Czech Focus 2/2005 - AFI

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INVESTOR OF THE YEAR INVESTOR OF THE YEARInvestment with theGreatest Innovation Potential1 st PlaceSKODA AUTOThe largest Czech automaker - SKODA AUTO a.s. - has decided to build its technologycentre for research, development and testing of passenger cars in Mlada Boleslav.It plans to invest more than forty million euro into construction and to create 370new job opportunities mostly for mechanical engineers and electrical engineers. Theinvestment in Mlada Boleslav is now the second announced expansion of Skoda Autothis year.According to Chairman of the Board Detlef Wittig, investment into the company’sown development is necessary because of the forthcoming expansion in thenumber of model lines. Skoda now produces the Fabia, Octavia and Superb models.Next year they will introduce the Skoda Roomster model and are consideringseries production of the Yeti off-road vehicle. They will appear on the market in2008 at the earliest. Skoda announced back in April that it is investing three billioncrowns into its subsidiary plant in Kvasiny and will create over 2000 new jobsthere. After the expansion the Kvasiny plant should also produce the Roomster inaddition to the Superb. The investment will include, for example, construction ofa new logistics centre, lay-bys for produced vehicles, an employee parking lot, busstation and a new gatehouse for trucks.From the left: PatrickDaems, Chief Executiveand member of the Boardof Directors of CSOB,Detlef Wittig, Chairmanof the Skoda Auto Boardof Directors, Martin Jahn,Deputy Prime Ministerfor Economic Affairs2 nd PlaceTyco Integrated SystemsWhat countries did you choose from when deciding on which countryto place your investment and why did you decide to invest in the CzechRepublic?We compared Europe with Asia first and decided to stay in Europe because of theproximity to existing design centres in London and Munich including similar culturalbackground, similar education, same time zone etc.. In Europe the Czech Republicwas our no. 1 choice as we got already several operations here including a developmentteam in Tyco Fire & Security in Zettler s.r.o. where we had very good experience.We validated this choice by comparing factors with neighbouring countriesand beside low salary costs the high rate of technical graduates and generally thehigh value of technical education in Czech Republic confirmed our choice.In what way did investment incentives influence your decision on investmentlocation?It was not the primary reason, but without an incentive program it would have been difficultto justify the financials. We definitely would have looked at other options then.What plans do you havehere for the future? Areyou planning a further expansionof your activities?No fixed plans but optionsfor extension of the r&d activitiesas well as productionespecially for final assembly.3 rd PlaceRicardo PragueWhat countries did you choose from when deciding where to placeyour investment and why did you decide to invest in the CzechRepublic?We chose from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Therewere two decisive factors: knowledge of automotive industry historyin Central Europe, i.e. the automotive tradition in the Czech Republic;personal knowledge and experience (from the time of privatization in theCzech Republic).What plans do you have here for the future? Are you planning afurther expansion of your activities?We plan to more than double the number of employees and to build upour standard portfolio. From the signals we’ve been getting from the parentcompany we can expect further expansion of the company’s portfolioalso into non-traditional areas. Any changes in our plans of course will dependon the development inthe Czech Republic and in theautomotive industry globally.Vladimir Volak, CEO,Ricardo GroupJuergen Dulling, DesignCentre Manager Brno,Tyco Integrated SystemsFrom the left: Jurgen Dulling, Development CentreManager, Tyco Integrated Systems, CSA PresidentJaroslav Tvrdik, Minister of Industry and Trade Milan UrbanFrom the left: Pavel Pilat, Metrostav CommercialManager, Vladimir Volak, CEO, Ricardo Prague,CzechInvest CEO Radomil Novak
11CZECH INVESTmentNEWSCzech Republic:future leaderin global offshoringCEO Briefing, Corporate Priorities for 2005, a report by the EconomistIntelligence Unit (EIU) released in early 2005 found that global offshoringof IT services, manufacturing and other business functions will continue togrow over the next three years. The report ranked Czech Republic thirdbehind India and China, respectively, as future leaders in global offshoring.Singapore ranked fourth, and Poland rounded out the top five. The report,in which 500 senior executives were surveyed, pointed to the Czech Republic’sattractiveness as both a near-sourcing and offshoring destinationdue to its attractive regulatory environment, cultural ties and proximity toother emerging and established markets in Europe.Offshoring Environment RankingsScoreRankIndia 7.76 1China 7.34 2Czech Republic 7.26 3Singapore 7.25 4Poland 7.24 5Canada 7.23 6Hong Kong 7.19 7Hungary 7.17 8Philippines 7.17 9Thailand 7.16 10Malaysia 7.13 11Slovakia 7.12 12Bulgaria 7.09 13Romania 7.08 14Source: EIUPrague is the top “buy” European marketfor office and industrial sectorsReal estate investors throughout Europe are optimistic about the industry’spotential to generate healthy returns over the coming year, according to thehighly-regarded real estate investment report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate®Europe 2005, published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute(ULI).Strong “buy” markets include Helsinki, Prague, Warsaw and Budapest; whileAthens and Dublin are listed as strong “sell” markets. Prague ranked as the top“buy” market for both office and industrial property, and it was second for theretail sector’s best buy.Glen Lonie, Partner and Head of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Real Estate IndustryTeam for the Czech Republic and Central and Eastern Europe, said: “Prague hasmade huge progress as a property investment location. In five years, from havingvirtually no investment transactions it has hit the top of investors buy lists. Thisranking and similarly high rankings for Budapest and Warsaw show a high degreeof investor confidence in the future of Central Europe.”Accenture expands in the Czech RepublicAccenture, a global management consulting, technology services andoutsourcing company, held an opening ceremony for their new facilityin its shared services centre in Prague-Chodov. Accenture, whicharrived in the Czech Republic fourteen years ago, is growing morequickly here than expected – employing more than 1,300 people andcontinues to expand. The reason for continued expansion is a rising demandfor services in outsourcing of business and IT processes, the fieldsin which Accenture operates.The new facility is part of Accenture’sBPO delivery centre in theCzech Republic and will join thecompany’s Global Delivery CentreNetwork of 40 delivery centresaround the world to provide a fullrange of consulting, technologyand outsourcing services to clientsacross more than 30 industries.The original shared services centrethat was created by Accenture in2001 and based in Nove Butovice isone of two business support servicescompanies for which the Czech Governmentapproved tax incentives in2001. “In addition to the high qualityinfrastructure and supply of qualifiedlabour, support from the state is becominga more and more importantfactor to attract such advanced investments,” says Radomil Novak,CEO of CzechInvest.The new centre will provide the same services including finance &accounting, procurement and customer support. In addition, the newChodov site will be the primary multi-lingual, multi-client European servicecentre for Accenture HR Services, the Accenture business unit thatprovides HR administration services to large, multinational organizations.
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Czech Focus 2/2005 - AFI

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