World City Guide

Business

Business Profile
There’s no business like show business – at least not in LA. The city is 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 the industry is the leading supplier of entertainment to the world and generates 31 billion US Dollars annually, entertainment ranks seventh among the city’s major enterprises. Preceding the entertainment industry in terms of number employed, the leading business sector in the five-county Los Angeles area is professional business services (a category that includes management services, advertising, computer programming, legal services and engineering) tourism is second, health and biological sciences are third; international and wholesale trade rank fourth and fifth, technology sixth.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area is often called the ‘Digital Coast’ and multimedia jobs are included in the 171,000 technology jobs that also include bio-med, digital information technology and advanced transportation technology. The region is also the country’s second largest manufacturing centre. Over 159,000 people work in health sciences/biomedical industry and 154,000 in aerospace. Furthermore, with over 125,000 jobs, LA’s fashion industry now has a larger workforce than that of New York’s garment industry.

LA is the leading import/export port in the United States, with US$212 billion worth of trading activity 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 and is the largest man-made port in the world. Major exports include integrated circuits, aircraft, spacecraft, computers, aircraft parts and parts for office machines. Imports include computers, passenger vehicles, integrated circuits, office machine parts and reception apparatus.

Fortune 500 companies based in LA County include Merrill Lynch and Ernst & Young (accountants), J P Morgan Chase & Co (banking) and Charles Schwab & Co (medical), as well as the headquarters for Walt Disney, Occidental Petroleum, Health Net, Mattel and Hilton Hotels, among others.

In general, the LA economy is very healthy, despite the general downturn in the US economy over 2002. The unemployment rate at 6.2% is a bit higher than the national average of 5.6%.

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (tel: (888) 452 3321 website: www.laedc.org or www.laedc.info) can provide further information.

Business Etiquette
The wide variety of businesses in Los Angeles encourages a variety of styles, depending on the industry involved. In general, Californians cultivate a relaxed, informal atmosphere in keeping with the climate and the LA kind of life: ‘casual-smart’ dress is a good rule of thumb, especially within industries such as film and TV, computing or multimedia. More conservative suits and business dress are the norm in legal and financial institutions. Increasingly in the USA, Friday is a dress-down day in many businesses, with employees wearing jeans or other casual attire in anticipation of the weekend. After hours, some 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 businesses start early, particularly in the film industry. Breakfast meetings, often as early as 0700, are quite common for busy executives. Lunch is generally between 1200 and 1300, or 1230 and 1330. Where alcohol is concerned, it is best to wait and check the preferences of the host. Many Americans stick to soft drinks, even milk. People are health-conscious: smoking or excessive 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 normally at lunchtime, sometimes 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 common. Hosts generally do not invite clients or colleagues home unless they know them particularly well. Visitors may be given gifts related to their own business, such as pens or baseball caps complete with company logo on it, so similar gifts from a visitor’s company or typical items from his or her country would be appropriate.