Page 26 - Nearshoring to Romania

4. How to nearshore to a partner in Romania

Nearshoring is the situation where work is shifted to a relatively close (geographically, legally and
culturally) organization. In most cases this organization is already existent and by definition many
aspects of the organization are beyond control of the partner that outsources its work. The implication is
that it is very important to choose a nearshoring partner carefully. Your own business will depend on it
and it will require considerable investment to have the nearshoring partner work productively. Once
production has been moved to the nearshoring partner it will take a continuous effort to keep harvesting
on the initial investment and keep gaining from the advantages that nearshoring has to offer.
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter we will focus on the process of actually nearshoring (part of your) work to Romania. The
practical information and knowledge in this chapter is based on the nearshoring of software
development.
4.2 Partner selection
Once the decision has been made to nearshore to a company in Romania rather than setting up a
nearshoring branch, the biggest challenge is to find the right nearshoring partner. In this chapter we
focus on the situation of nearshoring software development services as it is one of the most common
nearshoring activities and because it can act as a template for other types of similar services.
There are many potential nearshoring partners active in Romania and searching for one on the internet
will yield a lot of results. Obviously, not all of these will be a perfect fit for your situation. One of the best
ways of finding the right partner is by referral from a trusted source. Having considered the possibility
of nearshoring, have recourse to the experiences of others in the field. Talk to these relations to find out
how they found their partner, how they work with them, what their positive and negative experiences
are, etc.
Another possibility is of course to contactorganizations such as the NRCC, which, having knowledge of
the local companies, can direct you to potential partners.
Regardless of how a potential partner is found, there are some criteria to keep in mind during the
selection process. We will outline both pre- and post-selection criteria, where the pre-selection criteria
apply to all potential partners and post-selection to partners that are seriously considered.
4.2.1 Pre-selection criteria
The following list is not a complete one by any measure but it will help eliminate potential partners and
point out those that are worth investing more time in.
4.2.1.1 Keep it local
Many, if not most, nearshoring companies in Romania are of foreign origin. Many of those still have
foreign management and have close ties to the country of origin. It is best to choose a partner that has
close (cultural) ties to your own country of business. Nearshoring (in software development) is all about
communication. And communication is all about language and culture. One of the major hurdles in the
nearshoring process is to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between the two parties involved. This
takes effort on both the receive and supply side. You and your staff have to adjust to working with and
talking to people from Romania. At the same time, the employees in Romania have to adapt to working
with people from your country.

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Nearshoring to Romania, NRCC 2013