Comercializarea modelului pe piata locala a inceput la nivelul lunii iunie, initial fiind vandut in paralel cu generatia anterioara pana la epuizarea stocurilor acesteia.
Pretul de pornire al noului Polo este de 10. 552 de euro, cu TVA inclusa, 16.998 de euro, in cazul echiparii de top Highline si a motorizarii diesel de 1,6 litri cuplata la o cutie de viteze automata de tip DSG.
"Romania are sanse mari sa ajunga in top zece tari europene producatoare de autovehicule pana in 2012, in contextul in care Ford va produce asa cum a spus", a spus Ernest Popovici, presedintele Asociatiei Producatorilor si Importatorilor de Automobile (APIA).
Dacia are in plan, potrivit jucatorilor din piata, sa ajunga in anii urmatori la o productie de 300.000 de autovehicule anual, la care se vor adauga cele aproximativ 200-300 de mii de masini produse de Ford la Craiova, ceea ce ar determina un total de peste 600.000 de unitati, comparabil cu cel al Turciei din 2008, care ocupa locul noua.
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Romania’s economy is functional and on the rise; next year we will start spending the money from the EU, especially for infrastructure investments, so that we will not have to deal with the depreciation of the economic growth. It is not us saying it now, President Basescu did it last autumn. It was October 21, a little while after the speculations on the forex market that had caused the RON to depreciate suddenly and one month before the parliamentary elections. Coincidentally, on the same day, Premier Tariceanu stated that Romania would post a 4 to 6% economic growth in 2009.
Back then, as well as now, the way businesspeople and authorities treat the economic information, the events happening before their eyes – in the US, in Europe and here at home, is the first step in the battle against the crisis. Those who look for the information and take advantage of it always stand to gain; those who ignore it either cannot shield themselves from the crisis, or (in the case of the government) only manage to prolong the dangerous illusion that the crisis will eventually pass on its own – unless it has already done so.
”Honestly, I didn’t imagine the situation in America would have such powerful effects in Europe, too, and especially in Romania,” admits Florentin Banu, the man who developed the Joe wafers brand and the Artima supermarkets. ”As proof that I did not anticipate it, I am now reeling from the heavy blow in terms of not only my real estate investments, but also of the plastic business.” Banu controls Banuconstruct, which develops apartment blocks in Timisoara and the plastic and mould factory Interpart Production.
”Unfortunately for me, I did not anticipate the crisis. When trouble started on the American real estate market I thought there might be repercussions on the Romanian real estate market, too, but nothing more,” Cosmin Alexandru, founder of branding consultancy Brandivia and cofounder of Erudio, in his turn admits.
Another man who paid attention to the real estate market was Marius Stancescu, chairman of business services firm Riff Holding, to whom, however, the obvious price bubble fuelled by the boom of cheap loans reminded of the Japanese crisis in the eighties, so that he started to ”stubbornly” look for information on similar situations in other parts of the world – South America, South-East Asia, where the overheating of the economies in the nineties caused the well-known crises of the time. ”I found lots of similar events to what was happening in the US and obviously to what was going to happen on the old continent,” he says, confessing he had tried to warn as may Romanian entrepreneurs as he could about what was going to happen, but to no avail, precisely because things looked so good in our country, that the possibility of a crisis seemed out of the question.
Among those who anticipated the crisis would be imported in Romania, as well, was Marius Sfintescu, manager of private equity fund 3TS Capital. ”I anticipated we would see the expansion of the US crisis to the entire world, including Romania. I used the specialised media as a source of information.” Which is why Sfintescu was one of the few business people who agreed to answer BUSINESS Magazin’s question about what his opinion on the policy of the foreign governments in dealing with the crisis; whether he felt that the relaxation of the monetary policy was too slow in Germany or France, considering the deflationary climate and whether it was important from now on for the developed states to concern themselves with the reduction of the monetary mass in good time in order to avoid a stagflation friendly environment in 2011.
There ís nowhere like home, and the economic growth of the last few years made todayís Romania different from the Romania of the nineties: sufficient premises for a Romanian who left the country to want to come back. Still, the gap between reality and expectations of those who returned after a few years in London or on the Wall Street is still wide.
”If I did not leave the country on business trips once every few months, I think I would go crazy. This is my chance, being able to travel a lot,” Andreia Stavarache, 36, says frankly. She left for the United States through a programme of internship with audit and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at the beginning of 2000.
Stavarache had applied for an internship with PwC in Bucharest and had been turned down for being insufficiently experienced. “Those at Stamford, Connecticut, accepted me as a trainee for six months,” she recalls. What had started as a half-year internship was later extended by one year and, in mid 2001, the company hired her as a tax associate.
“When I returned, what I disliked most was the squalor and the “Romanian issues”: people, regardless of whether they have any money or not, complain. Romanians whine instead of looking for solutions. We want the idea to come up, to implement it and get results right away and always envy others for their success. We donít know how to apologize, nor say thank you,” Stavarache says.
The first and most abrupt difference for those that had management or senior positions at the offices abroad of major multinationals is how people work in Romania.
“In the States, they had some standards I donít see in Romania. Respect and attitude towards the client always came first,” Andreia Stavarache says. Any email from a client that the company received had to be answered within two or three hours at most; that was the organisationís policy with only one exception to it, which stipulated that the answer might be given in 24 hours if it needed thorough research. Even so, one still had to confirm the receipt of the message within three hours.
She believes that the idea of Romanians working harder than others is untrue. “They work at a crazy pace abroad. In Romania, there is no results-oriented management and employees follow the lead of the managers.”
La nivelul Uniunii Europene, PIB-ul a scazut cu 2,4% in primele trei luni ale anului ( 4,7% in comparatie cu aceiasi perioada a anului trecut) iar in zona euro PIB-ul a scazut cu 2,5% in primul trimestru ( 4,9% comparativ cu primul trimestru al lui 2008), informeaza Eurostat.
Cea mai puternica scadere a PIB-ului ( 11,4 %) s-a inregistrat in Slovacia, urmata indeaproape de Letonia (11,2%) si de Lituania (10,5%).Singura tara in care s-a semnalat o crestere economica a fost Polonia (0,4%), pe cand in Cipru economia a stagnat.
Raportul arata ca economia romaneasca evolueaza in trendul descrescator din 2008, cand a scazut progresiv de la 1,7% in al doilea trimestru, la -0,1% in cel de-al trimestru trimestru si -2,8 in ultimul.
Exporturile au inregistrat de asemenea o scadere de 8,1% in primele trei luni ale anului, in timp ce importurile au avut o scadere si mai accentuata situandu-se la un nivel cu 14,3% mai mic decat in perioada similara din 2008.Economia Letoniei s-a contractat cu 18,6% în primele trei luni faţă de primul trimestru din 2008, cea a Estoniei cu 15,1%, iar PIB-ul Lituaniei a scăzut cu 11,8%, acestea fiind cele mai grave declinuri economice înregistrate în UE.
In sectorul constructiilor, tara noastra a inregistrat o scadere de 0,3% fata de ultimul trimestru al anului 2008.A scazut de asemenea sectorul transporturilor, comunicatiilor si serviciilor cu 3,7%, pe cand serviciile financiare au crescut cu 0,4%.
In calculul indicelui privind competitivitatea economica se iau in considerare 4 indicatori extrem de importanti : accesul la piata interna si externa, administrarea granitelor, infrastructura de comunicatii si transport si climatul de afaceri, potrivit Mediafax care citeaza un raport al FEM.
Pe primele pozitii in acest clasament se situeaza Singapore (5,97 puncte), Hong Kong (5,57 puncte), Elveţia (5,44 puncte), Danemarca (5,44 puncte), Suedia (5,44 puncte), Canada (5,35 puncte), Norvegia (5,33 puncte), Finlanda (5,33 puncte), Austria (5,29 puncte) şi Olanda (5,27 puncte).
Pentru accesul la piata interna si externa, Romania a obtinut 3,9 puncte, situandu-se pe pozitia 72 din 121 de tari.
De asemenea, 5,1 puncte au situat economia romaneasca pe locul 51 in ceea ce priveste transportul si comunicatiile.
Analistii straini au conchis ca tara noastra ocupă poziţia 44, cu un punctaj de 4,4 puncte la administrarea graniţelor, respectiv locul 65, cu 4,3 puncte, la climatul pentru afaceri.
Printre punctele forte ale Romaniei se numara datoria in scadere a Guvernului, calitatea educatiei, numarul redus de operatiuni necesare pentru a incepe o afacere, gradul de aglomerare în traficul rutier, conexiunile şi costurile reduse ale transportului naval, accesul ridicat la reţelele de telefonie mobilă şi internet în bandă largă, respectiv impactul scăzut al terorismului asupra costurilor companiilor.
Printre aspectele la care Romania trebuie sa mai lucreze se afla gradul de incredere in politica, calitatea drumurilor, porturilor si a transporturilor aeriene, gradul de implementare a tehnologiei de către companii, accesul redus la internet, drepturile de proprietate, corupţia, eficienţa guvernamentală, încrederea în serviciile poliţiei, respectiv costurile ridicate pentru companii generate de încălcarea legii.
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Impreuna cu partenerii sai din regiunea Europei de Sud-Est, grecii de la Marinopoulos Holding, GAP deschide vineri, 19 iunie, cel de-al doilea magazin din tara noastra. Locatia are o suprafata totala de 800 de metri patrati, 40 de reprezentanti de vanzari si ofera articole de imbracaminte si accesorii prin liniile GAP, GapKids si babyGap.
Ca si in cazul primul magazin (deschis in Baneasa Shopping City), reprezentantii Marinopoulos au preferat spatiile comerciale de minim 700 mp din mall-uri, in locul celor stradale, pentru a-si asigura astfel un flux constant de clienti. Francizorii iau in calcul si varianta deschiderii unui al treilea magazin, precum si introducerea brandului Banana Republic in acest an, dar nu au facut public inca un plan oficial in acest sens.
Mult mai realiste par scenariile potrivit carora primele semne de recuperare se vor simti abia la sfarsitul anului viitor. Pe piata fortei de munca, problemele au inceput sa se simta inca de anul trecut, cand companii precum Dacia, Mittal Steel sau Petrom au facut concedieri importante. Cel mai rapid si mai puternic s-au gripat industria constructiilor, sectorul auto si textilele, insa treptat virusul s-a extins si spre zone ce pareau mai stabile, precum comert, industrie si sistemul financiar-bancar.
Bogdan Hossu, presedintele Cartel Alfa: “Asteptam sa vina cam jumatate de milion anul acesta”
Theodor Alexandrescu, directorul general al AIG Life: “Anul acesta vrem sa angajam cateva sute de agenti noi”
Anca Georgescu, director de resurse umane la Romtelecom: “Pana acum au fost trimisi acasa 2.000 de oameni. Mai sunt 500, dupa care acest proces se va incheia”
If, however, the managers and Romanian businessmen who had the chance to experience both the education system and business environment here and abroad say this, their verdicts sound not only realistic, but also more encouraging. Let us see what they have to say.
Let us imagine Romania as a castle built from playing cards, in a contest where what matters is to use as many cards in the shortest time possible. We, the creative people that we are, put cards wherever we could, as fast as we could. The other competitors, Germany, France or maybe even Poland, had the advantage of getting into the game early and built solid castles; our only chance was to build fast. But the crisis changed the rules of the game in the meantime. Now, whoever wants to stay in the competition has to have a solid, stable structure, with infrastructure, education and industry, with a simple and consistent fiscal and legal system. And this is where we start with a handicap again.
Moving beyond figures of speech, we will say again, as many other commentators have, that for Romania, the crisis is an opportunity to take a little break from the rush of the last four or five years and to be forced to think long term. For such an exercise in thinking, we need the people who got an education and worked in other economies, those of the solid castles. They can see Romania objectively and critically but can also contribute to the change of the local business environment and maybe even of the society.
”Has anybody said it, that normality in Romania is a luxury?” Anca Podoleanu asked us about a statement of hers. Yes, others did, as well, or at least thought about it. They are very well aware that in the countries where they studied and worked, it is normal to get fair public services and a fiscal regime that does not change every year.
Anca Podoleanu is the former human resources manager of telecommunications operator Vodafone. Today she has her own HR consultancy, Choice Consulting. She went to elementary school in New York and got an MBA in Canada, where she worked after that. She says that the Romanian economy does not know what its specialities are and this is where many problems stem from. The advantage of Romanians, on the other hand, compared to others, is that they are faster, more dynamic and often have a more developed entrepreneurial spirit, because the economy forced them to. This is what Andrei Caramitru, partner with McKinsey advisory firm, who runs the office in Bucharest, believes. Caramitru went to college in Switzerland and worked there until he returned to the country in 2007, when the local McKinsey office opened.
Another consultant how knows the difference between our and ”their” managers is Codrut Pascu, managing partner of Roland Berger Romania. He joined the British company after completing his education in economics at the ASE (Academy of Economic Studies) in Bucharest. He then attended a master programme at Fontainebleau, one of the most powerful schools of business in Europe and worked for the company’s offices in France and at the headquarters in London for more than four years, before returning to the Bucharest office. He says managers have changed a lot for the better over the last few years and results will become visible in society in the medium and long run. He too feels that Romania can change for the better with the help of the private sector, where organisations can instil healthy values and value systems in people. ”Education plays an important part here, too, though,” Pascu says. He means the pragmatism instilled by colleges abroad.
Compania care detine franciza la nivelul Europei de Sud-Est, Marinopoulos Holding, are in plan investitii de peste 1 milion de euro in acest an, pentru lansarea pe piata locala a 2-3 magazine in total. Primul magazin, deschis in centrul comercial Baneasa Shopping City din Bucuresti, are o suprafata de 720 de metri patrati.
Reprezentantii Marinopoulos nu au furnizat date despre asteptarile de business ale companiei pentru acest an. Intrarea pe piata romaneasca a Gap face parte din strategia de extindere a companiei la nivel mondial, care vizeaza incheierea de acorduri de francize pentru marcile Gap si Banana Republic in Asia, Europa de Est si Orientul Mijlociu.
„Avem incredere deplina in popularitatea marcii si in succesul sau pe plan local”, argumenteaza Stelios Skordalakis, Marketing Manager la Marinopoulos Romania, decizia de lansare a celui de-al doilea magazin Gap in Romania, la inceputul lunii iunie, in Plaza Romania.
„E posibil sa mai deschidem un al treilea magazin, dar suntem in acelasi timp atenti si la evolutia situatiei economice. De asemenea, vizam si aducerea brandului Banana Republic in viitorul apropiat.” Marketing managerul Marinopoulos spune ca urmareste sa deschida in Romania magazine de minim 700 de metri patrati si care reunesc in format „combo”, marci destinate tuturor categoriilor de clienti (Gap, GapKids, babyGap si GapBody).
„Vom deschide magazine separate (destinate unei singure marci din cele patru ale Gap –n.r.) doar in orasele in care nu vom gasi suficient spatiu pentru un magazin combo de peste 700 m.p.” Gap Inc., retailerul american cu o istorie de 40 de ani, detine o retea de peste 3.100 de magazine la nivel mondial, prin care vinde marcile Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy si Piperlime. Compania a finalizat anul 2007 cu incasari de 15,8 miliarde de dolari la nivel mondial. Marinopoulos Holding, partenerul Gap pe Europa de Sud-Est, mai detine in Romania francizele Starbucks, Sephora, Marks&Spencer.
Cititi aici mai multe despre cum a ajuns GAP intr-un fir de ata.