Last updated: 01.10.2005.

Biographical resume 
Dr. Julia G. Djarova, Assoc. Prof. 
Head of Unit Strategy and Entrepreneurship at ECORYS NEI (Netherlands Economic Institute), Rotterdam, academic affiliations with Erasmus University Rotterdam (1992-2004) and Sofia University Kl. Ohridski.

Dr Julia Djarova is an economist, a holder of Master’s degree and a PhD in Economics. She has specialised in strategic management and international business. She has worked for the Bulgarian Institute of Management and Administration and she served as an advisor to the first government after the changes in 1989 in the field of corporate management. Julia Djarova has worked for different Western institutions such as the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Foundation for Economic Research Rotterdam (SEOR), Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Economic Institute. She collaborated as an international expert and researcher with the University of Bonn, the International Institute of Management in Brussels, the University of Pittsburgh, USA, Themes Polytechnics University, London, the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), Washington, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EU Phare, Tempus and Tacis Programme, the European Training Foundation (ETF), the Dutch Technical Assistance Programme (PSO), the Dutch Financial Corporation (FMO).

At present Dr Julia Djarova is a Manager at the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) in Rotterdam. NEI is the leading economic research and policy advisory bureau in the Netherlands. Dr Djarova also teaches at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Sofia University. Dr Djarova is a guest professor at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow and the International Management Institute in St Petersburg. She has lectured in the USA, Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovak Republic. 
Mrs Julia Djarova serves as an independent management consultant to Dutch, Bulgarian and international companies, especially in the field of joint ventures, strategic alliances and foreign direct investment in general. 
Dr Julia Djarova is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of East-West Business and a member of professional societies in the field of management.
Since 1990 Dr Julia Djarova has managed more than 40 large consultancy and research projects for Central and Eastern Europe, most of all in Bulgaria. Through this work she serves as a bridge between Bulgaria and the EU. This unique position enables her to play a useful role in East-West undertakings especially between Bulgaria and the Netherlands as well as to exercise a lobbying power in favour of the EU accession of Bulgaria.
Dr Julia Djarova is especially known in the circles of international experts on issues of institutional development in view of the accession to the EU and issues related to foreign direct investments into Central and Eastern Europe. She has published a number of books and articles in the field of strategic management and foreign investments. Some of them are discussing Bulgaria. 
In the Netherlands Dr Julia Djarova is known as a person who puts sincere efforts in bringing Bulgarian and Dutch institutions and companies into closer and efficient contacts. She is also known for her activities in strengthening the academic co-operation between the two countries and in developing joint teaching and research capacities. Julia Djarova is appreciated for her objective and at the same time very persistent strife for successful Dutch projects in Bulgaria.

Dr J. Djarova has supported and supports a wide range of important institutions and processes in Bulgaria. Some of them are listed below:
1. J. Djarova has set up a series of courses for managers of companies on strategy and business planning. About 200 managers have been trained in two years time. (1991). 
2. The first EuroInfo Correspondence Centre has been established in Bulgaria which consultancy and support activities to the SME’s have been set up by the help of J. Djarova (1992) 
3. Training courses for Bulgarian companies to be privatised on how to find a strategic partner; under the Agency of Privatisation (1993)
4. 1993: The establishment of the Joint Master’s Programme in Economics and Management has started. The programme has officially being announced by Sofia University in 1994 and it has become an official Master’s course of this University with joint diploma of the two universities and a Bulgarian Master’s diploma. More than 300 students have graduated the Programme (since 1993) 
5. The co-operation with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce has started the first project being development of a modern trade information system (1993). Later on, 1998, another project aimed at the developing of a better infrastructure for the establishment of Dutch-Bulgarian business partnership. An International Business Desk has been established within the Chamber of Commerce (1999). 
6. Business plans have been developed for 4 branches of the National Electricity Company and a number of staff has been trained. Co-operation links with the Dutch Eneco have been established (1995-1996). 
7. Establishing of Dutch-Bulgarian joint venture in the field of transport (1995). 
8. J. Djarova and team carried out a study on foreign direct investment to Bulgaria, analysing the state of the art and mainly the problems foreign investors face in the country. The book is unique of its kind and has been published and made popular among BIBA members in the most difficult economical and political time of the country (1996).
9. J. Djarova has handed over a book on Doing Business with Central and Eastern Europe to the Dutch Minister of Trade. The book includes also experience from Bulgaria. (1997).
10. J. Djarova and team carried out a study on barriers for Bulgarian companies to trade with EU countries. The study has been made popular in Bulgaria and abroad and a national round table was organised in the summer of 1999.
11. Establishment of a policy research institute for small and medium sized enterprises. A special institution has been established called Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development (FED) that has become one of the basic players and a reference point in the field of SME’s in Bulgaria. (1997-1999)
12. Initiating a Management Training Programme that has built up capacities in executive management training and has left behind a new body, the Bulgarian Association for Management Development and Entrepreneurship (BAMDE) that unites a number of large Bulgarian universities and some branch organisations. (1998 – 1999)
13. Investigating the needs of Dutch support in the field of judiciary in Bulgaria. The result is the on-going support to the Bulgarian School of Magistrates in Sofia for about 5-6 years from the Dutch bilateral programme (1999).
14. Organising the TV production on Dutch-Bulgarian economic and cultural relationship that was issued by the Bulgarian Television Programme Europe before and during the official visit of President Stoynov to The Netherlands. (1998)
15. J. Djarova has been the driving force behind the development of a Strategy for the State Agency for Standardisation and Metrology (SASM) and the Business Plan of the Bulgarian Accreditation Services related to implementation of European Conformity Assessment and harmonisation with EU in the field of metrology, standardisation, testing and certification and accreditation. (2000 – 2002). J. Djarova led two National Conferences for the Bulgarian business on the importance of the European Conformity Assessment (2001 and 2003). 
16. Promoting Bulgaria to foreign investors is the main aim of the present project that supports BFIA and BEF. Three sectors have been investigated (food, tourism and textile) and their promotion to potential investors have been launched. (2000 – 2001)
17. Human resource development of the staff of the budgetary and treasury department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance is a part of a larger task related to harmonising the systems of the Bulgarian MoF with the ones of the EU. Close links have been established between the Dutch and the Bulgarian Ministries at the level of Vice Ministers (2001- 2002). 
18. Manages a large team of international and Bulgarian experts that support the implementation of the Mid-term strategy of the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance and the related to this restructuring (2002 –2003)
19. Support the Ministry of Economy in co-operation with the Ministry of Education and Science in developing a National Innovation Strategy of Bulgaria (2002- 2004)
20. Support to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (in co-operation with the Ministry of Economy) to implement financial schemes to support Bulgarian SME’s in introducing R&D (2003-2004).
21. Support to the Ministry of Transport and Communication in developing and implementing a Transport Plan for Bulgaria (2003 –2005)
22. Support to the Ministry of Finance of Bulgaria in strengthening the capacity for the management of EU funds (2003-2005)
23. Support to the Agency of Economic Analysis and Forecast in developing the National Development Plan (Spring 2003)
24. Support to the Ministry of Finance to establish a Public Finance School in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Finance (2003).

List of Publications:
A selection: books and chapters in books 
§ Strategic planning and economic growth, in: The future of world economy, economic growth and structural changes, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1989. 
§ Executive Guide for East-West joint ventures, (with E. Razvigorova and F. Schmidt-Bleek), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, 1990. 
§ Joint ventures: new practice in East-West relations, (with E. Razvigorova), Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1991. 
§ The change: A strategy for the Bulgarian company, Diograph, Sofia, 1991 (in Bulgarian) 
§ In search of synergy in East-West business undertakings, in: E. Kaynak and J. Nieminen (eds.), Managing East-West business in turbulent times, Haworth Press, 1995. 
§ The change: Dutch business experience in supporting Eastern Europe, (with W. Jansen), Delwel, 1996. 
§ Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Bulgaria, Copynomie, 1996. 
§ Trade between Bulgaria and the European Union: Bottlenecks and Opportunities, NEI/BCCI, Copynomie, 1999. 
§ Cross-Border Investing: The case of Central and Eastern Europe, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, USA, 2004.
§ Unilever, in: European Business & Marketing (ed. Phil Harris & Frank McDonald), SAGE Publications, London, 2004.

Membership:
International Management Development Association, European International Business Association, Faculty Club Erasmus University, Rotary International.

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