Productivity in Eastern Europe

2015-11-27T23:04:00.001+02:00

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Workout departments, why a separate and independant organisation is needed

2010-09-03T19:07:00.000+03:00

The crisis is not over, but signs of positive developments are emerging in many countries including in Bulgaria and Romania. With the start of a new growth phase, the financial institutions will, once again, embark on a cruise to sell credits and gain market shares. Of course they will promise that they will take their precautions, that they have learned from the past. These promisses will be

After the crisis and ... before the next crisis

2010-09-03T18:55:00.001+03:00

2009 has been, as expected, the year of indiscriminate cost cutting in many companies in the region. Indeed, due to the missing cash and to the time pressure, as well as to dramatic decreases in sales (more than 50% often in comparison with 2008), the companies had to act to survive. If most companies have survived the hearthquake somehow by cutting mostly production employees and not realising

The country will not be hit by the global crisis

2009-12-04T10:42:00.002+02:00

"The Bulgarian National Bank governor has ambitiously stated that the country will not be hit by the global crisis due to the stability of the banking system. “Despite the heavy global crisis all around the world, the Bulgarian economy and the citizens have and will escape unhurt,” Ivan Iskrov said. “Bulgaria's banking system is extremely well capitalized with the capital adequacy ratio standing

The Bulgarian police, on its road to productivity

2009-11-16T15:07:00.002+02:00

I have the pleasure to confirm that the Bulgarian police is on its road to productivity. Until a few months ago, the speed checks on the road (the so-called pay my salary for the month in cash please control) were done by 2 policemen + 1 car. The new strategy seems to be to add 1 policeman + 1 car for each control. The only reason I can imagine is that someone thought it would be more difficult

Situation is getting worse

2009-10-13T10:26:00.003+03:00

"The share of bad credits in Bulgaria may soar to 16.5% at the end of the year, which means that every sixth bank loan will become unserviced, the national bank has warned in a report on the banking sector. This nightmarish forecast may come true if GDP falls by seven percent this year and by another 2.5% next year. The budget for next year provides 6.3% drop in the country's GDP by the end of

Tradebul

2009-09-17T14:13:00.001+03:00

TradeBul is a directory of Bulgarian companies in the B2B and B2C markets. The reasons for the development of this directory are the following:There are no directory in English of Bulgarian companies that list their product in an efficient way,Many companies do not have a reliable website or are to be found online easily,Many companies are not actively selling, they prefer to serve their usual

Directory of Bulgarian companies

2009-09-16T08:32:00.002+03:00

To solve the crisis puzzle for many companies, it will no be enough to reduce production costs or optimise processes. That is the reason why we have started the first directory of Bulgarian companies in English. Indeed, we have seen that a huge number of Bulgarian companies do not have a professional sales organisation and are thus not known abroad. They have been generating sales from 1 to 3

After the Summer break

2009-09-16T08:22:00.002+03:00

The Summer break has been nice thank you very much. And we are back online and back to work. The crisis is still destroying businesses although the order book is slowly filling again. The major banks are starting to consider the really poor situation of many customers and taking actions to at least understand their risks and think about corrective actions, although "nobody is ready now to lose

Crisis, which crisis ?

2009-06-30T13:17:00.002+03:00

I had the pleasure to recently travel to London. London should be one of the cities in the world most deprived by the current crisis. Shops should be empty, people should be queuing to get some subsidised bread. Not at all. On a bright Sunday afternoon and for the first time in my life, I saw at least 5 cashing machines with people queuing in front to get their money. It was not like 1 of 2

Once again with my car accross the border

2009-06-30T12:59:00.002+03:00

I had recently the pleasure to travel once again accross the border with my Austrian car. The employees at the border are getting more efficient (and the traffic was limited), so that I had not waiting time. Where I did have to wait was to get through the "vignette" control, one of the most inefficient system of toll road in the world. The purpose of the 4 stage process is to sell me a "vignette"

Situation of Austrian banks is getting worse

2009-06-18T20:09:00.003+03:00

The situation of the Austrian banks is getting worse. They are slowly acknowledging that the crisis in Eastern Europe will cost them a huge amount of money. They are repeating a typical mistake that most banks have done in past crisis. They are not recognising at once the risk of their portfolio, but pretend to be safe with the provision they have made, just to annouce a new amount of provision a

Bulgaria Banking System Is Stable - Report (Novinite.com)

2009-06-02T21:47:00.004+03:00

"The Bulgarian banking system is stable, liquid and profitable, and banks have enough provisions against defaulting loans.This statement was made by Violina Marinova, the chairperson of the managing board of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria and CEO of DSK Bank, in an interview for the Bulgarian Information Agency (BTA).Marinova commented on the announcement made by the rating agency Moody's

World competitiveness book

2009-05-21T23:16:00.002+03:00

"The World Competitiveness Scoreboard presents the 2009 overall rankings for the 57 economies covered by the WCY. The economies are ranked from the most to the least competitive,"...For Bulgaria, this year, the result is astonishly positive. Indeed the country is positioned 38 from 57, before countries like Poland, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Greece and so on. The important question is what the

Industrial sector in Bulgaria is contracting

2009-05-13T09:30:00.002+03:00

Bulgaria’s industrial sector continued to suffer the most severe impact of the faltering global economy, with both output and sales shrinking by a double-digit figure for a third consecutive month.Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) showed that in March alone, industrial production shrank by 17.1 per cent year-on-year, although expanding by 7.7% on the month. Analysts

Bad credits on the rise (see Novinite)

2009-03-26T09:08:00.003+02:00

"The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has estimated that up until the end of February 2009, the number of unpaid credit installments soared 116,8 % year on year.According to the BNB, producers have the greatest share in that figure as they owe BGN 1,65 B. The average monthly rise was 23,44 % or BGN 314 M. Thus, end-February, the share of bad credits reached 3,41 % of the entire credit volume,

On the way to the productivity Nirvana

2009-03-23T20:53:00.007+02:00

I hate being so negative, but on my way to the productivity Nirvana, I just encountered another brilliant example of the productivity trap. I was on my way back from Serbia to Bulgaria, driving my car through the beautiful mountains that mark the border between the two countries. I got a bol of fresh air at the petrol station just before crossing to Bulgaria, looked at my watch and was delighted

When the crisis knocks at the door

2009-02-02T21:46:00.009+02:00

A crisis is like an epidemic. It spreads at first in secret and catches you by surprise. Your reaction will follow a well defined sequence and before you can react, you will be deadly ill. The sequence will probably be as follows: The denial phase: I will not be infected, my market is different. It will not last.The anger phase: why me?The depression phase: I will lose everything I have patiently

Banks ask for crisis funds for Eastern Europe

2009-01-22T11:05:00.003+02:00

"Leading international banks operating in central and eastern Europe have clubbed together to lobby the European Union and the European Central Bank to extend their anti-crisis policies to ease the credit crunch in the region.The group of nine, which wants action to ease liquidity shortages and help revive lending, is urging Brussels and the ECB to extend support beyond the EU’s new member states

Financial crisis and its impact on the real economy

2008-11-14T15:48:00.004+02:00

The situation has not improved in the last weeks. Indeed, the first companies have been obliged to reduce their workforce. I am not speaking here of Kremikovtzi, a large stell plant that is hauting the city of Sofia with its yellow smoke, but of other production companies like Druzhba, a piston producer, or Tchugunoleene JSC, a foundry that is dismissing 25% of its employees. The list will

Austrian banks have lent 78% of Austrian GDP to Eastern Europe

2008-11-07T15:31:00.004+02:00

Austria is the country with the highest exposition to East European economy and its problems. Austrian banks has lent about € 234 billions to East European companies or companies investing in Eastern Europe. This development have of course supported the positive earnings results of the bank during the past few years. Now the deadly spiral of credit provisioning and of a restrictive credit policy

The view of the specialist (click on title)

2008-11-05T11:58:00.004+02:00

The view of the macroeconomists.

Deutsche Bank urges more support for real economy

2008-11-05T11:31:00.004+02:00

"Bulgaria should concentrate its efforts on keeping competitiveness, raising the quality of labour and improving infrastructure to open up new opportunities, Deutsche Bank board member Jurgen Fitschen told a lecture on the financial crisis and its impact on the economy. Bulgaria has so far managed to stand up to the financial challenges but the upcoming second wave of the crisis will strike a

Working capital is king...

2008-10-24T17:41:00.005+03:00

During a crisis, cash is king. To have it or not to have it can create a huge difference as far as the probability of a company surviving is concerned. The question is: how can I generate cash in the short and medium term? The answer lies in the optimisation of your working capital. The first measure to implement is to have a look at your production business and get rid of all the assets that do

Road police force in Bulgaria

2008-10-20T11:33:00.007+03:00

Not really my core competence will you say. Although it has a lot to do with productivity. I do not know if you have noticed (for those of you who travel abroad), that the Bulgarian police force is notably unproductive. During the last 23 years of driving probably 200.000 KM in Western Europe and America, I have been controlled less than 10 times. During the last 3 years I spent in Bulgaria, I