Page 151 - Proceeding 2015

FLORESCU Margareta and POTCOVARU Ana-Mădălina
FAMP
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT’S INFLUENCE ON THE FREEDOM OF THE DECISION-MAKING
CCASP
PROCESS IN LOCAL COLLECTIVITIES IN ROMANIA

contribute to the city's success are the developed support structures compared to other regions, skilled
human resources, and a high degree of cultural and social cohesion.

Local industry is extremely diverse and comprises various branches: machinery, electrical engineering,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
chemicals, wood processing industry, textiles and especially auto parts manufacturing and engineering
(Murphy, 2011). A local and national university center, Timisoara gives the opportunity to study in several
fields like medicine, psychology, veterinary medicine, polytechnics, economic sciences, political sciences

or engineering, the city being one of the few in the country that can be proud of having a sizeable number
of foreign students, a lot of italian or french students come to Timisoara for study, based on its low taxes

and proximity to the west.

There are numerous factors that can be cited for the success achieved by the city in promoting
entrepreneurship and SME development and also some areas where progress still needs improvement

(although the areas that still need improvement are a handful compared to other cities in the country,
including Bucharest). Amongst the reasons that contributed to the city's extraordinary performance are
30 th – 31 st October 2015 ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” Bucharest and joint action by public and private interests, a greater accent on education compared with other parts
historical factors such as cross border trading even during the communist era, a strong regional identity

of the country, and, not last, competitive costs that contributed to a higher productivity (Bazavan, 2014).

In particular the following reasons and measures are prominent: the mayor's office active involvement in

creacting a sustainable development strategy for the city, the local mentality and tradition towards foreign
exchange and relations, small and medium businesses are encouraged to settle in the town and maybe
the most important factor, the creation of a local cluster for the automotive industry, an area that is

somewhat unique and does not compete with Cluj, for example, that developed its own cluster, but
focusing on the IT industry (Baga, 2009). With physical proximity, high level of concentration of the
industrial basis and inter-firm networks of small companies in an array of interrelated industries, there is

clear evidence of a more intensive spatial agglomeration of firms in the western part of Romania.

Timisoara faced all the problems that characterized most if not all the cities in the cuntry, with limited
central government support and bound to the investments decided there and relatively low economic and

social development when compared with other EU or neighbouring Central European countries. Usually,
SMEs complained about constant changes in legislation and regulations and the need to simplify and

stabilise the business environment, the absence of good clear information for investors, both domestic
and foreign, and lack of management experience for the public services were obstacles to business
development but, fortunately, there has been significant improvement in those areas, especially after

2007, the year that Romania joined the European Union.

149