Business Review Issue 12/2012 April 9 - 15

Interview: Gheorghe Udriste, general manager of Metrorex, told BR about the raft of projects planned to upgrade and extend Bucharest’s subway network over the coming years, including extra routes and new rolling stock »page 6

ROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY

April 9 - 15, 2012 / VOLUME 16, NUMBER 11

Cloud computing is the next big thing in IT. Insiders tell BR whether this new technology is flying high locally or still up in the air »page 8-15

CLOUD SERVICES SHOW SILVER LINING

ORGANIC RETAIL ORGANIC FOOD, COSMETICS AND CLOTHING HAVE TAKEN OFF IN A BIG WAY IN ROMANIA. BUT WILL PRICE CONSCIOUSNESS TRUMP HEALTH CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE CRISIS? »PAGE 7 NEWS

Turkish titan Turkey’s economy has proved an engine of growth for the Balkans and its local ties remain tight » page 4 NEWS

Home straight Great strides have been made in moving children in care out of big institutions, says HHC Romania » page 5 GREEK EVENT

Safe haven Investors from beleaguered Greece have found the local market is still bearing gifts, said participants at BR’s forum » page 16 PLUS The Hunger Games is the biggest film of 2012 so far. But will it give you food for thought or spoil your appetite? » page 17

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

BUSINESS AGENDA April 9 09:00 Zamfirescu Racoti Predoiu organizes a conference on the new civil procedure code at Howard Johnson Hotel. By invitation only.

April 10 10:00 Subway organizes a press conference to mark the launch of its first restaurant in Romania, at Victoriei Square. By invitation only.

10:00 Cetelem Romania organizes a press conference to present the results of a study on European consumers at Novotel Hotel. Gilles Zeitoun, general director of Cetelem, will attend.

11:00 Bricostore organizes a press conference to present the company’s plans in Romania at Bricostore Baneasa.

Isabelle Pleska, Bricostore CEO, will attend. By invitation only.

April 12 09:00 Confindustria organizes a conference on the renewable energy market in Romania at Marriott Hotel. By invitation only.

April 24 09:00 ICAP Romania and CYCLE European organize a conference on credit risk at Radisson Blu Hotel. By invitation only.

April 24 - 27 Romtherm, the international exhibition for heating, cooling and air conditioning equipment, will take place at Romexpo Exhibition Center.

April 25 ∫EVENT BR organizes the third edition of Focus on Renewable Energy at Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Hotel. By invitation only. Find out more at http://business-review.ro/br-events/ April 25 - 29 Uticam, the international fair for construction trucks and equipment, will take place in the Baneasa Commercial Area.

May 10 ∫EVENT BR organizes the third edition of British Investors Forum. By invitation only. Find out more at http://business-review.ro/br-events/ May 17 ∫EVENT BR organizes the first edition of Chinese Investors Forum. By invitation only. Find out more at http://business-review.ro/br-events/

NEWS 3

NEWS in brief CABLE EBRD lends EUR 15 mln to DCS for development strategy EBRD is lending Digital Cable Systems (DCS) EUR 15 million to support the company’s development strategy, which focuses on the extension of cable TV services, including digital TV, and broadband internet to underserved regions.

The project will also enable the company to implement further network upgrades, including the digitalization of its analog TV networks. DCS currently operates in more than 2,000 localities covering 23 of the 41 counties in Romania.

The company was established in 2005 and is controlled by the private equity fund PineBridge New Europe Partners, in which the EBRD is a limited partner.

COMPETITION EUR 1.9 mln of fines given for price irregularities in 2011 Over a third of the complaints received by the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) last year for price related irregularities concerned the large retail chains, said Constantin Cerbulescu at a Mediafax seminar last week. Overall, the ANPC gave fines of RON 8 million (approximately EUR 1.9 million) last year for such irregularities.

In over 7,000 of the cases investigated by the ANPC, sanctions were applied because of irregularities related to the shelf price such as no price being displayed, differences between the price on show on the shelf and the price charged and false promotional sales.

INVESTMENTS Plexus invests EUR 40 mln in new production unit in Oradea Plexus, an American producer of equipment for the networking and communications, medical, defense, security and aerospace sectors, will make an investment of EUR 40 million in a new production unit in Oradea, announced the company.

The production facility will take over the existing operations of Plexus in Oradea where it started operations in 2009. The plant should start functioning a year from now and have 500 employees. At the moment, 245 people work for the company.

The new production facility will be situated in Eurobusiness Industrial Park Oradea and will cover a surface of 280,000 sqm.

MEDIA Ringier boosts local digital portfolio with more websites Ringier has added more websites to its digital portfolio, which join the online job portal eJobs. The media company has acquired Acasa.ro, which has monthly

traffic of 1.6 million unique users, the Mach Team network of websites, which includes Sentimente.ro, ColegiiMei.ro, ComunicateDePresa.ro, ComunicateMedia.ro, WeBlog.ro, aBlog.ro, Prieteni.ro, Jurnale.ro, Zodii.ro, DeSarbatori.ro and Aman2.ro, with monthly traffic of 2.2 unique users, and the website Konkurs.ro, according to the website IQads.ro.

POWER BRD, Citi and SocGen to handle Hidroelectrica IPO Romania’s Ministry of Economy has selected the consortium that will carry out the 10 percent stake listing of state-owned power generator Hidroelectrica on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE).

The consortium that won the tender comprises BRD, the second largest bank in Romania, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Societe Generale, both investment banks, and SSIF Intercapital Invest, a brokerage.

Law firm Zamfirescu Racoti Predoiu was the legal advisor for the Ministry of Economy in selecting the public offering intermediary. Law firm Musat & Asociatii will be the legal advisor for the winning consortium. Hidroelectrica, which generates one third of Romania’s electricity output, had a turnover of EUR 705 million last year and a profit of EUR 3.7 million.

Cupru Min buyer promises jobs and environmental investments in Rosia Poieni Canadian Roman Copper Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of investment bank BayFront Capital Partners, which bought state-owned Cupru Min for EUR 200.7 million last week, has promised increased copper mining production and jobs in Alba County.

The Rosia Poieni copper deposit has a commercial value of around EUR 5.7 billion, based on its copper, which is currently being traded on the London Metal Exchange at around USD 8,500, or EUR 6,400.

The level of royalties paid for exploiting this commodity currently stands at 4 percent. Curtin said the Canadian firm will develop a mining plan that meets environmental safety standards, at the same time solving past issues at the mine.

BayFront is currently working with a syndicate of investment banks to attract investors to expand the Rosia Poieni mining works.

PROPERTY AFI Europe to open Ploiesti mall in H2 2013 Real estate development company AFI Europe Romania will begin work on a 28,000-sqm shopping mall in Ploiesti, which should be finished in the second half of 2013.

The company – which also owns the

WEEK in numbers

34k firms entered insolvency last year, up 10 percent since the start of 2011, according to data from the National Union of Insolvency Practitioners in Romania (UNPIR)

AFI Palace Cotroceni shopping mall in Bucharest – announced it has managed to lease almost 70 percent of the future AFI Palace Ploiesti shopping mall. Future tenants include Cora, Flanco, H&M, Reserved, New Look, Arsis Vodafone, Sensiblu, Samsonite, Maxbet, Musette, Splendor, McDonalds and Pizza Dominium.

AFI Palace Ploiesti will cover 28,000 sqm of leasable area on two floors. The shopping mall is the first project begun by the company this year, after last year it started the first business office building of the AFI Business Park Cotroceni. The project will comprise five class A office buildings with the first set to be delivered this August.

RETAIL First local Subway restaurant due to open International fast food chain Subway will begin trading in Romania next week as the first local Subway outlet is set to open in Bucharest on Tuesday.

The restaurant is located on Nicolae Titulescu Blvd. Other Subway units will be opened this year in the Palas shopping center in Iasi and Iulius Mall in Cluj.

There are over 36,500 Subway restaurants worldwide at present, making the US-based company the largest restaurant franchise in the world.

American Molson Coors buys Bergenbier owner for EUR 2.65 billion American Molson Coors Brewing Company has acquired StarBev, which produces local beer Bergenbier, from CVC Funds for EUR 2.65 billion (USD 3.54 billion).

Headquartered in Amsterdam and Prague, StarBev operates nine breweries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Romania, where it owns beer company Bergenbier SA. StarBev, which employs approximately 4,100 people, has breweries in the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Montenegro and also sells its brands in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovakia.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

4 NEWS FDI

Turkey keeps close economic ties with Romania

Courtesy of TIAD

Turkish investments in Romania, ranging from tourism to heavy industry, energy to agriculture, so there aren’t many sectors we haven’t covered,” Omer Susli, TIAD president, told BR. The most visible investments are in the banking sector and the media. TIAD currently has 143 members and the association represents around 2,000 Turkish companies in Romania.

Romania is currently supporting negotiations for Turkey’s EU accession.

“Turkey and Romania had a bilateral trade of USD 7 billion last year, a very good figure Omer Susli, president of the Association given the fact that we all faced the ecoof Turkish Businesspeople in Romania nomic crisis,” Omur Solendil, Turkish ambassador in Romania, told BR. Turkey was an economic champion in usiness relationships between Turkey the region, posting an 8.5 percent growth and Romania have remained resilient in GDP last year, while Romania achieved despite the tough economic climate 2.5 percent, but this hasn’t discouraged inand Turkish investors have more investvestors’ appetite for the country. “This ment plans in store, mainly in agriculture year we are looking at agriculture and reand green energy, according to Omer Susnewable energy, mainly wind and solar or li, president of the Association of Turkish hydro,” said Susli.

Businesspeople in Romania (TIAD).

Companies with Turkish capital inLast week, telecom company Euroweb Romania, majority-owned by Turk Telecom, vested over EUR 2 billion in the Romanian economy during 2010, and had a combined announced investments of EUR 2 million turnover of EUR 5 billion. At end-Septemin local infrastructure this year. Stuart ber 2011, 12,388 companies with Turkish Evers, CEO of Euroweb Romania, said locapital were registered in Romania. Turkey cal investments in telecom infrastructure is Romania’s fourth biggest export and will amount to EUR 10 million through to ninth biggest import partner. ∫ 2016.

Ovidiu Posirca “There is a homogenous distribution of

B

STOCK EXCHANGE

Property Fund plans secondary listing in Warsaw by end-2012

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hareholders in the Property Fund (FP) agreed last week in principle on a secondary listing of the fund on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which should be carried out by the end of this year.

The heir of industrialist Nicolae Malaxa, Georgia Palade van Dusen, the largest individual shareholder with a 6.5 percent stake in FP, and the City of London, which holds 7.2 percent of shares, called this February for a general shareholders meeting in order to vote on the FP’s secondary listing in Warsaw, which should increase demand for FP shares.

Greg Konieczny, FP fund manager, said the secondary listing would attract new investors and increase demand for shares. He added that this move will not drain liquidity from the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). The manager said that companies that have chosen Warsaw for a secondary listing saw liquidity on the domestic market increase by 7.8 percent.

Franklin Templeton, sole manager of the Property Fund, will set up a listing plan and select the investment plan this May. The proposal should be voted on by shareholders by the end of June and the secondary listing completed later this year.

Last July the FP manager recommended the listing of a maximum 10 percent of shares in Warsaw in the first quarter of this year.

“I said we want to do the secondary listing combined with an offer of existing shares. Either we will be allowed to ac-

quire them from the market, or some shareholders will decide to sell them,” said Konieczny. “Or maybe initially we will make a technical listing, followed by an offering to bring in liquidity.”

At present, the fund manager is in talks with the Romanian National Securities Commission (CNVM) over the legal aspects of the secondary listing, which are taking longer than initially expected. The CNVM wants to issue regulations to allow the listing to proceed, although this is already technically possible, according to Konieczny.

Linking the central depositaries in Romania and Poland is another condition for the listing.

FP shares are currently trading at a 50 percent discount due to the unlisted companies in the fund’s portfolio, which make up 57 percent of the net asset value (NAV) of EUR 3.69 billion at end-February.

FP’s administration contract was amended last week by shareholders, following a proposal from US hedge fund Elliott Associates, which holds a 13.9 percent stake in the fund.

The hedge fund believes the share discount could be reduced by selling assets and distributing the resulting funds to shareholders. Franklin Templeton would receive 1.5 percent of distributions made through to 2013, and 1 percent thereafter.

It cashed in around EUR 6.5 million for FP management last year. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

NEWS 5 SOCIAL

PHARMA

GSK to invest EUR 10 mln in Brasov plant expansion

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harmaceuticals producer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said it will invest EUR 10 million to expand production capacity at its Brasov plant. The company invested EUR 7 million in the same location last year.

Pascal Prigent, general director of GSK Romania, said 2011 was a volatile year for the healthcare sector, and the current version of the claw-back tax will not bring more predictability on a market which totaled EUR 2.5 billion last year. “We believe the claw-back tax in its current form is not sustainable as the pharma industry is the only actor financing the healthcare deficit,” warned Prigent.

At the moment all eyes are on the Ministry of Healthcare, which will announce on

Courtesy of HHC Romania

Courtesy of GSK

Pascal Prigent, general director of GSK Romania

April 25 the claw-back tax that producers will have to pay for the first quarter of this year. Last year, the budget for subsidized pharmaceuticals was EUR 1.3 billion while consumption was EUR 1.5 billion, with the difference made up by the pharma industry. At present, the claw-back mechanism uses the shelf price as its tax basis, which includes distributors’ and pharmacies’ mark-up and VAT. The GSK director fears the claw-back tax will be high, plunging some producers into serious financial difficulties. “I am afraid about what will happen to smaller companies. Romania is already a tough market because of payment terms, and because many of the new products cannot be launched, so if you charge a high tax it becomes a complicated situation for a lot of companies,” Prigent told BR. Furthermore, the industry faces delayed payment terms of up to one year from the national insurance house (CNAS), impacting the cashflow and working capital of pharma producers.

GSK has invested over USD 141 million in Romania in the last 13 years, with the largest share going to the Brasov plant, which was bought in 1998 and has received USD 106 million in investments.

GSK’s sales rose by 11 percent year-onyear in 2011 to EUR 151.8 million, while Europharm, the firm’s distribution arm, posted sales of close to EUR 250 million. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca

Number of institutionalized children in big drop

Baroness Emma Nicholson

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he number of Romanian children being cared for in institutions has significantly dropped, from about 110,000 in 643 very large institutions in 2000 to only 184 such institutions hosting 23,000 children today. Roughly 49,000 children have been placed in care with families or in family-style environments, reveals a national report put together by NGO Hope and Homes for Children Romania (HHC Romania) with the support of British organization Absolute Return for Kids (ARK).

The NGO’s objective is to close all the old-style childcare institutions by 2020, the cost of which is estimated at EUR 130

million.

Present at the report’s launch event, Baroness Emma Nicholson, who in 2009 was appointed high representative for child protection by the Romanian government, said the country’s progress in the area of childcare was impressive. “You have a unique success story and you should all shout as loudly as possible about this,” she said, adding that at present Romania has some of the best possible legislation in this field. Not all the system’s problems have been solved, however. There are still considerable differences between regions when it comes to the quality of the services provided by the state, and many of the remaining institutionalized children have special needs and so are harder to integrate.

But even so, Romania has come a long way since 1989 and the subsequent few years when the international media spotlight fell upon the deplorable state of local childcare institutions. “Romania is now a model to be followed, finding itself in a leadership position when it come deinstitutionalizing children,” said Princess Marina Sturdza, honorary president of HHC Romania.

According to HHC, most of the children in state care already live in environments resembling family homes: 19,004 children are in foster care, 7,029 live in small family homes and apartments, and 21,033 children are in the care of relatives. ∫ Simona Bazavan

6 INTERVIEW

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

The journey to an upgraded Bucharest subway Half of Bucharest citizens are expected to travel by subway in the next five years, and people are looking at buying homes and finding jobs close to subway stations. Gheorghe Udriste, general manager of Metrorex, told BR about the direction the network will be taking in the coming years. on the tender’s specifications. Next year we will have the context for starting construction works, which will last approximately five years. It will be easier to work here as there are not so many utility networks in our way.

We also hope to realize a BragadiruVoluntari line project through publicprivate partnership. The documentation has been finalized and we should soon start procedures for finding the partner.

∫ ANDREEA CEASAR

How would you characterize the local subway?

Our subway is 32 years old, and has almost 70 km of two-way track and 51 stations. I believe it is located in the top half of the longest and most high-tech world subways, as in the last ten years we have implemented the highest level of technology.

By 1989 – in just ten years – 60 km had been built, while in the last 20 years the figure is just 10 km. What should citizens expect in the next five years?

In 2011 all the construction works started before 1989 were finished. The investment in metro line five, which links the eastern part of the city with the western part (Drumul Taberei with Pantelimon), is the most important investment in the whole country. It will demonstrate our capacity to deal with such huge projects while leaving two million citizens to live normally. The idea of this line started in the 90s. The consortium made up of Italian construction firm Astaldi, Spanish firm FCC and two Romanian ones, Delta ACM and AB Construct, started construction works for the Drumul Taberei-Eroilor segment in 2011. They started to work at Academia Militara, Orizont, Favorit, Drumul Taberei 34, Romancierilor, Brancusi and Valea Ialomitei stations.

For the Eroilor-Pantelimon segment we are preparing a preliminary technical report and in the second half of this year the tender for the stations and tunnels will start.

The 10 km of two-way track, 15 metro stations and depots should all be finished by the end of 2018 and also be fully operational.

These tunnels pass very near communist blocks. Should the owners be worried?

Subway routes usually follow the major boulevards which are not very near the blocks. The builders and a specialized committee are watching very closely the effects on the blocks where necessary. For the first construction works near Drumul Taberei, all the blocks that were five meters from the construction site were analyzed and were not affected.

Photo: Mihai Constantineanu

How many passengers does Metrorex transport daily?

During the recent hard winter we transported 700,000 passengers, but the average number is 650,000, a quarter of all passengers that use public transport each day in Bucharest. The issue is that the subway system covers only three or four percent of the total public transport network of the same area.

The mayors and also the government should take into consideration Bucharest’s development trends and act in advance when it comes to cities’ utilities, town planning and, obviously, public transport plans. In recent times the number of cars on the road has grown eight fold, while the above-ground transport network infrastructure cannot support major changes.

CV Gheorghe Udriste 2009 February-present General manager at Metrorex 2007-2008 General manager, infrastructure and general public services department 2001-2007 Executive director of the Bucharest Municipality’s transport, roads and traffic department 1997-2001 General manager of Metrorex

inexperienced company is responsible for the project, while the experienced one is in a secondary role and can hardly be blamed in the event of problems.

How many passengers will the subway carry after the Drumul Taberei-Pantelimon line is finished?

If we add those from Drumul Taberei, the volume will reach almost 1 million passengers daily.

What are the main problems that could lengthen the construction period?

We have problems redirecting the water supply networks, the sewerage systems, and also the gas as the public utilities’ plans don’t match the reality underground.

If there are six cables on the plan you will surely find three times as many in real life.

We are trying to make these changes without disturbing Bucharest citizens.

Under these conditions, shouldn’t trains be more punctual? Passengers experience delays every day.

The old trains cause most of the problems. They are great cost consumers. They lack new automatic traffic control systems and as they work with the new ones we have to have a time interval between them to avoid incidents.

At the moment, peak services arrive in central stations every three minutes, while in peripheral stations it’s six minutes. But this will change in two years as we are aiming to change all the trains. We started acquiring 15 trains last year, and they will be delivered soon. Besides these, another ten are needed to replace all the old rolling stock. The value of investment per train is approximately EUR 7 million with a projected useful life of 30 years. The old stock will be destroyed as there has been no demand to reuse the old trains as restaurants or anything else.

What can you do in the event the consortium stops work or doesn’t respect the deadlines, as has happened during other large infrastructure investments?

This is what we are doing from the beginning: selecting the best ones with experience. But there are some European rules that I dislike, such as the one that says any inexperienced company that is supported by one with experience can participate in the tender and win it. This is not fair at all, as we sign the contract with this firm. This

What about reaching the airport by subway?

Line six is extremely important for the city as it covers the necessary transport in north Bucharest. This line has been studied ever since 1999, but just recently it obtained one third of the finance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, while the rest will be financed by the state.

Today we are revising the feasibility study, recalculating costs, optimizing routes and deciding a number of stations. Very soon we will finalize the revised study and work

Are local construction companies ready for this type of project?

This is the most important construction project of its size in Romania since 1990.

The winning consortium for the first segment is made up of foreign companies with experience and proper machinery with which they will execute the project.

What would incentivize a private partner to invest in such a project?

Such a partner has a lot to gain. It can fully use the land and the train stations for commercial and advertising purposes. Of course it will also have income from every ticket sold and also from state subsidies as the public transport system has to be helped by the public administration. We are talking about a public service with a social character.

Does this type of investment in subway transport ever pay a return?

No. But there are public assets with an over 100-year life guarantee, which are at the disposal of citizens to ease their lives.

There are also plans for another two stations on line four: Laminorul and Lac Straulesti. When they will start and end?

As there is a great demand for the development of the north-east of the city – Mogosoaia, Buftea and Straulesti – we decided to lengthen the line to include two more stations and also an intermodal point for those who want to leave their cars here or come by other means of transport.

There are just two kilometers to be built.

The construction works should start this spring or summer, as we believe we will confirm the winner if there aren’t any appeals. The works will last for two or three years. One of the tender conditions was a short duration of execution. We hope that the winner will ensure, besides an appropriate price, a very short deadline.

When will you finish installing lifts?

We are installing 75 lifts in 34 metro stations.

In 2011, 29 lifts were installed in 13 stations.

This year we will complete the process.

Why are the lifts only for disabled passengers?

There is a universal sign used for each lift that I personally don’t like and for which I’m looking for a solution. The lifts are for all kinds of passengers, parents with children, elderly people and also disabled people.

We have plans for the new trains to have spaces for bikes, wheelchairs and so on. And we hope passengers will be able to check-in at Gara de Nord Station. Our plans are elaborate and we have a EUR 2 billion credit for subway investments. I am sure that if we have a coherent source of financing we will be able to apply them.

andreea.ceasar@business-review.ro

FOCUS 7

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

Signs of ripening: Romanians embrace the organic trend The niche segment of organic products has been on an upward trend for several years now, bringing healthy profits for local organic farmers and producers. The Romanian organic food market could well surge by another 30 percent in 2012 as more health-conscious consumers choose to go green. But the economic crisis has also taken its toll. ∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN

Courtesy of Cora

While five years ago the shopper could count on the fingers of one hand the number of specialized stores selling independently certified organic products on the local market, now there are considerably more places to choose from. Be it organic food, cosmetics or even clothing, the concept itself has come a long way, gaining popularity among Romanian consumers.

There are no official data on how much Romanians spend on organic products, but everyone agrees the market has been on an upward trend in the past few years.

“It is very hard to give actual figures, but judging by the number of new specialized stores selling organic products, the increase in large retailers’ ranges and also the feedback we receive from our members, I believe that the market grew by more than 30 percent last year,” Marian Cioceanu, president of the Bio Romania Association, which is dedicated to organic farming, told BR. Cioceanu says that for several product categories such as sunflower oil, honey, eggs, pastry products and wine, consumption has surged and even doubled in some cases. “Looking at eggs, for example, even though new farms have been set up, the offer doesn’t come close to meeting the demand,” he explained.

He estimates that overall, local consumers spent between EUR 60 and 70 million on organic food products in 2011.

While a 30 percent growth rate is impressive, Romania is still light years behind market leaders such as Germany, where the organic industry is estimated to have generated a whopping EUR 6.6 billion last year.

Coming back to the local market, 2012 could bring a similar 30 percent growth rate, if not even more, thinks Cioceanu, both because local consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of these products for their health and the environment, and also because the choice is following suit. There are more than 10,000 organic farmers in Romania cultivating about 300,000 hectares of land and the number of processors has also been on the rise. The range of locally made organic products has considerably diversified and increased in the past couple of years, but, even so, Romania still exports 80 percent of its organic products – the bulk of which are cereals and other raw materials – only to import processed products.

Cioceanu says changing this depends on Romania’s capacity to negotiate and influence the future Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020. Better financial support for organic farmers as well as for companies manufacturing organic products would provide the necessary incentives to

Organic growth: shoppers are getting keener on eco-products despite the fall in purchasing power

attract investors. A higher domestic production and fewer imports could also mean lower prices for organic products, which are estimated to be between 30 and 200 percent more expensive than their regular counterparts. The difference in price stems from the fact that at least 95 percent of the ingredients of a certified organic product must come from organic farming, meaning that they are free from synthetic insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers and that the final product does not contain artificial additives, flavorings, colorings or preservatives.

70 mln euros – the estimated value of the local organic food market

But while everyone seems to agree that Romanians’ interest in organic products is on the rise, the decrease in purchasing power has taken its toll. “The outlook is gloomy, I think. I know from other players on the organic market too, that the situation is rather bad. It is only an impression that organic is riding a wave – there are more importers and retailers than consumers,” Ileana Muntean, co-owner of Pukka Food, one the most popular vendors of organic products in Bucharest, told BR.

She opened her store almost four years ago, Retail expects its turnover to increase by about 60 percent this year to EUR 8 million. and has recently relocated it to Amzei Square, in search of better business.

“Sales dropped significantly in 2011 Large retailers want a piece of compared to the previous year. I don’t the organic pie know what to say about 2012. The times are Organic products have been given more so troubled that in December – one of the room on the shelves of large retail networks, best performing months – sales were at as they too agree that organic is good for summer level,” she added. business.

Nevertheless, more organic outlets “Interest in organic products is part of a have been opened in the past few years – recent consumer trend to turn to natural not to mention the frenzy of online stores. products, organic or diet,” Simona Sahin, asOne chain of local shops selling a wide sortment manager in Cora’s marketing derange of natural products including organic partment, told BR. The retailer’s organic ones is Plafar. At present there are 26 Plaproducts sales went up 20 percent in 2011 far stores, 12 of which are in Bucharest, but against the previous year, she added. “The over the next couple of months about six best sold organic products are from the more will be opened, Ioana Mihut, marfresh products category – such as dairy and keting director at Plafar, told BR. eggs – but at the same time baby food and Plafar Retail, the company that owns cosmetics have proved to be an opportunity the stores, is controlled by Portuguese inin this segment,” she said. Cora sells more vestor Alain Bonte, who is also the main than 400 organic products, from food and shareholder of the Centrofarm network of cosmetics to a recently launched line of orpharmacies. Back in 2007, Centrofarm ganic clothing. Its portfolio also includes paid EUR 1 million to acquire the Plafar retwo private labels for organic merchandise tail trademark from the National Plafar – Nature Bio and Influx.

Company, and with it the right to open its Carrefour Romania, too, has posted own shops under this brand. sales increases for organic products.

“Consumers’ interest in organic products “Sales have gone up significantly for catehas definitely increased and Romanians are gories such as dairy, eggs, bread and othmuch more informed about them. We are ers,” Andreea Mihai, marketing director at glad to see how carefully they read product Carrefour Romania, told BR. The retailer is labels and that we are receiving more and constantly looking at expanding its ormore questions from them,” said Mihut, ganic range, also offering private label adding that the best sold organic products products. in the Plafar network are food supplements, cosmetics and food. Overall, Plafar simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

8 CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT

Cloud compu bursts onto I

While many companies are starting to see the silver lining of clou neering stage. The appeal of cloud is that it adapts: it can suit the serve entities in the public sector. An ecosystem has already start are still a lot of information gaps and misconceptions about what ∫ OTILIA HARAGA

Market status The value of the worldwide cloud computing market is set to reach a total of USD 150 billion by 2014, according to Gartner. This means that it will have doubled within four years from 2010, when it totaled USD 68 million.

A local bird’s eye view is offered by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), which predicts that by 2015, the Romanian cloud computing market will see a 40 percent boost.

However, PAC does not provide a concrete value for the cloud market in Romania. This is because there are several types of cloud – the most important being public and private.

“The public cloud in Romania generates rather small business, falling in the mostly free-of-charge category of services.

The private cloud is generally dedicated to large companies in utilities, telecom, retail and the banking system, and its adoption in Romania is slightly on the up.

These companies are in fact the first entities that will adopt this technology,” Valentin Tomsa, general manager of SAP Romania, tells BR. In developed states, the degree of cloud adoption is higher than in Romania.

“The reality is that cloud needs are lower in Romania than in Western Europe or the United States. IT projects for the Ro-

“We expect that on the short term solutions will become hybrid, so they will include public cloud, private cloud and onpremise components” Serban Prejoianu, Gecad Net

On cloud nine: cloud computing can offer companies an manian market rarely need higher computing power on demand and also seldom need capacities to simultaneously cater for a very numerous public,” Alexandru Lapusan, CEO of Zitec, tells BR. Still, IDC estimations are that the local cloud computing market is set to grow at least five times faster than the IT market at large between 2011 and 2015.

IDC also predicts, in a survey carried out for Microsoft, that 14 million new jobs

will be created in the world by 2015. “In the case of emerging economies, the pace will be faster. The split will be pretty much equal among large companies and SMEs. Moreover, the split will be equal across the various industries,” Daniel Rusen, product manager for Office 365 at Microsoft Romania, tells BR. Together with mobility and business intelligence, cloud computing represents

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

uting IT scene

f cloud computing, the uptake of these services is still in the pioit the interests of both a corporation and an SME, but can also started to form around cloud, but like any untrodden path, there what cloud can do and when it is suitable.

anies and workers savings and convenience, say proponents

“one of the three priorities over the next Large organizations have already miyears in the technological development grated email, CRM, components of HR, of companies,” Tomsa adds. point of sale, hosting, and other applicaToday, 40 percent of all the busitions to a cloud environment. nesses surveyed by KPMG are aware of Another 13 percent of companies are the existence of the cloud – with 19 perbeyond the testing stage and are now cent of them currently evaluating the postransitioning core business processes. sibilities and 21 percent actually using or “Even more striking, one in ten enterprises testing the technology, Aurelia Costache, are already running core IT functions in partner in advisory at KPMG, tells BR. the cloud,” she says.

CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT 9

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

10 CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT INTERVIEW

A solid partner for cloud solutions implementation When did you begin to implement cloud solutions?

The first cloud client was a law office almost two years ago.

It was also the first commercial implementation of the MiPaul Roman, crosoft BPOS (the Managing Partner, actual Office 365) Pras Consulting service in Romania.

Cloud computing was an area we had been thinking about for a while before Microsoft launched a commercial version. We had thought of various scenarios to implement this and Microsoft came with the product just in time. We started developing the skills right away.

How much does cloud contribute to productivity growth and employee mobility?

For those who don't have them, the change can be radical. Think about how much you can gain from constant email access, calendar or document access. Also, think about how much not having to travel to attend a meeting will change your situation.

For SMEs, the opportunities of using this technology are extraordinary, as they have access to the newest technologies and tools, at a price which is no longer unaffordable for them.

How can a company access cloud technology?

There are two options. One is contacting a partner like Pras, which can implement all the technical settings for the client. There are cases of simple implementation, in which we do not charge additional costs to those required by Microsoft. In cases of complex implementation, the costs involved are smaller than those paid for local similar implementation.

The second options is by accessing www.microsoft.com/office365.

Daniel Rusen, product manager for Office 365 at Microsoft Romania

“Cloud computing is evolving and we expect it to be implemented on a large scale in three-four years. We believe that the cloud will be most advantageous to the government, healthcare and education sectors, as the stakeholders include large sections of society. However, companies will be the first to adopt the cloud,” says Costache.

Local advantages ADVERTORIAL

What are the most important cloud projects you implemented in the last two years?

One was for Provident Financial Romania – the biggest Office 365 implementation in our country with over 350 users using the whole range of products along with authentication in the local network.

The second one was for Sustainanalytics – a multinational company that uses a hybrid implementation of Microsoft 365. Why hybrid? Because we integrated the solution of local authentication, the local communication solution Lync 2010 (used for IM, audio/visual conferences and call centers)

and products in cloud from the Office 365 suite such as Exchange Online and Sharepoint Online

“The Microsoft team working with software developers for the adoption of cloud platforms is estimating an investment in excess of 250,000 in 2012 in cash grants, training sessions and use of cloud computing for Romanian developers” Daniel Rusen, Microsoft

In Romania, the adoption of the cloud is going well, “due especially to promotion efforts made by Microsoft Romania.

There are also many projects on other cloud platforms used by Romanian companies, especially Amazon AWS – but it is worth mentioning that Amazon is not making efforts to promote tion of cloud computing in Romania, also cloud services and instruct technical or for other reasons. business teams in Romania. There are Vasile Voicu, coordinating director several resellers of cloud services but for product management for the Romtthey are only focused on selling SaaS services (software-as-a-service), elecom business segment, says that the current economic situation also plays for example Google Apps,” Lapusan an important role since it puts pressure on tells BR. companies to reduce the total costs of Microsoft is currently investing in an IT&C services. array of programs meant to promote “Using services in this category, comcloud usage on the Romanian market, panies eliminate initial CAPEX investespecially among SMEs. “The Microsoft ments, transforming them into operateam working with software developers tional OPEX costs. Users pay a fixed for the adoption of cloud platforms monthly price for using cloud services, so is estimating an investment in excess of 250,000 in 2012 in cash grants, the total expenses are predictable and under control,” he comments. At this point, training sessions and use of cloud comthere are three types of cloud computing puting for Romanian developers,” says services: software as a service Rusen.

(SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaS) Programs include BizSpark, which and Platform as a Service (PaaS). targets software start-ups that can benefit from three years of access to software, “The first of these is the most advanced, training and visibility, free of charge. since it has become known as the best alternative to in-house traditional soluSecondly, there is BizSpark Plus, which altions from the point of view of quality, lows the most promising start-ups to flexibility, scalability and costs,” says consume cloud services worth up to USD Voicu.

60,000. Thirdly, the program Your BusiAdditionally, the necessary technical ness, Your Fame is a regional competition conditions for cloud adoption are in of software programs in which the Miplace already. crosoft Romania investment is USD “Romania has one of the fastest 20,000. broadband internet speeds in Europe A survey carried out by Vanson and in the world, it hosts data centers and Bourne for Microsoft in Europe (on 2,100 has very high competences in IT,” managers and entrepreneurs in 21 EuroMadalin Bratu, cloud computing leader at pean countries), which also includes 100 IBM SEE, tells BR. Romanian entrepreneurs, found that 70 As more and more companies percent of local managers believe IT is transfer to cloud, “the difference will be critical for business development; 37 made by the speed of access and work in percent of them also believed that they the cloud,” Cristina Costachescu, would be using cloud-based solutions this marketing director of UPC Business, tells year.

BR. The context is favorable for the adop-

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

Most likely, it will be larger companies and firms with at least ten employees that will migrate faster to cloud, because they will be able to use all the capabilities of the product.

Meanwhile, small companies and freelancers will appreciate certain functions, such as online storage and the flexibility brought by a monthly fee, explains Costachescu.

Serban Prejoianu, general manager of Gecad Net, predicts that on the short term solutions will become hybrid, so they will include public cloud, private cloud and on-premise components.

“The applications that are considered non-core, which do not contain sensitive data such as electronic mail, can be migrated to an external environment, freeing companies from the investments they would have to make into hardware and resources for the implementation and maintenance of such a solution in-house,” says Prejoianu.

Hey, you, get onto my cloud!

One category of companies that have most to gain from cloud usage is SMEs, which have so far been largely unable to take advantage of IT systems and solutions due to the high up-front costs of equipment and infrastructure.

These companies are known to face issues “in the management of their supply chains, financials, inventories, customer relationships, and human resources,” Costache tells BR. Benefits for this business segment include scalability, flexibility, and the fact that it is an on-demand service.

At the moment, the use of cloud computing is rather low among SMEs but over the next two years there will be a slight growth in its adoption in this segment, since SMEs’ IT expenses can be cut by up to 30 percent, Tomsa estimates.

Very importantly, one of the perks a company can get from cloud usage is a boost in the efficiency of its IT personnel.

“Generally, IT professionals spend 70 percent of their time on system maintenance

CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT 11 “Like our neighbors in the former communist bloc in the Balkan region, we are reticent about letting someone specialized to do some of our work and we still have a fear of Big Brother” Madalin Bratu, cloud computing leader, IBM SEE and only 30 percent on strategic actions that can bring real value to the company,” Tomsa adds.

With the increasing usage of cloud computing also comes greater staff mobility. “Employees can bring their own equipment to work, they can work from home or the other way round – while they are at work, they can perform certain tasks for personal reasons, such as online shopping,” says Rusen.

In conclusion, cloud can influence the entire flow of the business process within an enterprise. “Cloud is breaking down barriers in the supply chain, as well as creating more effective and timely interaction between clients and suppliers.

It is delivering speed, agility and cost reductions for IT and other functional areas within the enterprise.

The transformative impact of cloud can readily be seen across the business in areas such as HR (human resources), CRM (customer-relationshipmanagement) and IT infrastructure,” argues Costache.

But there is a greater picture than just what each individual player can get out of cloud: changes on the labor market will not cease. “Cloud sourcing may impact existing organizational roles and could require new skills or make others redundant.

A practical guide to taking up cloud services l Microsoft Romania recommends its clients access the website www.microsoft.ro/cloud or other specialized websites such as www.office365.ro l UPC

clients who take out a Business Fiber Power internet subscription or an Office Pack receive a free of charge Microsoft Office 365 usage license. l Gecad clients can start using cloud services provided by the company by accessing http://gecadnet.ro/e and can find out more details at http://virtualdesk.ro/#/home. l IBM Romania supplies managed services to local and regional clients in two ways: via the one-to-one model, through which it offers a dedicated infrastructure to each client, and via a one-to-many model. Clients can choose to administer their own applications or let IBM specialists do it. l Romtelecom Business Solutions provides unified communications services as part of the My Office package (http://www.romtelecom.ro/solutii-business/servicii-itc/my-office/).

From private to public cloud computing solutions What are Maguay’s competences in cloud technology?

Maguay has developed its competences in cloud computing, and can successfully deliver Private Cloud projEduard Pughin, ects.

Operations Manager, Apart from the expeMaguay rience on Microsoft System Center products, Maguay has developed competences on virtualization solutions – becoming VMWare Enterprise Hyper-V partner, and also on solutions of IT process automatization, Microsoft Self Service Portal.

Meanwhile, Maguay is the most important system builder of servers, being certified as Intel Server Local Leader and Intel Technology Provider Platinum, guaranteeing that we offer the most appropriate hardware infrastructure.

Besides, the ability to deliver Private Cloud projects, gives Maguay the possibility to offer to the Public Cloud providers the appropriate infrastructure, server-optimized equipment for data centers, which support complex virtualization solutions.

What are Maguay’s strengths in Cloud Computing Technology?

Primarily, the hardware and software competences mentioned previously.

What is more, the new Maguay eXpertServer is our most powerful strength, for Private Cloud projects (where we can also offer design and implementation), but also for Public Cloud Projects.

The new eXpertServer Maguay, build on Intel® Xeon® processors, E5 series, is the optimal solution for increasing to about 80 percent performances and improving by about 50 percent energy efficiency, compared to previous server generations.

We consider that the server, physical or virtual, offered in cloud or at the beneficiary’s HQ, is a vital component of IT infrastructure.

Maguay servers are addressed to users who need complex, high availability solutions and correct price/performance ratio.

We offer, for instance, but are not limited to: enterprise-type storage solutions, DataCenter optimization and consolidation by offering server virtualizations solutions and desktop virtualization solutions.

sources available without additional costs the necessary redundancy is ensured.

- Improved operational efficiency: the activity of the IT department is greatly simplified once virtualization technologies are introduced.

- Improved infrastructure control: by accessing the monitoring server all data are centralized.

- Faster response time from the IT department: the Self Service Portal allows for the quick creation, control and allocation of resources for the development and testing departments.

Implementing a Private Cloud solution offers companies the possibility of using their hardware resources more efficiently, also providing their users with diverse services, applications and processing speed as soon as needed. The Private Cloud solution allows for savings in hardware acquisition costs, and especially in maintenance costs. It allows for backup availability in case of critical applications malfunctioning. With this solution, the IT department shifts from being focused on support and maintenance into a dynamic department, which can quickly answer all the demands of the organization it is part of.

What are Maguay’s most relevant projects launched in the last year? l We will mention the following two projects: E-learning solution implementation at Ovidius University Constanta in partnership with Economic Academy Studies Bucharest, Alexandru Ioan Cuza Iasi University and West Timisoara University. This project is another example where Maguay has implemented an academic e-learning system that helped the students to gain practice internships in a virtual company’s network. The system is very complex and contains several technologies that meet the main areas of virtual companies’ activity like banking, production, travel and commerce. Our solution includes a complete e-learning portal built on Microsoft SharePoint platform, Enterprise Resources Planning solution based on Microsoft Dinamycs Nav technology and a business simulation solution based on TOPSIM products. The system is designed to allow over 1,000 concurrent and authenticated users. l

What are the benefits of the Private Cloud solutions offered by Maguay?

Private Cloud Computing projects are becoming more popular because the concept is gaining increased awareness, and also as companies discover the real benefits of this technology.

An increased number of companies have chosen Private Cloud solutions to consolidate and upgrade the IT infrastructure, managing to obtain the following: - Cost reduction: virtualization and consolidation eliminate the need for acquiring new servers, and reduce the operating and maintenance costs.

- Increased availability: with hardware re-

The Private Cloud project we developed for Electrica Serv is consolidating and upgrading of its IT infrastructure. Based on Microsoft technology, this project eliminated issues associated with the geographical dispersion of the eight Electrica Serv branches, with the variety of applications used and with the hardware resources limitations. The cloud solution ensured the maximum level of redundancy and availability of the IT system.

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l BitDefender clients can access cloud-based security via the website http://www.bitdefender.com/cloud and residential clients via the online storage Safebox solution at http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/safebox.html.

INTERVIEW

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

12 CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT When considering what skills are needed to succeed, we think of a rolebased approach, with the new roles being cloud architect, cloud security specialist and cloud infrastructure manager,” says Costache.

Some voices on the market even venture to predict that the effects will be drastic, with many jobs becoming obsolete.

But others disagree. “I think the theory that says the labor force will be affected by the adoption of cloud services is wrong. By this logic, any technology that improves economic performance will have a negative impact on the labor force, so we would not make any progress at all,” says Lapusan.

The clash of mentalities Since Romania is in the pioneering stage of using cloud services, this also raises some challenges for companies that are part of the cloud ecosystem.

First of all, potential clients need to be educated on the advantages that cloud can bring them on the medium and long term.

They need to learn about the financial impact of the investment as well as the difference between using cloud and taking the more classical approach of using an in-house solution.

Prejoianu explains that many firms do not take into consideration the hidden costs of using a solution on-premise.

He is not the only one. “When you take into account all the costs included in an in-house service – personnel, space rental, equipment, maintenance, elec-

Twists and turns: while cloud computing offers advantages, some are concerned it could make some jobs obsolete tricity, cooling – the cloud always wins, and by a long distance,” says Lapusan.

However, it is not all smooth sailing in this process as mentalities are a hard wall to crash down.

“Like our neighbors in the former communist bloc in the Balkan region, we are reticent about letting someone spe-

cialized to do some of our work and we still have a fear of Big Brother,” explains Bratu. There are other concerns as well. “Depending on third-party providers raises the stakes for many users, particularly when they are accustomed to overseeing and managing critical issues such as security and per-

formance. Importantly, security is a challenge inside and outside the cloud.

Breaches across the spectrum of providers, organizations and global corporations happen in and out of the cloud,” Costache tells BR.

continued on page 15

INTERVIEW

Office365: The smart way to control your software investment GECAD NET is one of the most important Microsoft partners on cloud solutions. What is your focus? On which cloud technologies do you have best competencies?

Alexandru Molodoi, GECAD NET is a CTO GECAD NET Gold Certified Microsoft partner that embraced Office 365 from its launch date. Additionally, our cloud portfolio includes a broad range of migration and customization services as well as several business applications based and developed on Microsoft cloud technology.

In your opinion what is the reason for slow cloud technology adoption in Romania?

The adoption is not as slow as it may seem, and there are a few factors that positively influence this business model. The potential users still have concerns about data security, especially about confidentiality and availability. After a thorough analysis it’s obvious that cloud solution providers offer a high level of data security according to international information security standards. Such a level can be assured onpremises only with high costs.

Companies without dedicated information security staff can now benefit, through Office 365, of a very robust disaster recovery solution, backup, antivirus and anti-spam, confidentiality and security policies.

Moreover, another important benefit is high availability of data and applications (99.9 %).

What happens with the cloud documents which are accessed by several users if a worker from a utilities company accidentally cuts the internet or power cable?

Well, then you should switch to the backup connection. The fast growing rate of cloud services from recent years was also facilitated by Internet becoming a commodity.

The costs associated with a redundant internet connection are much lower than those involved in implementing and maintaining a local datacenter be it of a small size.

We also must add your team availability as a Microsoft partner, among the benefits. Can you please detail the services you, GECAD NET, are providing for cloudbased technology customers?

Our team dedicated to cloud customers consists of 8 Microsoft certified specialists, which provide customers with the whole

range of services starting from consultancy for finding the best fit solution, to migration, customization and maintenance. In addition to that we will be shortly launching a range of cloudbased business applications that address various business needs such as HR and Staff Management, Purchase, IT and Infrastructure Management, Reporting, etc.

How will evolve, in your opinion, cloud technologies and services market in the next year?

Companies are eager to scale their IT investments according to business needs. Whether they need to grow or shrink the number of sales people for instance, it is very important to be able to adjust the IT spending accordingly. I think that in the next year even more SMB companies will adopt cloud services as it is easier for them to migrate from existing systems and licenses or pirated software to the cloud.

ADVERTORIAL

Can you tell us which are cloud services’ main advantages for a small client, say with 30 users? How about a larger company, with 100 users or even 1000 users?

The main advantages are, for customers of any size, both on financial side as well as for the flexibility of such solutions.

For example, Office365 allows the customer to pay only for what’s being used.

If, for instance, the business demands

today that starting from tomorrow they need to accommodate additional users and offer them e-mail, document collaboration and videoconference, you can activate these services with just a few clicks, without any additional hardware and software acquisitions or involving additional personnel for technical setup and configuration. There is no software investment; all the expenses are OPEX and only for what‘s being used.

For medium and enterprise sized businesses on the other side, the optimal solution is a combination of both cloud and conventional applications installed and managed on-premises.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

BIT SOFTWARE 13 PARTNER CONTENT

Increase efficiency and reduce costs with SocrateOpen ERP&CRM Cloud Edition In the current economic environment, the pressure of reducing costs and enhancing productivity in each industry, has increased. Until now the ERP system was a critical business application for meeting these objectives. But the traditional ERP solutions became expensive, due to high infrastructure, maintenance and upgrade costs.

And here is the alternative: ERP combined with cloud computing technology, a recent innovation that helps you solve the issues related to the traditional use of on premise ERP. A cloud ERP offers the possibility to adapt and use the IT resources depending on your company real needs. Moreover, you get the same flexibility and security as using an on-premise ERP, but the total cost of ownership is significantly reduced.

SocrateOpen ERP&CRM Cloud Edition Convenient, Comprehensive, Flexible, Low Cost SocrateOpen is the first ERP&CRM solution available both on public and private cloud. With SocrateOpen running on the Cloud, enterprises of all sizes can leverage this deployment options and the convenience of on-demand computing services.

Convenience of Utility Computing SocrateOpen ERP/CRM solution is built for deployment on both public or private cloud.

On public Cloud, the Amazon EC2 Cloud, a virtual computing environment for enterprise applications, provides an “elastic” computing infrastructure over the internet, that is secure and scalable on-demand. No more dedicated computer rooms or internal hardware maintenance.

Focus on running your business on SocrateOpen, and let the cloud suppliers deliver computing capacity when and where you need it.

More Flexible than SaaS A Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment typically means sharing a hosted instance and database with other customers. With SocrateOpen on the Cloud, you get your own private and secure instance of SocrateOpen.

So you have complete flexibility to customize the solutions, as well as a full control over changes and upgrades. And you can do that quickly and easily with SocrateOpen’s data dictionary and automated upgrade tools.

Low Cost SocrateOpen Cloud Edition replaces traditional upfront license fees and high ongoing maintenance costs with a low user-based subscription fee. And with Amazon EC2 or

IBM SmartCloud, you only pay for what you use and have no upfront capital costs for hardware and IT infrastructure.

With SocrateOpen Cloud Edition you will be able to reallocate your IT budget and reduce dramatically your total cost of ownership, by spending less on software and hardware, which in turn will allow you to realign your budget to more strategic areas of the company – those that will drive profit and bottom line results.

Services and support SocrateOpen Cloud Edition is delivered based on an annual subscription, including application support, installation assistance, bug fixes and access to the automated migration tool.

BITSoftware delivers also implementation, development, customization services for an additional cost.

Integration with Google Apps SocrateOpen Cloud Edition has a rich web interface and is fully integrated with the authentication mechanisms provided by GoogleApps. So, once you will log in GoogleApps suite, you can access SocrateOpen Cloud Edition immediately.

GoogleApps widgets can be exposed in Socrate ERP/CRM in order to access important information such as the GApps documents, calendar, email and ERP/CRM data can be accessed from GoogleApps suite.

Socrate reports can be exported to GoogleSheet and different ERP/CRM information can be exposed in GoogleSites, preserving the security model.

About SocrateOpen SocrateOpen is a complete ERP/CRM solution, developed by BITSoftware, based on the Compiere platform. SocrateOpen is an application addressed both to Romanian and international companies, ready for the global economy: multi-organization, multi-currency, multi-accounting, multi-tax, multi-language, local-ready.

SocrateOpen lets you automate all your financial, distribution, sales, manufacturing and services processes quickly and easily by employing an innovative Model Driven Architecture (MDA) to enable broader application adaptability, faster customization, without programming.

About BITSoftware Based on more than 19 years of experience in the field, BITSoftware is developing and implementing fully functional ERP, CRM and Business Intelligence solutions which allows companies to improve productivity and provide better services to customers by streamlining and automating processes to achieve smart growth and sustainability goals.

BITSoftware is one of the first companies in Romania which launched an open source ERP& CRM system – SocrateOpen - which can be used on premise or on cloud, and one of the first Romanian companies which developed an ERP - Socrate+, used at the moment by more than 150 companies.

BITSoftware is Microstrategy reseller, and has developed, based on Microstrategy, the Business Intelligence suite SocrateBI. BITSoftware is authorized reseller for the communication and collaboration suite, Google Apps, offered based on an annual subscription and sustained through professional installation and migration services, users training and integration with other applications.

BIT Software Zambilelor nr. 4 St, Brasov tel: +40 (0) 268 314446; +40 368 412121 fax +40 (0) 268 314447 email: office@bitsoftware.ro contact@bitsoftware.ro web: www.bitsoftware.eu

Anca Cazacu, Marketing Manager, BIT Software

What type of cloud services does your company provide? What are the most important cloud projects launched until now by BIT Software?

BITSoftware is developing and implementing ERP, CRM, BI solutions, addressed to companies activating in different industries (retail, distribution, production, services, telecom, agriculture, etc.)

- SocrateOpen, a complex ERP & CRM solution, can be deployed on premise or on cloud. SocrateOpen Cloud Edition is available on both public cloud (Amazon Web Services) or private cloud (IBM SmartCloud Enterprise or private cloud infrastructures) - SocrateBI - is a latest generation business intelligence solution designed for companies of all sizes interested in having an integrated reporting, analysis and notification solution. SocrateBI is powered by MicroStrategy, the leading BI platform on the market, and is also available for deployment on cloud.

- GoogleApps - a set of web-based office tools, including powerful, intuitive applications like Gmail, Gtalk, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Groups and Google Sites, helping you to reduce your IT costs and help employees collaborate more effectively. BITSoftware is Google Apps authorized Reseller and offers also other installation, migration, training services in order to help companies successfully use Google Apps.

What are your estimations concerning revenues from this technology for the following year?

We estimate to make with our cloud solutions, at least 40% of the total 2012 turnover.

How can customers access the cloud services offered by your company?

From the commercial point of view, now the customers have to sign a contract with BITSoftware or BITSoftware’s authorized partners and in the close future, the solutions will be available for purchasing also on Google marketplace.

The solutions can be used based on an annual subscription fee per user. For SocrateOpen Cloud Edition, for example, the installation process takes about 5 minutes once the subscription has been acquired.

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management, purchasing, sales, open items, payables and receivables, materials management, warehouse management, manufacturing, accounting and financials, project accounting, reporting) and customer relationship management (leads and opportunities management, marketing campaigns, service management) make SocrateOpen a complex solution used already by medium and large companies from different industries. Now, companies of all sizes can utilize these same ERP capabilities to run their business operations on the Cloud.

Interview

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

14 CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT

RANK

Cloud services providers COMPANY NAME

CONTACT DETAILS

CLOUD SERVICES

CLIENT LIST

Web: www.appnor.com/contact, Email: contact@appnor.com, Tel: (+4) 021 569 46 50, (+1) 650 318 18 11

Cloud Servers, Private Cloud, VoiP&Hosted PBX, Implementation of Google Apps for Business (Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar), Postini Mail Services, Chromebooks, Geo and GSA

www.appnor.com

Web: www.bitsoftware.eu Email: office@bitsoftware.ro, Tel: (+4) 0268 314446 fax (+4) 0268 314447 Address: 4 Zambilelor Street, Brasov

SocrateOpen ERP&CRM, SocrateBI, GoogleApps

www.bitsoftware.eu

Web: www.gecadnet.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 303 2070 10A, Address: Dimitrie Pompei, Bucharest

Migration, Configuration, Sharepoint customization, Administration, Maintenance - Microsoft Office 365 Solutions/ SaaS Business Applications for: HR, IT, Finance

Romanian-American Foundation, Access Capital Partners, CSC Auto, Pinum, Vlamir Impex, Computer Games Online , AMCHAM, Siel Invest, Acces Control, Best Business Travel, etc

Web: www.maguay.ro, Email: office@maguay.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 210 38 33, Address: 23 Bratului Street, Bucharest

Development of Private Cloud Projects, Solutions for consolidating and developing IT infrastructure, Server-optimized equipment for Public Cloud Services

Electrica Serv. More on www.maguay.ro

Web: www.microsoft.ro, Tel.: (+4) 021 204 70 40, Email:info@microsoft.com, Address: 3-5, Piața Presei Libere, City Gate Building, South Tower Bucharest

Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM online , Windows Intune, Windows Azure, Windows Server Hyper-V

www.microsoft.ro

Web: www.pras.ro, Email: info@pras.ro, Tel.: (+4) 0372 705 618, Address: 102-110 Dorobantilor Street, Bucharest

Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Windows Intune, http://www.udocx.com/

Provident Financial Romania, Sustainalytics, Dragomir and Associates, Pracctice Limited UK, Bacania Veche

Softline Cloud Solutions- Te asteptam sa vorbim cloud computing! , Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps, Panda Security, Zscaler

Wide range of clients from domains such as: transport, services, construction, architecture, media, education, consultancy

M.O.RE Platform available for SMEs (11 applications)

Over 100 clients, mainly SMEs Ellas Division, Webplay, Mediascope, Teo Consult(TEO Drivers School), Caralux, Austrian Village, Prisum, Valmed Freemex

Web: www.totalsoft.ro, Email: marketing@totalsoft.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 335 17 09, Address: Global City Business Park, 10 Bucuresti-Nord Street, Building O2

Charisma Business Solutions - Charisma eProcurement, Charisma Cost Control, Charisma HR Document Management, Charisma Workflow, Charisma Office Automation

www.totalsoft.ro

UPC Romania

Web: www.upc.ro, Tel.: (+4) 031 101 8100, Address: 62D Nordului Road, Bucharest

Microsoft Office 365 - offered free of charge to new UPC Business Clients, who purchase Business Fiber Power Solutions or Office Packs services

www.upc.ro

Verasys International

Web: www.verasys.com, Email: info@verasys.com, Tel: (+4) 021 301 04 60, Address: World Trade Center, Montreal Square no.10, Bucharest

Public Cloud Services provided by Microsoft

www.verasys.com

Web: www.zitec.com, Email: contact@zitec.ro, Tel: (+4) 031 710 01 14, Address: 1A Intrarea Binelui, Fortuna Building, Bucharest

Development of personalized software solutions on cloud computing infrastructure (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure), technical consultancy for cloud computing services

Zipongo.com, VideoPublishing.com, NY.tv, Wadja.com, HotelPeeps.com

Web: www.bitdefender.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 206 34 70, Address: West Gate Park, Building H2 24 Preciziei Street, Bucharest

Cloud Security for Endpoints, Security for Virtualized Environments, Amazon Web Services

www.bitdefender.ro

Web: www.genesys4s.ro, Email: solutions@genesys4s.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 242 0542, Address: 8 Dimitrie Pompeiu Blvd, Bucharest

Microsoft CRM Online

Call centers, art galleries, distribution and trading companies

Web: www.ibm.com/ro/ro, Email: admin@ro.ibm.com, Tel: (+4) 021 405 81 00, Address: Bucharest Business Park, 1a Bucharest-Ploiesti National Road

IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud, IBM LotusLive, IBM Smart Analytics Cloud, IBM Smart Business Storage Cloud, IBM Smart Business Desktop on the IBM Cloud

www.ibm.com/ro/ro

Web: www.novensys.com, Email: office@novensys.com, Tel: (+4) 031 2281 000, Address: 313 Unirii Splai, Bucharest

ERP (Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics AX), CRM (Microsoft Dynamics CRM), WMS

www.novensys.com

Web: www.star-storage.ro, Email: office@star-storage.ro, Tel.: (+4) 021 242 13 95, Address: Pipera Business Tower, 6E Dimitrie Pompei Blvd, Bucharest

IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service (Cloud Servers), Storage as a Service, BaaS (Back-up as a Service), Business Continuity Services (Backup and replication), Hosted Archiving (Files, e-mail, electronic archives), Managed Private Cloud

Top companies from retail and banking, public sector, national and international companies

Appnor MSP 1

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Bit Software

Gecadnet

Maguay

Microsoft

Pras Consulting

Softline Romania

Teamnet International

TotalSoft

Zitec Com

BitDefender

Genesys Systems

IBM

Novensys Corporation 18

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Star Storage

Web: www.softline.com.ro, www.softlinegroup.com, Email: info.ro@softlinegroup.com, Tel: (+4) 021 387 34 40, Address: Muntenia Business Center, 16 Splaiul Unirii, Bucharest Web: www.bringmore.ro, Email: marketing@teamnet.ro, Tel: (+4) 021 311 66 31, Address: River Place, Riverview House, 319 Splaiul Independentei Street, Bucharest

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

Alexandru Lapusan, CEO of Zitec

continued from page 12 When asked by KPMG about the main challenges and concerns they faced in adopting a cloud environment, 44 percent of end-user respondents cited security, while 29 percent expressed concern about overall cloud performance.

Moreover, one fifth of companies cited concerns over interoperability or integration.

Other key concerns include IT governance, loss of control over customer data and availability.

Most often, problems are linked to the internal IT staff in a company, who “refuse to analyze lucidly the advantages

CLOUD COMPUTING REPORT 15 of the cloud, having the mentality that ‘if the server is in my headquarters, it is safer’,” Lapusan tells BR. “From the financial, security and efficiency point of view, this argument does not stand up, but it is very hard to change mentalities of this type.”

He also cites legislative issues.

“Legislation is far behind technological evolution, but I am convinced suppliers of cloud services can adjust to these limitations. Nobody can stop progress, not even outdated laws,” he says.

The Zitec official shares how the company has been contacted on various occasions by SMEs from Romania as well as Eastern Europe more widely and the United States, which had kicked off projects based on cloud computing, with the clear intention of minimizing their infrastructure costs.

“However, they were faced with problems in the quality of performance and also confronted with financial issues.

The bill did not fit their expectations,” says Lapusan.

So, even though SMEs have begun to understand the advantages of cloud, very often they have started projects in cloud without being ready.

“Had they trained their team or taken up consultancy services before starting the project, they would have gained enough time and posted a better performance and they would have really benefitted from the financial benefits offered by cloud computing,” concludes Lapusan.

Risks and challenges in adopting cloud computing l Movement from CAPEX to OPEX model impacts existing budgeting, forecast-

ing, and reporting processes l Outdated tax laws and regulations create uncertainty when characterizing the

various cloud transactions l Cloud ROI and cost/benefit analysis are complicated by need for knowledge of

existing cost of delivery and future use of service l Cloud adoption introduces rapid change in the organization l Cloud sourcing may impact existing organizational roles and could require

new skills or make others redundant l Business resiliency/disaster recovery needs and plans will change and re-

quire updating l Risk of creating independent silos of information perpetuate the problem of

data integrity, quality, and insight l Business can bypass the IT function to implement technology solutions, pos-

ing challenges for IT governance l Cloud delivery models dramatically change how IT delivers technology servic-

es to support business requirements l Lack of visibility of the cloud service providers’ operations inhibits analysis of

compliance with pertinent laws and regulations l Lack of industry standards and certifications for cloud providers creates risks l Lack of clarity of ownership responsibilities between cloud vendor and user

company

*Source: KPMG otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

16

Greek investments span the sectors What hot domains are poised to attract investors onto the local market? What changes that could benefit investors in Romania have been implemented by the authorities? Why have projects in the wind and agricultural sectors not caught the eye of a private equity fund? Businesspeople who attended the Greek Investors Forum organized by Business Review tackled these and other pressing issues. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA

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changes have been taking place in the legal framework. In the spring of 2011, the new Labor Code was adopted, simplifying procedures.

“Changes have been made in the registration of employees with the labor authorities – online registration is now available. Procedures regarding the hiring, dismissal and resignation of employees have been simplified,” he added. One government ordinance that was passed recently was the set of rules simplifying firm restructurings.

All photos: Mihai Constantineanu

One of the sectors on which prospective Greek investors are pinning their hopes is farming. “Greek investors interested in coming to Romania are looking at the acquisition of big plots for agricultural purposes,” said Vasilis Ioannou, member of the board at the Hellenic Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Another very attractive domain is renewable energy. “There is a lot of interest in agriculture and energy. Some funds selectively want to invest in these two sectors as well as in operational buy-out – where funds participate as majority shareholders in companies where they conduct normal commercial activity. And in real estate, we are seeing some minor activity in commercial spaces,” said Mamas Koutsoyiannis, managing director, Baker Tilly Klitou and Partners. Still on the energy theme, Georgios Tsitsas, GM of Edrasis C. Psallidas, added, “It is estimated that from Dobrogea to Moldova, there will be a capacity of 15 Gigawatts in the coming years. At the moment in Romania we have 1 Gigawatt installed and other locations are starting to appear.”

However, for a private equity fund, agriculture and energy may prove not to be the right choices. Theodore Kiakidis, partner at Global Finance, outlined the fund’s experiences. “I dare say that wind doesn’t seem very attractive from a private equity point of view. The reasons are that the pricing is very complex and subject to regulations. Also, two thirds of the revenues come from green certificates which have an artificial price here in Romania. There is an over-supply of energy projects but it remains to be seen how many of them will be carried out and have returns. Overall it is a risk-return equation that does not make sense from our perspective. As for solar and hydro energy, we do not have a final position on it yet because we are still studying the possibilities,” he said. Moving to agriculture, Kiakidis sees it as “a very fashionable area” but that is all. “We looked at that as well but it seems the returns do not work out for private equity,” he said.

Over time, Global Finance has shifted focus between various domains. While in the past, the fund was more interested in healthcare, financial services and food retail, its attention is now directed towards manufacturing. “Romania is a very good country for manufacturing – both for local consumption and export, and in that category you can include anything from food, pharmaceuticals, building materials and industrial goods,” said Kiakidis.

Another attractive domain is business services, where Global Finance has

already invested in two companies. A recent interest of the fund is recycling.

“We have just completed a EUR 23 million investment in Green Group, a sizable Romanian company in recycling,” said Kiakidis. From the point of view of banks, the same domains stick out. “If you want to establish a healthier economy and banking climate, you have to establish a system based on new lending criteria and focus on segments that are promising for the country. We think that agriculture, the food industry and energy are promising – but based on certain criteria, because we do not want energy to become the country’s new real estate,” urged George Pentaliotis, head of corporate banking at Bancpost.

Construction is another sector that is picking up after a dramatic downturn. “In the construction industry in Romania, we had a very difficult period from 2008 to the end of 2010. In 2011 we started to see improvement. The cement industry was reported to have shown a 5 percent improvement,” said Tsitsas.

According to the BNR, Greece is in fifth position with investments of more than EUR 3 billion. However, the Greek Embassy, represented by Ioannis Paschalis, minister counselor for economic & commercial affairs, estimates it ranks “fourth or even third” since embassy data show Greek investments in Romania have surpassed the EUR 4 billion mark. “Countries like the US or UK rank much lower than Greece among the top foreign investors in Romania. This shows the significant contribution of Greece to the Romanian economy in recent years,” he said.

Greece is represented across most sectors by firms with a local footprint.

Telecommunications, where it has OTE, which controls Cosmote and Romtelecom, and the six Greek banks on the market are the most conspicuous but there are more.

“Greek investments cover almost everything – construction, commerce, the food industry, aluminum. The Greek presence is everywhere,” said Ioannou. He mentioned investors such as dairy firm Olympus, food firm Chipita, Alumil in the aluminum business, constructor Octagon and Roberto Jewelry in the luxury field as important investors in the past year.

Since last year, the fiscal framework has undergone several significant changes.

Among these, Koutsoyiannis mentioned the unification of the social security contribution and the automatic de-registration from VAT for inactive companies of six months and above. “A lot of investors who invested in real estate and have long-term inactivity have to be careful because if there is any VAT to be claimed

1. Forum delegates 2. Mamas Koutsoyiannis, Baker Tilly Klitou 3. Vasilis Ioannou, Hellenic Romanian Chamber of Commerce 4. Ioannis Paschalis, Greek Embassy 5. Theodore Kiakidis, Global Finance 6. Georgios Tsitsas, Edrasis 7. George Pentaliotis, Bancpost 8. Ilias Papageorgiadis, MORE Group they might lose it forever if their company is automatically de-registered,” he warned. “Of course, the procedure provides steps to re-register.”

Thirdly, starting this year, there are stricter taxation rules for non-residents in Romania. Non-residents who stay in Romania for over six months must com-

plete a special form and documentation that have to be filed with the Romanian tax authorities, Koutsoyiannis explained.

Moreover, major

CITY 17

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

FILM REVIEW

The Hunger Games

Hungry like the wolf: teens must fight to the death in this blockbuster with an edge

DEBBIE STOWE Director: Gary Ross Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz On: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Cotroceni - Sala VIP, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex Baneasa, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex Cinema, The Light Cinema Post-apocalyptic America. The dystopian new world order consists of a wealthy capital surrounded by twelve povertystricken urban districts. Every year, a young man and woman from each of the districts is selected at random to fight to the death in a glitzy televised contest, presented by a camp host and watched by a flamboyantly dressed live audience.

Think of it as Gladiator meets the Eurovision Song Contest.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a poor 16-year-old from the outlying twelfth district, becomes the Hunger Games’ first ever volunteer when her puny little sister’s name is picked. Off she goes on a bullet train to the capital, with fellow “tribute” Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and their trainer Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), an ageing drunk who won the games in his youth.

So, we have attractive, hormonal teenagers killing each other in order to survive. Can there be a better premise for a Hollywood blockbuster aimed at the youth market? Doesn’t look like it – The Hunger Games has left shattered box office records in its wake like so many slaughtered teens. (No, that’s not in bad taste as this is the exact premise of the movie.)

But before you dismiss the whole thing as teenybopper tripe, be informed: this is that rare vehicle – a blockbuster with a bit of smarts about it, an action

flick with some seriousness behind the attitude.

Firstly, because of the protagonist.

In a big-budget, mainstream movie, our hero is a 16-year-old girl, and it’s the boys who fill the supporting “worried love-interest back home” and “sidekick who needs saving” roles. (Okay, Angelina Jolie makes the odd gun-totin’, buttkickin’ outing, but that’s always more male fantasy fulfillment than serious storytelling, while respectable action heroines like Trinity and Terminator’s Sarah Connor usually play second fiddle to men.)

Secondly, because of the social comment. No, it’s not Dickens level exploration, but a major theme of the movie is economic inequality and its effects on the poor. The rise of reality TV, and the cruelty and inhumanity with which it pits participants against each other, is also questioned.

For a teen film, the performances are impressively mature, with Lawrence holding her own alongside star names such as Harrelson and Donald Sutherland (as a cynical elder), and none of the young supporting cast look out of their depth. Other highlights are the rich depiction of the film’s world – from the hardscrabble outer districts to the lavish capital and the idyllic forest in which the tributes are sent to mercilessly destroy each other.

At 142 minutes, The Hunger Games could be tauter – it’s a long time before we actually reach the start of the games – and though there is some closure the film has a somewhat unfinished feel. Of course this is due to the impending sequels (the source material is a trilogy of novels).

Though it doesn’t play everything by the book, this is still a Hollywood blockbuster at heart, so expect contrived plot, clichés and predictability.

But like its protagonist, the picture delivers more than you are given to expect, including a powerful punch.

www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 9 - 15, 2012

18 IN TOUCH FOOD

WHO’S NEWS Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

Onno Rombouts will be the new managing director of Heineken Romania, after the former director, Jan Derck van Karnebeek, was promoted to regional president of Heineken Central and Eastern Europe this January. Rombouts has previously served as managing director, export and director of regional commerce at Heineken Asia Pacific, in Singapore. He has been with the brewer for almost 20 years, having held various managing positions over the years. These include country manager of the company’s subsidiary in the Dominican Republic and marketing and sales manager of Heineken Hungary.

Dan Stanoaia has been appointed clinic development director at Medicover Bucharest. His main responsibilities are to coordinate the activity of the private operator’s clinics in the capital as well as several additional medical programs and departments and to identify future development directions. Stanoaia has previously worked as development manager at Euroclinic Hospital & Medical Centers and corporate contracts manager at Eureko Asigurari.

Paolo Mariani is the new general director of Banca Italo Romena. He is replacing Giulio Simonelli who ended his term this March. Before coming to Romania, for four years Mariani held the position of general director of Italian financial institution Carifac, which is part of Veneto Banca Group, as is Banca Italo Romena. He graduated in law from Macerata University in Italy.

partment in New York in June 1983. Four years later, he was appointed manager of marketing services in Hong Kong before moving to PMI in Japan as brand manager and then becoming group brand manager. After working in Japan for six years, Schmidt moved to Malaysia for three years, before returning to Hong Kong as director of marketing services in 1995. In October, 1998, he took over the position of director of duty free marketing and promotions in Switzerland.

From 2002-06, Schmidt worked in a number of marketing roles in Switzerland, primarily handling Marlboro brand development for Eastern Europe and North Asia.

Dieter Schulz has been appointed general director for Central and Southern Europe at Danone Group. He will be responsible for all the activities of Danone’s fresh dairy division in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and the Adriatic countries. He is replacing Frenchman Stephane Batoux, who left the company to become general director of Coca-Cola HBC for Romania and Moldova. Schulz has 16 years of professional experience in the field of FMCG. He began his career in 1996 with Air Liquide Paris and two years later joined Mars Inc. where he worked for nine years. His last position there was general director for the eastern Mediterranean region. He joined Danone in 2007 as general director of the biscuits division for Malaysia and Singapore, a division which was later sold to Kraft Foods. He returned to the company in 2011 as general director of the dairy division responsible for Bulgaria and Greece.

Laszlo Borbely

has been appointed marketing director of Philip Morris Romania and Bulgaria. He has 29 years of professional experience, having held various marketing management positions over the years. Prior to Romania, Schmidt served as global director for Marlboro brand development in the operations center in Lausanne. He joined Philip Morris USA’s marketing de-

resigned from his post of environment minister last week after he was accused of influence peddling and falsifying his wealth statement.

The position will be held on an interim basis by PM Mihai Razvan Ungureanu until a new appointment can be made. Borbely is a member of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and has been an MP in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mures County since 2000, having held the position between 1990 and 1996. He graduated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences at Timisoara University in 1977.

ISSN No. 1453 - 729X

FOUNDING EDITOR Bill Avery EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor SENIOR JOURNALIST Otilia Haraga JOURNALISTS Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe COLLABORATORS Anda Sebesi ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai Constantineanu PHOTOGRAPHER Laurentiu Obae LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu

Peter Schmidt

Emova launches gastronomic guide and gift kit

The 2012 guide includes 67 restaurants

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mova held a culinary event last week to launch the 2012 edition of gastronomic guide A la Carte, as well as a new product, the Emova gift kit.

Attended by well known members of the French business community, visiting professionals involved in the creation of the guide and faces from the

wider international business and political scene, the official launch of the products was accompanied by an appropriately gourmet spread of French delicacies.

The 2012 guide is the second edition.

Intended to recognize culinary excellence and pass on cooking techniques, it features 67 restaurants from five Romanian cities: Bucharest, which is home to over 50 percent of the establishments included, Timisoara, Brasov, Sibiu and Sinaia. Members of the evaluating team were trained by the Compagnie du Tour de France des Toques Gourmandes to deliver an objective assessment of the listed venues. The book also includes recipes for both dishes and cocktails, interviews with culinary figures of note and other food-related features.

The gift kit comes in four versions, and can be given on an individual or group basis, for example to employees. It includes a copy of A la Carte, a meal voucher for two – the value of which depends upon the version purchased – and a catalog containing presentations by and contact details of various Emova partners from different domains.

Emova is part of the Cheque Dejeuner group.

Debbie Stowe

HR

Deloitte launches club for women in management eloitte has launched the SheXO Club, an initiative dedicated to women in business management positions. Along with the launch of the club, the firm has put out the Deloitte SheXO report compiling the opinions of 130 C-level local executives, both male and female, working in multinationals or as entrepreneurs, on the contribution of women to the business environment.

“The Deloitte SheXO Club will bring together exceptional women with diverse profiles and interests but sharing the same determination with which they have built their professional careers. Over the next few months we want the club to become the ideal platform for them to share ideas, build new professional and personal relationships, create and implement new projects,” said Madeline Alexander, audit partner at Deloitte Romania.

The study outlines several notions on

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the role and impact of women in business.

It found clear differences in the perception of qualities specific to women and men in management positions. While women are perceived as being good communicators, they are less associated with typical CEO traits, such as leadership or strategic planning skills.

More than 60 percent of the respondents to the study think women are more consistent, able to multitask and communicate better than men. Similarly, approximately half of the respondents think that skills for encouraging the active involvement of team members and analytical aptitudes are more specific to women than to men. Still, significantly more respondents believe men have an advantage when it comes to confidence in decision making, leadership aptitude, efficient negotiations and strategic planning. ∫ Staff

PUBLISHER Anca Ionita EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise SALES & EVENTS DIRECTOR Oana Molodoi MARKETING MANAGER Ana-Maria Stanca SALES & EVENTS Ana-Maria Nedelcu RESEARCH & SUBSCRIPTION Lili Voineag PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat

ADDRESS No. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3 Bucharest, Romania LANDLINE Editorial: 031.040.09.32 Office: 031.040.09.31 Fax: 031.040.09.34 EMAILS Editorial: editorial@business-review.ro Sales: sales@business-review.ro Events: events@business-review.ro