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| City Guide - Nashville - Business | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Business Business Profile: Nashville is growing and growing fast. The music and general entertainment business is already well established and still attracting incomers, but there are other aspects to the city's growth patterns too. For example, it has become a centre for health care companies, for example, with Columbia/HCA being the largest health care firm of its kind in the country. Healthtrust and Equicorp are also based here. In all, there are 14 health care companies within the city, generating an annual combined revenue of some 22 billion Dollars. In addition, there are a further 12 investment and venture capital companies dealing primarily with health care. This rather puts the music industry revenue of Music City USA, estimated at just over 3.2 billion Dollars annually, in the shade. However, the music industry has a much wider reach, as that income is spread across 200 recording studios and the industry provides work for almost 6000 union-registered musicians. It is estimated that about 25,000 people in Nashville work directly in the entertainment business. The music industry also embraces ancillary industries, such as publishing, the new media and broadcasting. Companies such as Gaylord Entertainment, who run the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, Country Music Television International, the renowned Acuff-Rose Music Publishing and several other related business operations, have a finger in every pie. It may be low income compared to health care but it is high profile. Everyone has heard of Nashville - because of its music industry. This obviously attracts an enormous number of visitors to Nashville - tourism revenue is currently running at 2.2 billion Dollars per annum. Another area of development is new technology. Dell Computers recently chose Nashville as their first expansion in the USA outside their home state of Texas. Dell is building a manufacturing centre and a technical support centre, estimated to provide at least 3000 new jobs over the next five years. The unemployment figure of 2.7% is extremely low in comparison to the national average of 4.2% and Tennessee's 3.7%. In fact, there is already a shortage of skilled labour and the population will continue expanding to meet this. The main business districts are downtown, where both private business and government offices can be found, and the West End, around Vanderbilt University, where both financial and music businesses can be found. Other music businesses are located around Music Row. Business Etiquette: In a city used to seeing entertainment industry folk dressed down, the Nashville approach is more casual than elsewhere. Some meetings will be conducted in jeans, but it is important to gauge the situation correctly as the city's financial and health care executives can be as formal as their musical counterparts are informal. Few restaurants or clubs would require a jacket and tie and casual-smart will suit most places. Business cards should always be exchanged - but at the end of a meeting. More formal colleagues will prefer a business lunch to dinner, but in the entertainment industry a social drink after work followed by some music would not be out of the ordinary. Southern hospitality may often lead to an invite to a host's home - an invite sincerely meant and one that should be accepted gratefully. Southern states tend to be more conservative than the north, so visitors should limit themselves to moderate social drinking until they know their hosts. Bad language tends to be frowned upon, although again the music business has its own rules. Courtesies are all-important, however, and 'sir' and 'ma'am' will be heard frequently. If a host appears to be unduly formal, it is very likely to be the courteous southern upbringing. Southerners tend to stick together too and side with fellow southerners, so visitors should avoid talking about politics until they know who they are dealing with. Business hours are in the main 0900-1700 Monday to Friday, although the entertainment businesses usually start and finish later. |
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