Page 16 - Nearshoring to Romania
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Ø Bucharest: Romania's capital, more expensive to live in than other cities, houses all major
universities, heavy traffic, but best public infrastructure (metro, bus, trolleybus, tramways, main train
hub, international airport). Note that Bucharest concentrates 20 to 25% of the economic activity of the
entire country, wages being higher than in the rest of the country.
Ø Cluj-Napoca: second city of Romania, financial centre, high focus on attracting foreign investors,
much oriented to Western Europe (Germany, the Netherlands), a good and respected university, limited
international airport. Well-known companies like Bosch and DeLonghi have operations in Cluj.
Ø Timişoara: large city, mainly thriving on industrial producers (Continental, Draxlmaier) and
services (FM Logistics, Flextronics, Alcatel), much oriented towards Italy, Germany and Serbia.
Ø Iaşi: located in the Northeast of the country, Iasi has the advantage of a good university, though few
job opportunities. Still people want to stay in their hometown, which creates low wages, good education
and excellent language skills. The city has a strong IT sector (including Amazon.com, Bitdefender,
Continental VDO, SCC, Capgemini and Pentalog), as well as well developed manufacturing companies
in the automotive and pharmaceutical industry. Iasi has a small international airport.
Ø Constanţa: being the biggest port on the Black Sea and having a large shipyard Constanta is an
important industrial and commercial center. Neighbouring beaches (Mamaia, Eforie) make it an
attractive tourist destination. It has a small international airport.
Ø Craiova: has a strong automotive history. Automobile Craiova is now in the hands of Ford. Craiova
has a medicine, economics and agriculture university. Craiova has a national airport only, but there are
plans to develop it into an international airport.
Ø Galaţi: has the largest iron and steel plant in Romania, the ArcelorMittalGalați, employing about
9000 people. Also Romania's largest shipyard (DamenSantier Naval) is located in Galați.Galați is also a
border checkpoint to Moldova, houses 2 universities with faculties in economics, shipbuilding, food
science and social studies.
Ø Braşov: abundant heavy industry (Roman trucks, agricultural tractors and machinery, hydraulic
transmissions, and helicopters). There are also chocolate factories and a large brewery, besides a
pharmaceutical plant owned by GlaxoSmithKline. Brașov houses the Technical University of
Transylvania. The city has no airport. Nearby Poiana Brasov is a popular ski resort.
Ø Sibiu: although only the 14th city in size in Romania, Sibiu is one of the most prosperous cities of
Romania and has a good name for foreign investment. Sibiu was one of the European Capitals of
Culture in 2007. Sibiu has the largest stock exchange after Bucharest and has one of the most modern
international airports in Romania, with direct connections to Germany, Austria, England and Spain as
well as to other Romanian cities.
2.5 Nearshoring to a partner versus setting up your own legal entity or branch
Once a decision has been made to move work to Romania one of the biggest decisions that follow is
whether the work will be moved to a partner in Romania or a branch (or a legal entity: i.e. a company)
will be setup in Romania. Factors that should be taken into consideration here are:
The time the company expects to be present in Romania
The money the company will spend on training the team in Romania and the time it will take
to break even on that investment
The protection of company specific intellectual property
The additional expense and profit that come with starting an own branch in Romania and
how those two factors are expected to develop over time
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Nearshoring to Romania, NRCC 2013