Chief Executive Officer, TMF Group B.V.
ZF Live: 28.11.2024 - Mark WEIL, Chief Executive Officer, TMF Group
ZF Live: Tendințele globale în piața serviciilor profesionale. Impact pentru România. O discuție cu Mark WEIL, Chief Executive ...
About Mark Weil
In a November 2024 interview on ZF Live, TMF Group CEO Mark Weil discussed the firm's Global Business Complexity Index and the state of globalization. Weil described TMF Group as a firm that helps multinational clients operate in 90 countries. He stated that the world is moving away from globalization as a political philosophy, but noted that China–US trade remains strong and interconnected. He predicted that Donald Trump would "almost certainly impose tariffs" on China, and that European economies, including the UK, "might well be caught up in it," making cross-border business "more expensive" and "more complicated." Weil also acknowledged that "the benefits of globalization are not equally spread," citing the example of hundreds of millions of Chinese being lifted from poverty over the past few decades. He characterized globalization as an "unpopular philosophy" and suggested that a "multi-polar world" of regional trading blocs—including the US, EU, and China—would create "more rules, more friction, more cost." When asked whether communities might return to globalization after seeing costs rise, Weil replied, "I think that's quite possible."
Transcript (13 segments)
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Interviewer0:28
I will speak in English because our guest for this second part of Z Alive is Mr. Mark Weil, Chief Executive Officer of TMF Group. We will speak about global tendencies in the market of professional services. Hello, nice to meet you. Welcome to Z. Thank you, great to be here. So first, we speak a lot about globalization. You published a study, the Global Business Complexity Index, rethinking globalization. What is the purpose of this study? What does it mean for us as a Romanian economy, entrepreneur, or multinational?
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Mark Weil2:30
Well, let me start, if I may, with a little bit about who we are, just to give some context to why we do this study, and then what it says for Romania. So we are a global firm, 12,000 people in 90 countries around the world. We typically help multinational financial institutions and corporations invest and operate in countries all over the world. You are an agent of globalization. Exactly, we are an agent. We do administration, payroll, accounts, tax, legal requirements, and so we are there to help them invest even if it is complicated in some countries. Some countries are very complicated: employing people in China or managing legal entities in Brazil are very complex things to do. These are local rules, regional rules, national rules, and if you get it wrong, the penalties can be very high. For example, in China, if you are accused of corporate fraud, the state can exercise the death penalty. That is quite a high price.
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Interviewer3:36
Despite this big complexity, there are enough eager to invest. How can you explain this?
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Mark Weil3:49
You can explain because there are many good reasons to invest in countries: labor market, future consumers, raw materials. All we are saying is that when you invest and employ people, you need to do it correctly and be aware. Like when you go skiing, it is going to be cold, so wear warm clothes. Our report is about what you need to wear to be safe. So we list countries by their complexity. We collect 200 measures per country, and we have done this for 11 years, so we can track over time what is driving complexity. If I narrow it to Romania for you just briefly, Romania is, I am afraid, getting more complex in the last three years. Out of roughly 80 countries, Romania today is about the 20th most complex, so it is at the wrong end of the spectrum. That will not stop people investing in Romania. But it is getting more complex for anybody wanting to operate here, and also for the economy because if you are a local Romanian entrepreneur setting up a business, it is also more complex. There is a correlation between our index and the prosperity of a nation. Rich countries are less complex than poor countries.
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Interviewer5:28
I do not know. If you say that the next step is for us as a country to make it easier, yes correct, but...
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Mark Weil5:39
Maybe it is a foreign interest to make business easier to make more money. Except that the same rules apply to foreign and local interests. So if you make it hard for foreign investment, you also make it hard for Romanian companies. We have clients setting up renewable energy systems in Romania; they have choices, and if you make it too hard, they might go to a neighboring country. But you are also making it hard for local entrepreneurs. For example, France has a very complex employment law, the code is 3,000 pages. That is bad for foreign companies, but also for local people.
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Interviewer6:48
And also we can see this in the child rate and birth rate. I work for this TV for 25 years; we push here for deregulation, attract FDI, and so on. I know this idea for a long time. But now, in this moment in the world, we see something different. Do you have a perception of change in the world, in Europe, in the US? We see Trump said, 'I put a tariff of 100%, I want de-globalization.' What do you say?
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Mark Weil7:58
We are not arguing for massive deregulation; regulation carries a cost. But the bureaucracy we talk about is just red tape that does not protect anybody. We engage with governments; India takes our study seriously to improve their ranking. The world is moving away from globalization as a political philosophy, but China-US trade is still incredibly strong. Trump will almost certainly impose tariffs, focusing mainly on China, but European economies may be caught up. It will be painful because you cannot set up a semiconductor factory in a day. The world is getting more complex with US, EU, China as three major trading blocks with countermeasures. It will add cost and make life more complicated, but business will continue.
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Interviewer11:06
Do you think the world is tired of globalization? It is tired from too much globalization. In Romania, to be competitive you must speak English. Many people say it is only one-way globalization. Why can we not imagine a symmetrical system? Where is the rule that says speak English? It is soft power, built over decades. My question is: rethinking globalization, what do you think will be in five or ten years? Can you explain whether the period we live now, compared to 1989/1990, has the same impact as a change in the world?
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Mark Weil14:18
I think there is a big shift like in 1989/1990. Look at the benefits: you have a phone, an electric car, healthcare, education. But benefits are not equally spread. Globalization lifted hundreds of millions in China out of poverty, but not in Africa or Latin America. Good government is helpful. These forces are not controlled by any individual. Populist governments in many countries are a result of inequality.
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Interviewer16:44
What do you think? The result will likely cause inflation because of tariffs. Firms in Silicon Valley cannot make phones in America quickly. Goods get more expensive. In the end, we have two forces: community and commerce. Which will win in the next 5 or 10 years?
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Mark Weil17:55
Let me defend globalization: the idea that nations with McDonald's rarely go to war is broadly true. Helping firms do business is better than isolation. So commerce helps community. The EU is an example. Globalization will get more regionalized: global South, BRICS, EU, US. You will see a multi-polar world with more rules, friction, and cost. But when people see phones double in cost, they might come back to globalization.
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Interviewer20:10
Thank you very much, Mr. Weil. It was a very nice conversation. We are expecting you for another meeting and conference to our newspaper. Very good, thank you.