Hd The Out-of-Towners
L.A.’s absentee corporations are slowly and unmistakably making their mark on their new properties, and while the approaches vary, the net effect for the community is not good certainly not as good as if the acquired companies had remained in local hands.
Two approaches have been chronicled by the Business Journal in the past two weeks. Washington Mutual Inc., the big Seattle thrift that has bought American Savings, Great Western and is in the process of purchasing H.F. Ahmanson, is fast becoming a familiar name throughout Los Angeles not only for its extensive advertising campaign, but also for numerous community outreach efforts.
Explained Washington Mutual Chairman Kerry Killinger: “Straight out of the blocks after the Great Western acquisition, I committed about four months to getting out to meet with every employee of the company to sell them on what our vision is, what our corporate culture is and what our service expectations are.”
By contrast, there is Boeing Co., which has become L.A.’s largest private employer by virtue of its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp. There have been few visits by Boeing’s Seattle-based management to Los Angeles and certainly little effort to meet the Southern California troops or establish new ties with the community. In fact, a high-level Boeing official seemed unaware last week that the company was L.A. County’s biggest private employer.
Cynics, of course, would point out the different strategic considerations of Washington Mutual and Boeing. One is a financial services company that will rely heavily on a local customer base. The other is a global manufacturing giant that found itself at the top of the heap in L.A. not by design, but by happenstance. It really doesn’t matter whether Boeing builds its planes in Los Angeles or Timbuktu and the company’s continued indecision on the future of the Douglas Aircraft lines in Long Beach makes that point clear.
Regardless of motivation or circumstance, however, Washington Mutual and Boeing have become part of the local business landscape, and their involvement in the area would seem to make sense on any number of levels.
Consider the workforce. These companies, along with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Lockheed Martin, TRW and all the other out-of-towners, employ tens of thousands of people throughout Los Angeles, and keeping them satisfied and committed is just good business especially at a time of low unemployment and increased job-hopping.
Consider, too, the politics. Any out-of-town company with an interest in Los Angeles might at some point want to expand here and that could mean the need for permits, zoning approvals and even tax credits. Who will local governments give more consideration to: The absentee owner who seldom visits the area and who doesn’t become active in local business organizations, or the absentee owner who recognizes the importance of this community and makes the appropriate investments in time and resources?
Los Angeles has never been a place dominated by Fortune 500 companies unlike, say, Chicago or New York. And yet, names like Arco, Unocal, Home Savings, Great Western, Carter Hawley Hale and Lockheed have been important corporate pillars. These companies recognized their economic and philanthropic role. Now that the out-of-towners are quickly replacing those familiar names, the question is whether we can expect anywhere near the same level of commitment. And if not, who fills the void?
