WAIPA Annual Report 2011

WAIPA Report of Activities 2011-2012
WAIPA World Investment
Conference 2011,
Geneva, Sep 5-6,
2011
setoff costs, infrastructure costs, tax
and regulatory costs. In a decision
to expand overseas, labour-related
compensation accounts for 50%
of the equation, whereas for R&D
projects in pharmaceuticals, the
labour weight is reduced to, at least,
25%. Hence, education, experience
and quality of the labour force are
important factors in corporate location
criteria. The message was clear:
the human capital perspective is
not to be overlooked by IPAs and
their governments. Finally, in the
pharmaceuticals group location
criteria, business environment also
counts. For Johnson & Johnson, the
importance attached to protecting
intellectual property in a given country,
is also a decisive factor. A testimonial
by the Johnson & Johnson Executive
has been made available on waipa.tv,
bottom left corner of our website.
The fourth and last WIC11 debate
session was solely dedicated to
research and development, arguably
the highest quality FDI projects that
are knowledge-intensive. This panel
offered rich insights on the factors
driving R&D. Among panellists invited
several were corporate executives
in high-technology multinational
corporations such as INTEL and
ARM (in the chip manufacturing
business) and Phillips Eletronics.
Industry associations’ representatives
also contributed to a discussion that
further highlighted the importance of
Human Capital. In the words of Tom
Lantzsch, Corporate Development
VP at ARM, the company was on
constant “search for the smartest
people around the world”. The
panellist added that some degree
of “critical mass” was also important
to power the R&D outsourced