Expanding into Europe: Are employers making the best decisions?
Top 5 rated countries for 2007 are Poland, Denmark, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - a human resource perspective conducted by the Federation of European Employers (FedEE).
When a company is considering whether to invest in another country, there are numerous pitfalls to be avoided. One of the biggest headaches is the people dimension, with particular concerns about the availability of skilled workers, pay and potential difficulties with employee dismissal. Many employers end up relying on subjective assessments or data that is often inaccurate and seriously out of date.
FedEE's country ratings provide an objective evaluation of investment risk from a human resource perspective. The ratings cover 27 European Union countries, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, and are based on 15 quantifiable factors relating to:
Labor supply
Human capital
Employee relations
Inflationary pressures
Labor costs
Labor flexibility
Poland scores positively on labor supply, labor relations and labor flexibility and its only negative score is in its level of internet skills. Each of the other top-rated countries share high scores on labor capability, although three (Denmark, Switzerland and the UK) suffer from labor supply problems and two (Denmark and Switzerland) from high wage costs.
Surprisingly, these findings are not reflected in actual levels of foreign direct investment - which raises the question whether companies are making the best decisions when they choose a European location. The latest UN figures show that none of the FedEE top five countries received the highest levels of inward investment as a percentage of GDP, with companies instead choosing Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Malta and the Netherlands as bases for their operations. (fedee.com)
ADVERTISEMENT
Hungary Inflation Rate at 21.5% in May
Parl't Approves Amendments to Legislation on Judiciary
Industrial Production Declines in April
Landmark Budapest Dept Store to Reopen After HUF 8 bln Renov...
SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
.jpg)
