PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
MAIN PAGE | CLIPS | 1999 | CULTIVATING HAWAII'S BUSINESS IMAGE

Cultivating Hawaii's business image Editorial Board Honolulu Star-Bulletin Monday, March 8, 1999 Hawaii has a lot of work to do on its image - its business image. Helmut Sohmen, chairman of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, says it's not that Hawaii has a bad business image in the Pacific Basin. It has no business image at all. Rather, Hawaii's image has to do with "pineapples and golf courses, a place for weddings and honeymoons," Sohmen said in a speech here last week "It's a question of educating people." Sohmen's organization could help to change that situation. It's the oldest business organization in the Pacific, with more than 1,100 major corporate members from 20 countries, employing 10 million people. The council will hold its annual general meeting here next March. That meeting will attract hundreds of corporate leaders and expose them to Hawaii's business opportunities. A change in Hawaii's business image could follow. It would help even more if the council decided to hold its annual meetings here permanently, as some of its members propose. Hawaii's image as a place to play has long complicated efforts to lure investors here. But bringing them to Hawaii to see for themselves can change attitudes. That's why hosting an influential organization such as the Pacific Basin Economic Council can be so important.