Only one other county, Mehedinti, witnessed a decline in revenue (13%). The other 40 counties ended 2014 with higher revenue than in 2008 and eight of them even doubled it.
Companies in 26 counties saw an increase of at least 50% in revenue, according to a ZF analysis based on Trade Registry data. The revenue went up by 100% to 198% in Arges, Ilfov, Sibiu, Arad, Mures, Alba, Constanta and Olt.
“We can see the emergence of new economic centers other than Bucharest in the past few years. The business models started from local advantages: skilled labor, opening of markets – especially of the IT-related ones and last but not least good foreign language skills,” says Octavian Jula, associate professor with the Faculty of Economics of the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj.
Almost 2,500 new companies were established din Cluj during the crisis and even the departure of Nokia in 2011 was not able to affect the economy of the county for too long, because other businesses replaced it. Italy’s De’Longhi came and became a top 20 company in the county, Bosch came, too, as did the services centers and the IT companies, offsetting the departure of a giant.
“Regions must take advantage of their competitive edge and specialize in economic operations that help them. An economic growth of the regions will boost local purchasing power and narrow the GDP/capita gap inside those regions and to other countries in the EU even faster,” says economic analyst Laurian Lungu.
Arges, the top performer of the crisis by revenue growth rate (198%), was able to achieve this feat because of the growth of Automobile Dacia, which became the largest company in Romania in 2013, beating Bucharest-registered OMV Petrom SA. Dacia, however, also attracted component suppliers, both multinationals and local businesses, which turned the county into Romania’s export capital.
Alba, too, grew with Holzindustrie and with powerful entrepreneurial businesses like Albalact and Transavia. Constanta grew because of Rompetrol Rafinare and because of its location on the Black Sea Coast.
“The regions have their competitive edge. Constanta, for instance, has access to the sea. Brasov has tourism (and maybe a research component, a remnant of the industrial base), Arad and Timisoara have their proximity to Central Europe, which may cut land transportation costs. Ploiesti has proximity to Bucharest and lower costs,” Laurian Lungu says.
In Prahova (the county Ploiesti is in) the revenue of the companies there rose 82%, following the arrival of a number of greenfield investors in the industrial parks of the city: Cameron, Federal Mogul and Lufkin (now GE owned).
Sibiu, Timis and Arad were a magnet for automotive component manufacturers at first but then grew through services centers, through the high number of well-trained engineers and the development of IT companies.
“The growth poles of the local business have been mainly driven by strong ties with universities and the universities’ ties with foreign markets and partners,” Octavian Jula says.
Major university centers in certain countries have been a magnet to investors and this might help nearby counties grow, as well, in the future.
“These growth poles – Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi, will strengthen their position even further and generate growth in the nearby counties, too. Businesses are no longer tied to a specific geographic location so they will be growing less and less reliant on Bucharest, which will create competition and competitiveness,” Octavian Jula added. (EUR1=RON4.4302)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)