The mistakes that have been most costly were hasty restructuring processes, laying off many employees without a previous evaluation, fear of applying harsh measures, lack of communication with other market players and banks, and a lack of vision which prevented many managers from foreseeing the way in which the difficult economic situation would affect the business environment.
As far as the government is concerned, businesspeople interviewed by Business Standard indicated that it failed to present a coherent strategy, which led to contradictory decisions, the enforcement of a minimum tax with a specific impact on small and medium-sized enterprises, and delayed infrastructure spending and investments. Furthermore, reliance on credit lines for operations, long-term payment deadlines, a focus on immediate profits without long-term strategies, and optimism in spite of hard times ahead are now being acknowledged by businesspeople.
“Managers laid off too many people too hastily. This is a mistake that is hard to rectify and they will have problems when the economy recovers, according to the Managing Partner of Human Synergistics HR consulting company, Adrian Stanciu
“A common mistake in Romania is that, oftentimes, short-term interests are preferred, with needs met when these reach critical points,” according to the Executive Director of the Sales Division of IIRUC Service IT company, Dragos Stanescu. He added that this is not only the case with Romanian companies, as multinationals are often forced to shift their focus due to the local business environment.
“The situation was so critical, that I feel I could not have afforded to make mistakes. Perhaps the only mistake is that I have to run a company in Romania,” said Dan Petrescu, General Manager of Dacos transportation company.
“The worst mistake was believing in the current government, in the promises of the Agriculture minister. Based on an agreement with the ministry, we restarted the factories, producing stock for two months, as of February 1, and subsequently we now have a loss worth RON 130 million (€31 mln) because of this, said businessman Ioan Niculae, owner of the InterAgro group, with operations in agriculture and fertilizer production.
Other businesspeople have likewise criticized the Cabinet. “The government had the same wait-and-see attitude as many companies did. But the government should lead the country out of the crisis. We cannot overcome the crisis just by waiting for it to go away,” said Stanciu. “The mistakes [this government] is making are affecting the economy more severely than would those made by companies,” he added.
The Chief Economist of Raiffeisen Bank lender, Ionut Dumitru, said that the government has also made good decisions, such as the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union and other international lenders for a €20 billion stand-by loan, because this led to more coherence in economic policies. Dumitru also blames the government for delaying spending for infrastructure and investments.
