Multinational presence; hundreds of US, European and Latin American multinationals maintain a presence in Greater Miami for one main reason: if you want to market across the Americas, it's the best place to be in the Hemisphere

Latin CEO: Executive Strategies for the Americas, August-Sept, 2002

For the past two years, the leading news magazine of La tin America--the biweekly Dow Jones publication America Economia--has asked its readers to decide which is the best city for doing business in the region. Both times the choice was the same: the City of Miami. While it is not physically located in Latin America, you might say that is a mere technicality In practical terms, the city is as much a part of Latin America as it is of the United States.

That is clearly apparent to the estimated 500 multinational headquarter units situated in Greater Miami, about half of which are based in the metropolis for the exclusive purpose of reaching Latin markets.

Walking into Disney's Latin America headquarters in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables is a perfect case in point. It is almost like being at Disney World itself--minus the lines, of course--with the significant addition of televisions in the funky lobby that play shows in Spanish. "It's the television distribution headquarters for Latin America," says Luis Perez, senior vice president of business operations for Disney Latin America. "We've got two Disney channels, one in Portuguese for Brazil, and one in Spanish."

The company, which employs about 120 people in ifs office here, originally ran Latin America operations out of London, something that clearly didn't make much logistical sense. "There used to be a handful of Disney representatives in the [Latin American] region," Perez says, "but the company realized we could do a lot more if we had an actual presence there, so that we could do the jobs ourselves." Moving was a no-brainer, but to which city? Greater Miami became the natural choice, says Perez, when the company realized how difficult it would be for the company to service the entire region from any one Latin American city.

Miami-Dade County and especially its city of Coral Gables, has long been known as an international business center, with companies from all over the world operating regional offices here to support both domestic US and Latin American/Caribbean markets--companies ranging from Texaco and IBM to Del Monte Fresh Produce and Club Med. Initially multinationals chose Greater Miami primarily for its proximity to Latin America, a reason later augmented by the area's growing bi-lingual workforce and chic lifestyle.

Just ask Julien Lepretre. The vice president of French advertising and marketing firm Promoscents was given the task of finding the right US city in which to headquarter the company's North American and Latin American operations. He selected Miami from a list that included Atlanta and New York. "We chose Miami because of the quality of life being greater," says Lepretre. "Our clients would rather come to Miami than New York. They all want to spend a weekend or so here when they're on business."

The same goes for Venevision International, an international television distribution company based in Venezuela. The company has had its international operations headquartered in Miami-Dade County for more than 30 years, and the reason for it's decision to locate here went beyond ease of travel to and from Latin America. "Aesthetically speaking, it's very upscale," says Jose Espinal, the company's marketing director. "It's just great for entertaining guests." And you thought South Florida's fun-in-the-sun image was only good for attracting tourists.

While exact numbers for all of Miami-Dade County are hard to pin down (estimates put the number at well over 500), there are more than 175 multinational companies headquartered in Coral Gables alone, one of the county's most affluent municipalities, says Lettle Bien, CEO of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. "[Those companies] run from one-to two-person shows to companies with hundreds of employees," Bien says. Most are the Latin America headquarters for US multinationals, with others coming from Europe, Asia and Latin America itself--firms such as trans-Latin Coca-Cola bottler Panamco, or Neoris, the high-tech consulting arm of Mexican cement conglomerate Cemex.

United Airlines, which has its main office in Coral Gables, has about 2,200 employees county-wide, with about 40 in the Gables headquarters. "Ten years ago," says Stephen Beatus, vice president of the airline's Latin America division, "United took over the Pan Am markets in Latin America, and at that point we began flying from Miami to points in the Americas. We discovered that, naturally, we needed a division headquarters in Miami. We selected the Gables because of the city's proximity to the airport."

By way of another sampler, the Waterford office park just south of Miami international Airport has a large array of multinationals serving Latin America, including Hewlett Packard, Sony, The Discovery Channel, FedEx, Caterpillar, Diageo and Visa Latin America. "There are not a lot of big new ones coming in right now, but that's because of the uncertainty of the times," says Richard Neve, senior vice president of the Hogan Group, which manages the Waterford. "We've been spoiled over the years, because this is the greatest place to do business in Latin America from, bar none." Neve says he's seeing more Latin American companies moving to Miami to do business in North America, however, as well as a recent spurt in Mexican companies relocating here, including Panamco and Neoris.