While many companies view overseas expansion with foreboding,a handful of Southwest Florida businesses are actively courting lucrative international markets.
"It's a global economy now; if local businesses want to expand, the doors to the world are open to them, and the folks who take advantage of it can prosper," says David Kakkuri, director of the Center for Leadership and Innovation at Florida Gulf Coast University.
People like Kakkuri and Leonardo Garcia are helping ensure Southwest Florida's place in that global economy. Kakkuri is working with Florida Tradeport authorities and a delegation from Yantai, China, to move agricultural products between Southwest Florida and China. Meanwhile, Garcia, executive director of the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is linking local entrepreneurs with their Central American and Caribbean counterparts.
"There is a great misconception that international business opportunities exist only for large companies," says Garcia. "There are so many opportunities where small businesses can be more effective because of their comparatively low overhead and flexibility in making decisions to move quickly."
Four local businesses can point to partnerships and projects underway in the Western hemisphere as evidence of that truth.
Prior to 1998, Wilson-Miller's portfolio consisted of a few international resort projects, including Playa Laguna and Playa Conchal Resort in Costa Rica. But that started to change about the same time as the departure of some of the original partners, changing the company ownership, says vice president Kevin Mangan.
"WilsonMiller undertook a growth initiative that included growing the landscape architecture business," he says. "There were a number of new and expanding markets at home and offshore that we were able to competitively approach by growing the company."
The addition of staff members with extensive offshore experience made international expansion a natural fit for the landscape-design unit. Bahamian projects have included The Four Seasons Resort Emerald Bay property in Great Exuma and the conversion of a Radisson hotel to a Sheraton in Nassau. The firm also will initiate work in St. Lucia this year; and in Costa Rica it is adding an equestrian community to Reserva Conchal and has provided master planning services for projects in Nosara and Quepos.
WilsonMiller recently established a relationship with a civil engineering firm in San Juan, Puerto Rico, allowing the two companies to jointly pursue opportunities in the Caribbean. And the company's stewardship, planning and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) departments continue to export more of their services beyond Florida's shores.
Geographic diversification helps the company's financial diversification and stability, Mangan says. It also allows the business to provide designs that fit their respective locales. For example, WilsonMiller develops master plans and amenities such as pools, pavilions and landscaping with an eye to local custom and architecture, while simultaneously providing the level of convenience and service that American consumers demand.
Tips: Working in new markets is not without challenges. WilsonMiller relies on local resident professionals in the legal, architectural and civil engineering arenas because of their familiarity with code and development protocol.
Obtaining local and U.S. legal advice when establishing development agreements and work permits is critical, as is the development of infrastructure; utility plants must be built in most of the remote locations to provide potable water, sewage treatment, irrigation and communications.
Another tip Mangan offers for people planning to work on a Caribbean island: Read Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival, written in the late 1950s. It describes what conditions can be like, he says.
Floridian Gulf Coast Homes
Business: residential and commercial development
Location: Punta Gorda
President: Gary Oben
Years in business: 25
net income: $15 million (u.s. projects only), projected to double with overseas growth.
With four projects in the works under the Floridian Gulf Coast Homes of Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico labels, this company seeks to fulfill an ever-increasing demand for hurricane-resistant homes abroad.
Dean Rossey, vice president of Punta Gorda-based Floridian Gulf Coast Homes, believes the Caribbean projects begun this past fall will help double his company's annual net income.
That doesn't come as a surprise to officials at the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber; they organize an annual conference to explain the benefits and challenges of the Central America Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in August 2004, and to introduce interested parties on both sides. Rossey is one of their success stories; after meeting with officials at the Puerto Rico expo, he walked away with a contract to build three eight-story condominiums in the mountains of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and solidified contracts for three other projects in Puerto Rico.
This past December, Rossey also met with the president of the Dominican Republic and sent five Florida employees to train local workers there and in Puerto Rico. While the company introduces islanders to new development and techniques, the locals are working to export Caribbean-made furniture and doors to Southwest Florida, thus opening a two-way street for trade.
And that's just the beginning. Rossey recently received a call from the Barbados Consulate, who expressed interest in negotiating future projects.
Tips: "Contact the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber and they'll walk you through every step, from providing interpreters and information on local customs to helping set up corporations," Rossey says. "Had it not been for the aid of the Hispanic Chamber, we would have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to expand internationally on our own."
Upon Arrival
Business: relocation services
Location: Fort Myers
Owners: Sharon Mazzitelli and Janet Serrano
Years in business: one
Net income: Upon Arrival has worked with four clients so far, but has not yet seen a profit.
Welcoming committees offering baskets of homemade goodies and neighborly advice seem as passé as black-and-white TV, but two local women recently launched a company modernizing the Welcome Wagon. Drawing on personal experience and research, Sharon Mazzitelli and Janet Serrano help individuals adjust to all aspects of life in Southwest Florida via their Web-based relocation service, which they launched in March 2006.
"A lot of companies relocate employees. When their families move here it can be very difficult, and the family will move back and a lot of money is lost for the big companies and the local economy," says Mazzitelli. "People moving from another country have the same needs we all do. If they have children they want to know where the schools are, where specialty shops offering certain foods they're accustomed to eating can be found. It sounds minimal to some people, but when you're moving, everything is drastically changed. We hope to give them a comfort zone and at the same time show what Florida has to offer."
The idea for Upon Arrival came from Mazzitelli's English neighbor, who used a relocation service before being transferred to the Netherlands. Upon Arrival offers a variety of services that have the women on call from the moment a client lands at the airport through the first four to six weeks of the relocation. Fees range from $100 to $2,500.
Despite last year's decline in new arrivals to the Sunshine State, Mazzitelli believes it is only a matter of time before services like hers become as mainstream as they are in many other countries.
Tip: Network. Contacts through organizations such as the European and Hispanic chambers, as well as a referral base of local realtors and movers, have enabled Upon Arrival to reach prospective clients around the globe.
Robb & Stucky
Business: interior design and home furnishings
CEO: Clive Lubner
Years in business: founded 1915 in Fort Myers
Net sales: $400 million
Robb & Stucky added a new twist to its growth plan when it announced a partnership with The Jack Parker Corporation to enhance Pacifico, a mixed-use community in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The company is opening a 4,000-square-foot design center this year to support development and eventually open it to the public.
"Since this is such a new area of Costa Rica that is being developed, there are not a lot of other design studios down there, so we're going to be able to provide a great service for builders and developers," says Robb & Stucky marketing vice president Dan Lubner. "Costa Rica never existed in our business plan until we were approached by The Jack Parker Corporation. Now we're both venturing ahead into uncharted waters."
Robb & Stucky will oversee the interior design and furnishings for eight model residences and 20 village apartments and expects the 500 residences to be built-out in three to five years. Five to 10 employees will initially handle design and logistics in Costa Rica, but the company plans to eventually hire people living near the site and bring them to Florida for training.
"We're proceeding very cautiously. It's not quite as easy as getting out to Captiva, but at the end of the day we've got the right guys on the logistics side who are going to be able to give the same service and professional attention in Costa Rica that we're able to give in Southwest Florida," says Lubner. And he expects the showroom to boost the bottom line, just as any other company store opening in a new U.S. market.
Tip: Some businesses focus too much on revenues and the front of the house, and they let the back of the house-delivery support-go, says Lubner. He believes Robb & Stucky has this growth opportunity because it pays attention to the total picture.