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The management consulting company Horváth & Partners celebrates its 15th anniversary on the Romanian market.

Horváth & Partners is an independent, international management consultancy with over 1,000 employees. The company, founded in 1981 and headquartered in Stuttgart, has branches in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to its strong continental presence, Horváth & Partners started a presence in Romania at the end of 2005. Since then, the company has been offering its customers in the state consulting services for small and medium-sized projects valued at between 50,000 and over 3 million euros.

Kurt Weber, General Director of the country, said on the company’s anniversary in Romania: “These 15 years of activity in the local market have been an extraordinary journey for us. Although the decision to open the local office was closely linked to Petrom’s integration project after the merger, another reason was the country’s very good position in the region. “

Building on this strong platform, the Romanian locale of Horváth & Partners has been able to carry out local and regional projects in a variety of subject areas, such as: B .: Redesign of the business model and support of the organizational transformation in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, process management and personnel management among others. In total, the company has taken on over 300 projects worth around 64 million euros in the last 15 years.

The outlook

Looking to the future, Horváth & Partners will try to take advantage of three important trends that will emerge over the next two years. These are accelerating digital transformation, including the continued rise in online sales channels and an emphasis on an improved customer experience in retail. Companies that are more focused on increasing innovation capacity; and growing focus on sustainability strategies and technologies, particularly in the areas of energy, transport, agriculture and industry.

In this context, Weber recently commented that Romania needs to use the power of European Union funding and is currently focusing its strategy on the Green Deal member states. When Horváth & Partners arrived in Romania, the country was on the verge of joining the EU – something Weber said offered “a new window of opportunity and significant development potential for the country’s business landscape” and, according to him, now is the time for that opportunity to the fullest.

“I believe Romania must give top priority to absorbing all of the European funds available and using them in areas that will create long-term competitiveness,” Weber said. “Priorities include digitization and renewable energies, including new technologies, mostly hydrogen, that are expected to drive competitive electricity prices in about a decade and provide both energy security and an important boost to the local economy.”

“It is not only up to the authorities to create such a program, but also to the business community, including private companies, of the entire business community that is directly interested in clarifying and finding the most appropriate answers to the current challenges.”

The role of green energy was placed at the heart of the Green Deal in 2020, which focuses on developing a competitive and sustainable economy in the new economic context hit by the pandemic. By 2030, energy efficiency is to be increased by 33%, the share of renewable energy sources by 32% and greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55%.

Romania has had one of the highest electricity prices in the European Union in the wholesale market in recent years, and in 2018 it had the fourth highest price after Cyprus, Greece and Spain – something that the move towards sustainability could play a key role in change.