Offshoring

The 1st Southeast European Innovation, Technology and Sourcing Summit took place with the active support of the Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency and with great interest from the business.

British ferry and shipping freight operator P&O is reviewing its UK-registered fleet and is already reflagging two vessels to keep European Union tax arrangements ahead of Britain's departure from the bloc, the company said.

A P&O spokesman said two of its UK ships operating on the English Channel route to France would be reflagged to Cyprus.

[Reuters]

Voluntary layoffs are reportedly expected next year with most credit institutions effecting a reduction in their employee numbers. The first large voluntary exit program, according to Kathimerini, is expected to be implemented by Bank of Cyprus, although guidelines and provisions for the layoffs have not been finalized yet.

More than two thirds (68 percent) of corporations in Greece reduced their salary costs from 2010 to 2013, a survey conducted for the Bank of Greece has shown.

Roughly 37.667 salaried jobs were lost in the private sector in November 2016 according to the information system ERGANI, in what is considered the worst employment performance of the last five years, with more layoffs than hirings.

The local administration in Plodviv has helped Bulgaria's second-largest city position itself as a key center for manufacturing, IT and outsourcing, Deputy Mayor Stefan Stoyanov has said. 

An international outsourcing forum is due on 22 November, 2016 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-biggest city.

The event, co-organized by consultancy services organization Industry Watch for a third year in a row, is named "Outsourcing Destination Bulgaria: Technonology, Innovation, Disruption".

According to the annual ranking of Business Process Outsourcing and Shared Service Location Index 2015, Bulgaria is third in the world in terms of direct foreign investments attracted in the outsourcing sector and ranks first in Europe, stated Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski at the opening of the annual conference of the leaders of the European Outsourcing Association.

Two recent studies point to Eastern Europe and Bulgaria in particular as an increasingly attractive destination for companies looking to outsource software, according to an article posted on ZDnet website.

According to the global management consulting firm A. T. Kearney, the attractiveness of Bulgaria as an offshoring destination dropped.

This is shown by the seventh edition of Kearney's Global Services Location Index released earlier this week.

In the latest index Bulgaria ranks 12th, with the country having dropped three positions from its 2014 standing.