Greater New York: Business as usual

Does France doubt itself? Fortunately, New York is there to reassure her... From the media hype surrounding the new Vuitton boutique on Fifth Avenue, to the enduring fame of chefs Éric Ripert and Alain Ducasse, the huge best-seller success of the book "French Women don't get fat" and, above all, the invasion of the city's streets by imitations of old-style French café-bistros, a veritable shower of signs suggests that, when it comes to luxury and the art of living, the "French label" continues to work a certain magic on the minds of New Yorkers. The latest example of this was the response at the end of 2005 to the publication of the first Michelin guide dedicated to New York, a city where, until now, only the consumer reviews compiled by Zagat seemed to be authoritative.

But fortunately, when it comes to the economy, the French presence in New York and, further afield, in the United States is not just a collection of toques, champagne corks and Monogram canvas bags. The proof: at the end of 2003, with a stock of $143 billion, the United States was still the leading destination for French investment abroad. And for these investors, Greater New York seems to be a natural anchor, accounting for almost a quarter of all French establishments in the United States. In which sectors? Quite simply those sectors for which New York is a mandatory gateway, an authority in the field. A glance around Times Square, where screens alternate between advertising, news, fashion flashes and stock prices, is almost enough to sum them up.

Media: New York sets the tone

Clearly, if Los Angeles can challenge it for leadership in the field of entertainment, New York is indeed the capital of communication, in all its forms, starting with television, since the city alone is home to the headquarters of the big majors (CBS, NBC, ABC) as well as those of the most innovative competitors such as HBO. "Domination is not just about television. In the media as a whole, it is still in New York that a tone is invented that then extends to the whole of America. Look at the press: it's here that all the benchmarks are created: the New York Times for general dailies, the Wall Street Journal for financial dailies, Time or Newsweek for magazines, Vogue for fashion magazines, etc." notes William Schiffles, head of development for the News Corporation media group.

French advertising and fashion

The same is true of advertising, where New York, home to the two American leaders Omnicom and Interpublic, is also home to subsidiaries of French leaders such as Publicis and Euro RSCG. Another fundamentally New York sector in which French companies are massively represented is fashion. And not just as a symbolic Trojan horse for 'French quality', since the fashion and beauty sector alone accounts for almost 21 % of the activity of French companies listed by the Mission économique de New York. What's more, for some brands, their reputation is built at least as much on the other side of the Atlantic as in their French cradle. A case in point is Anne Fontaine, which already has 25 shops in the United States - including six in Greater New York - and for which the American market already accounts for almost 30 % of business. After an initial test opening in Boston in 1996, the arrival in New York was like a baptism of fire for Ari Zlotkin, the group's chairman: "New York is a bit of a lion's den, the city where the competition is most aggressive. If you don't make your mark quickly, you'll be snatched up immediately".

To avoid this mishap, half-measures wouldn't have been enough: "We succeeded in making our mark because we put in the resources, we had a permanent presence and because we opted for complete immersion: out of our 150 employees in the United States, there are hardly any French people. And to promote the brand, we have adapted to the American way of doing things, by taking part in a lot of charities", recalls Ari Zltokin. But despite its imposing presence, fashion is not the most important sector for the French subsidiaries in Greater New York, which, at 32 %, are grouped under the less glamorous heading of 'corporate services'.

Banking, finance and advisory services

Here again, it would be difficult to list in extenso the multinationals in the sector that have their headquarters in New York, the capital of consulting (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst&Young, KPMG, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, etc.) and - this is both obvious and an understatement - of banking and finance (American Express, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Merril Lynch, etc.). It's a sector that's more than just the dark alleys that surround Wall Street, in a city where the morning stock market reading is at least as important as the weather forecast in determining whether it's going to be a good day. And with good reason: a large proportion of New York salaries come from the securities sector.

The most beautiful shop window

Advertising, media, fashion, finance: for these flagship sectors where image is a fundamental factor, Manhattan is obviously the ideal base for high-profile representation. So it's only logical that more than three-quarters of French businesses in Greater New York should be based on the island's flagship. Midtown, in particular, remains the best showcase. But Midtown alone does not sum up the shop, and for some French companies, there is a haven far from Wonderland.

Nearly 140 of them have set up in the laboratory paradise that is New Jersey, home to Rhodia, Dassault, Thales Avionics, Sanofi-Aventis and Isochem. Others, such as Louis Dreyfuss and Péchiney, have chosen the other state in the Tri-State Area, Connecticut, which, at 46,000 dollars per capita, is the richest American state. This good fortune, like that of the inhabitants of New Jersey, has not escaped the flagship sectors, notably fashion and beauty: of the six Anne Fontaine shops in Greater New York, three are located outside Manhattan. Similarly, the L'Occitane en Provence chain - another huge French success story in the United States - is widely represented throughout the Tri-State Area, whether in Farmington, Connecticut, or Paramus and Freehold, New Jersey. Names that are totally unknown under our longitudes. Proof that in the Greater New York adventure, there is still a lot of territory to conquer.