“Please know that the meeting on 27.01.2012 with our partners in Italy announced by phone for the signing of the business contract to buy products from you has been cancelled. The Italians are worried about their safety, after seeing the street demonstrations on TV. We are sorry about the inconvenience and will get back to you by phone when these unfortunate events end,” reads an email received at the end of last week by Marin Crutescu, general manager of construction company Amvic Grup from a partner company doing business with the Italian firm.
He is just one of the local businesspeople who have sent a message to Ziarul Financiar regarding the impact that the protests have had on the business world. Many other entrepreneurs or managers who turned towards exports could well be in Marin Crutescu’s situation. Exports have been a breath of fresh air for companies in Romania in the past two years. Marin Crutescu himself said at the end of last year (after the company had recorded a 20% turnover decline against 2010) that he was relying on exports in 2012, and expected them to account for 30% of this year’s sales.
Other businesspeople queried by ZF say however that the impact of the protests has not yet been very significant in their businesses, but that if the situation continues and if it leads to the Government being overthrown, for instance, this will also be reflected in a sales decline.
In fact, this has already been the case of cosmetics company Avon: Razvan Diratian, the company’s commercial manager for Romania and the Republic of Moldova, said from the first day of protests that the company’s sales entered a downward path.
Dumitru Miron, vice-chancellor of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Romania, says political instability, the discontent of people, who demand the resignation of the president and of the government, are affecting business in that investors will be reluctant to invest in Romania at this time.
ZF asked local businesspeople about solutions for this problem, whether there is a need for a new political movement and what the government could do to ease social tensions.
The government needs a communication strategy put together by professionals and by people with expertise (from the state sector as well as the private sector), who should be put in positions where they can make decisions in the public administration – this is the advice given by businesspeople to the government in order to limit the impact of such protests in the future. As for the need to change the entire political class, some believe the entire political class needs to be replaced, others say one should improve on what is already there, while yet others say if the financing is available, company managers themselves will form a political alliance.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)