Cornelius Schnitzler is the director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission office in Berlin. The office, which opened in July, is the state’s base of operations in Europe, where it aims to maintain existing business relationships and cultivate new ones.
Schnitzler, 36, previously worked as a management consultant and project leader at the European Centre of Expertise for the Healthcare Industry EEIG, an international business association specializing in building hospitals, clinics and other medical and nonmedical infrastructure. Before that, he worked and studied at the Department of Economics and Göttingen Laboratory of Behavioral Economics at the University of Göttingen, where he received his Ph.D. in economics.
Schnitzler spent nearly a year studying under an academic scholarship at the University of California at Los Angeles. He speaks German, English and French.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during his trip to Germany that Arkansas has big opportunities with European companies in the aerospace and defense industries. Why is Arkansas a prospect for those firms?
Arkansas is an ideal location for foreign aerospace companies because of our existing skilled workforce in this sector and central location. According to a U.S. Department of Commerce study, aerospace exports directly and indirectly support more jobs than the export of any other commodity. The aerospace industry in Arkansas had $1.6 billion in total exports in 2014. At the end of 2013, foreign direct investment in the U.S. aerospace manufacturing industry totaled $22.7 billion, and it has grown every year since 2008.
So Arkansas has a fairly good piece of the aerospace pie. Arkansas is home to almost 180 well-known aerospace companies that prove day in and day out that doing business in Arkansas is a good idea, businesses like Lockheed Martin, Dassault Falcon, Raytheon, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Triumph Group.
Which states or countries have proven to be Arkansas’ toughest competitors in Europe? What advantages might they have and how might Arkansas beat them?
In today’s global economy, we feel that we are literally in competition with every state and every country. That’s why Arkansas opened an office in Europe: We want to have a presence where we can personally reach out to companies wanting to expand.
Because we are a small state, Arkansas can get overlooked. I think that’s where larger, more “dazzling” states have an advantage. We have found that people don’t have a negative image about Arkansas — they really just don’t know much about us. We need to be the mouse who roars and let the world know that we are open for business. In simple terms, we win by building personal relationships with these companies and telling the story of why businesses continue to locate and expand in the state.
Are there cultural differences that Arkansans must understand when dealing with German companies and executives? Are there any cultural similarities that can serve as a common starting place?
Companies in Europe and the United States want to work with a group of people who will make locating or expanding a new business as easy as possible for everyone involved. I’ve talked to numerous European companies that have located or expanded facilities in Arkansas and each say the same thing. From the governor to AEDC to local leadership, Arkansas cuts through burdensome red tape to make the process of locating in the state as smooth as possible.
How will the effectiveness of the Berlin office be assessed? What are the metrics for success?
Ultimately, our initial goal is to develop as many leads as possible for Arkansas. We want to be sure that Arkansas in on the list of prospective locations if there is a European company considering expanding into the U.S. Our long-term measurement for success will be the amount of new foreign direct investment from Europe that we’ve generated for Arkansas.