Just back from Greater Nashville area and specifically the
Clarksville –Montgomery Economic Growth Summit.
I was honored to have been asked to speak on an elite panel about
international business market entry. In
particular, my contribution focused on 1) how the community and its leadership
can best support Korean Hankook Tire, with construction now underway for the
Korean company’s it’s 1st manufacturing plant in North America, and
2) how can the community attract other top Korean FDI manufacturers.
I like to share some comments made by my colleagues Kiyo
Kojima, a top lawyer specializing in Japanese market entry and Sebastian Eich
an expert of German and EU business.
For starters, Japanese, German and Korean firms approach the
overseas’ operations differently. Cultural nuances impact how they look at and
enter new markets.
For example, although local quality education for the expat
Japanese, German or Korean dependents is important. German and Japanese
families expect to return to the mother countries and their children to resume
schooling. More often Korean families
see value in an American education, with English language proficiency—the later
a competitive workplace edge. A recent
trend among Korean expats then is for father to return to Korea when the
assignment ends, but the family to remain in the states until the children
graduate from High School and college.
BTW A positive for Clarksville is the area has the best
schools in the state, along with home to the Austin Peay State University
campus.
Another factor that stood out among the many questions the
panel tackled included the need for a qualified and skilled workforce, not an
issue in Germany, Japan or Korea, but labor force can vary much with a country
the size of American, and a determining factor on picking one region over
another in the site selection process.
All said, having supported major Korean manufacturing
facilities in the US and globally, i found the Clarksville—Montgomery County
region of Tennessee offering much…. Not to mention just miles from Nashville.
I also see as a great site for future Foreign Direct
Investment as other Korean firms consider launching US manufacturing
operations. If interested, I have
blocked out my availability to chat and discuss…. Just go to http://www.meetme.so/southerton
Until next time.
Did you check out the Super.me APP yet? Give it a try.
No comments:
Post a Comment