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City Guide - Seattle - Business | ||
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Business Business Profile: Greater Seattle's economy is dominated by domestic and international trade. Washington is the fifth largest US exporting state and trade-related companies are the source of one in four jobs. The Port of Seattle is the third largest port on the west coast and the main point of entry for Japanese and Korean consumer goods into the USA. Air transportation, coupled with the region's seaports and rail links, also plays a key role in trade-dependency. The main financial centre is downtown, on Third, Fourth, and Fifth Avenues (just south of the retail core), but manufacturing districts extend from Redmond/Kirkland to the northeast, where the main Microsoft Campus is also located, and south to Boeing Field and the city of Tacoma. Manufactured goods, Greater Seattle's chief export, brought in US$36 million in the first half of 1997 alone. As an example, Cutter & Buck Designs, which produces sportswear and outerwear, is one of the most recent success stories. From 1993 to 1997 alone, Washington state created 283,900 jobs, most of them in the Greater Seattle region. Seattle's rate of unemployment, at 3.8 percent, is well below the national average of 4.2 percent. For decades, Boeing has been Seattle's primary employer and still has more than 100,000 workers - at least one in four jobs are associated with the airlines industry. However, the number one earner in Greater Seattle today is software - the area is the software development hub of the nation. Young high-tech workers flock to Seattle from all over the USA, as well as other countries, to fill demand in the industry, which has spawned hundreds of start-ups and e-commerce companies, Amazon.com and Nintendo among them. Microsoft is the world's largest computer software producer and, although it employs only 31,396, its salaries and those of other high-tech companies are considerably higher than Boeing's, leading to accusations of snobbery on the part of 'techies' and occasional strike action at the airlines giant and elsewhere. The only fears today are that the city's financial dependency on a relatively small number of companies can mean major peaks and troughs in employment if one particular company, such as Boeing, experiences a bad year or if Nasdaq stocks really take a tumble. Business Etiquette: Seattle people appear remarkably informal in their business dress and manner, even to other Americans. Particularly in the high-tech and e-commerce world, jeans, trainers and sweatshirts are standard business attire in this youth-dominated area. However, the casual look belies what is an extremely competitive city, which attracts young, highly skilled workers from around the world, all looking to follow in the footsteps of Bill Gates, the world's richest man. It was Gates' philosophy that people worked harder in less formal environments, so working hours in many companies have followed suit in flexibility (although based on 0930-1800) and Equal Opportunity in race, creed, sex and sexual orientation is standard practice. In the world of high finance and law, however, the crisp business suit and briefcase is still the norm for women and men. 'Power' breakfasts for brainstorming are common, dinners at private homes more rare, with fashionable restaurants or wine bars more likely settings. Many Seattleites are fanatically health conscious, so when making a private visit, alcohol or sweets may not be appropriate and flowers are the best bet. |