Posted May 11, 2017, 3:18 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Philadelphia
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Why Philadelphia is poised to attract business from the U.K.
Quote:
Philadelphia is well-positioned to draw U.K. companies looking for U.S. headquarters
As Philadelphia companies think beyond their market, it’s also crucial that the city and those invested in growing its economy work to market Philadelphia as the ideal place for an international firm to set up operations in the region.
Jay Jumper, an attorney at Pepper Hamilton who specializes in working with tech startups, had an example for the crowd.
His firm represented a bespoke suitmaker in the U.K. that was on the hunt for a place on the East Coast to expand their business to the U.S. They looked at New York, where rents stack up against London’s. But when they came to Philadelphia on quick business trip, they were shocked.
“They said ‘Whoa, look at this Walnut Street, this Chestnut Street, the foot traffic going on here.’ Yes, it’s not as big as New York, but there’s incredible business here, like the Comcast Tower. The rent was one-sixth of what it would’ve been in New York,” Jumper said.
That price competitiveness gives the region an edge in not just commercial real estate but in talent as well. While companies may look like they’re paying employees in the region less than hubs like New York or the Silicon Valley, the cost of living is so high they actually wind up making less.
Working to bring U.K. companies to the U.S. and vice-versa is Dimitris Horiatis’ main focus, as a vice-consul for the Department for International Trade dealing with U.K. trade and investment.
He said Philadelphia is a natural market for U.K. companies, especially since the East Coast's time zone is ideal for doing business on a worldwide scale. It’s also increasingly able to draw and keep top students and more funding.
“Obviously our economy, whether we like it or not, is global, so because of that you need global talent, and just like the U.K. is able to attract a lot of this great global talent I think here in Philadelphia we can do the same, because of the great schools you have,” Horiatis said.
“Technology basically unites the world and makes it easier for every other sector to do better," he said, lauding Philadelphia for the number of incubators it has and venture capital firms' interest in the city's startups.
He’s especially focused on attracting companies that are in smaller cities near London, like Bristol and Manchester, to try to replicate their success in Philadelphia, since they’re already used to be an hour or so away from the largest city centers.
One thing Philadelphia doesn’t market as strongly as it could is its deep diversity in race, ethnicity, industries, backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels, to name a few, said Shari Shaprio, Uber’s senior manager of public affairs for Pennsylvania and Delaware.
“We haven’t been leveraging as much as you could that diversity. Foreign and domestic, all the different mixes of people that make Philadelphia home, could really be a huge benefit to companies around the world that are starting to value those perspectives in a greater way. I think that’s an under-utilized asset.”
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http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...-britain-startups-tech-archna-sahay.html
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