Penn's Northeast Teams with Commonwealth to promote Northeast Pennsylvania to foreign companies

When it comes to convincing foreign companies to open offices, manufacturing plants, research facilities, or distribution centers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a little teamwork can go a long way.

State agencies charged with attracting foreign companies to Pennsylvania have, in many cases, found success by working with regional economic development organizations seeking to accomplish the same goal for their respective communities.

"We've worked very closely with local economic development groups across the Commonwealth interested in marketing their individual areas to foreign companies," said Wilfred Muskens, Executive Director of the Center for Direct Investment, which is part of the Office of International Business Development within the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Mr. Muskens cites economic development groups such as Penn's Northeast in Northeast Pennsylvania, as being particularly aggressive in their efforts to attract foreign companies.

Pennsylvania's recent success at recruiting foreign-owned firms has been impressive. For example, the state ranks third in the Northeastern United States (after New York and New Jersey) and ninth in the nation in the total number of foreign-owned firms. The state is also sixth in the United States in the number of employees supported by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign owned corporations. Over 1,400 foreign-owned firms operate in Pennsylvania, employing over 249,000 workers.

World Trade PA, proposed by Governor Ed Rendell in February, is working to attract businesses to Pennsylvania by generating new foreign direct investment that will continue to create jobs to the commonwealth. This ground-breaking program has quadrupled the state's international development funding.

The $15 million World Trade PA initiative is aimed at accelerating and expanding the commonwealth's current trade and investment activities. To advance the commonwealth's competitiveness abroad, the World Trade PA initiative will: increase Pennsylvania's share of trade in foreign markets; attract new foreign direct investment to secure jobs and capital; and leverage Pennsylvania's extensive network of overseas university graduates to promote new business opportunities for the state.

One of the keys to Pennsylvania's success in attracting international companies has been a strategic approach to marketing abroad. Pennsylvania has 15 international investment representatives strategically positioned in key locations around the globe. Those representatives, supervised by Mr. Muskens, work within their respective overseas markets to attract companies to Pennsylvania.

Penn's Northeast, an economic development group which serves as a "single point of contact" for a five-county region in Northeast Pennsylvania, works closely with Mr. Muskens' team to make sure that foreign companies are aware of the many attributes the area offers. Penn's Northeast has produced a brochure, which lists all of the region's companies that are foreign owned, gives distances in kilometers from Northeast Pennsylvania communities to major North American cities, and compares the cost of doing business in the region to major metro areas such as New York, Boston, and Hartford. Penn's Northeast has supplied each of the investment representatives with a supply of the brochures making it easier for them to sell the region to international companies.

"We want to make sure that prospective international clients realize Northeast Pennsylvania is indeed an option they should consider," said Penn's Northeast President Jim Cummings. "We also want large and small foreign companies to know that they are welcome here and we will help them work with developers and local governments to obtain the permits and direction they need to make their experience a positive one."

Mr. Cummings points out that Northeast Pennsylvania is strategically located in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, a major advantage to foreign companies seeking markets for their goods and services. A total of 66 million people live within 500 kilometers of Northeast Pennsylvania and the region is located within a day's drive of more than 95 million U.S. and Canadian consumers.

Six major interstate highways converge in Northeast Pennsylvania and the region is just a two-hour drive from major ports in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

While the region is close to major U.S. cities, wage rates, real estate prices and construction costs are substantially less than larger East Coast cities. Northeast Pennsylvania is also home to two Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs), allowing for duty-free entry of non-prohibited goods. Finally, Northeast Pennsylvania is well known throughout the nation for its highly productive, innovative, and dedicated workforce.

One example of a foreign owned company finding success in Northeast Pennsylvania is Mission Foods, a subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico based Gruma Corporation. Mission's new tortilla plant in Mountain Top, PA, near Wilkes-Barre, is the most technically advanced of all of the company's worldwide manufacturing facilities. The facility employs more than 150 and the company plans to hire more shortly due to the plant's strategic location, high-performing workforce and affordable cost of doing business.

"We want foreign companies to know that Northeast Pennsylvania has the workforce, the geographic location, and cost structure that can help make their business a real success," says Mr. Cummings. "We look forward to meeting with any company that wants to discover the tremendous opportunities Northeast Pennsylvania has to offer."