The 2018 Business Forum held in Kopaonik, Serbia in March 6 was a great success. IPG Group participated as a key sponsor and actively contributed by presentations and panel discussions. Please see the meeting review under the full article.
About Kopaonik Business Forum 2018
25th Kopaonik Business Forum (KBF) was held in March 04-07, 2018 in the Kopaonik ski resort in central Serbia. The forum, entitled ’’Beyond Expansionary Austerity’’, gathered over 1’200 participants, including eminent professors, government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, businessmen, domestic and foreign investors and representatives of international organizations. 22 panels, 3 plenary sessions, 6 special events and 3 special addresses held presented an opportunity to address the most prominent matters, pressing issues, latest trends and paths forward in economic, social and business spheres within Serbia and further in the entire Balkan region. The most elaborated topics included digitalization, education, creative economy and science development, with traditional focus on structural reforms, state owned companies restructuring, completing privatization, converting good macroeconomic conditions into sustainable growth, as well as the geopolitical standpoint of Serbia and dynamics of its progress towards the EU. Due to its high relevance and exceptional impact on the business society, Kopaonik Business Forum is commonly acknowledged as “Serbian Davos”.
IPG GROUP recognized the outmost importance of the forum and contributed as the golden sponsor with the aspiration of being key value driver within Serbian development focus-topics using vast in-house experience and unique knowledge network of partners and individuals.
IPG GROUP in panel discussion: “Restructuring of the state-owned companies in Serbia”
IPG GROUP took part in the panel discussion focused on topic of “Restructuring of the state-owned companies in Serbia” which represents one of the key roadblocks for Serbia’s EU accession. Having in mind that the solution for issues regarding restructuring of state owned companies is perceived as the key turning point for further development of Serbian economy, the panel drew special attention and publicity. In the discussion on restructuring approaches that were undertaken during the last 10 years, the panelists commonly agreed that measures, in terms of predominantly financial consolidation of the enterprises, brought positive effects on balances of publicly owned companies and added to stabilization of macroeconomic state of Serbia that achieving public debt surplus in last years. The measures provided favorable solution to stabilize companies’ cost side and increase operating capabilities by laying off workforce, reducing salaries and changing organizational structure. The focus on financial efficiency indubitably assured a firm basis for further growth and should be further rolled out in all remaining companies not yet implementing the restructuring initiatives. Nevertheless, as indicated by Mr. Carsten Vollrath (CEO of IPG GROUP), it is of paramount importance to already start thinking in the direction of next steps as new sources for sustainable growth. According to his opinion, the second step should involve performance improvement measures with end-to-end process optimization, investment in production capacity and people development as main pillars. In the third step, Vollrath identified innovation as the key factor for further economic growth, vastly determined by investments in digitalization and technology on all levels of Serbian economy. At the end of the panel, the participants concluded that Serbia is on the right path for public companies’ reforms considering the complexity of the process, but needs to accelerate the pace and bring a clear strategy to foster further development.
“Serbia managed to commit to financial restructuring of publicly owned companies (popularly called “stop the bleeding” process), but needs to actively address performance improvement and innovation as next steps to successful growth path.” Mr. Carsten Vollrath (CEO of IPG GROUP)
IPG GROUP hosted special event “How Serbian companies can succeed in the future?”
Beside participating on the panel, IPG GROUP hosted special event with a primary focus on how Serbian companies should progress on their path to success. The essential concept takes into consideration all three axes “innovation – performance – growth” by combining business model innovation and performance excellence in an integrated holistic approach. In the world characterized by high level of “DYNAXITY” (combination of dynamic and complex), it is not sufficient to rely only on classical company performance improvement to achieve profitability, but the approach has to be augmented by fundamental change and (even disruptive) innovation of the whole business model. Consequently, the success model is highly dependable on appropriate knowledge acquiring, people development and skill up which represent key fundaments for Serbian companies, and their managers’ ability to make correct business decisions in the constantly rising competitive environment. Mr. Carsten Vollrath (CEO of IPG GROUP) and Dr. Hans von Pfuhlstein (Senior Partner of IPG GROUP) presented a pool of projects where these solutions created strong “visual” impact. The solutions, amongst others, included growth and profit improvement initiatives, efficiency and productivity programs, restructuring and integration projects and management training courses. IPG GROUP expertise and knowledge gained recognition by organizations such as SSCC (Swiss Serbian Chamber of Commerce) and SES (Serbian Economists Society) which resulted in a dialogue on how to furtherly collaborate to help Serbian economy to develop into a progressive leader of the Balkan region and become an integral part of the EU in the upcoming years.
“I am confident that after the excellent presentation, together with the great opportunity for networking on the KBF and restructuring plans for Serbian public enterprises, there certainly exists potential for engagement of such a renowned company as IPG GROUP.” Prof. Dr. Petar Veselinović (Dean at Kragujevac Faculty of Economics).