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Sat 11 Nov 2002Shared services sector advised to be more competitiveThe Republic's shared services industry will begin haemorrhaging jobs to low-cost economies in Eastern Europe and Asia unless radical and imaginative steps are taken to arrest wage inflation, rein in costs of living and overhaul sub-par infrastructure, an expert on the sector has warned.Multinational companies seeking to establish shared service offices are increasingly overlooking the Republic and choosing competitive developing nations such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and India, said Dr Martin Fahy of NUI Galway's department of accountancy and finance and a member of the Brussels-based Shared Services Business Process Outsourcing Association."Ireland has been an attractive location in the past but firms are now looking to a range of new locations," he said.