World City Guide

Business

Business Profile
The Twin Cities metropolitan area is a giant in American business, with many top national and international corporations headquartered here. More than 90% of the primary US industries operate in the state, making Minneapolis-St Paul a centre of finance, industry, trade and transportation for the Upper Midwest region. Minneapolis was recently named as one of the country’s ‘coolest’ cities for quality of life and quality of work experience.

With a host of major corporations and a diversified industrial base, the region’s economy is strong. It is the fifth largest advertising market in the country. The workforce is well educated, with one of the highest (91%) rates of high-school graduates in the country. The unemployment rate is 4%, well under the national average of 5.4%. The Twin Cities also enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the nation.

Fifteen Fortune 500 companies are based in the Twin Cities. These include 3M (maker of Post-it notes and Scotch tape) General Mills (producer of food and cereal products) and retailers Target Corporation, Best Buy and SuperValu (the largest wholesale foods company in the country).

In the 19th century, Minneapolis thrived as a flour-milling centre and food processing remains one of its main industries to this day. Leading brand-name companies include Hormel Foods, International Multifoods and Land O’Lakes (dairy products). In 2001, two of the city’s food product giants merged when General Mills Inc purchased Pillsbury for US$10.4 billion.

Medical manufacturing also is a key industry, with companies such as Medtronic, where the pacemaker was invented. Others include Honeywell, 3M and Weyerhauser. Carlson Companies, owners of the Radisson hotel chain, American Express Financial Advisors and the St Paul Companies (insurance underwriters) are leading players in the service industries. Several of the nation’s top retail companies are located here, including the Musicland Group, discount catalogue firm Fingerhut and electronics chain Best Buy.

The commodities firm Cargill is thought to be the largest privately held company in the world, with annual revenues of over 50 billion US Dollars. America’s fourth largest airline, Northwest, is also based here. The metropolitan region is rated as one of the top ten large cities for small businesses. There is no one central business district and businesses are scattered throughout the area.

Business Etiquette
Businesspeople in the Twin Cities dress well and while suits are still the norm for both men and women in many offices and financial institutions, business dress has generally become more relaxed, particularly on Friday, when many companies allow casual clothes. In winter, practicality takes precedence over style and a heavy coat, hat, gloves and waterproof boots are essential. Outside work hours, the Twin Cities are definitely informal – only a few of the top restaurants require men to wear jacket and tie, while people attend theatre and classical music performances in everything from smart clothes to jeans.

The normal workday is 0800-1700, with lunch generally taken between 1200 and 1300, or 1230 and 1330. Meetings can take place over lunch, breakfast or in a more formal setting, depending on the company and situation. Business cards are usually exchanged before or after a meeting. By and large, people are health-conscious and smoking or heavy drinking may be frowned upon in a business environment.

After work, it would be more common for a business guest to be taken out for drinks or to a restaurant by the host, rather than back to someone’s home. If invited home, however, wine, chocolates or flowers would be appropriate gifts but are not expected.