It was announced earlier this week that the state of Tennessee will be opening offices overseas with the dual goals of promoting exports from small- and medium-sized businesses located within the state and promoting foreign investment in Tennessee. James Dowd reported the story for Memphis’ Commercial Appeal.
Gov. Bill Haslam and state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty launched the ECD’s International Division, which features export development offices in Heidelberg, London, Mexico City and Shanghai.
In addition, the ECD has established export recruitment offices in Düsseldorf, London, Tokyo and Toronto. The plan marks the first time since 1997 that Tennessee has established foreign offices that are devoted to the state’s export trade.
“This is a new division that will promote foreign direct investments in Tennessee and expand the number of small and medium-sized companies here that export their products to other countries,” said Samar Ali, ECD assistant commissioner for international affairs. “Most of the companies in Tennessee involved in exports are large businesses with established legal departments that guide them through these practices, but most smaller companies don’t have access to those kind of resources. With this program, they will.”
Currently, there is a good deal of international investment in Tennessee and the South in general, with a large amount of investment coming in the form of manufacturing operations. The overseas offices established by the ECD will help Tennessee compete with other states for those investments.
The strategy is a proactive approach to boosting exports and also to attracting global companies to locate here, Ali said. Currently, there are 834 Tennessee companies that are U.S. subsidiaries of global corporations, employing more than 110,000 workers. And state exports have tripled in the last decade, with more than 6,400 state businesses counting more than 80,000 workers selling in excess of $30 billion of Tennessee products in 2011.
Among the more notable foreign corporations with operations in Tennessee are Nissan (with plants in Smyrna and Decherd) and Volkswagen (with a plant in Chattanooga), which combined employ thousands. Electrolux is currently constructing a 750,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Memphis, which when completed will employ 1,200 people. Add this to the Tennesseans employed at their existing plant in Springfield and Electrolux will employ a total of 4,000 in the state. In addition, Greeneville is home to manufacturing facilities for Huf North America—a subsidiary of the German corporation Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst GmbH & Co KG which manufactures automotive parts. Both Nissan and Huf North America have recently announced that they will be expanding their Tennessee plants and adding new jobs.
No doubt many international companies have chosen to locate operations in Tennessee (and throughout the South) because of the general ease of doing business here when compared to northeastern, far western, and Rust Belt states—and particularly because Tennessee, like nearly all Southern states, is a right-to-work state. Whatever the reason, this is good news. An economically robust state will be more capable of achieving independence from the American empire, and Tennessee is definitely taking positive steps toward creating an environment in which her people can prosper.
Sunday 17 February 2013
TN opens offices overseas to promote exports, attract investments
It was announced earlier this week that the state of Tennessee will be opening offices overseas with the dual goals of promoting exports from small- and medium-sized businesses located within the state and promoting foreign investment in Tennessee. James Dowd reported the story for Memphis’ Commercial Appeal.
Gov. Bill Haslam and state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty launched the ECD’s International Division, which features export development offices in Heidelberg, London, Mexico City and Shanghai.
In addition, the ECD has established export recruitment offices in Düsseldorf, London, Tokyo and Toronto. The plan marks the first time since 1997 that Tennessee has established foreign offices that are devoted to the state’s export trade.
“This is a new division that will promote foreign direct investments in Tennessee and expand the number of small and medium-sized companies here that export their products to other countries,” said Samar Ali, ECD assistant commissioner for international affairs. “Most of the companies in Tennessee involved in exports are large businesses with established legal departments that guide them through these practices, but most smaller companies don’t have access to those kind of resources. With this program, they will.”
Currently, there is a good deal of international investment in Tennessee and the South in general, with a large amount of investment coming in the form of manufacturing operations. The overseas offices established by the ECD will help Tennessee compete with other states for those investments.
The strategy is a proactive approach to boosting exports and also to attracting global companies to locate here, Ali said. Currently, there are 834 Tennessee companies that are U.S. subsidiaries of global corporations, employing more than 110,000 workers. And state exports have tripled in the last decade, with more than 6,400 state businesses counting more than 80,000 workers selling in excess of $30 billion of Tennessee products in 2011.
Among the more notable foreign corporations with operations in Tennessee are Nissan (with plants in Smyrna and Decherd) and Volkswagen (with a plant in Chattanooga), which combined employ thousands. Electrolux is currently constructing a 750,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Memphis, which when completed will employ 1,200 people. Add this to the Tennesseans employed at their existing plant in Springfield and Electrolux will employ a total of 4,000 in the state. In addition, Greeneville is home to manufacturing facilities for Huf North America—a subsidiary of the German corporation Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst GmbH & Co KG which manufactures automotive parts. Both Nissan and Huf North America have recently announced that they will be expanding their Tennessee plants and adding new jobs.
No doubt many international companies have chosen to locate operations in Tennessee (and throughout the South) because of the general ease of doing business here when compared to northeastern, far western, and Rust Belt states—and particularly because Tennessee, like nearly all Southern states, is a right-to-work state. Whatever the reason, this is good news. An economically robust state will be more capable of achieving independence from the American empire, and Tennessee is definitely taking positive steps toward creating an environment in which her people can prosper.
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