Małopolska for investors

This naturally attractive region of Poland, bordered on its west by the country’s most densely populated and industrialized region of Silesia, is an exceptional area for conducting commercial activity. A dynamically growing economy combined with large, steadily-increasing foreign capital inflows form the foundation of the Business in Małopolska Centre – an initiative unique on a nationwide scale, formed with the purpose of easing and coordinating investor and exporter service, as well as promoting the regional economy.

The Business in Małopolska Centre is creating a modern image for the region. Traditional symbols like Tatra mountain goat’s milk cheese, Tartars and the Wawel dragon have always been linked to Małopolska and Kraków, but they should now be associated with regional  tourism, and the economy with knowledge and modernity. The Business in Małopolska Centre – BiMCe in short – creates a beneficial climate for business, undertaking and supporting a range of initiatives boosting entrepreneurship in Małopolska by such projects as the integrated investor service system (one – stop – shop) as well as expanding the region’s largest collection of investment zones and base of local exporters with foreign partners.
Owing to cooperation between the three largest institutions in the region – the Małopolska Regional Development Agency, the Małopolska Provincial Marshal’s Office and the Kraków Technological Park – it has been possible to gather extensive financial resources as well as integrate and coordinate operations to improve importer and exporter service while promoting Małopolska more effectively around the world. Missions, conferences and other forms of economic promotion are organized. Our region is promoted at fairs in China, India, Japan, the United States, around Europe, and also on television by CNN.

Still at the top

In 2010, according to the Market Economy Research Institute the Małopolska region was Poland’s fourth in a ranking of investment attractiveness – after Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia and Mazovia. This is Małopolska’s best result since 2005, and undoubtedly cause for satisfaction resulting from our staying power at the top of Poland’s provinces. Our region also boasts outstanding results in worldwide rankings: 2nd according to the FT ranking of direct foreign investment strategies in Central and Eastern Europe, while Kraków, the capital of Małopolska, was also at the top of the list for emerging outsourcing locations in the Global Services and Tholons 2010 ranking as well as in the Top 10 Emerging Cities 2011 (UNCTAD) ranking for BPO investment. The office plays host nearly every week to new groups of investors from all over the world interested in locating their business in Małopolska. We are also visited regularly by journalists from Europe and Asia, who have made meetings in Kraków a permanent fixture in their programmes.

Visible effects

In just the last two years Małopolska has become home for a large number of serious investors, international firms locating centres for modern business services alongside IT sector companies, including Amway (USA), Capita (GB), Luxoft (Russia), Akamai (USA),  Infusion (USA), Cisco (USA) and many more. It is especially pleasing that the region is becoming attractive not only for western companies – the East also appreciates the beneficial location in the centre of Europe. Kraków is not only the choice of the Russian IT giant Luxoft. A few weeks ago, a Chinese producer of bottle and food packaging labels, Haoneng Packing Co. Ltd, decided to place its business here.

The Chinese dragon at Wawel

Illochroma Haoneng Poland – the Kraków branch – has signed a leasing contract with the Małopolska Regional Development Agency for production and office space at the MARR Business Park. Modern printing machines will soon be installed, and production is scheduled to begin at the turn of 2011/2012. The Chinese are planning to employ 60 people. Haoneng Packing Co. Ltd is a Chinese company operating since 1984 in the areas of packaging, printing and labelling for food products, primarily beverages and alcohol. Its largest partner is Heineken. Haoneng branches employ over 1000 individuals and serve more then 200 international partners in 30 countries. Preparations for production should take around 2 months. The selection of the MARR Business Park resulted from its excellent location and the facility’s excellent standard. The dynamic growth of the Central and Eastern European market also played a role, which the company’s owners predict will result in the settling of deep roots in Kraków and investment in a stand-alone production facility.

The Business in Małopolska Centre is an important, and it may be said even the key link to the region’s economic promotion, with the solid support of the institutions jointly responsible for its creation. Interest in the project is also growing systematically, among both representatives of the Małopolska business community and foreign investors, who are making increasing use of our support, intermediary services and consulting capacities. They view us as a trustworthy, stable partner. Our activity, designed with such goals as promoting Małopolska, has already become one of the aspects creating the region’s positive image – one that is dynamic, modern and open to innovation.
 

ASPIRE is Poland’s leading network of outsourcing and offshoring companies with its head office in Kraków. The association represents companies employing approx. 20,000 people in Poland in shared service and outsourcing centres, including companies such as IBM, Capgemini, HSBC, Shell, EDF and Philip Morris.

Click on the link below to read a think piece by Andrew Hallam, General Secretary of ASPIRE, on why Kraków is emerging as Europe’s outsourcing hub. “Therefore, the Earth is not flat” - why global services companies are following in the footsteps of Copernicus
 

Accounting Plaza is a BPO company specializing in retail clients with locations in Wormer (NL), Kraków (PL), Brno (CZ) and Goa (India). The Kraków Centre provides full accounting services to major clients located in Holland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The centre employs 350 people more

The IBM BTO Center in Kraków is part of the IBM global organisation. As part of the MBPS (managed business processing services) group the center delivers outsourced accounting services to external clients. These include transaction processing, order to cash and financial reporting. The center employs 1,200 people in Kraków more

PMI Service Center Europe was established in Kraków in late 2005, providing centralized Financial, HR and IS services. The company employs approximately 700 people in Kraków providing support for approximately 25,000 PMI employees across 35 countries more

Since 2005, the AMS Global Client Service Centre in Kraków has provided remote offshore support in talent and resource management to clients across a number of geographies and languages. The Kraków Centre now employs 260 people more

The Shell Business Service Centre in Kraków supports Shell businesses in Europe, Brazil and the Middle East with Finance Operations, HR Services, Customer Services and Contracting & Procurement. Besides that the centre has developed competences in Project management, System implementations, Internal Audit and Continuous Improvement. The centre employs 1,500 people more

UBS Poland Service Centre in Kraków currently has more than 200 employees supporting UBS teams in the areas of legal, compliance, risk, research, operations, IT, marketing, and analytics. The teams in Kraków collaborate across many UBS locations and business divisions working on projects with an international scope more

State Street Corporation is one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, including investment servicing, investment management, and investment research and trading. State Street’s operation in Kraków provides investment fund accounting, hedge fund accounting, pricing administration, exchange-traded derivatives processing, and financial reporting services on behalf of multiple State Street locations throughout Europe. State Street employs more than 600 people in Kraków more

Capgemini provides business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing services in outsourcing centers located in Kraków and the neighbouring city of Katowice. In Kraków the company employs 2,460 people more