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Global competition and European companies’ location decisions

Conference on global competition and European companies’ location decisions, Poznań, Poland, 3–5 June 2008

Venue: IBB Andersia Hotel, Plac Andersa 3, 61-894 Poznań

Conference organised by Eurofound in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers, City of Poznań, Opportunity Poland and Poznań University of Economics

 

Presentations

Wednesday, 4 June

• ‘Restructuring in Europe: Present data and future trends’ (pdf, 306 kb)
  Donald Storrie, Head of Employment and Competitiveness and senior labour economist, Eurofound
  Data and analysis of restructuring trends and their effects on employment from Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) and other Eurofound research
• ‘It’s the cost that counts! The bottom line for company locations’ (pdf, 2,444 kb)
  Jens Ocksen, President of Volkswagen Poznań Sp. z o.o., managing plants manufacturing commercial vehicles with over 7,000 employees
  • Key factors in location decisions in the automotive suppliers’ sector
  • Evaluating Europe as a destination for investment
  • How European companies are becoming cost-competitive
• ‘A balancing act: the role of multiple factors in location decisions’
  • Franz Grohs (pdf, 336 kb), Senior Vice-President, T-Systems International (Austria) – the business customer brand of Deutsche Telekom offering integrated IT solutions worldwide
  • José Luis Carreras (pdf, 1,354 kb), Managing Director, Grupo Carreras, Spain – from a family business to a major European logistics operator
    • What does Europe have to offer as a location for companies?
    • Weighing costs against other factors: The role of skills levels, infrastructure, legal framework, productivity, market access, etc.
• ‘How investors approach CEE countries: privatisation, purchase, greenfield, mergers & acquisitions’ (pdf, 806 kb)
  Sebastian Gosciniarek, PricewaterhouseCoopers
  and
  ‘Mergers & Acquisitions – launch of PwC’s latest survey’
  Geoff Upton, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Keynote address (pdf, 1,081 kb) by Minister Michal Boni, Chief advisor to the Prime Minister of Poland
• Making a difference – How local and regional policies can attract investment
  How can local and regional policies sway location decisions to attract investment? What do regions and clusters need to do? how can success be ensured in the future?
  • Speakers:
    • Mateusz Gilarski (pdf, 1,280 kb), Transition Technologies
    • Tomasz Gondek (pdf, 759 kb), Director of Strategic Projects, Wroclaw Agglomeration Development Agency
    • Marek Michalik (pdf, 3,318 kb), Deputy Mayor of Łódź, responsible for regional development policies and strategies
    • Jacek Levernes (pdf, 424 kb), Managing Director of Hewlett-Packard, Wrocław (Global e-Business Operations Sp. z o.o.)
• The place to be – attracting and keeping companies in Europe
  What are the best examples of the successful governmental and European programmes and policies? What do companies really need? What are the challenges for Member State and European-level policies? How to attract the winners of the future?
  • Speakers:
    • Pascal Boijmans (pdf, 109 kb), Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission DG Regio, responsible for ensuring that the Union’s contribution to regional development in Poland adds maximum value
    • Mateusz Gaczynski (pdf, 250 kb), Deputy Director of Economy Development, Ministry of Economy, Poland
    • Brendan McDonagh (pdf, 280 kb), Head of Policy and Planning, Industrial Development Agency, Ireland
    • Nessa Moyles (pdf, 111 kb), Senior Executive, PharmaChemical Ireland

 

Thursday, 5 June

Strategies for positive globalisation - a win-win for all - Panel discussion moderated by David McWillams

• Tadeusz Kowalski, Poznań University of Economics