Government Made Friendlier

Business owners regularly face problems as simple as needing graffiti removed from their storefront, or as complex as resolving a problem with a city permit or business license.

Whether you are looking to answer a specific question or are just not sure where to go for help, the Small Business Wizard has all the answers at www.cityofchicago.org/smallbusiness.

The Small Business Wizard is an online component of the City of Chicago’s Small Business Assistance Center. The Wizard is a web-based tool designed to help small businesses succeed in the city. It provides answers to common business questions, such as permit and license requirements, as well as other valuable resources like information about funding sources and business development programs.

Customized resources are provided on-line after users answer a series of questions regarding their business goals and immediate needs. Listings may include answers, instructions, contact information, web site links, and documents.

Available Information includes:

• Guide to Starting a Business
• Financial Assistance
• Site Assistance
• Permit and license requirements
• City of Chicago contract bids
• Zoning
• Workforce development
• Utilities
• Neighborhood demographics
• Inspections
• MBE/WBE certifications requirements
• Maps of community areas
• Industry analysis

The City of Chicago offers a number of programs to help business owners deal with the everyday issues they encounter, but this online tool has everything in one place. Go to www.cityofchicago.org\smallbusiness or call 312-744-CITY, 24 hours a day.

In addition, Mayor Richard M. Daley has made another business-friendly change in his administration. He has created a new department to consolidate the licensing functions of three city agencies into one. This new agency will be called the Department of Business Affairs and Licensing and will provide a one-stop gateway for licenses, business services and assistance to all companies. It will also streamline the application process and provide a single point of accountability for licensing.

Chicago is known for having one of the toughest liquor licensing systems in the country, with overlapping jurisdiction among three agencies creating a process that can take several months or more. The Department of Revenue issues liquor licenses, but the Police Department and the Mayor Licensing Commission must approve them. Now these agencies will work and be housed together in the new licensing agency, which is expected to be in place by next summer.
The new department will also handle dozens of other licenses that firms must obtain to do business in the city, such as animal care, day care and retail establishments. It will not include licensing of professions, such as carpenters, now handled by the Department of Buildings. The Department of Consumer Services will continue to license taxicabs and others under its current jurisdiction.

Mayor Daley leads Chicago-Shanghai Business Dialogue

WBC Chairman Mayor Richard M. Daley traveled recently to Chicago’s sister city of Shanghai, China, to lead the inaugural Chicago-Shanghai Dialogue between business and government leaders in the two cities. The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations organized the Dialogue in collaboration with the City of Chicago and Chicago Sister Cities.

The Dialogue will alternate future meetings between Shanghai and Chicago, covering critical themes such as trade, education, communication and transportation, public health, and Immigration policies and procedures.

The Dialogue’s mission was comprised of 25 business and civic leaders and was co-convened by Lester Crown, chairman of The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Material Service Corporation and Henry Crown and Company; Philip Condit, retired CEO and chairman of the Boeing Company; and William M. Daley, chairman of the Midwest Region of JP Morgan Chase and former U.S Secretary of Commerce.

Sponsors included Motorola, United, AT Kearney, JP Morgan Chase, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Dragon Financial Capital.

The delegation was received by Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, and Dialogue sessions included presentations and meetings organized by the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. When the Dialogue delegation went to Beijing for meetings arranged by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Mayor pursued Sister City responsibilities.

Mayor Daley’s itinerary included the sister cities of Shenyang, in northeast China, and Osaka, Japan. Shanghai and Shenyang have been sister cities of Chicago since 1985. Shenyang is a center of manufacturing that seeks to develop information technology and other advanced economic sectors.

Osaka, a sister city since 1973, has close and longstanding ties to Chicago. Mayor Daley met with Osaka Mayor Seki, who had visited Chicago earlier this year. Notable events in Osaka included:

• A breakfast meeting with Osaka business leaders hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce and Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• The dedication of “Chicago Gallery”, a permanent installation of 60 ceramic reproductions of the Art Institute of Chicago’s most famous works
• A meeting with Tadao Ando, Japan’s foremost architect
• A visit with Osaka’s Director of Planning and Development, Kansai Airport officials and others involved in the redevelopment and promotion of Osaka

The trip underscores the rapidly increasing importance of China and continuing importance of Japan to Chicago’s economy -- with 390 Japanese companies operating at 840 locations in metropolitan Chicago. Continued strong growth in the Chinese economy has begun to lead to Chinese investment in the U.S. – and Chicago needs to promote its standing as America's most business friendly city.

Chicago's stake in China

China’s spectacular economic growth over the past quarter century has relied greatly on foreign investment. The country has increasingly been integrating itself into global economic systems joining the World Trade Organization three years ago. As the Chinese economy continues to grow and mature over the coming years, Chinese investment abroad, small now, is expected to increase. While all Chinese overseas investment was only 1% of the world’s total in 2003 ($2.9 billion), the trend is upward.

Chicago-China connections are considerable -- highlighted by October’s Chicago-Shanghai Dialogue, coordinated by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, and Mayor Daley’s participation in the Dialogue, and his Sister City visits to Shanghai and Shenyang.

A few outstanding examples:

Motorola is reportedly China’s largest foreign investor, ahead of Volkswagen. (China is the world’s largest mobile phone market with 320 million subscribers at present and millions more being added each month, and all of Motorola's production is to meet Chinese market demand).

China has been a major market for the Boeing Company since the country’s economic opening. And last year Aon Corporation became the first foreign insurance broker to receive a license in China, through a joint venture there.

As for the Chicago economy, the world's more advanced economies have had a sizeable stake for years -- there are more than 1,600 foreign-based companies operating in the Chicago area today. Foreign-based companies provide more than 268,400 jobs in Illinois according to the Organization for International Investment. That’s more than 5% of the state workforce.

Nationally, foreign-based companies account for 5.4 million “insourced” jobs. These are relatively high value-added jobs that pay, on average, 31% more than the typical private sector job.

Chinese investment in Chicago, like the U.S. in general, has been relatively small to date and concentrated in the logistics and trade sectors. However, the Wanxiang Group, China’s largest auto parts supplier, has its North American Headquarters in Elgin and a significant and growing presence both locally and in the Midwest.

Chicago advantages for global companies – such as the new BP olefins and derivatives spinoff company, which will begin operations as an independent Fortune 500 company in 2005 with Chicago as global headquarters – apply no less to Chinese companies with ambitions in the North American marketplace and the Western hemisphere in general. (The BP “newco” will have a major new operation in Shanghai.)

Chicago’s unrivaled access to North America, global-class business support, talent, diversity and quality of life attributes are critical factors for any company with global aspirations.

In addition to the high-level October visits, United Airlines began a new nonstop Chicago-Shanghai route on October 31, adding to existing nonstop service to Beijing. American Airlines has also applied to provide nonstop Chicago-Shanghai service beginning in May, 2005. (Clearly the global-gateway of O'Hare is fundamental to Chicago's foreign investment growth.)

The Midwest US-China Association (MWCA), based in Chicago, was formed just this summer to develop export opportunities for the region’s companies and help position the region for Chinese investment.

As Chicago and China build on ties reaching back into the 19th century, there are a litany of connections including:

• Business relationships
• Sister/friendship city relationships with Shanghai and Shenyang since 1985
• 3,600 Chinese students attending Illinois colleges and universities
• $12.9 billion in annual trade through the Chicago Customs District alone
• State of Illinois trade representative offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong
• Some 70,000 Chinese-Americans in the Chicago area
• 6,000 ethnic Chinese-owned establishments employing over 20,000
• The Chinese Consulate General
• The headquarters of the United States of America-China Chamber of Commerce and MWCA, and the list goes on

Chicago is positioned to advance its status as a global city through investment attraction, as Chinese companies and investors come to recognize the many advantages that continue to attract interest from all over the world.

World Business Chicago produced an overview of Chicago’s global business and location advantages in both Mandarin and English for the Mayor’s Chinese audiences; 800 copies were distributed as a leave-behind document. Please contact Tom Bartkoski, tbartkoski@worldbusinesschicago, of World Business Chicago for copies of either version.

Chicago by the Numbers

Footnotes
The PMSA (primary metropolitan statistical area) consists of the nine-county Chicago region. They are Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. The office absorption and availability rate are 2003 & 2004 third and fourth quarter numbers for the downtown Chicago market. Data is from CB Richard Ellis (replaces Insignia/ESG data). Net Absorption is the change in available space in square feet. Availability rate is space that is currently vacant or in the process of being marketed. Consumer confidence, automobile and truck sales are U.S. numbers. The Chicago Midwest Manufacturing Index is a monthly estimate of manufacturing output in the 7th Federal Reserve district (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin). It is a composite index of sixteen manufacturing industries that use electrical power and hours worked data to measure monthly changes in regional activity. The employment, housing, and net absorption numbers are listed in thousandths.

World Business Chicago
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Chicago, Illinois 60601

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