Global Business Locations – FDI, Cluster, Park…

Chinese FDI in your region; a blessing or a Trojan Horse?

January 9th, 2011, by: ruud.storm

Chinese investments abroad will hit US$ 60 billion over 2010 (According to MOFCOM, the Chinese Ministry of commerce), and if you add investments abroad originating from Honk Kong, have even topped US$ 100 billion. In some regions the question arises whether Chinese Investments are not becoming a threat for a balanced economic landscape. The acquisition of a large plot of land near Piraeus, Greece, with the intention to create a China controlled point of entry for Chinese goods into Europe certainly aggravated such concerns.

China is transforming from a cheap production location to an economic world power. In that light it is to be expected that China is looking for further control on the product supply and distribution chain, in the same manner Western and Japanese companies have done in the past. The economic signposts are changing, and an increased Chinese presence overseas is a logical consequence.
If we look at what Chinese companies are investing overseas, we seen a vast majority of the FDI investments is made by “state” companies. In China, every company regarded strategic is de-facto a state company. Private companies are maturing in a rapid pace, but still see major growth opportunities inside China, due to the steady rise of consumer spending there. The state companies are more prone to long term government visions, they tend to invest with a scope of at least 20 years ahead.

With this in mind, it is my opinion that the mere fact that China invests overseas is an economic reality to be expected. If it feels threatening to deal with state controlled (overt or covert) state companies with their vast financial resources, do take into consideration the acquisition channels that have been used to source the companies investing in your region. Given the fact that also privately-owned companies in China are considering overseas investments, try and source these parties to attract them to your region. Do keep in mind that every investment abroad over US$ 1 million requires Chinese Government approval

This is exactly the reason why global-arena.com is working on the ChinaConnect initiative. Together with MOFCOM we aim to create a platform where Chinese companies looking for investments abroad and business locations can meet and select the ideal partner, using our GlobalArenaRank matching technology. we hope to inform you soon on a timeline for first commercial use of ChinaConnect

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Posted in: business locations, China, FDI business
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FDI lead conversion – Fighting symptoms or addressing the root cause

December 13th, 2010, by: Peter Storm

Today I was working with Erik from our team with a US client on implementing a trial for our online FDI lead generation solution DealMaker. The client informed us that he was about to outsource lead qualification and processing services from an FDI professional services provider. Outsourcing parts of the sales and marketing process is a trend in FDI promotion business development. The clients problem was that he received to much online inquiries to handle and most of them where considered to unserious to spend scarce agency capacity on them.

We debated if one should pump the water out or fix the dam. In real life FDI Agency work it is not that simple nor black or white. However, we do believe that the right online economic development strategy and FDI promotion and acquisition should prevent that unrealistic or unserious opportunities filter through. We also believe that the FDI inquiry response process can be optimized such that the workload of the inquiry response is minimized without the  risk of turning down serious opportunities. Finally, no agency wants to leave a bad impression if the requestor is serious but the requested solution or services are simply not in your portfolio. For these situations a delegation or link to another platform may be an elegant exit arrangement.

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Global-arena.com upgraded and renamed it’s product portfolio

November 25th, 2010, by: ruud.storm

Gearing up for 2011, and listening to client feedback, we decided to update our promotion portfolio. We took the opportunity to align content and names more effectively, reflecting actual business results for our clients.

What we did not change is a free offering:
Global Arena Location Promoter:
Location Promoter is all about being present on the No 1 in online business locations. Create your location’s page as an easy to read management summary (or ask Global-arena.com to do that for you), thus guiding potential investors to your own website and make them contact you.
Global Arena Location Promoter; the most effective free product for online lead generation

The next level makes full use of our unique GlobalArenaRank Matching technology:
Global Arena Location DealMaker:
Location Dealmaker is set up around a tailor-made Comparative Ranking Report. With our unique GlobalArenaRank technology, your location is compared on economic parameters, and thus matched with the requirements of the investor. You also strengthen your impact by including media content, and you can opt to increase your exposure by presenting your location on our Chinese website.
Global Arena Location DealMaker; Matching at a price that beats advertising, adwords and events, at an unparallleled Google Ranking

Finally, we introduce a dedicated product for Metropolitan Area’s:
Global Arena Metropolitan DealMaker:
Drive visibility for your Metropolitan Area targeting select audiences that meet the needs for the available locations in your area. Save time by generating qualified leads only. Include our Chinese website to attract Chinese investors and your online marketing is at a level aiming for success.
Global Arena Metropolitan DealMaker; Matching every target area with focused investors

The Location Promoter product can be expanded with additional fee-based functionalities, such as content editing, keyword optimization, adding media and multi-lingual pages.

We are confident that the new product portfolio meets all market demands; from a free solution to simply generate more leads, via Economic Ranking Reports that enable qualified investors to do a thorough location analysis, to a solution for Metropolitan areas who need laser focus programs to attract the right businesses, thus avoiding the risk of stereotypes (after all, London and Frankfurt are not just capitals of Finance, while Paris and Milan are more than just capitals of Fashion).

We will now approach our existing customers and contacts with our upgraded portfolio, and continue to serve companies looking for locations and agencies promoting locations via our international network. Also check our FDIworld partner program for organizations that can help you in many aspects of location issues.

Posted in: China, FDI business, global-arena.com
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Economic Development Marketing in modern times

November 19th, 2010, by: ruud.storm

The Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC), Canada’s national organization of Economic Developers, has published an excellent report on economic development marketing practices. You can find the full report on www.edac.ca

I think the trends observed 2009 – 2010 are global, and not only applicable to Canadian Developers. Some conclusions I would like to share:

  • Business attraction is the top ranked marketing objective. Business retention is a distant second. I recognise this sequence, even to a level where business retention is undervalued. Once established companies do not feel serviced any more by the Agencies that brought them in, and start looking for alternative locations. Never forget your existing clients
  • Those that increase their marketing budgets are planning further increases. Those that have decreased in
    2009 and 2010 are planning more decreases. The gap continues to widen.     How do companies find you when you reduce your marketing efforts? You have to be where they are looking, and that is in well over 50% online. Make sure you can be found, and present relevant information in the earliest possible phase of a search. Longlist-Shortlist-Selection starts with being on the Longlist
  • Half of EDAC members are marketing without a single dedicated staff member. That can only be done by tying in to an organization or platform that fills that gap for you. What is your road to the client?
  • 37% of respondents say their website is the single most effective marketing technique they are using, and 70% have a dedicated, frequently updated web presence. This 37% may very well be higher, since investments originate more and more from Emerging Countries and Regions, and there we find a high focus on Online. Content edditing to survive the “5 sec diagonal scan” and Search Engine Optimisation are processes that should be in order ot truly call your website an effective marketing technique
  • This year’s study asked EDAC members for the first time about marketing measurement: Lead generation, website analytics and event attendance are the top measures used by Canadian Economic Developers. 69% say that their measurement efforts are somewhat effective, but 22% have no idea if their marketing is working at all. If you consider, or are forced, to reduce marketing budgets, then make sure that what you allocate is generating maximum effect. Can your marketing efforts be measured?

We believe that Global-arena.com , the No 1 in online business locations, can increase your marketing results on a decreased budget. For more information, please mail me on ruud.storm@global-arena.com

I would like to thank EDAC for their excellent survey, and for their approach to stimulate to use the results freely.

Posted in: FDI business, Surveys
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Business Alliance between Global Arena AG and Katsura Suzuki Consulting

November 2nd, 2010, by: Natalia Gimpel

Energizing Japanese business to expand globally and business investment between Japan and Switzerland

Katsura Suzuki Consulting (KSC), based in Switzerland offers business consulting services and network support to global-operating Japanese clients and Japanese companies relocating to, or investing in Switzerland and similarly for Swiss companies with business interests in Japan.

Global Arena AG, also headquartered in Switzerland, offers the worlds largest and most extensive global marketplace of business locations and related services through its website (www.global-arena.com). Location decisions are supported with Global Arena Rank™, an advanced algorithm providing objective location rankings. Global-arena.com is the only globally comprehensive resource for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) information.

Implementation of location and foreign direct investment decision involves a wide variety of partners including corporate real estate, taxation, human resources, finance and legal services.

The KSC/Global Arena alliance makes it easier for Swiss and Japanese companies to go global, by offering FDI marketplace transparency and ranking services to Swiss and Japanese business partners. At the same time, the KSC/Global Arena alliance will reduce FDI transaction costs, as well as simplify and accelerate implementation of these decisions.

To read more about Katsura Suzuki Consulting, please go to www.ksc-global.com

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Posted in: business locations, FDI business
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More and more Chinese companies are investing abroad, how to engage with them?

October 6th, 2010, by: ruud.storm

Global Arena was at the China International Fair on Investment and Trade (CIFIT 2010) in Xiamen, China. This fair is organised by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

As revealed in UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2010, China and Hong Kong combined are the economy receiving the largest FDI inflow, the same report puts China at the third position for FDI outflow, only behind USA and France, with Chinese FDI outflow totalling 100 billion dollars.
To both China’s inflow and outflow of capital, the China Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA) is playing a pivotal role. Global-arena.com is starting a cooperation with CIPA to develop a Chinese version of our Online Business Location platform, optimised for use from within China, so exclusively aiming at Chinese companies looking for business locations outside China.

To make global-arena.cn most effective, it needs to be hosted in China, optimised for the Baidu search engine (China’s equivelent for Google) and be in the Chinese language. In the very near future we will start offering our Premium clients with a Complete profile the facility to be active on the Chinese FDI Marketplace, once this is established, we will also offer Start and Plus clients the opportunity to effectively promote their location in China for a modest fee.
I welcome your comments, recommendations and questions about attracting investments to your location from Chinese companies

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2nd UNCTAD World Investment Forum (WIF 2010) At Xiamen, China

September 3rd, 2010, by: ruud.storm

Some of the greatest  minds and movers in the field of investment will assemble at UNCTAD’s WIF 2010 to discuss how to promote sustainable investment and development in the new phase of globalization and take advantage of opportunities that could rise across the globe. This is how UNCTAD (www.unctad.org) announces their WIF 2010. Global-Arena will be present, and we think we can contribute to UNCTAD’s goals in two ways;

- Including sustainability indices in our economic parameters is already a set goal, and we want to discus how these parameters should be developed , for our global platform we need to be able to compare all countries and regions, supported by independant, trusted data.
Only then are we able to support our clients in descision making during location analysis

- Another aspect of supporting sustainable investment and development is to give developing and under-developped countries and regions a fair chance to compete for investment from abroad. We believe that if www.global-arena.com offers a comparisson on independant, trusted data between countries in every state of development, that will greatly increase the acces to FDI for the least developped countries, since that comparisson takes away that part in a risk assesment currently regarded as “the great unknown”
We want to take up the challenge to compare Mali to Finland and to Vietnam. To achieve this, we need the help of UNCTAD to research and create data sources of the same integrity as we currently use for Europe and USA.

We see it as our responsibility to support investment descisions with (standardized) sustainibility parameters (eg Carbon Footprint, sustainable development and innovation), and next to that offer every country acces to FDI via a fair comparison of their advantages and challenges.

Posted in: FDI business
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Why getting your location on top of Google search has just gotten even more difficult – but you can do something about it now

July 30th, 2010, by: Peter Storm

Why? Because Google has updated its search ranking algorithm Pagerank. Simply put, where in the past good content that was heavily linked got good results. Now that good content needs good links AND good Activity. Traffic, social media, discussions, interaction, media.

What can you do about it? You need to work on your site, with your site with your network to get more activity. It requires focus, attention, effort and skills. From my experience, most location promotion agencies already have a hard time with good content structure and links. The activity addition is just to hard or the process to influence this yourself with all stakeholders and technology involved is to complex to stick to it for long.

Your clients also appreciate the activity! Not just Google robots. That is why we are developing a social media page for our Premium location promotion clients. To make it easier and more important to automate the update process where possible. Obviously you must maintain the sources; news, blogs, twitter, facebook, youtube linkedin… But after that we put it all together for your clients on your profile. But how does this help my site? Indirectly because your profile is linked to your site and ideally your site is linked to your profile on www.Global-Arena.com

What really matters is that we are your fishing net using our global top-ranking, your profile content and matching data to find those clients on google.com that fit your location advantages. Than we hand them over to your own web infrastructure. The activity page on our site for your location helps to inform the client and tighten the net.

Posted in: Google
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Its talent, stupid

July 26th, 2010, by: Peter Storm

“It’s the economy, stupid” was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush. The phrase was intended for internal campaign use to remember the team of the importance of the economy as one of their top-3 campaign speaking points. The other two being change and health care. So we can safely conclude that 18 years later that change is hard and takes time. A lot of time.

Take the time you need for your changes but rest assure that todays global Talent will not wait for you. For Corporations and FDI the future is Talent. Everewhere for everyone – from all Western developed economies to India and China. My recent conversations with global strategy managers and facility planners from DELL, GE, Nokia, RioTinto and Google confirm this picture. They know it is about talent. Their global resource allocation strategy gears towards talent, away from “just” labour and cost arbitrate.  What I found intriguing is that GE and Nokia have moved to a strategy to select locations for their global operations where they can establish (lead, dominate) a favourable talent eco-system. They choose to work with FDI-promotion agencies in their long-listing process that understood and actively supported them in this process.

Are you ready to compete for talent – by creating your own global talent supply chain or support your investors with theirs?

Curious to hear from you if you believe that the future of FDI is about something completely different or talent done different. Welcome your point of view.

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Posted in: Talent
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Export, a first step to FDI?

June 22nd, 2010, by: ruud.storm

Traditional economies (Europe & North America) face huge budget deficits that need addressing; governments need to (and will) run down their budgets. But this mechanism automatically reduces autonomous growth, so how to keep your economy running? The drop of the Euro (from 1.50 to the dollar to 1.20) is generally welcomed as a tool to increase export, and export is certainly contributing to economic growth.
We at Global Arena see export and FDI related; often companies start to export their products to other countries and continents, and only after prolonged success they consider shifting (part of their) production to these export countries. With our GlobalArenaRank methodology we can support companies in their location analyses, to make sure they expand their activities to countries and regions that best serve their needs and expectations.

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Posted in: Export, FDI business
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