decisions through clients have raised salaries, which is also ments. Movements such as organizaMay 6 and 12 there were over 10,000 emthe circulation and promotion of their a good sign for the market. Stanciu contion de-stratification and concentration ployment opportunities throughout Roprofiles in other countries, through intinues, “Another important aspect in on key activities have been around since mania. Of these, however, just 755 were terviews, offer negotiation, foreign lanthe past six months is that the number of the 1980s. One such example is the auto for university graduates, while a stagguage courses, etc.” companies intending to extend their industry, where all producers opt to use gering 9,247 positions were aimed at The crisis has been an opportunity for presence on the Romanian market is intheir own design works, while externalless qualified applicants. development in the eyes of some HR excreasing.” izing many other activities,” Stanciu The labor market looks to be in good perts. Lara Maria, consultant at Stanton The new Labor Code has also had adds. shape, experts say. “Our analysis suggests strong reverberations on the local scene. Chase says, “The crisis has had the effect most industries have increased their The crisis has led to differing reacof abruptly maturing both employers HR specialists regard this change as posrate of hiring,” says Adrian Stanciu, CEO tions to outsourcing, observes Faur: and employees. Once the need for re- “Outsourcing has had mixed effects. In oritive. Serban Mrejeriu, HR consultant at of Smartree, a company specializing in tention became obvious, many compaAIMS Human Capital Romania, says, “I payroll and personnel administration der to cut costs, some companies have nies successfully implemented policies would compare the moment of introservices. minimized the number of outside sup-

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

pliers, preferring to do what they can internally. Others, on the other hand, have chosen to outsource to reduce their headcount, keeping only core staff, which has obviously encouraged outsourcing firms.”

A changing market – the ‘mobile’ employee Jobs such as regional sales representative, IT consultant and software developer are only a few of the local positions that create the possibility of a “mobile” employee, with a home-based office. Employers go for this for reasons such as “cutting costs, employee motivation and loyalty, as well as a productivity increase,” says the Smartree CEO. “In 2010, over a third of companies allowed some of their employees to work from home. Between 1 and 30 percent of employees had this opportunity, and the number rose in the final trimester of 2010,” adds Anca Amariei, account manager at Daedalus Consulting and HR Club member.

“However, most companies prefer their employees to come to the office to perform their duties. One reason for this is that they have better control over the employees’ activity that way. Plus, many jobs require direct and permanent contact with team members, participation in meetings and other group activities that cannot be done from a home office,” says Mrejeriu.

He quotes a study conducted by his company into software companies in western Romania, which found that 25 percent of the participating firms support flexible office hours while almost ten per-

FOCUS EMPLOYMENT 13 cent allow staff to work from home for COMMENT one day.

But some companies are against remote working on other grounds. “Not everyone can perform their job well Result Development has recently released from home, due to the stimulation. For a study carried out on 110 Romanian mansome people who are new to a certain poagers from local and multinational compasition, working in the office is a major adnies over 2009-2011 concerning their pervantage, at least in the period of adapception of their employees, among other tation, because they may ask for immetopics. diate help or feedback from department The top three cultural characteristics from colleagues,” says Sorina Donisa, SEO at the managerial point of view, concerning APT Resources & Services and HR Club the local employee, are: lack of involvemember. ment, not assuming responsibility and a Companies’ openness towards pertendency towards gossip and political sonnel working outside the office is congames. tingent firstly on the job category, but Here Dorin Bodea, senior consultant at also limited by mentality, believes Result Development, gives his view on the Madalina Motora, KA operations manfindings. ager at Manpower. “In Romania, this trend is still in its infancy, but we predict Managerial expectations of subordinates that technological development, com- “Romanian managers tend to prefer empanies’ need to stay competitive and ployees to be better team players with good have a supple cost structure, and the communication skills. I think everywhere repositioning of employees’ mindset throughout the world this is the same – from the concept of ‘clocking on and off’ I’m referring to English, German and to ‘achieving the objective’ will soon French managers, for example. create the basis for this transformation.” I have heard the view that the manager Matei adds, “In Romania, employee compensates for the poor results of the culture involves having an office, leaving employees. But I believe that many Rohome and detaching from family manian managers tend to exaggerate their life in order to concentrate on office role in team results – and intervene diwork.” rectly in their production. Directive style is She suggests that a solution for the lorelevant here, as is excessive control (mical market could be allowing personnel cromanagement). to work remotely on days when there are I think this sets us apart from Western no meetings or when the employee managers. Eventually, we need to learn needs to deal with personal issues. Such (and I include myself in this category), that an attitude is highly motivational for a team or an individual can get results withstaff members. out managerial intervention. It is another » continued on page 14 facet of performance.

Managerial expectations and local values Around 43 percent of superiors expect teamwork from their employees, compared to only 7.3 percent who expect their workers to be results-oriented.

This aspect brings to mind how managers strongly favor relations and satisfaction, to the final detriment of results.

Another explanation is young managerial thinking, still lacking in coherence and consistency.”

The values of the Romanian manager ”Romanian managers tend to appreciate integrity and morality in the workplace, which occupy a high position in the hierarchy of values of a managerial leader. Employees also rank these values as some of the most important.

I think that the relatively low transparency of managers supports the propensity to gossip and play political games which, nevertheless, occur anyway among Romanian employees. Another explanation may be a fear of exposing management or oneself.

Managerial optimism has a direct connection with Romanians’ incurable pessimism.

Supporting these two characteristics requires a sustained and ongoing effort from management.

Optimism does not mean an exaggerated idea of reality, but a balanced viewpoint, with a clear image of opportunities and limitations.

Likewise, for some managers, it may be easier to make a decision without an explanation (in the end, this represents both the team and the management).”

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

14 FOCUS EMPLOYMENT

New graduates – where to?

The situation is not as bad as it used to be, assures Mrejeriu, who says that there are a lot of opportunities for university leavers and not just in the aforementioned domains.

“At the peak of the crisis, few compa-

The most sought after graduate employees* Engineers and subengineers – 89 Shop managers – 82 Insurance inspectors – 36 Insurance sales consultants – 32 Banking-financial consultants – 23 Programmer – 15 Fiscal consultant – 15 Banking consultant – 15 *according to The National Employment Agency for May 6-12. nies were hiring juniors, with most preferring specialists with experience. I believe that this year, with the arrival of new investments, the trend will change.

In the BPO industry (Business Process Outsourcing), firms are most often looking for young graduates with language skills. Audit firms are recruiting young economists, fresh graduates, every year,” he says, adding to the most wanted list graduates of IT studies (especially from the Polytechnics University) and retail chain personnel.

Enjoying less rosy projects, however, are students finishing “purely academic subjects (philosophy, history, mathematics, physics), which normally provide future education professionals, a system currently going through a very difficult time. Neither do law or sociology graduates have many alternatives in a market

Courtesy of Capital

» continued from page 13 “This method also has some disadvantages, like the lack of constant contact with other colleagues and disconnection to the organizational culture. In spite of this, home working does not necessarily mean five days of home-based work. I have also seen efficient variations, combining working from home with coming into the office,” comments Stanciu.

Cloud computing is one of the methods that facilitate remote working, he adds.

This kind of approach will not suit just any company, notes Savuica.

“Remote working can happen with large companies, with solid and well implemented structures and procedures, through which the activity of the employee may be measured, if it is quantitative. If the activity is creative, however, one has to rely on trust.”

Moreover, the global trend of home offices is also a source of management development. “Beyond the IT infrastructure, which is already very accommodating and readily available to many companies, this is a leap that companies are taking towards management through objectives,” Motora adds.

Serban Mrejeriu, HR consultant at Human Capital Romania that still cannot absorb the high number of graduates that public and private higher education institutions are currently providing,” Mrejeriu added.

Other areas where employment opportunities have declined are banking, commercial design and marketing, says Mrejeriu. Candidates seeking to pursue careers in such areas may have to accept compromises, such as relocation, he adds.

Overall, students from most disciplines have been affected by the crisis.

“The economic context makes the current market unfriendly towards young graduates, irrespective of their field of study.

This is a result of a general shift of bosses’ attention to specialist and management positions,” says Oana Datki, country manager of Consulteam Romania and HR Club member.

“It is a well known fact that Romanian universities teach their students theory.

Unfortunately, business life is different in practice,” says Maria of Stanton Chase.

On the other hand, they are disadvantaged by “their lack of experience and the initial training, which is not always cheap.” Faur urges young candidates to consider jobs in event promotions, call centers, as well as seasonal activities and positions that require foreign language knowledge and computer proficiency, skills that the older generation may not have.

Adding her own recommendation for university leavers, Cristina Savuica, managing partner at Lugera & Makler and HR Club member, advises, “The most important thing for young graduates seeking jobs is learning how to make oneself noticed throughout their interaction with the potential employer through the proof of the knowledge that they have accumulated during their studies, demonstrating their technical skills as well as their language abilities and enthusiasm for the job and the company.”

corina.dumitrescu@business-review.ro

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

FOCUS EMPLOYMENT 15

Anytime, anywhere, anyhow: teleworking poses technical and security challenges As younger, tech-savvy employees with greater mobility expectations join the local workforce, organizations are being rudely awakened to a new challenge: the adoption of an ever-increasing array of mobile devices and applications while also meeting mobile security needs. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA

78%

of respondents to a Cisco study say they don’t believe they need to be present at work every day

ployees working for Microsoft Romania are completely mobile. Positions in sales, marketing, as well as some of those in the services area completely fit this new way of seeing work. Nearly any domain is open to teleworking – from medicine to IT, Cosmin Bordea, country HR manager, tells BR. A deciding factor is how much experience employees have under their belt.

“Entry-level employees might need supervision from team leaders and can benefit from direct interaction with more experienced colleagues,” says Dumitrescu.

And it’s not all about convenience for the employee. Companies can benefit from the lower expenses for office space.

When keeping a smaller team on-site, they are able to better control operational costs.

“People working in technical support, consultancy and pre-sales use offices less, and their presence at the office is necessary only for meetings that cannot (yet) take place online. In multinationals, there’s already a practice to allot one single office to more employees just for On the couch: more employees expect to be able to work from home nowadays this reason,” Liviu Bratu, CTO of New Tech Consulting, tells BR. The majority of the respondents to the Cisco study (80 percent) said they can aclabor market trends and the need to supsupport it,” Alexander Weigl, director of port an explosion of new gadgets while GeBOC Center in HP Romania, tells BR. cess the company’s network using virtual private networks (VPNs). also making sure crucial data is not He gives some examples. “When we This is in fact the most common way leaked in the process. provide support for a sales organization of securely accessing a company's netand analyze data, giving them updates on Security was identified as the main work, and easy to set up. It enables a resales reports – where they stand versus challenge a company has to face when mote computer to behave as if it were part the targets – that is a job where employdealing with mobile employees by 63 of the company's local network, say punees can work from home,” he says. percent of the respondents to the Cisco dits. Roughly the same number (77 perAnother work-from-home scenario Romania survey. Other requirements are cent) use IP telephony. maintaining the corporate culture, cited applies to senior project managers in Other employees have access to eby 28 percent of interviewees, and incharge of European or worldwide projects. mail via their mobile handset (54 percent), sufficient budget for IT investments, “For those people it is even more conjust over half (52 percent) resort to instant flagged up by 22 percent. venient to work from home if they need Of course, certain companies will to bridge time zones,” adds the director. messaging while some (47 percent) use a softphone solution based on PC. never allow their teams to work offsite.

Alcatel-Lucent has also adopted this A company may also adopt various Which ones? “The kind that have a metsystem. “This way of working applies to web applications through which emal detector at the entrance and check anynearly all our employees, both those inployees can perform tasks directly from one going in or out of the building to see volved in activities involving direct inthe web browser, which also offers the adif they are carrying data storage devices,” teraction with clients such as sales and vantage that it can be used from mobile Florin Dumitrescu, software architect post-sales activity, but also others such as devices like smartphones or tablets. consultant at Ducons Software Consultsoftware development or support funcDepending on the field in which a ing, tells Business Review. tions,” says Iliescu. The company will imcompany is active, additional software plement a pilot project allowing emIt also depends a lot on the type of job tools might be used, like conferencing, ployees to work from home in line with in question. “In some cases when people centralized document management, the model already in place in other counrely on cooperation with other team desktop sharing, source control applicatries. members, the work-from-home concept tions and the list goes on.

Approximately 35 percent of emreaches its limits. But in general, we Dreamstime

“The great challenge lies in the company’s ability to keep intact the team spirit, the feeling of belonging to a group and sharing a corporate culture. However, the new generation, which is used to interacting via virtual channels, seems to be adapting to this work model without a glitch,” Iulia Iliescu, HR manager at Alcatel-Lucent Romania, tells BR. What mobility means today is that the information necessary to the employees can be accessed anytime, anywhere, via any device.

As many as 73 percent of the respondents to a survey carried out by Cisco among participants at Cisco Expo 2011 said they use two-three gadgets during a regular day’s work while 11 percent said they use more than five.

Furthermore, 78 percent of respondents believe they do not need to be present at the office every day. Some 43 percent of the interviewees said they do not need to be at their workplace in person to work efficiently. Another 36 percent of respondents said they only sometimes need to attend the office, to take part in meetings and complete certain tasks.

And just 21 percent said they must be at the office and need daily interaction, in person, with their colleagues.

The trends highlighted by the survey carried out in Romania are in line with the findings of a Cisco global survey from 2010, which reveals that 60 percent of employees think their presence at the office is no longer necessary for them to be productive.

This means organizations have an issue on their hands: how to “juggle” the

“In some cases when people rely on cooperation with other team members, the workfrom-home concept reaches its limits,” Alexander Weigl, director of the GeBoc Center at HP Romania

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

16 MBA PROGRAMS

Romanian MBA market sees first signs of recovery With predicted annual growth of about 10-20 percent for the next few years and significant consolidation, the Romanian MBA/EMBA market is hoping to see its first green shoots. Specialists expect the industry to recover after the current economic downturn hit local demand hard.

∫ ANDA SEBESI

Bianca Ioan of Asebuss

Marius Mihailescu of Tiffin University

Rodica Radulescu, Codecs Business School

Adriana Dutescu, Romanian Canadian MBA

Photo: Laurentiu Obae

Courtesy of Romanian Canadian MBA

Courtesy of WU Executive Academy

Bodo Schlegelmilch of WU Executive Academy

Courtesy of Codecs Business School

Photo: Laurentiu Obae

Courtesy of Asebuss

The Romanian MBA/EMBA market continued to be buffeted by the economic crisis in 2010, but industry specialists expect a slow recovery this year. The aftermath of the financial crisis has had a strong impact on the MBA market as a whole, affecting everything from enrolment rates to study plans and course duration.

The market has also seen some significant moves as three new programs have entered the market while one EMBA has left the scene. According to Adriana Dutescu, director of the Bucharest School of Management’s Romanian-Canadian MBA program, the local market dropped in volume in 2009 and 2010, while posting an even greater decrease in value because of various discounts offered for many MBA programs.

“The number of newly registered students on MBA/EMBA programs shrank by 40 percent last year on 2009. About 300 students graduated MBA/EMBA programs in 2010,” says Marius Mihailescu, managing partner of Tiffin University Romania. He adds that the local MBA/EMBA market was worth EUR 2.53 million last year but he foresees better times in the years to come. “The Romanian MBA market will grow in the future because there is an increased need for specialists in business at the moment. We expect about 300-350 newly registered students on all the existing programs on the market this year,” he adds.

According to Oliver Olson, managing partner of Maastricht School of Management Romania, an institution that offers executive MBA programs, the local MBA market is shrinking in overall size, mainly due to the low number of companies paying for MBAs for their employees. “A very rough estimate of the MBA market in 2011 would be EUR 2.5-3 million. But I expect this value to increase by about 1020 percent per year for the next few years,” predicts Olson. Bianca Ioan, marketing director of the EMBA program at Asebuss, the Institute of Businesses Administration, has a slightly more positive outlook, saying that the local MBA /EMBA market was worth EUR 3.5-3.8 million last year, and she expects an increase of between 20 and 50 percent this year, taking it to EUR 4.5-5 million.

“Globally, enrolment in executive MBA programs has stagnated or slightly declined. Fortunately, this was not the case at the WU Executive Academy. Most applicants feel they will have less access to corporate sponsorship – traditionally associated with EMBAs – than before. Two thirds of our participants used to receive a full or partial corporate scholarship five years ago, today the ratio is the other way round,” says Bodo Schlegelmilch, dean at WU Executive Academy.

Both the local and international markets have seen a significant consolidation

Oliver Olson, Maastricht School of Management

in full-time programs and up in part-time New Generation last year which is the of business schools with strong brands in programs. Finally, there is an increase in only program designed for middle manthe past two years. “A specific trend on the number of years of work experience agers and newly appointed ones. All the MBA/EMBA market in 2011 is the inand a shift in motivation why people emthese changes are an adjustment to the crease of the number of full scholarbark on an MBA program. “The quality of new market demands and I think these ships, discounts of up to about 50 percent applicants has improved in comparison trends will consolidate over the coming and free courses. My opinion is that this to previous years, both in the years of years,” says Rodica Maria Radulescu, diis a short-term solution because none of work experience and academic qualifirector of Codecs Business School. the business schools on other internacations,” says Schlegelmilch.

Especially in times of crisis, it is estional markets offer MBA programs with sential for managers to take the right desuch terms. They think about a long-term cisions at the right moment to sustainably strategy to increase their business, inDemand is still high secure the future of their companies. The current downturn has driven many volving changes and improvements to the offered programs, while the fees remain “We took this into account when we managers and entrepreneurs to seek varaligned for example the curriculum for the same or become higher,” says Ioan. ious ways to better prepare themselves the Professional MBA to evolved ecoAnother trend among students is to for an uncertain future. Taking an MBA nomic and social framework conditions. /EMBA program could be an answer. sign up for pre-MBA programs because Since the quality of an MBA program is di- “The demand for our EMBA program has they are cheaper and shorter, while more rectly linked to the ability to instantly companies are going for customized increased significantly this year comadapt to rapidly changing business envitraining courses of two or three weeks in pared with previous years. Graduates of ronments, it is paramount for us to conorder to reduce the costs and make their MBA/EMBA programs were extremely tinuously refine our programs and, hence, useful before the crisis because employemployees’ training more efficient.

With the market being so dynamic, improve the quality of our portfolio,” ees and managers needed to be prepared says Schlegelmilch. players are trying to adapt rapidly to the to survive the turmoil, and after it beThere is a significant increase in the current context and bring new products cause they provide the vision of recovery,” number of female applicants each year, says Mihailescu. He adds that firms have onto the market. “We are preparing to representing a visible shift in MBA aplaunch Global MBA this year, a new MBA preferred to invest in employees who plicant demographics. “Currently, alformat offered by the Open University have already graduated from an MBA promost half of the people who take the Business School, our British partner. It is gram in order to find solutions rapidly.

GMAT are females. However, women the only MBA program in Romania that The main objective of an EMBA proonly account for 30 percent of enrollment has triple international accreditation: gram is to prepare managers both to harin MBA programs, proving that there is an EFMD in Europe, AACSB in North Amerness existing opportunities and to solve imbalance within the world of MBAs,” the new problems they face. “For ica and the Association of MBAs in Great says Schlegelmilch. Also, interest is down Britain. We also launched Certificate example, at Asebuss a student goes

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

Sheffield Executive MBA having five spefinancial services,” says Schlegelmilch. through over 100 case studies – real sitcialization fields – general management, uations that some American and Euromarketing, logistics, finance and healthMost popular programs pean companies have faced and which care management – at the moment. “ExPeople choose MBA programs for the cover all the fields of activity. This is a maecutives and non-executives choose an benefits they offer: networking, develjor competitive advantage on the labor MBA/EMBA program depending on their opment of management skills and sigmarket because you can meet the despecific needs. Some are interested in renificant international exposure. “In my mands of a job in many different fields ceiving a diploma while others see it as an opinion the best and most sought after even though your own professional exopportunity for networking and new MBA programs are those that manage to perience is derived from a specific inbusiness. There are also people who dedustry,” says the Asebuss representative. impose high educational standards. An cide to sign up to satisfy their need for onMBA program can show you the path toAccording to Alina Vasile, country going professional development and to ward professional success, but it cannot manager of Sheffield MBA, although the guarantee it,” says Radulescu of Codecs. access new management methods and current crisis did not spare the business models,” says Dutescu.

MBA/EMBA industry, with the local mar- “The Professional MBA with its various At the moment there is huge demand specialization options was one of the ket shrinking by about 50 percent at the for so-called crisis managers on the local most sought-after MBA programs last beginning of it, things have changed rapmarket, who are able to cope with an unidly. “One year after the turmoil started, year because for many future MBA stufavorable situation and propose and imdents, the combination of classic MBA the demand for such educational servicplement innovative solutions. There is topics and specialization is an ideal soes increased significantly because people lution,” says Schlegelmilch. In Romania, also a need for managers that can reduce realized that they needed to invest in the WU Executive Academy has offered costs by increasing the efficiency of themselves, especially in hard times, in the Executive MBA (Bucharest) since processes while they focus on launching order to be ready for what would come in 2006 and the Professional MBA Project & new projects that bring money to the the future,” says Vasile.

Process Management since 2008. company. “Our students calculate their The demand for MBA/EMBA proBoth MBA and EMBA programs have return on investment during the programs in Romania has been significantthe same target: managers with at least gram. Usually this is reached in one and ly dented by the difficulties that the local two years of professional experience. a half to two and a half years from the beeconomy has faced since the beginning of The difference between the two pro2008. By contrast, in Western Europe and ginning of the program, most recently in grams consists in the approach to subjects North America interest in such educathe year after graduation. Their incomes tional services was raised by the crisis. and the entrance examination. “When increase by 50-200 percent. In addition to choosing an MBA/EMBA program it is im“Professionals’ need to invest in their catheir higher salaries, graduates can get portant to consider the level of colleagues reer and upgrade their knowledge of other increases in their income, from and graduates. Executives look for demanagement, and more available time are shares, etc,” says Ioan. tailed, multidisciplinary information and among the reasons,” says Dutescu. colleagues with a similar level of profes“In recent years, several Central EuroWho foots the bill? sional development. Such people rarely pean countries have become hot spots for According to Radulescu, the number of choose an MBA program over an EMBA MBA recruiting. One of the hottest counmanagers that have financed their one,” comments Mihailescu. tries is Romania. With growing internaMBA/EMBA studies themselves has inVasile of Sheffield says that the most tional ambitions, many local firms are creased significantly in the last few years. seeking MBAs to open up new markets, sought after specializations are general “I think that this trend will continue in 2011. and healthcare management, with the in energy, manufacturing and As for Codecs, 50 percent of the fees for

MBA PROGRAMS17 new registrations in 2010 were paid by the employer and 50 percent by the student.

This means an increase of 10 percent in the number of students that finance their MBA studies from their own resources,” says Radulescu. As for Tiffin, Mihailescu says that 70 percent of the managers that sign up for its courses financed their program from their own cash. At present Tiffin University offers two educational programs in Romania that are accredited both in the US and Europe: an EMBA and BBA – Bachelor of Business Administration.

On the same theme, Dutescu says that about 70 percent of Romanian-Canadian program students pay for their courses from their own pocket. “This is similar to the situation in 2009 but different from 2008 and 2007 when the majority of our students were financed – partially or totally – by their companies,” she says. As for the profile of the student body, Dutescu adds that 11 percent of Romanian-Canadian program students are entrepreneurs and about 10 percent of the final projects for graduation are plans to set up a business from scratch.

As for Asebuss, about 60-65 percent of its students are financed by their employers. “Besides, we can see this year an increase in companies’ interest in supporting their key managers in an EMBA program. The reason is the diversity of industries, professional experiences and the direct access of students to multiple solutions, ideas and projects that are successfully applied for other companies,” says Ioan.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

18 TOURISM CASE STUDY

Piatra Neamt, a symbol of Romania’s tourism potential

Photo: Simona Bazavan

From the past to the future: medieval Neamt Fortress has a new look, courtesy in part of European funding

The city of Piatra Neamt in the region of Moldova was officially declared a tourist resort in May 2010. In reality, Piatra Neamt continues to be perceived as a transit point for other destinations in Moldova like Iasi and Suceava, a state of affairs the local authorities admit and plan to change. Business Review takes this north-eastern city as a case study that shows the real situation around the country in terms of Romania’s tourism potential.

∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN

2.8

Photo: Simona Bazavan

Piatra Neamt and its surroundings are brimming with tourism potential. Natural parks, monasteries and hermitages, medieval fortresses, traditional villages, an increasing number of local festivals and events – the basic ingredients that should make Piatra Neamt a tourist destination in its own right are all there, but so far this has failed to happen. The fault lies both with the authorities and private operators, creating a vicious circle that is common to many other regions in Romania too.

So where to begin when there is so much to do? Local authorities have invested in recent years in refurbishing some of the existing tourist infrastructure and sights such as the Neamt Fortress,

which underwent a EUR 2.8 million reconstruction process with about EUR 2.5 million coming from European funds.

Similar refurbishment projects are underway and new ones, such as a cable-car that connects the center of the city with the Cozla Mountain, have been built from scratch. Further investments in infrastructure and promoting the county are on the agenda.

million euros went on the reconstruction of Neamt fortress Noble traditions: the Royal Court, the city’s central square

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

Places to go, things to do in Piatra Neamt The need for proper infrastructure is nowhere more obvious than in getting to Piatra Neamt in the first place. Although only 350 km from Bucharest, the drive takes about five hours and this is not likely to change anytime soon, authorities say.

Other options are traveling by plane to the nearest airport in Bacau or by intercity train. As for getting around there are rent-a-car services in the city.

Three hotels are available to choose from in Piatra Neamt, none with more than three stars and one currently undergoing renovation. But if one really wants to get a taste of local hospitality and flavors a better choice is to go for one of the pensions in the city or the surrounding villages. These are also the best option

for indulging in local Moldavian cuisine.

Turning away from the ever present communist blocks of flats, the city’s medieval origins are nowhere more obvious than in the central square with its Royal Court (Curtea Domneasca), which is also currently undergoing a large-scale refurbishing process. Just nearby is the Cucuteni Museum, home to the most important collection of Cucuteni culture artifacts, which date back to between circa 5500 BC and 2750 BC. Outside the city, the restored Neamt Fortress, which will host a medieval festival this summer in July, is a must-see, as is the memorial house of Romanian writer Ion Creanga.

And this is to name but a few of the places to see. If you want a break from capital living in Bucharest and decide to give Piatra Neamt a shot, you will not be disappointed by the stunning beauty of the place and the hospitality of the local people, regardless of the state of the tourist infrastructure.

simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

Photo: Simona Bazavan

But it is easier said than done when the government’s austerity measures have taken their toll on the available resources, especially on the number of employees necessary to properly run the tourist attractions. Although well aware that adding a touch of entertainment is necessary to bring sights such as the medieval Neamt Fortress to life and thus attract more visitors, the authorities struggle to meet the basic requirements with only four employees. The city’s tourist information center also lacks personnel and is open only during the summer months. However, all this could be a good opportunity for PPPs with private companies running the sights, says local MP Mihaela Stoica, but so far this too has failed to happen.

Going beyond the authorities’ involvement, good cooperation with private operators is vital. “Without private investments, the state alone will not be able to support this region,” said Stefan Lungu, personal adviser to the minister of regional development and tourism, during a round-table on tourism in Neamt county. Also, promoting the county and the city of Piatra Neamt should not be the authorities’ job alone.

“I think that in addition to self-promotion, it is very important that every tour operator and every pension in the area should also promote local attractions.

It is quite clear that tourists who come here want to enjoy more than the comfort of the pension where they stay and this will help us keep them here for longer,” said Bogdan Puscasu, city manager of Piatra Neamt. Lack of know-how and proper training, reluctance to work with local travel agencies to promote their pensions, self-sufficiency and in many cases the illegal status of the business all indicate that the local private tourism industry has a lot of room for improvement in the years to come.

The picture in Piatra Neamt is pretty much a blueprint for the current state of the entire Romanian tourism industry – a story of underachievement. Nevertheless the first steps are being taken towards improvement and the authorities seem to have understood that good communication between them and private operators is crucial. This was one of the conclusions of a round table organized by local MP Mihaela Stoica last week on tourism opportunities in Neamt county. Chances are that as experience kicks in and lessons are learned by both sides the hard way – a fact well illustrated by the poor results registered so far – progress will come more smoothly from now on.

TOURISM CASE STUDY 19

About EUR 7.2 million – 70 percent of which is coming from European funds – is going into refurbishing the Royal Court in central Piatra Neamt

20 CITY

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

FILM REVIEW

Thor Directed by: Kenneth Branagh Staring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Cotroceni - Sala VIP, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex Cinema, Samsung Imax Cotroceni, The Light Cinema

∫ DEBBIE STOWE Comic books and capes often lead to movies that take themselves ridiculously seriously and rely on special effects to compensate for wooden acting and a clunking, incredible (in the bad sense of the word) script. Thor is in 3D, a device that can further disguise an essentially Thor spot: Kenneth Branagh’s superhero flick (yes, you read that right) rises above its comic book source material to entertain empty film. So at first glance Thor, the Marvel Comics-inspired superhero story of the hammer-wielding god of thunder, Hiddleston) is a welcome exception – the And indeed it does! Yes, there is the Can Thor (Chris Hemsworth) get back could threaten to be thunderously boring. somewhat formulaic fantasy story arc, to his far-off galaxy in time to thwart the plot twists conventional and though effort But wait – what’s this? Look who is at has been made to elevate Natalie Portwith simplistic notions of good and evil, “it mischief being plotted by a traitor in the the helm. Not a dumb action peddler Jerman’s character above stock love interest was a time of war” melodrama and some ranks, save his land from the belligerent ry Bruckheimer-type but RADA-schooled “Luke, I am your father” family flimflam – level by making her a pioneering scientist Frost Giants, while simultaneously manShakespeare vet Kenneth Branagh. And with some smart lines, essentially it’s all of which, by the way, is aesthetically acaging to learn some humility, smooch he’s lined up two Oscar winners, Anthomachismo that saves the day. complished in 3D. But the narrative also Natalie Portman and liberally flash his asny Hopkins and Natalie Portman, to star. sees Thor visit Earth – specifically But these minor faults are more than tonishingly ripped pectorals? You’ll just So maybe Thor can rise above the usual offset by the movie’s charm, humor and vihave to watch the movie to find out!

Hicksville, New Mexico – which, besides comic book adaptation pompous presuals (including those pecs). Even if suOf course, Thor is limited by its source the usual romantic subplot, is the premdictability and avoid a hammering (ho ho) perheroes are not your cup of tea, you material. The characters are fairly one-diise for some funny fish-out-of-water by the critics. won’t regret putting in this hammer time. mensional – Thor’s brother Loki (Tom scenes that recall Crocodile Dundee.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

CITY 21

RESTAURANTS

Hilton Roberto’s reopens with new Italian chef The Athénée Palace Hilton in Bucharest has reopened Roberto’s restaurant, after completing the renovation works on its ground floor. The Italian eatery is the second Roberto’s restaurant in the chain, modeled on the one in the Amsterdam Hilton.

The Roberto’s in Bucharest is the hotel’s main restaurant, with a capacity of 130 covers and an exclusive private dining room for 14 people. The restaurant also has a new executive chef at its helm, the Italian Gabriele Savini.

The re-opening of Roberto’s is part of extensive EUR 2 million refurbishment works on the hotel’s ground floor, the lobby area adjacent to Roberto’s, the Colonnade and Cafe Athénée. The Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest is owned by Romanian businessman George Copos, through Ana Hotels. ∫

New broom: Italian chef Gabriele Savini

RESTAURANT SELECTION Business Review gives you a selection of the top Bucharest restaurants. Full-length reviews of a gamut of local eateries written by our resident restaurant critic, Michael Barclay, are available on our website www.business-review.ro.

Reservations: 021 210 8850 www.heritage-restaurant.eu After five years of making mistakes along with constant changes of management, chefs and directors, it appears that Heritage has finally got it right! They brought the mountain to Mohammed by importing a Michelin-starred chef. The menu is fixed (rather than a long, tedious, rambling a la carte which so many restaurants choose here). And for the first time, Heritage is affordable.

Bistro Epoque

La Veranda Cuisine: Seafood Address: Crowne Plaza, Poligrafiei 1 Reservations: 021 224 0034 www.laveranda.ro Here we have a House that challenges you with a choice of preparations, and for the first time ever, they even offer you a selection of fish sauces. The standards of the House have been raised to a point that the Crowne has well and truly regained its culinary crown. The finest fish restaurant in the land, and Chef Ashlie will be delighted to come to your table.

Courtesy of Epoque Hotel

Arcade Cuisine: International Address: Ion Cantacuzino 8 Reservations: 0753 999 333 www.restaurantarcade.ro Over the last nine years, Arcade has become a gastronomic institution in this town. It is best known for its fabulous location and vast summer terrace, but you really should go there in winter to enjoy its warm, homely villa ambiance. This is a top quality, sophisticated chophouse.

Cuisine: French Address: 17C Intrarea Aurora Street Reservations: 021 312 32 32 www.epoque.ro The Bistro Epoque is a smart-casual restaurant offering guests gourmet French cuisine from its master chef Guy Martin. Owner of the restaurant Le Grand Vefour in Paris and holder of two Michelin stars, Martin creates the menus which include a variety of vegetarian dishes.

Heritage Cuisine: Fusion Address: Polona 19

Osho Cuisine: American: steak and grill Address: Primaverii 19 Reservations: 021 568 3031 www.osho-restaurant.ro They modestly call themselves a steakhouse, but it is much, much more than that. If you enter it from the front end, you will find yourself in a shop which sells all of the chophouse’s products, over the counter at retail prices. This includes their extensive range of meat products, and up to 20 Italian cheeses and salamis.

Add to that a rich list of French and Italian fine wines, and you have a deli where you can dine.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | May 16 - 22, 2011

22 IN TOUCH MONARCHY

CULTURAL EVENTS CALENDAR

King Mihai of Romania breaks ties with Hohenzollern dynasty

Bucharest Opera House May 20 19:00 I Quattro Rusteghi (The Four Curmudgeons / School for Fathers) Featuring: Lunardo (Mihnea Lamatic), Margarita (Sorana Negrea), Lucieta (Simonida Lutescu), Maurizio (Vicentiu Taranu) George Enescu Philharmonic May 17 Chamber concert, 19.00, Sala Mare On the bill: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms Performers: Cristian Mancas (clarinet), Dan Cavassi (cello), Viniciu Moroianu (piano)

Agerpres

King Mihai of Romania has announced he is breaking dynastic ties with the Hohenzollern dynasty and dropping the “Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen” titles.

With this move, the king is following the 1921 decision by King Ferdinand I to give a national and independent character to the Romanian dynasty and Royal House.

“According to the wishes of our late grandfather, his majesty King Ferdinand I, and to his decision from 1921, the royal family of Romania and its members have carried and will carry the name ‘of Romania’. But from May 10, 2011, the Royal House of Romania will no longer carry the name of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and will no longer be recognized under the name of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen house,” the royal house has said.

In the Romanian royal family King Mihai is followed in the line of succession by Princess Margareta, her sister Princess Elena, and by the latter’s son, Prince Nicolae.

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is a branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty, which led Prussia and then Germany until 1918.

The Hohenzollern house was elected the reigning dynasty in 1866 by the ruling political coalition of the time. The dynasty included King Carol I, who ruled Romania between 1866 to 1881, and from 1881 to 1914; Ferdinand I of Romania from 1914 to 1927; Mihai I of Romania from 1927 to 1930 and 1940 to 1947, and Carol II of Romania from 1930 to 1040.

ISSN No. 1453 - 729X

May 20 Piano recital, 19.00, Sala Mica On the bill: Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Serghei Prokofiev, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy Performers: Paul Cartianu The National Museum of Art of Romania April 29 – July 31, Kretzulescu Halls The National Museum of Art of Romania invites the public to visit the Japanese prints exhibition Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). ThirtySix Views of Mount Fuji. The curator of the exhibition is Mrs. Carmen Brad, oriental art specialist.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art April 14 – June 12 Zimoun & Hannes Zweifel: Prepared DC-Motors, Cardboard At the invitation of the Rokolectiv Festival and MNAC, Zimoun presents, in collaboration with architect Hannes Zweifel, a new installation based on cardboard and prepared dcmotors.

Cinema Something Borrowed (USA, 2011) Premiere: May 13 Directed by: Luke Greenfield Starring: Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski Plot: Friendships are tested and secrets come to the surface when the always-single Rachel falls for her best friend’s fiancé.

On at: Movieplex Cinema Plaza, The Light Cinema, Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Baneasa Drive-In Cinema

FOUNDING EDITOR Bill Avery EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor SENIOR JOURNALISTS Otilia Haraga, Dana Verdes JOURNALISTS Simona Bazavan, Corina Dumitrescu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe COLLABORATORS Anda Sebesi, Michael Barclay ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean PHOTOGRAPHER Laurentiu Obae LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu

EVENTS, BUSINESS & POLITICAL AGENDA

WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON

May 17 11:00 AmCham Romania organizes an event on e-governance at the Parliament Palace. By invitation only.

URBB organizes an event to launch the new identity of the Carlsberg brand at Radisson Blu. By invitation only.

Otilia Haraga Senior Journalist

May 18 The Sixt Logistics Seminar in Bucharest will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Bucharest.

11:00 Bosch organizes a press conference to announce its results for 2010 at InterContinental. By invitation only.

is writing a piece about the steps taken by the authorities to streamline the tax-payment process and improve relations with tax-payers. Recently, a network of intelligent points of payment was established in various high-traffic points in sector 6 where citizens can pay their taxes. BR looks at other time-saving tax-payment options. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

May 18-20 The 2011 Romanian Lighting Convention takes place at the JW Marriott Grand Hotel. Guests at this year’s event include architects Paulo Mendes da Rocha, winner of the 2006 Pritzker prize, Gaetano Pesce, and Romanian-born Canadian Dan Sergiu Hanganu. Access is by registration, within available seating.

May 19 Mercadia Holland owned by businessman Dinu Patriciu opens the first Macro store in Brasov.

19:30 The first Second Cup café opens on 4, Decebal Blvd. By invitation only.

May 20 TMF Romania organizes a training session on Labor Controls within the new legislative framework. For more information, please email amaria.crisu@tmf-group.com.

May 24 ∫EVENT Business Review organizes the third German Business Forum event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For more information please visit www.business-review.ro/events.

June 7 ∫EVENT Business Review organizes the third edition of the American Business Forum. For more information please visit www.businessreview.ro/events.

June 8 ICAP Romania and Cycle European, in cooperation with Business Review, organize the 2nd ICAP Credit Risk Conference. At the Athenee Palace Hilton. Check www.business-review.ro/events for more information

PUBLISHER Anca Ionita EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise SALES & EVENTS DIRECTOR Oana Molodoi MARKETING MANAGER Adina Milea SALES & EVENTS Ana-Maria Nedelcu, Claudia Munteanu RESEARCH & SUBSCRIPTION Lili Voineag PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat

Simona Bazavan Journalist is preparing a report on Germen investments in Romania. With a strong presence in retail, production and energy, German companies active in Romania invested EUR 2.86 billion locally in 2009, compared to EUR 2.3 billion by the end of 2008, making Germany the third biggest foreign investor in Romania at that time. simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

ROMANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS AFP: Romania recovers ancient treasure Romania has recovered several more parts of a haul of ancient treasure stolen years ago from the archeological site of Sarmisegetusa Regia, the head of the national history museum said, quoted by AFP. A total of 232 artifacts, including a gold bracelet, two iron shields and gold and silver coins, were bought back from a German collector. The 933-gram (two pound) bracelet is the 13th recovered since 2005, while 11 more bracelets, dating from the 1st century BC, are still missing. The recovered pieces are among 24 stolen between 1998 and 2001 when the Sarmisegetusa site was plundered.

ADDRESS No. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3 Bucharest, Romania LANDLINE Editorial: 031.040.09.32 Office: 031.040.09.31 Fax: 031.040.09.34 EMAILS Editorial: editorial@business-review.ro Sales: sales@business-review.ro Events: events@business-review.ro