The Triangle

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Mayur Chandriani Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter addressed attendees at a conference on global business strategy hosted by LeBow College of Business.

Drexel University's LeBow College of Business, in collaboration with the World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia, hosted the 7th annual Global Business Conference Feb. 3. The keynote address was given by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dennis F. Hightower.

The topic for this year was "Preparing for the Rebound: Strategies for Success in Global Markets" and featured overviews about how the financial crisis has realigned regional economies and the strategies used by companies prospering in this recession, according to the LeBow College of Business Web site.

This conference allows the "opportunity for international business thought leaders to look at the trends. It is also an important networking event-bringing together people from business, government and academia to find common solutions to international business problems," Donna Ferrari, director of Special Projects and Research in LeBow, stated in an e-mail.

According to Lebow's Dean George Tsetsekos, the importance of Hightower's speech was to provide motivation to develop greater partnerships, with exports being the outcome.

"Exports directly and indirectly support millions of jobs, including seven million in the manufacturing sector alone," Hightower said, according to a Department of Commerce press release. "The Obama administration understands that to get our economy back on track and to get it creating new American jobs, our international trade numbers must continue to grow."

This strategy of exploring new opportunities for exports was also suggested for the wellbeing of Philadelphia's economy when Mayor Michael Nutter asked Hightower to make Philadelphia a test city for a program that would allow DOC personnel to work with the city government to create a better understanding of the issues facing Philadelphia, Ferrari added.

"The Philadelphia region is a substantial player in the global economy with 560 foreign-owned companies employing 93,000 employees and billions of dollars of exports on an annual basis. As we recover from this recession and create jobs for Philadelphians we must continue to be aggressive and creative in attracting new investment and economic activity," Nutter stated in an e-mail.

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