PARTNERS
THE BRITISH AMERICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL IS COMMITTED TO PROMOTING TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT BETWEEN THE US AND THE UK
New BABC patron to
attract US investment The organisation responsible for inward investment into the city has become a patron of the British American Business Council in the Midlands (BABC). Business Birmingham, part of Marketing Birmingham, works alongside companies and potential investors, and provides a long-term business support service. Its overall objective is to promote the city as a place to do business.
‘Becoming a patron of BABC will boost our business profile’
Wouter Schuitemaker, investment director at
Business Birmingham, said: “Becoming a patron of BABC will boost our business profile and assist in providing connections to US firms that wish to expand or relocate to the Midlands. “Our patronage will maximise our opportunities to secure further investors from this hugely important market. “The US is a major investor in Birmingham and
the West Midlands. The area is currently home to over 350 North American companies employing approximately 60,000 people.”
Two new board members appointed
Event highlights US trade opportunities
BY JOHN LAMB
New committee members (left to right): Wouter Schuitemaker and Joe Kelly
British American Business Council (BABC) has appointed two new executive committee members, Wouter Schuitemaker and Joe Kelly. The latter is deputy chief executive of Birmingham Airport. Mr Kelly is currently fronting various major projects at the airport, including the planned runway extension. He said: “I am looking forward to working with the board as there has never been a more important time to increase trade opportunities between the Midlands and North America. Working for Birmingham Airport adds, I believe, a further dimension which I hope can add value to the great work BABC is already doing.” Wouter Schuitemaker is head of Marketing Birmingham offshoot Business Birmingham, which focuses on inward investment. Prior to joining Marketing Birmingham, he headed Asia Pacific operations at Think London, a foreign direct investment agency for the capital.
20 CHAMBERLINK NOVEMBER 2011 B
ritish companies thinking of moving into the American market should make themselves aware of the
pitfalls, including language and cultural differences, a conference in Birmingham was told. Stephen Ball, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UK, part of the biggest defence contractor in the world, was speaking at a conference at the ICC organised by the British American Business Council and UKTI, and sponsored by RBS Citizens Bank, the University of Birmingham and EEN. Mr Ball surprised his audience by highlighting
cultural and language differences with a country that shares a common tongue. He said: “Don’t underestimate the cultural challenges and the language barriers. We spent a lot of time working out how we did business in the UK and in the US. We examined our own biases and prejudices. It took time to shake them out of the system and to start communicating effectively.” He urged his audience to seek expert advice on hidden differences like this from organisations such as UKTI and the BABC. Mr Ball also asked his audience of 140
business delegates to consider if the US market was viable. He said the UK/US trade relationship was already mature. “It is mature in that there is mutual dependency and there is mutual benefit. The UK already sells about 13 per cent of its total exports to the US, which is valued at some £60 billion a year. And over two million jobs, about one million in each country, have been created by the need to manage and drive direct investment.”
‘The UK is a great springboard for US companies to export into Europe and the Middle East’
One of the benefits, he said, was that companies are dealing with an economy that is sophisticated and high tech. “This market operates under a similar regime to the UK. These include the rule of law and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which in many ways mirrors the Bribery Act which came into force in the UK this year. “There are a lot of similarities there and you
can’t say that about an awful lot of other countries. You have to think carefully about the places you want to do business in so you will not be compromised and be really successful. “The US and the UK have very close government-to-government relationships,
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