Made in Portugal is in fashion

<h1>Made in Portugal is in fashion</h1>&NewLine;<h4 class="chapo-article">After years of recession and austerity, Portugal is back on the path to growth and modernization. We take a look at the recipes that have made this country one of the most promising in Europe;</h4>&NewLine;<div class="paywall">&NewLine;<p>Colorful ottomans&comma; sofa nooks&comma; swings&comma; ping-pong and pool tables&period; A tree house and a studious beehive atmosphere in front of the computers&period; We could be in California&comma; but we're on the outskirts of Porto&period; Under the great glass roofs of Farfetch&comma; the world champion of online luxury sales&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>Launched by Portuguese entrepreneur José Neves in 2008&comma; the company has 1&comma;56 million customers in 190 countries worldwide and posted sales of 171&comma;6 million&semi;euros in 2016&comma; 74 &percnt; more than the previous year&period; It operates between London and Porto&period; Selling chic and exclusive&comma; well-known brands&comma; but also cutting-edge labels&period; Previously found in a handful of trendy stores around the world&comma; now accessible in three clicks&period;</p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>We've managed to shake up a sector as conservative as luxury goods by introducing a new privilege&comma; time saved&period;</p></blockquote>&NewLine;<p><em>"In 2016&comma; we were 600 people in Portugal&period; Today&rsquo&semi;we are 1&period;300&comma; more than half of whom are IT engineers&comma; </em>says Andreia Gomes&period; Communications Manager at Farfetch&period; <em>We've managed to shake up a sector as conservative as luxury goods by introducing a new privilege: time saved.</em>&comma; she explains&period;</p>&NewLine;<h2 class="intertitre">Take off again</h2>&NewLine;<p>The company is now exploring new areas&comma; such as "stores of the future"&comma; to offer&comma; it says&comma; <em>"new customer experiences and a tailored offer by leveraging both the benefits of the digital revolution and augmented reality"</em>&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>The Farfetch story is one of those that tells the story of how the Portuguese economy took off again&period; A long time ago, Portugal was a low-cost supplier to the major textile and leather goods chains&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>The country, which is re-emerging after years of recession and austerity, has dusted off its traditional sectors&period; It has modernized and opened up to international markets at full gallop to survive despite domestic demand stalling during the crisis&period;</p>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">Labour market flexibility</h3>&NewLine;<p>Five years after being forced into a 78-billion euro rescue package and a severe adjustment plan, Portugal is now one of Europe's most promising economies&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>The socialist government&comma; that came to power in November 2015 with the&rsquo&semi;support of the&rsquo&semi;far left, promising to turn the page on&rsquo&semi;austerity&comma; had nevertheless been greeted with skepticism by its European partners&period; But&comma; against all odds&comma; Prime Minister&comma; António Costa&comma; has succeeded in reviving the machine &period;</p>&NewLine;<p><em>"He was able to play skillfully&comma; by sending reassuring signals to the middle classes&comma; by unblocking salaries and pensions&period; Without, however, going back on the reforms that had made it possible to make the labor market more flexible and reduce the scope of the&rsquo&semi;State."</em>Political scientist António Costa Pinto, a professor at the University of Lisbon, explains&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>It's this Scandinavian mix of recovery and flexibility that is boosting consumer spending and revitalizing the country's economy, driven by a boom in tourism and exports&period;</p>&NewLine;</div>&NewLine;<h3>Growth takes off</h3>&NewLine;<p>Growth took off&period; It reached 2&comma;6 &percnt; in 2017 while unemployment fell to 7&comma;8 &percnt;&comma; the lowest figure since 2004&comma; and the public deficit was reduced to 1&comma;4 &percnt;&period; Its lowest level for forty years&period; The whole of&rsquo&semi;Europe is&rsquo&semi;wondering about the Portuguese recipe&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>In the wake of successes such as Farfetch&period; Lisbon and now Porto have become fashionable destinations for start-ups&comma; attracted by a skilled and easily multilingual workforce&comma; a pleasant environment&comma; proximity to prime surf spots&period; But it's also the whole rest of the&rsquo&semi;industry that's benefiting from&rsquo&semi;a new dynamic&period;</p>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">SMIC at 650 euros</h3>&NewLine;<p>In addition to a flexible labor market&comma; the country clearly benefits from low labor costs&comma; with a minimum wage of 650 euros&period; But not only&comma; affirms Luis Castro Henriques&comma; the president of Aicep&period; the dynamization agency that supports Portuguese companies in their exports and facilitates the entry of investors&period; <em>"What makes a company decide to locate here is a complex productivity equation&period;</em> Which introduces other factors such as the ease of attracting talent&period; Professional and university training&comma; Knowledge of languages as well as the quality of the country's infrastructure and social stability&period; Which offers long-term visibility&period;".</p>&NewLine;<div class="block-citation">&NewLine;<blockquote><p><q>We have moved from shared service centers or simple back-office operations to more complex activities, such as advanced engineering centers or software development.</q></p></blockquote>&NewLine;</div>&NewLine;<p>French companies are at the forefront of productive investment&period; Those who have been there for a long time are consolidating their positions&comma; like Renault&comma; PSA&comma; Faurecia or Altran&period; But the profile of newcomers is changing&comma; underlines Luis Castro Henriques &colon; <em>"We have moved from shared service centers or simple back-office operations to more complex activities&comma; whether they be advanced engineering centers or software development&period;"</em></p>&NewLine;<p>This is the case for Mecachrome&comma; a French group specializing in high-precision mechanics for the aeronautics industry&comma; which inaugurated a new plant in Evora last October&period; A few hundred meters away are also the facilities of Brazil's Embraer&comma; the world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer&period; Together, the two companies are creating fertile ground for a new Portuguese aerospace cluster&period; notes Mecachrome&comma; plant manager Christian Santos&comma; impressed by the efforts made by the local administration to help newcomers settle in&comma; especially in terms of recruitment&period;</p>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">Business Services</h3>&NewLine;<p><em>"There is a real attitude of service to companies on the part of public services for&&num;8217&semi;employment."</em>Not only have they developed tailor-made training courses for specific aeronautical trades&comma; from boiler making to sheet metal work&comma; from painting to machine control&comma; but local Pôle Emploi managers are also interested in employer satisfaction&comma; to see how training can be made more effective&period; <em>"They are looking to anticipate&comma; to know what headcount I&rsquo&semi;ll need within six months and with what concrete training so that&rsquo&semi;they can adapt their modules according to demand and shorten the &lsquo&semi;time to job&rsquo&semi;&period;"</em></p>&NewLine;<div class="block-citation">&NewLine;<blockquote><p><q> For us&comma; it's not about low cost&comma; it's about &lsquo&semi;best cost&rsquo&semi;</q></p></blockquote>&NewLine;</div>&NewLine;<p>A reliable, trained and motivated workforce is one of the country&rsquo&semi;s calling cards when it comes to convincing companies to locate here&period; <em>"For us&comma; it's not about low cost&comma; it's about &lsquo&semi;best cost&rsquo&semi;&comma;</em> says Christian Santos&period; <em>There's also a geographical and cultural proximity&period;</em> Which makes collaboration easier than in Poland or Turkey&period; "</p>&NewLine;<p>Alongside the newcomers, the country's traditional industries have also undergone a revolution," explains Ana Teresa Lehmann, Secretary of State for Industry, citing the textile and leather sectors as examples; <em>"They have also worked on the notion of brand and the perception of quality, reorienting the image of made in Portugal towards the idea of high-end design and added value".</em></p>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">New markets</h3>&NewLine;<p>Investing&comma; innovating&comma; reinventing&colon; this is also the recipe applied by Vista Alegre&comma; the emblematic brand of Portuguese porcelain&comma; to resurrect&comma; after almost disappearing in 2009&comma; crushed by debts&period; <em>"The company, which relied on the national market and a portfolio of loyal customers, has rebounded by prospecting new markets and successfully promoting its know-how to open up to new collaborations.</em>Alda Costa&comma; board member&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>A hundred kilometers south of Porto&comma; Aveiro's Vista Alegre factory offers a dapper image frozen in time&period; Framed by the white and ochre buildings of the chapel and theater&comma; where workers were educated&period; Nothing seems to have changed since its foundation in 1824&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>And yet&comma; alongside its usual manufacturing lines&comma; the company has landed a major contract with Ikea&period; It delivers 30 million pieces a year to the Swedish giant&period; with the prospect of increasing this to 48 million pieces over the next few years&period; For Vista Alegre&period; This collaboration marks a renaissance&comma; as does the development of collections for brands such as KitchenAid or Nespresso&comma; or the design of bespoke crockery for Michelin-starred chefs&period;</p>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">Innovation</h3>&NewLine;<p>In a very different sector&comma; the Amorim Group&comma; world leader in cork stoppers&comma; has also managed to get through a difficult period&period; <em>"Who was going to bet on cork&comma; when aluminum or plastic capsules threatened to dethrone it &quest;</em> "says Antonio Rios de Amorim&period; President of the company which produces 4&comma;7 billion corks a year&comma; a third of the world's production&period;</p>&NewLine;<p>Keeping up with the times has required unceasing efforts to innovate manufacturing processes, ensure cork quality and traceability, and develop the use of cork in other sectors, such as artificial grass production;other sectors, such as the production of artificial turf&period; Its introduction into the manufacturing processes of railroad carriages or cruise ship decks&period; As well as its use in the&rsquo&semi;aerospace industry</p>&NewLine;<div class="picture-article">&NewLine;<figure><figcaption>The Amorim Group&comma; world leader in cork stoppers&period; Has managed to get through a difficult period &&num;8211&semi; AFP&sol; PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA</figcaption></figure>&NewLine;</div>&NewLine;<h3 class="intertitre">Diversification</h3>&NewLine;<p>After some difficult years&comma; <em>"The winds finally shifted and came from the East"&comma;</em> In the end, it was Chinese consumers' marked preference for cork stoppers that tipped the scales in his favor and convinced the wine sector to return to its origins, reviving demand after years of slowdown&period;</p>&NewLine;<div class="block-citation">&NewLine;<blockquote><p><q> We have a problem of scale, with many micro-businesses that are not very competitive&period; </q></p></blockquote>&NewLine;</div>&NewLine;<p>In Lisbon&comma; in his office with a breathtaking view of the April 25th bridge&period; the head of the employers' association&comma; António Saraiva&comma; president of the confederation of Portuguese industry&comma; is cautiously savoring the country's takeoff&period;</p>&NewLine;<p><em>"We have just 20&period;000 exporting companies out of 400&period;000 in total&period; This represents barely 5 &percnt;&comma;</em> he reminds us&period; <em>We have a problem of scale, with many micro-businesses that are not very competitive&period;</em> Those that have survived the crisis are the strongest&period; They have shown great resilience and have been able to open up and transform themselves&period; But we can't stop there&comma; he warns&period; <em>To move forward&comma; we must gain in volume&period; We will have to merge&comma; absorb and promote the path of concentration&period; "</em> He's not about to stop there&period;</p>&NewLine;<p><a href="https&colon;//www&period;lesechos&period;fr/monde/europe/0301221840800-le-made-in-portugal-a-le-vent-en-poupe-2149628&period;php" target="&lowbar;blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Source </a></p>&NewLine;

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