“Romania has significant GDP growth, but the business environment is difficult for all types of companies, partly because of fiscal instability. It is even more difficult for small and medium-sized businesses,” said Alexandru Reff, country managing partner Deloitte Romania, at the Coface Country Risk 2019 conference.
“Investments in technology are need to improve quality and many Romanian entrepreneurs need to accept that they need know-how.”
Challenges aside, the companies attending the event said they were optimistic and believed opportunities on the local market would continue to stimulate business growth. There is also a feeling of uncertainty, which leads to slowing down or postponing investments.
“I can feel the market is developing. Everybody is complaining about being unable to find talent on the labor market, which is true, but we’ve noticed that when interviewing we can find talent, there is still talent on the market, but we need to find it and develop it. The labor shortage has made companies more and more competitive,” said Violeta Luca, CEO of Microsoft Romania.
The global market, the economy and politics have been going through significant changes in recent years and companies cannot ignore that.
“I don’t think Brexit, Trump being elected [president], the political changes in Europe are that serious. They are normal, legitimate phases and we need to adjust to them. My message is “Let’s not panic!” Let us remember the huge change that started after 1990 with the end of the Cold War,” said David Goodhart, journalist, think tanker and author of best-selling book ‘The Road to Somewhere: The New Tribes Shaping British Politics’.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)