RECENT DIRECT INVESTMENT

Sharp Manufacturing Co. of America was the first major Japanese capital investment in Tennessee when in 1979 it opened a $20-million plant that now produces microwave ovens, color televisions, liquid crystal projection units, and most recently, TV chassis units. It produced its first five million units five years after its start-up in Memphis and achieved the 10 million unit mark by 1988. In 1991, Sharp began to move production of its TV chassis units from Malaysia to Memphis, creating over 190 jobs in two years, an expansion investment of some $11 million in itself. Sharp announced in 1992 an additional 140,000-square-foot, $16-million plant to make components for microwave ovens, a venture that increased employment by another 100-200. It now leads all companies in U.S. microwave oven sales with a 26% market share. A year later, in 1993, Sharp announced plans to add a $22 million plant to produce toner for plain-paper copiers which opened the following spring. The company now employs 1,350 in the city. Most of the parts used in its products assembled in Memphis are produced by American companies, including dozens of suppliers within Tennessee. Most of its products made in Memphis are sold in the U.S., but exports go to Canada, South America and Mexico. It recently requested expansion of its foreign trade zone authority to allow building printed wiring boards for computers at its Memphis plant. It has had foreign trade subzone status for several years for its TV and microwave assembly operations. Each year, Sharp produces about 1.25 million color TV sets, 1.45 million microwave ovens and over 10,000 liquid crystal display projectors for total sales of at least $500 million.

At present, there are three Foreign Trade Zones and one subzone in the Memphis area. The FTZs are located at the Port of Memphis on Presidents Island, near Memphis International Airport for FedEx and at Southern States Distribution Inc., in the Hickory Hill area. Sharp operates a subzone.

About a dozen Japanese companies operate in the city, together employing over 2,000. Other nations are represented heavily, as well.

AZO, Inc. is a leader in electronic measurements, providing automated material-handling systems for the food, pharmaceutical and materials industry. It buys computers, then reconfigures them, writes software and makes electrical controls for the systems. Using automated equipment, it provides precise measurements for companies that produce products in volume. AZO, founded by Adolph Zimmerman of Osterburken, Germany in 1949, has more than 2,000 clients, including major manufacturers such as General Mills, General Foods, Kellogg, Nestle and others.

Other recently expanding companies are numerous in size and scope. Fleischmann's Yeast Inc., owned by Burns, Philip & Co., Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, made a $3 million addition to its new Memphis plant, adding new equipment, 10 employees and 5,000 square feet. The highly-automated facility became the company's largest in North America with an annual capacity of 95 million pounds of yeast. This addition augments the 51,000-square-foot, $20-million plant that Fleischmann's opened in Memphis in 1990. Brother Industries USA, owned by Brother Industries Ltd. of Nagoya, Japan, has built a reputation in the electronic typewriter industry. It recently added 200 to its assembly plant in Bartlett just outside of Memphis. This will accommodate production of a new line of word processors and call for construction of a 25,000-square-foot warehouse. Brother, which now employs about 600, built an $8 million plant on 20 acres in Bartlett in 1987. Its output now is some 90,000 units per month. Brother made a subsequent $4.9 million expansion, added shifts and diversified into word processors in 1990. NKC of America, owned by Nakanishi Metal Works Co., Ltd., of Osaka, employs about 175. The maker of conveyor systems for the auto industry started out in the city with a 48,000-square-foot building, and through four successive expansions, now operates in a 200,000-square-foot facility. Its capital investments amount to over $10 million in Memphis, excluding land costs.

DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE GLOBE REPRESENTED

These are but a few examples of foreign direct investment in the city.

International ownership of Memphis companies is broad geographically. The country-by-country breakdown is as follows - (Americas:) Columbia, one; Mexico and Brazil, two each; Canada, 14; (Asia/Pacific:) Malaysia, one; Hong Kong, two; Korea and Australia, four each; Japan, 37; (Greater Europe:) Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Israel, one each; Finland, three; Ireland and Italy, four each; Sweden, France and the Netherlands, five each; Switzerland, eight; Germany, 12; and the U.K., 21.

European companies together employ about 9,800 in Memphis, Asian/Pacific ones, around 5,700, and North and South American companies, roughly 1,600. European business traditionally has come into the city via acquisitions of existing companies, while most Japanese investments have been start-up operations. Among the more prominent European operations in the city in addition to Allenberg, and AZO, are the following (listed with their parents): Durand-Raute Corp., woodworking machinery, Raute OY of Lahti, Finland; Certain-Teed Products, pipes and fittings, Sainte-Gobain of Paris; Bauermeister, Inc., industrial machinery, Probat Werke of Emmerich, Germany; F.A.G. Bearing Corp., bearings sales, F.A.G. Kugelfischer Georg Schaefer Co. of Schweinfurt, Germany; Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., medical equipment sales, Siemens AG of Erlangen, Germany; and Smurfit Recycling, recycling, Jefferson Smurfit Group of Dublin, Ireland.

The U.K. has had a particular interest in the city on the Mississippi River. The following British companies have acquired parts or all of these large companies, most of which were founded in Memphis: Bass PLC ($2.3 billion in 1990 for Holiday Inns), GKN ($30 million in 1979 for Parts Industries Corp.), Sedgwick James ($307 million in 1986 for Crump Cos. Inc.) and Smith & Nephew ($283 million in 1987 for Richards Medical Co.) Smith & Nephew Richards Inc., has since (1989) completed a $6 million addition to its administrative and research complex. Sedgwick James recently completed a new headquarters building in Ridgeway Center. [In 1996, GKN sold Parts, Inc., an affiliate of Parts Industries, to a Houston company for $80 million]. In other such transactions, Associated British Foods PLC, a major British food company based in London, is buying the specialty oils division of Memphis-based Kraft Food Ingredients. Smith & Nephew has opened a new $5 million, 56,000-square-foot addition to its headquarters in a move that will allow the company to expand its staff by 10%-15%. It currently employs about 1,500. The new building is the first phase of a five-year, $20-million expansion plan.

L'Oreal SA of Paris made a succcessful bid in January to buy Maybelline Inc. of Memphis in a deal valued at $758 million. The combination can catapult L'Oreal to become the top U.S. mass marketer of cosmetics.

TRADE GROUPS AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACE

Since 1947, the Memphis World Trade Club has assembled those involved in international trade, and the Mid-South Exporters Roundtable also has grown as another trade group for those engaged in overseas business. The Memphis International Council acts as a clearinghouse for many of the organizations and meets at lease quarterly. In 1994, it held its first International Commerce Day in Memphis. The one in 1995 focused on new business with Holland due to the newly inaugurated KLM direct flight service between Memphis International Airport and Schiphol in Amsterdam. And in 1996, the focus was on the LITCO lash barge terminal in Memphis.

Freight forwarders and customs house brokers abound in the city which in recent years has moved into the global shipping arena following the by Memphis-based FedEx of Tiger International's aircraft and landing rights in the late 1980s. In recent months, the world's two largest international forwarders, Switzerland-based Danzas Corp., and Japan-based NNR Aircargo, have both opened Memphis offices. Also facilitating global trade are four international accounting firms, a dozen attorneys skilled in overseas work, four international departments at local banks, four foreign consulates, two international insurance companies, 10 steamship line agency offices, two translation services and 16 freight forwarders and customs house brokers. The primary banks headquartered in Memphis not only exchange international currency, but handle foreign exchange checks, international wire transfers, direct and documentary collections, letters of credit and the like.

Housed in the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce is a branch office of the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration as well as a specialist who oversees and assists international investment in the Memphis area. In 1996, this office became an Export Assistance Center, part of a national and regional network for export experts. The office now has broader access to financial and market research sources. The change puts the specialties of the Commerce Department, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and other organizations under one roof. The center is an outgrowth of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee formed nationwide in 1990 to streamline export promotions. The Small Business Development Center has an international trade component in the city and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development operates an international marketing division. The chamber produced a multi-lingual color brochure highlighting business attributes of the city in German, Japanese, French and Spanish. It also has an inventory of videotapes in French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. Also off the press is the region's international trade directory, listing about 400 companies involved in international trade, including exporters and importers. The book also lists individual local companies and institutions providing international trade services.

It is one of the goals of the Memphis 2005 strategic initiative to increase the international trade and investment index for the Memphis MSA by 10% per year. Moreover, Memphis 2005 and the chamber share the following goals along these same lines:

The Memphis in May International Festival salutes a different country each year. Now attracting over one million to its month-long series of programs, the festival has long been recognized as a centerpiece of the city's annual event calendar. Countries that have been honored are: Japan, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Egypt, the Netherlands, Israel, Mexico, Australia, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Kenya, France, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Thailand. 1996 was the anniversary reunion year for all previously honored nations with numerous ambassadors and diplomats invited. Brazil is the 1997 honoree and Portugal the 1998 honoree.

INVESTMENT TAKES VARIOUS ROUTES

International investment in Memphis not only is gauged in terms of company ownership, but also in the acquisition of real estate. For example, two large golf course/residential communities on the east side of Memphis owe much of their new development to the infusion of foreign capital. In the case of the residential/golf community of Cordova Club, it is Swedish investors and in the case of Southwind, German investors, namely Fasseck Venture Corp principals Michael and Christa Eckes. Moreover, the Furst Thurn Und Taixis estate of Regensburg, Germany in 1988 purchased a group of three Class A office buildings in East Memphis on Primacy Parkway for $30 million. Hooker/Barnes Projects Group USA, a division of LJ Hooker International of Australia, in 1987 built the 560,000-square-foot Outland Business Center near Winchester and Perkins, which since has sold. What became LJ Hooker Developments sold numerous industrial properties around the U.S., including some of its developed interests in Memphis, to Kajima International, Inc., of Japan and an Atlanta-based subsidiary called Industrial Developments International (IDI) in 1989. That gave Kajima/IDI a regional presence in Memphis with several business parks.

Memphis is one of the least expensive cities in the world to do business, in terms of comparative effective rental rates for Class A office space, according to a study by Boston-based Colliers International. The average effective rent in Tokyo, for instance, is 18 times higher than office rents in Memphis.

Real estate decisions that used to be made in the context of a local market now are being made on a global basis, says Stewart Forbes, president of Colliers International. The trend toward globalization will reduce differentials that exist between major financial capitals. In addition, greater use of advanced communications technology means there are fewer reasons for corporations to be headquartered in the traditional East Coast cities, says Jeffrey Hallett, principal of PresentFutures, Inc., of Falls Church, Va., and a contributing researcher for the book, "Megatrends."What the Mid South Common Market concept, a grouping of 105 counties for commercial interaction, will achieve is a business base that will put the area in a good position to vie not only for domestic business, but also for business abroad, Hallett says. South Central Bell, Time-Warner and US Signal have installed fiber optic networks to link Memphis and West Tennessee to a national fiber optic system that will permit better voice, data and facsimile transmissions.

CITY MEASURES UP TO COMPETITION

In stride with this, Paragon Decision Resources of Irvine, Calif., pegs Memphis as one of the top desirable places for manufacturing facilities. Top-weighted items that were considered by the corporate respondents included: labor quality/productivity, attractiveness to managers and access to markets. Other manufacturing site selection factors were facility costs, direct labor costs, transportation costs, labor-management relations, utility costs, transportation costs, government regulations and government-subsidized job training programs. Distribution centers and warehouses were at the top of their lists. Memphis has some 105 million square feet of industrial space, most of it geared toward warehousing. Of the larger firms, relocating to Memphis several common elements determined their interest. These include ease of distribution throughout the U.S. and Southern market access in particular, the airport, location on the river, dual interstate connections, conducive climate, six Class I railroads, scores of motor carriers, reasonable taxes, good labor market, drop-off shipping advantages afforded by the FedEx SuperHub's proximity and a cooperative government.

CONNECTIONS FOUND ON SEVERAL FRONTS

The scope of Memphis' international involvement is seen on the agricultural front, as well, with the city being the headquarters of the National Cotton Council, National Hardwood Lumber Association and Agricenter International, all of which have regular exchanges with overseas companies and institutions. In farmland alone, an estimated 120,000 acres surrounding Memphis are owned by foreign interests, representing a value conservatively estimated at $100 million. Hamburg, Germany's Prince Ferdinand von Bismarck, a global real estate personage and businessman, owns vast rice farm holdings nearby in Arkansas.

In the educational arena, the University of Memphis has established two chairs of excellence for professors teaching international economics. The Robert Wang Center for International Business at its Fogelman College of Business and Economics has built a reputation as a center for the promotion of international business education and research since the Wang Center was established in 1989. Through its curriculum, educational exchanges, publications, and professional development forums, the center has become a leader in generating practical knowledge of the changing world marketplace. In 1993, it launched an MBA program in international business which requires overseas internships or study experience, geographical-area expertise and foreign language competency.The center's creation led to the establishment in 1990 of the university's Center of International Business Education and Research, one of 25 funded by the U.S. Department of Education. In 1995, the university entered into a relationship with the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Montpellier, a leading business school in France. The university also is looking at developing a couple of dual-degree programs that would combine with law and/or engineering. In addition, a new doctorate-level international business program should be in place at U of M in the fall of 1996.

Rhodes College and Christian Brothers University also have established international studies and exchange programs. CBU in 1996 established the Centre for Global Enterprise within the School of Business. It will help the university's academic departments develop global perspectives; it will provide international education, travel and training for faculty and students; and it will provide international education and training for area business executives.The Mertie W. Buckman International Internship Program was launched at Rhodes in 1994 with a gift from the Buckman family. It places students in two-month internships in foreign countries.

The marriage of education and agribusiness is best evidenced by the Memphis Cotton Exchange International Cotton School, to which students travel from around the world for intensive studies at Rhodes College to prepare for the cotton business worldwide. And Sparks Commodities, Inc., a major commodities trading house, has established the International Agri-Professional Development Institute featuring a three-level program leading to a merchant management certificate. It's structured to develop knowledge and skills for grain product buyers and sellers, transportation managers, livestock and grain producers, end-users, processors of agricultural products and financial managers.

Several Memphis-based engineering and design firms have completed major projects overseas, such as JMGR, Allen & Hoshall, Inc., the Pickering Firm, Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, and Process Systems Inc., (PSI).

TRANSPORTATION PICTURE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL

Transportation and distribution, already considered synonymously with any discussion of Memphis business, are firmly established strongholds of the city, lending themselves to international as well as domestic trade. About 70% of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. population can be reached overnight by truck from Memphis, a crossroads between industrial centers and ports. As an international crossroads, it's located between Tokyo and London.Cross-continental micro-bridge and mini-bridge transfers allow shipments to move under a single bill of lading. And the city stands to be a major transfer staging area, distribution point and depot between Toronto and Mexico City and between the business centers of Montreal and Monterrey in light of the unfolding North American Free Trade Agreement.

The chamber has a campaign targeting Canada's major markets and has supplied its 800-number to Canadian companies for quick access to local business information. In light of NAFTA, the chamber has led groups of local businessmen and officials on trips to Canada and Mexico. A delegation of 14 visited Mexico City and Cuernavaca; a trip to Toronto included a group of 11 economic development groups from the three states that make up the Mid-South Common Market. The chamber signed an agreement with the Chamber of Industry for the State of Morelos in Mexico, stipulating that a series of business meetings would take place in Memphis and Cuernavaca. A 20-person delegation from the state of Morelos, Mexico visited Memphis on a reciprocal trip. The contingent included heads of companies representing a number of industries, including chemicals, water treatment, ceramics, wood, high-tech products, tourism and export consulting.

Over 200 truck lines have operations in the city and six Class I railroads have connections. The Port of Memphis is among the top four inland ports in the U.S., handling about 12 million tons of cargo yearly.

The Foreign Trade Zones in Memphis permit a waiver of collection of customs duties on goods imported into the zone or stored there. Taxes are collected only when merchandise is ready to be shipped out for sale in the U.S. and no duty is charged if the products made within a zone are exported from the U.S. Foreign trade zones encompassing 126 acres also have been established on Mendenhall and on Hickory Hill.

The 22-acre Port of Memphis site on Presidents Island is operated by Mid-South Terminal Co., and the 10-acre site at Federal Express Corp's is found at its PartsBank on Knight Road. Intermodal transport is well-established in the city and several railroad send double-stacked trains across the country from Memphis. Shippers using the intermodal connections can make single-line shipments to the 48 contiguous states, Mexico and Canada. Memphis' location on the river gives it access to over 25,000 miles of navigable waterways.

Over recent years, the city has been a stopover point on the itineraries of many groups and individuals, including: the Italian Inland Navigation Union, the economic counselor for the embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C., the economic counselor with the British Embassy in Washington, the ambassador of the U.S. to Australia, a minister with the Japanese embassy in Washington, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S., a Japanese consul general, the Japan Lumber Importers Association; the director of the Israel Economic Development Partnership, port directors of Antwerp and Rotterdam, the Sopporo Japan Junior Chamber of Commerce, the director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York, the German American Chamber of Commerce for the Southern United States, The Swedish Civil Aviation Administration, the National Association of Travel Managers in Holland, and others.

In 1992, 20 diplomats and commercial counselors representing various nations' embassies in America convened in Memphis for the J. William Fulbright Awards Dinner and Ambassadors Ball, where Federal Express Corp. was the primary recipient. A face-to-face session with local businessmen and the dignitaries composed the program earlier that day.

AIRPORT/FEDEX NAMED AS FACTORS

Memphis boasts one of the safest and efficiently run airports in the U.S. It is consistently at or among the top performers for on-time arrivals, which is significant in that it is the busiest cargo airport in the world. It has attained that status for the third year in a row. Airports Council International in Geneva ranks it No. 1 in total cargo volume. Memphis outpaces the runner-up, Tokyo's Narita Airport in metric tonnage. The city was the setting for the Air Cargo Shippers Conference in 1994, which drew speakers from industry and academic fields who talked about time-based competition and global logistics before an audience of some 400. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority has a well-established master plan that includes recent construction projects and continues into the next century. This plan carries a pricetag of over $150 million and includes expanded international arrival areas, among other features. Strategic plans of the airport authority are constantly reviewed and updated. "We're very optimistic because of our geographic location and the role Memphis plays in distribution," says Larry Cox, president of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.

Memphis International not only is a major air cargo hub for Federal Express, but for dozens of other air freight companies. FedEx has a daily lift capacity of over 15 million pounds. Northwest Airlines operates its southern hub at the airport, where it has around 100 scheduled daily departures. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines began regularly scheduled flight service between Memphis and Amsterdam in June of 1995 after the airport built a $15 million customs clearance facility and a walkway between the A and C concourses. An economic impact study by Younger & Associates of Jackson, Tenn., estimates the Memphis-Amsterdam flight will bring 20,000 foreign visitors annually. NW/KLM books daily nonstop flights aboard MD-11s. This flight has seen immense success from its debut, becoming 80% booked throughout the first three months of its startup. Local traffic from Memphis is exceeding expectations and cargo will account for about a quarter of the revenue on the new route. Based on that success, Northwest and KLM initiated a daily schedule, beginning in the early summer of 1996. Jean Paul Struyve, general manager of passenger sales and services for KLM's eastern region, USA, says that during its first year, the average capacity for the flight was 71%. That means out of an available 67,000 seats out of Memphis the first year, some 48,000 were full. That figure, combined with the number of passengers flying from Amsterdam to Memphis, brings the total number of passengers for the first year to roughly 100,000, he says. Struyve believes that about 30% of the activity was business travel. And as of the first anniversary of the flight, advance bookings were well ahead of last year. What gives the flight more importance is that it is a hub-to-hub connection, and, in the words of Virginia-based airline analyst Brian Campbell, "Memphis has become a bridge in the long-haul leg of journeys between hundreds of cities around the world." Since Memphis is the only Northwest Airlines hub in the South, that has drawn a lot of transatlantic passengers from the Southwest, from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, too.

As a result of strong growth on the cargo side of the flight, a recent month's total inbound and outbound cargo exceeded 1 million pounds. "The Memphis-Amsterdam route provides a convenient bridge from the South-Central U.S. to Europe, africa and the Middle East," said Michael Levine, Northwest executive vice president of marketing and international. To forge closer commercial ties, Dutch officials have visited the Memphis area to study its attributes and encourage further business connections. Memphis officials have likewise traveled over the Atlantic to make reciprocal presentations. In a further development, Northwest Airlines Corp. will share flight codes with Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG on service from Amsterdam to six German cities. Code-sharing helps carriers boost traffic by linking flights in reservation system computers. The two segments of a long-haul flight on two airlines are listed as direct service, which means they go to the top of travel agents' computer screens. Travelers make a single reservation, get one ticket and check their bags only once, although the flight typically consists of two segments: one on each airline partner. Starting in 1996, a Northwest code appeared on Eurowing flights to Nuremburg, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Hannover and Dresden. As a result, passengers are able to get all seat assignments and boarding passes at initial check-in, check luggage through to their destinations and earn frequent-flier miles. Eurowings, based in Dortmund, Germany, services 16 German cities and 40 other European destinations. It operates 32 aircraft with 48 to 84 seats in an all-coach configuration. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest's marketing partner on trans-Atlantic flights, already shares flight codes with Eurowings on the routes. Northwest also plans to expand code-share service to Eurowings' Amsterdam-Dortmund and Amsterdam-Paderborn, Germany routes in the near future, subject to government approval.

The major and regional/commuter airlines in Memphis together board another 260,000 passengers per month for domestic trips.

Memphians also now have easier access to 10 cities in the United Kingdom, thanks to a deal inked between Northwest Airlines and European air carrier UK. Travelers are able to now fly to London's Stansted Airport and Manchester in England, Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland and six other U.K. destinations by flying direct to Amsterdam on KLM and changing planes once. Memphis passengers also can fly into London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports on KLM via Amsterdam.

Federal Express, which handles about 2 million parcels nightly, has built an $80 million, 365,000-square-foot international clearance module. It contains sophisticated tracking, control and security systems. The module features two hydraulic lifts capable of carrying 15 tons of freight each, 50 vertical feet in about 45 seconds. Altogether, the package expediter has invested more than $400 million in its Memphis headquarters facility over the years. The Federal Express PartsBank and Business Logistics Services can reduce a product delivery cycle from two weeks to a matter of days on international goods, saving inventorying and carrying costs. Memphis International Airport has been classed by U.S. Customs as a port of origin with clearance and inspection services. The five major airlines at the airport board an average of 300,000 passengers monthly. Memphis International now sports four runways, the fourth, a 9,000-foot runway, became operational the first of 1997. Besides meeting operational needs of FedEx, this new parallel runway makes more peak hour landing slots available to major passenger carriers and provides a selling point for attracting new ones.

Federal Express often is cited as a reason why outside companies decide to relocate branch or central corporate operations into the city. Distribution companies in Memphis can be allowed certain volume discounts and later drop-off deadlines than companies in other cities. In the global arena, FedEx now is focusing primarily on inter-continental flights. Its EXPRESSfreighter combines wide-body cargo capacities with the speed and reliability of international express service. This fast-cycle routing schedule directs flights worldwide and involves later cut-off times and earlier arrivals, dovetailing into its American connections for morning deliveries. One of its flights links Hong Kong non-stop with Anchorage, for instance. Other EXPRESSfreighter flights operate through Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Singapore weekdays.Based on the foundation of these, FedEx has inaugurated a non-stop service from Osaka to Anchorage and from the San Francisco Bay Area to Tokyo. In 1991, Federal began flying from London non-stop to Memphis. Other components of its international infrastructure include Powership, a PC-based shipping tool installed at the customers' sites to perform on-line tracing and billing functions and FSTCLEAR, a streamlined international customs clearance system. The latter is a method of electronic manifesting that involves fast-cycle, automated processing, which has a built-in means of handling exceptions.

INTERNATIONAL GROUPS/SPECIALISTS TAKE NOTE

In addition to professional trade associations in Memphis, the city has chapters of several cultural organizations geared toward foreign visitors and commerce, such as the World Affairs Council, Memphis International Council, the U.S.-China People's Friendship Association, Friendship Force, and the Memphis Council for International Visitors.

A study by Arthur Andersen & Co. of about 100 Mid-South manufacturers reveals that 26% import products from abroad and that 62% are doing more international business than before. The survey included manufacturers within 125 miles of Memphis involved in some form of international business. 56% of the companies surveyed said they do business with Canada, 50% do business with Western Europe and 42% with the Pacific Rim.

One point is also sure: as spread out as international firms are on the globe, they've nevertheless made Memphis one of their points of connection as they move their attention from the coastlines into the heartland of middle America.

Business phone and voicemail: (901) 523-1000, ext. 627
Business facsimile: (901) 526-5240
E-mail: davidy@mem.net
Residential phone: (901) 683-3587

David Yawn, also the author of the 4,000-word study, "Attributes of Memphis Business," is senior staff writer of Memphis Business Journal, where he has worked for 10 years.

He is a member of the Memphis International Council and has participated in workshops and conferences on global trade, particularly in reference to Western Europe. For two years, he served as panel discussion moderator for the International Business Day program, part of the annual Governor's School at the University of Memphis.

He traveled to Belgium, Germany, Holland and France on business during 1995 and to Holland again in 1997.

Yawn maintains a business library containing about 50 books on international business and weekly updates on most West European countries.

He is prepared to do the following: