Friday, July 22, 2005

East Europe/Business Opportunities/Overview
"Romania is still climbing into the modern world. After the dramatic fall of the country’s Communist regime in 1989, the country slipped into a recession that lasted until the mid- to late-1990s, at which time it began to embark on a series of reforms and stabilization programs."

"In 2000, Romania, with her population of 22.3 million people, threw her hat into the ring for membership in the European Union (EU). That membership is expected to be fully achieved in 2007. Currently, the country is experiencing economic stability, high growth and low unemployment. It’s a democratic republic whose capital, Bucharest, is home to 2.3 million people, or about 10 percent of the population."

"And it’s caught the call center industry’s eye."

"The Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary will be popular with companies looking for higher-end customer care for both English-speaking and German-speaking customers (these countries’ economies are somewhat ahead of that of Romania)."

"Romania and Bulgaria will increasingly gain business for more routine customer care, with Romania handling Italian- and French-speaking clients (recall that the Romanian language is a Romance language and therefore kindred to French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian), while Bulgaria will draw companies serving customers in the UK and Germany."

"Additionally, Croatia and Slovenia are thought to be well suited to accept business in Italian and German-speaking customer care, and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are well-placed in terms of geography and language for taking customer care calls from Scandinavian customers."

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