As many as 189 new multinational companies will emerge out of Romania in the following 15 years, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) report. Romania will reach a similar level as Ukraine, with 192 new multinational companies in the next 15 years and Hungary, with 221. However, the biggest number of new multinational companies in Central and Eastern Europe will come from Russia – 930- and from Poland - 287.

“We can expect that many more companies from dynamic emerging markets like India, China, Russia, South-East Asia will invest in Romania in the future, in order to gain a “low-cost” access to the EU market,” says Alexandru Lupea, Partner, Assurance Services, Leader of the Energy, Utilities and Mining Group with PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania. So Romanian companies will have to face increasing competition, as the multinational companies from the emerging economies have a much more aggressive approach than the traditional competitors from Western Europe.

In order to survive, the Romanian multinational companies must quickly reach a critical mass that will allow them to withstand such a fierce competition. This means not only gaining a strong position on the local market, but also expanding on profitable foreign markets, wherever they may be, Lupea adds.

The competitive landscape is set to be transformed over the next decade as Chinese and Indian multinationals lead the way in seeking new markets abroad, and are joined by an array of companies from Singapore, Russia, Malaysia and South Korea, says a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

The number of companies from emerging markets choosing to set up operations abroad has increased in the last five years, in part due to the rapid pace of globalisation and the revolution in information and communications technologies. This trend is expected to continue over the next 15 years, as new multinationals from emerging economies rise in prominence on the global economic stage.