Poland is 'sexy' – HP discussion panel in WrocĹaw
Importance of SSC/BPO sector for Polish economy, the future of HP in WrocĹaw and successful cooperation between business and universities – these topics emerged in the discussion panel celebrating five years of Hewlett-Packard centre in the capital of Lower Silesia.
RafaĹ Dutkiewicz, the Mayor of WrocĹaw, RafaĹ Baniak, Deputy Minister of Economy, SĹawmir Majman, the President of Polish Information and Foreign Investments Agency, PaweĹ Panczyj from Ernst&Young and prof. BogusĹaw Fiedor, the rector of WrocĹaw University of Economics who represented the universities were the most eminent participants to the panel.
RafaĹ Dutkiewicz began with awarding Jacek Levernes the medal 'ZasĹuĹźony dla WrocĹawia' (WrocĹaw's Person of Merit) and reminded how important HP investments were for Lower Silesia.
'It was the first investment of this size in Poland. We owe you numerous other investments that followed. Today HP employs twice as many people as the company promised in the beginning', said Mr Dutkiewicz while jokingly recalling rather peculiar circumstances of signing the cooperation agreement.
'As to the fountain pen I used to sign the contract, I had stolen it from the Presidential Palace. By the way, the then-president reproached me for that later. But it paid off, we sold that pen for 45,000 zĹoty during charity event', Mr Dutkiewicz recounted, amused.
Jacek Levernes, the chairman of GCB HP, praised excellent cooperation with WrocĹaw universities and city officials.
Jacek Levernes, the chairman of HP centre in WrocĹaw, briefly described the evolution of the Global Business Centre and its plans for the future.
'Back in 2005, we were settling accounts while now our services are available in four fields: finance and accounting, HR, sales and marketing and distribution chain. We planned to employed 1,000 people in five years but it took us only three years in WrocĹaw to do this. Today we have 1,800 employees providing services in 26 languages, 95% of them are university graduates', finished proudly Mr Levernes.
The chairman said Hewlett-Packard wants to employ up to 2,500 people in the end and provide more and more advanced services.
'The profile of our would-be employee has changed slightly. Of course, we do not cease to recruit graduates but we are also going to look for professionals who have three to seven years of experience and sepak at least two foreign languages. We plan to turn WrocĹaw into key European HP centre of business outsourcing and decision process centre', Mr Levernes clarified.
Among others, guests talked on the role of SSC/BPO sector (Shared Services Centres/Business Process Outsourcing) in Polish economy, Poland's deeper specialisation in advanced business services, the future of the branch and WrocĹaw's location, essential for shared services centre.
'We import people, students and employees. However, upon aiming for a higher level of services, we move from development in quantity to development in quality', was the Mayor's answer to the question of what WrocĹaw did to attract big business.
'We, the city, are a sort of a clutch between companies and universities. Some Polish universities are obsolete, fortunately, not all of them. For example, the WrocĹaw University of Economics is opening a new course, Business Computer Science, the result of the cooperation between entreprises and universities. By ourselves, we would never come up with such an idea', said the Mayor.
RafaĹ Baniak, Deputy Minister of Economy, spoke of the government's role in winning foreign investments and state back-up in negotiation process.
RafaĹ Dutkiewicz, RafaĹ Baniak and SĹawomir Majman
'The government has three tools to support investments: governmental grants, special economic zone and grants from EU funds. As far as the latter are concerned, Poland still has ca. 1 billion euro to use', the Minister pointed out, reminding of excellent cooperation between city authorities, scientists and business in WrocĹaw.
'It's extremely important that a chairman of big company, a mayor and a university rector meet together. Regrettably, it is not the rule in all Polish cities', concluded Mr Baniak.
SĹawomir Majman, the President of Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, explained why Poland is investment-wise more attractive than Romania, Hungary and others.
'Resulting from the crisis, Poland has become 'sexy' as we have something which is very in demand now, namely stable economy. We want to turn this trend into something more perennial. We stand big chance for this – our internal market is big, Poland is doing better and better in prestigious economic ratings, investment climate is great here', enumerated Mr Majman.
'WrocĹaw is the HP city, which stands for huge potential city', prof. Fiedor used wordplay as a metaphor. He was also talking of the university's and HP joint projects and the way students benefit from this cooperation.
'Apart from development of research, etc., the main objective of a university is to produce qualified professionals. It's a great joy for me to see that half of HP employees are the graduates of the WrocĹaw University of Economics. This cooperation also provides us with expert tools and controlling programmes', said prof. Fiedor.
'WrocĹaw is not threatened by 'overheating'. Paradoxically, the more companies enter the market, the more receptive is becomes', pictured PaweĹ Panczyj from Ernst& Young, the former chairman of WrocĹaw Agglomeration Development Agency and the leader of the so-called 'tiger brigade' that attracted foreign investors to WrocĹaw.
Knowledge based economy can only be the result of the cooperation between business and universities, this was the most important conclusion of the debate for five years of HP's existence in WrocĹaw. Close cooperation of state and regional government and investors is indispensable to obtain valuable foreign investments. No other cooperation is capable of providing the conditions for further development of investing companies, enabling them to create more workplaces. As for now, WrocĹaw is doing great job, HP Global Business Centre being most obvious example.
