Dallas-Fort Worth area becoming global competitor

In order to become more competitive in the global marketplace, business officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth region should focus on attracting talented workers, improving the region’s quality of life, increasing transportation access, and increasing business resources, said James Oberwetter, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, at a World Affairs Council Event Sept. 22.

Oberwetter, who is from Cuero, Texas, formerly worked at Dallas-based Hunt Consolidated Inc. He was nominated by former-President George W. Bush in November 2003 to serve as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Oberwetter’s term of appointment ended in early 2006.

At the Sept. 22 event at the Fort Worth Club, Oberwetter discussed a two-year Dallas Chamber of Commerce study, in which economists in North Texas used factors such as available talent, population, transportation availability, business climate and quality of life to rank Dallas-Fort Worth with other major metropolitan areas around the world.

Before the Dallas Chamber’s study, “no one had ever taken time to take a look at where we were in the global marketplace,” Oberwetter said. “And we believe the D-FW area is set to take off after this recession.”

The Chamber of Commerce’s economist panel began its study by identifying about 100 metropolitan areas around the globe comparable to D-FW in terms of business climate, and later narrowed the number to 26.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region’s business community today is a result of business globalization and technological innovations since the 1970s, Oberwetter said. Today, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has a gross domestic product of about $300 billion, with $50 billion geared toward global trade.

The D-FW Metroplex has a global business footprint in industries including logistics and trade, technology and advanced business services such as real estate, finance, accounting, law and communications, Oberwetter said.

The logistics industry does well in North Texas because of the region’s central location, its transportation assets such as a large regional rail system and air systems such as Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Alliance Airport, he said.

“No, we don’t have a [navigable] river, and we don’t have a sea port like Houston does, but the airports will provide us with great access,” Oberwetter said.

Technology business in D-FW has grown considerably in recent years, he said, adding that biomedical technology, high tech and information services are the most successful fields in the area. Advanced business services also thrive in North Texas because the region is home to 25 Fortune 500 companies and six global 500 companies, Oberwetter said.

Compared with other metro areas, Dallas-Fort Worth ranks among the top in having a strong business climate, just under Singapore and tied with Atlanta, Oberwetter said.

The Metroplex ranks lower among other global cities when comparing transportation access, access to talented and educated workers, and quality of life, he said, adding that those issues are key for North Texas business officials and chambers of commerce to improve upon in order to move up in global business competitiveness.