This year's ranking of Central Europe's leading 500 companies reflects a business community across 18 countries and seven main industries united by one factor: concerns about revenue growth. After three years of downturn and fragile recovery, characterised by cost-cutting that has left little corporate 'fat", the focus now is on increasing revenues. And the question is: how?
It makes little difference whether you are from those economies showing some signs of recovery, like Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, or those such as Romania, Hungary and Croatia whose economies are still struggling to recover. They face the same issues: consumers are limiting their spending; businesses are keeping a tight reign on costs; and slowing Western economies are threatening export opportunities.
This year, in interviews we carried out with 72 senior business figures from across the region, concerns about growth consistently featured alongside a focus on enhanced performance and the key role of innovation. These are the top-of-mind issues for most executives.
I am confident that companies across the Central European region have the talent and ambition to foster new opportunities to generate growth through innovation, making this year's report a cause for optimism. Developments on the CE and global markets, where we see renewed uncertainty, would indicate that competitiveness and efficiency, both at micro and macro levels, are key elements of success. Innovation is the most critical element of competiveness in developing and developed economies. I believe that 2011 will be seen as the year when innovative responses to changes in demand, financing conditions and the operational environment truly became the „new norm".
