Celanese Hungary reports on 5 years of successful operation

Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company that engineers and manufactures a wide variety of products essential to everyday living, set up its Business Services Center in Budapest in 2007. Diplomacy & Trade talked to the Director of the Center, Scott Thornton.

Celanese established its shared service center in Hungary in 2007. What were the key factors in your decision?

When we first started looking at building this shared service center, Central Eastern Europe came up early in the discussions. After months of planning and visiting potential locations, we narrowed it down to the top three. Hungary came out as the number one choice because of the exceptional value this country has to offer in terms of available talent pool, skillset, language knowledge and qualification, as well as excellent infrastructure and Class A real estate. As we have many production facilities all over the world, the Budapest center is convenient and a central location for company meetings as well.

What were the initial tasks Celanese has brought here and how much have operations expanded since the start?

Up to 2009 the Budapest Business Services Center was a purely finance and accounting organization. We  started with migrating classic transactional processes from various locations around the world to Budapest, such as accounts payable, accounts receivable and general ledger. After seeing the initial success and the increased efficiencies the many process standardization efforts brought about along the way, more complex tasks were added to our portfolio. With this expansion, our headcount more than doubled.

What skills do you require from the Hungarian employees?

The majority of our open positions fall under the broad categories of finance or supply chain. When hiring for a specific position, a good degree in that particular field and a few years of related work experience is generally required. There are some openings especially in our customer service teams where the type of the degree or work experience does not weigh in as much; however in these cases outstanding communication skills, strong customer-focus and the right attitude are essential. As with all multinationals, good command of English and another foreign language is a must. Being an innovative company, personality-wise we are always looking for candidates who can think outside of the box. The rule of thumb is that we want people who are not just a good fit to the Celanese culture but who view shared services as a great opportunity to develop their career.

What is your view of the current business environment in Hungary? How does the tax and legal framework of the county influence your operation?

As you know, Celanese Corporation is a global company. We expect the challenging global economic environment to continue into the next year; however we will remain focused on platforms that expand our opportunities and make investments that enhance our overall growth prospects.  As with all shared service investments, we continuously revise our strategies and make adjustments based on market conditions - however, we remain committed to the region. Generally speaking, moving operations to Hungary was based on location, talent, and language skills of the available talent pool.  While taxes and legal framework are important for doing business, they were not core factors in our decision.

There are now dozens of shared service centers established by foreign companies in Hungary. What sort of – if any – cooperation do you have with them?

After coming to Budapest in 2007, one of the first things we did was establish contact with a few other centers.  This connection enables us to exchange ideas and share knowledge with peers. We are a member of the Hungarian Outsourcing Association and, being an American company, the American Chamber of Commerce as well. Both organizations helped us tremendously with providing a share of voice, building networks and visibility in the local shared service community. We are actively supporting a number of their initiatives – whether it be providing input for an advocacy effort, speaking at a conference, or visiting with newcomers. This industry is a closely connected family with many interesting people, lots of best practices and a thirst to learn.

Scott Thornton

is Director of the Celanese BBSC and Global purchase-to-pay Operations Director of Celanese Corporation. With over a decade of experience in audit, compliance and accounting, Mr. Thornton assumed has been leading the Budapest organization since last May.

Celanese is a global technology and specialty materials company that engineers and manufactures a wide variety of products essential to everyday living. Based in Dallas, Texas and with an employee base of approximately 7,600 worldwide, the company employs nearly 400 highly qualified early career professionals at its Budapest Business Services Center in the fields of finance, accounting and supply chain.