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:
            Ÿ The time the company expects to be present in Romania
            Ÿ The money the company will spend on training the team in Romania and the time it will take
            to break even on that investment
            Ÿ The protection of company specific intellectual property
            Ÿ 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
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