Dominar a Polônia não é algo muito difícil até o Brasil já dominou a Polônia, o caso da dívida externa da Polônia com o Brasil gerou até o escãndalo das polonetas. O Brasil, como pais magnânimo, até já perdoou a dívida externa da Polônia.
Lenovo to Make Computers in Poland
Andrzej Ratajczyk
2007-12-05
Chinese computer giant Lenovo has picked Poland to build its first computer manufacturing plant in Europe.
The $20 million factory, which is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, will be located in the Legnica Special Economic Zone in the southwestern region of Lower Silesia. It will become operational in September next year, Lenovo said in late November.
To begin with, the 30,000-square-meter plant will turn out over 2 million desktop computers a year. They will be exported to European, Middle Eastern and African markets (EMEA). The plant will also deal with assembly and logistics as well as configuration and distribution services.
The Lenovo company was set up after Lenovo Group acquired the personal computer manufacturing business of U.S. giant IBM. Operating globally, Lenovo is involved in the development, production and sales of hi-tech products and services. Its main research centers are located in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina, in the United States. Lenovo provides employment to around 23,500 people around the world, of which 19,500 work in its personal computer division. The company has offices in 66 countries in the Asia and Pacific region, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Lenovo manufactures over 15 million PCs annually. Last year, its net sales exceeded $14.6 billion.
"The choice of Poland as a location for our manufacturing site in Europe is a major step forward in emphasizing the presence of Lenovo in Europe and pursuing our development strategy on this market," said Milko van Duijl, president of Lenovo EMEA and vice-president of Lenovo Group. "In developing a modern European site, which is supposed to provide the best customer service, Lenovo relies on its 'worldsourcing' strategy that involves looking for resources around the world. This enables the company to recruit the most talented local employees and international management staff."
"Worldsourcing" means focusing on products of the highest quality. All aspects of a company's operations-including materials, employees, innovation, logistics, infrastructure and products-have to be sourced wherever they are best available. At the same time, companies operating along these lines are able to deliver finished products wherever these are in demand throughout the world. Lenovo has recently opened a global marketing center in India. Its European center is located in Paris, with order processing centers in North America and manufacturing sites in China, India, Central America and Europe.
"The fact that Poland was selected as a location for a PC factory in the EMEA region testifies to Poland's economic importance and its strategic location in the heart of Europe," said Marek Borówka, general manager at Lenovo Technology Poland. "Thanks to its young well-educated employees and rapidly growing economy, Poland is a perfect location for this project."
Lenovo is not the only computer giant to have decided to invest in Poland recently. In November, U.S. corporation Dell started to manufacture computers in the central city of Łódź. The group invested 200 million euros in the plant, which manufactures notebooks and other equipment. By January, some 1,100 jobs will be created here. According to Dell, the Łódź plant is one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the world.
The Polish government welcomes IT giants wanting to invest here. "Investment in IT is of priority importance to us because it means both the transfer of new technology and the creation of new jobs for many excellent Polish specialists," said Paweł Wojciechowski, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ).
Highly qualified labor is one of the strongest draws for investors. Poland ranks 30th in terms of IT industry competitiveness index in a league table of 64 countries ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in November. The United States, Japan, South Korea and Britain occupy the top four places. Of the new EU members, Estonia ranks the highest, in 25th place, while Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have similar ratings to Poland's, ranking 27th, 28th and 29th respectively.
Poland's large market is another factor that encourages computer manufacturers to invest here. Experts say Poles will buy some 3.2 million computers this year, roughly half of them portable computers. Sales figures for the first half of the year clearly show that the era of desktop computers dominating is nearing an end, experts say. According to IDC Polska research company, of the nearly 1.3 million computers sold in the first six months of the year, 537,000 were portable computers. Some industry insiders say that by the end of the year portable computers will catch up with desktop computers in terms of sales volume.
Price is the main factor that Polish consumers take into account when buying a computer. An average desktop computer without a display can be bought for zl.1,900, while an average laptop costs just over zl.3,000. But if one adds the price of the display, around zl.600-700, it turns out that desktop and portable computers are comparable in price.
At the same time, desktop computers are not getting any cheaper. Their average price has remained unchanged for more than a year now. Instead consumers are being offered increasingly sophisticated hardware. The situation with portable computers is different. Their prices have been decreasing, and some models are now available from supermarket chains, large consumer electronics stores and online shops for less than zl.2,000. Additionally, portable computers are now being offered by telecommunications operators, which adds to the popularity of this equipment.
However, the market for desktop computers is far from saturated, experts say. Desktop computers will continue to be bought by both offices and individuals, including computer game enthusiasts interested in high-performance equipment. The public procurement market will also contribute to the demand for desktop computers, owing to the continuing computerization of schools and public administration.
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