The local business environment is currently dominated by foreign-held companies, while Romanian companies are disappearing one by one into the portfolios of multinationals. This is the conclusion of the research conducted by ZF over the eighty markets included in Romania’s business yearbook, “Biggest players in the economy.”
Romanian businesspeople, however, believe there are still market segments where foreign companies are not present yet and can therefore be tapped into by Romanian-held companies. In most cases, however, such segments yield low profitability and are risky.
“Romanian companies still have room in those fields in which they manage to use their competitive edge best. There are Romanians who managed to become leaders on other markets than Romania, which means there is still room. One such example is IT services provider Softwin,” stated Florin Pogonaru, chairman of the Association of Businesspeople in Romania (AOAR).
Niche sectors are the key to the growth of the Romanian business sector – this is also the opinion of Sorin Minea, chairman of charcuterie producer Angst and of the Food Industry Employer Federation – Romalimenta. “There are opportunities for Romanian companies in fields where foreign companies do not have much of a presence yet. One such sector is services and maybe even agriculture,” says the manager who has recently become the majority shareholder of Angst, one of the biggest charcuterie producers, with over 50 million euros in turnover.
He says the main reason for this situation has been the lack of capital the local business sector has been coping with over the last twenty years of capitalism.