P&G: Had we looked at costs only, the procurement centre of Bucharest would have been in Asia

P&G giant is mulling increasing the number of services operated in Romania for the company's foreign subsidiaries, after around four years since the launch of Bucharest procurement centre. Romanians are likely to negotiate in the following years with the raw material suppliers of P&G plants via videoconferencing. Is Romania still a cheap market? P&G's procurement manager says that against a $13bn volume of deals processed annually in Bucharest, labour costs seem insignificant and this is why criteria such as employee skills are more important than the average wage on the market. "Had we primarily looked at costs, the procurement centre opened in 2005 for the markets of Europe, the Middle East and Africa would not have been located in Romania, but in an Asian country," states Camille Chammas, procurement vice-president with P&G Global Business Services. All the acquisitions P&G makes for its around 150 locations of Europe, the Middle East and Africa are now processed in a 230-employee office of Bucharest.