Transform Spring 2010

Contacts

Donall O'Shea: Tel: +7 (495) 287-1142; Fax: +7 (495) 967-6001

In this issue:

Of further interest:

Appetite for change

Transform, the magazine of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Central & Eastern Europe

Transform is the bi-annual magazine of PwC in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It covers the latest business trends in 25 markets across the region, from the Czech Republic to Kazakhstan. Each issue of the magazine goes out to 10,000 business leaders, financiers, politicians and opinion formers in CEE.

How are leaders in Central and Eastern Europe tackling the short-term survival challenges posed by the global downturn while simultaneously planning for long-term growth? We believe this balancing act will dominate the leadership agenda this year, which is why, in the spring 2010 issue of Transform magazine, we posed this question to business and political leaders across the region.

Leadership focus
In a special leadership focus section, we bring the regional CEOs of three leading companies – Siemens, Orange and the ROLF Group – together to debate this issue and we ask Romanian business veteran Dinu Patriciu for his insight. Staying in Romania, we are also pleased to feature an exclusive interview with Bogdan Dragoi, Secretary of State at Romania’s Ministry of Public Finance, on how the government is trying to get the economy there back on track.

In the wake of the World Eonomic Forum’s annual leaders summit in Davos, Switzerland, in the New Year, we turned to four commentators with expertise in the region for their thoughts on what CEE’s business and political leaders should be tackling this year. Read their views in our main feature, ‘World leaders, world challenges’.

We also look to the region’s entrepreneurial leaders to find out how they are forging futures in the current climate. A rare case study on Slovakian private equity firm Penta looks at its unique approach to investment and plans for growth, and we talk to a selection of CEE’s entrepreneurs about how they are building their businesses, in spite of a weak environment for start ups.

Solutions for growth
A selection of our features this issue offer solutions for growth, focusing on how to get better at consolidation; how to achieve cost efficiencies through strategies such as shared services; and how to deal constructively with situations where debt goes bad.

Elsewhere in the magazine, we consider how the region’s green agenda is progressing in the wake of the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. And we wish PwC Russia a happy 20th birthday.