World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Los Angeles  - Business
Business

Business Profile: There's no business like show business - at least not in LA. The city is practically synonymous with film and television production and most of the nation's leading production facilities for making blockbuster movies and hit TV shows are located here, led by such giants of the industry as Paramount, Universal Warner Brothers, Fox and Disney studios.

Surprisingly, however, although it is the leading supplier of entertainment to the world, the industry ranks fifth among the city's major enterprises. The leading business sector in the five-county Los Angeles area is actually business services, a category that includes management services, advertising, computer programming, legal services and engineering. It is followed by health services, including medical manufacturing; then tourism, which generates an estimated 12.3 billion US Dollars a year; and international and wholesale trade. Leading LA firms operating in these sectors include J P Morgan Chase & Co (banking), Merrill Lynch and Ernst & Young (accountants), Foundation Health and Charles Schwab & Co (medical) and Hilton Hotels (international tourism).

The Los Angeles metropolitan area is often called the 'Digital Coast'. It fills some 133,000 multimedia jobs, more than the famous Silicon Valley and New York City combined. Earthlink, the world's largest internet service provider, is based here. The region has also recently surpassed Chicago as the country's largest manufacturing centre. With over 122,000 jobs, LA's fashion industry now has a larger workforce than that of New York's garment industry.

Los Angeles is the leading import/export port in the United States, with 146 billion US Dollars worth of trading activity taking place here each year in the customs district that includes the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, LAX and smaller ports. LA's main port is located at San Pedro, on South Bay, and is the largest man-made port in the world. Major exports include integrated circuits, aircraft and spacecraft, computers, aircraft parts and parts for office machines. Major imports include computers, passenger vehicles, integrated circuits, office machine parts and reception apparatus.

Overall, the Los Angeles economy is booming. According to estimates by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, if LA were a separate country its economy would rank Number 11 in the world, just behind Spain and ahead of India.

Business Etiquette: The wide variety of businesses in Los Angeles gives rise to a variety of business styles, depending on the industry involved. In general, Californians cultivate a relaxed, informal atmosphere in keeping with the climate and lifestyle, so 'casual-smart' dress is a good rule of thumb, especially when dealing with industries such as the film and TV industry, computing or multimedia. More conservative suits and business dress are the norm in legal and financial institutions. Across America, Friday has become a dress-down day in many businesses, where employees wear jeans or other casual attire to work. After hours, a few top restaurants and hotels require men to wear jacket and tie, but casual-smart is more often de rigueur.

The normal working day runs 0800/0900-1700, although some business start earlier, particularly in the film industry. Breakfast meetings, often as early as 0700, are quite common for busy executives. Lunch is generally taken between 1200 and 1300, or 1230 and 1330. Where alcohol is concerned, it is best to err on the conservative side until the preferences of the host have been established. Many Americans stick to soft drinks at lunchtime. By and large, people are health-conscious and smoking or heavy drinking may be frowned upon in a business environment.

Business associates generally exchange business cards at an appropriate moment, usually towards the end of a meeting. Socialising is usually at lunchtime, or possibly during after-work drinks and/or dinner. LA is a notoriously early-to-bed town, due to the early starts in the film industry, so late nights are not expected. Hosts generally do not invite clients or colleagues home unless they know them well. People often give visitors gifts related to their business, such as a pen or baseball cap with the company logo on it, so similar gifts from a visitor's company or typical items from his or her country would be appropriate.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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