Senior executives from Philips, the Dutch electronics group, gathered recently in the Polish city of Lodz to lay the foundation stone of a multi-storey financial services centre for the group's European operations.

When the complex is completed next year more than 500 staff will support more than 100 Philips subsidiaries in 20 countries. But Philips is already receiving frequent enquiries about Lodz from other multinationals planning investments in services centres in central and eastern Europe.