FedEx chief executive officer Fred Smith is featured in a new series of advertisements aimed at convincing corporate leaders to use France as their gateway to Europe.
Smith says France is "as good as it gets" as a place to do business, according to the Invest in France agency, which notes that FedEx has had its European hub in Paris for seven years. In this time, FedEx has "benefited from an unbeatable location and one of the most dedicated workforces in the world," Smith says.
According to the inward investment agency, in the interview-style ads Smith dispels clichés on issues such as work ethic ("We set a high bar for service levels and our French employees have always met that challenge"), location ("Being less than a couple of hours from most of Europe's major finance, business and manufacturing centers made it a perfect fit") and teamwork ("The French understand that a collective effort delivers greater results than the sum of its parts").
Of the France-U.S. business relationship, the agency says:
• The U.S. is the leading investor in France
• American companies employ half a million people in France
• France is the 2nd-largest investor in the U.S.
• French companies support almost 600,000 American jobs
Visit www.investinfrance.org.