Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_10_št.14 - Index

BUSINESSBUsinEssBUSINESSBUsinEssBUSINESSBUsinEssBUSINESS
minister. According to Jože Renar of the Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (GZS), energy is included in the white paper for
greater competitiveness of the Slovenian economy, which the
GZS confirmed in April. The seven measures emphasised in the
white paper include increased support for R&D projects in the
field of efficient use of energy and renewable energy sources,
and provision of competitive conditions for the electricity supply
for industry. Slovenian companies last year spent EUR 1.5bn
on energy, and industry used EUR 960m, while manufacturing
consumed EUR 767m in energy, said Renar, adding that the cost
will rise next year. According to him, there were 210 companies
in Slovenia which spent more than EUR 1m on energy last year,
and this number is expected to rise by about 10% next year.
ReaDeR’S DIgeSt hONOuRS SlOVeNIa’S
tRuSteD bRaNDS
Publisher Reader's Digest has recognised the winners of its second
Trusted Brands study in Slovenia, which looks at the brands most
trusted by consumers. Among the winning brands are Slovenian
home appliances maker Gorenje, car maker Renault and mobile
phone producer Nokia. Other winners include NLB bank, Kompas
tourist agency, retailer Mercator, news portal 24ur, mobile
operator Mobitel, Internet provider Siol, pain killer Lekadol, Head
and Shoulders shampoos, body-care brand Nivea, Milka sweets,
mineral water Zala and Barcaffe coffee, as well as Reader's Digest
partner Mladinska knjiga. Trusted Brand identifies by country
the brands consumers say they trust the most, and places them
in 38 different categories of products. The study is one of the
largest consumer surveys in Europe and includes 15 countries.
The Slovenian part of the study polled 951 respondents and was
carried out by Media Research Institute. The study was carried
out for the eighth time in a row, and the second time in Slovenia.
It also enables intercultural comparisons, as 20 categories are
identical in all 15 countries. Other categories are chosen locally.
PRO PluS bOSS WINS MaNageR OF 2008
aWaRD
On 2 October, the Managers' Association of Slovenia (MAS)
conferred in Maribor the Manager of the Year Award on Marijan
Jurenec, general manager of Pro Plus, the company owning
both leading commercial TV stations in Slovenia, POP TV and
Kanal A. Marijan Jurenec is a co-founder of Pro Plus and has
been its manager since 1995. The company was founded as a
joint venture of two Slovenian TV stations and the U.S. media
corporation CME, which invests in local commercial TV projects
in Central and Eastern Europe. Jurenec has been the CME director
for the Adriatic region since 2005 and is also a member of the
CME board of directors. Since September, he has been chairing
the company's group for Internet, which includes all general and
finance directors of the CME Internet units. He is also the vicepresident
of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe
(ACT) and the president of the Slovenian Golf Association. Business
magazine Kapital has listed him among the 100 most influential
businessmen, and he was named the marketing personality of
2002. Pro Plus owns POP TV and Kanal A, news portal 24ur.com,
nonlinear television poptv.si, numerous specialised websites, and
one fifth of the local TV station TV Pika. In 13 years, the company
has acquired a 70% share of the country’s television marketing.
According to AGB Nielsen Media Research polls, Pop TV has the
highest rating in Slovenia, while Kanal A is in third place. The
Manager of the Year is one of the most prestigious awards in
management, conferred on exceptionally successful business
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executives with reference to their companies’ financial results,
their development, the person’s long-term care for the company
and their leadership competence.
SlOVeNIa tO get aSSIStaNCe IN
FINaNCIal RePORtINg
Slovenia and Switzerland signed an agreement on 3 October
under which Switzerland would provide EUR 1.5m Swiss francs
(EUR 950,000) for technical assistance aimed at enhancing
auditing, public oversight and financial reporting. The training will
be conducted by the World Bank. The agreement was signed in
Ljubljana by Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk, Swiss Embassy official
Annegret Zimmermann and Deputy Director of the Government
Office for European Affairs Gregor Krajc. Slovenia has some 130
auditors and 43 auditing firms. Under EU legislation and the
auditing act passed in June, the country must enhance the sectors
of auditing, public oversight and quality of financial reporting. The
project dubbed Financial Reporting is set to do just that. Its costs
will be covered by Switzerland as part of its financial obligations
in exchange for access to the EU's internal market. The World
Bank was put in charge of the project's implementation, while
the Slovenian Finance Ministry will oversee the implementation of
the project and the use of funds. Krajc also signed an additional
agreement with World Bank representative John Hegarty, under
which the bank will arrange for the training of personnel and
assistance necessary to set up a public oversight system via the
new agency for public oversight of auditing. The training by
the World Bank will also help the country to establish a public
registry of auditors, and provide it with assistance to improve
institutional capabilities for the implementation of international
accounting standards, internal oversight and final assessment.
The training will focus on the acquisition of new expertise on
the use of international accounting standards for civil servants in
Slovenian oversight institutions. The project will be launched this
year and is to run until 2012.
CONFeReNCe PROMOtINg hyDRO
DeVelOPMeNt OPeNS IN ljubljaNa
The annual Hydro 2008 conference, which focuses on ways
to progress world hydro development, opened in Ljubljana
on 6 October. Dams, reservoirs and other water resources are
important for green energy supply, said Economy Minister Andrej
Vizjak at the opening of the conference, adding that there was
a renewed impetus worldwide for hydro-power development
in light of global climate change. Hydrology has become
increasingly important in Slovenia, not only for its production of
hydroelectricity, but also for regulating running water, irrigation
and the supply of drinking water, he added. A multi-disciplinary
approach towards the development and building of reservoirs is
crucial at a time when the world is facing demographic problems
and many poor communities are plagued by hunger, poverty
and increasing food consumption, Vizjak said. The chairman of
the International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD), Luis Berga,
pointed out that more than 1.6 million people in the world have no
access to electricity, which is a quarter of the world's population.
Hydro 2008 is the 15th annual conference, organised by British
event management companies Aqua Media International and
NetWork Events in cooperation with the Slovenian Economy
Ministry, electricity distributors Holding Slovenske Elektrarne and
Gen Energija, and the Slovenian National Committee on Large
Dams.
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