World Business Chicago (WBC) is the city’s economic development office, coordinating business retention, attraction and expansion efforts in order to spur and accelerate economic growth. WBC raises Chicago’s profile as a premier business destination and serves as a resource for companies.

1. Think Business. Think Chicago.
Business Center of North America

2. Overview
• About World Business Chicago
– Our Mission
– Services
• About Chicago
– An Economic Force
– Thinkers & Doers
– A Global City
– Cost of Doing Business
– Quality of Life

3. Our Mission
Founded in 1999, World Business Chicago
(WBC) is the city’s economic development
office, coordinating business retention,
attraction and expansion efforts in order to spur
and accelerate economic growth.
World Business Chicago has been ranked among the
Top 10 Economic Development Firms in the nation
since 2005, by Site Selection magazine.
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4. Our Board
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chairman Michael Sacks, Co-Chairman
City of Chicago CEO, Grosvenor Capital Management

5. Our Organization
President
Chicago Career Tech World Business Chicago
Business Development Marketing Operations Research

6. We’re Your Advocate
• We help companies navigate the
relocation and expansion process
• A public/private partnership, WBC
serves as a conduit to the business
and civic communities
Mellody Hobson
• By uniting all the necessary parties, President,
we demonstrate that Chicago is the Ariel Investments
ultimate global business destination
• WBC assures that companies get the
services and guidance needed to
make informed location decisions
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7. We’re Your Connection
Our Business Development specialists
are experts in nearly every industry,
assisting with:
• Firm attraction and retention
• Technology development
• Policy and program assistance
WBC’s Strategic Initiatives department
strengthens partnerships with:
• Area universities and business schools
• WBC Ambassadors
• Area medical industry

8. We’re Your Source
WBC’s Research staff serve as a resource for:
• Chicago area real estate and investment activity
• Economic, demographic, and business indicator databases
• Primary research in partnership with outside organizations
Our Marketing department offers tools and
resources showcasing Chicago as an ideal
business location:
• Sponsorships & convention partnerships
• Ad campaigns
• Website & social media marketing

9. We’re Chicago
The city's unique character can be
attributed to its:
• people
• location/infrastructure
• collaborative business and government community
• unprecedented array of cultural activities
and destinations
A “truly world-class city”
- Michel Gourvennec, Former President and CEO of Veolia
Environmental Services North America

10. An Economic Force
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11. Economic Strengths
• Easy access to North American operations
and customers
• Top 20 Global Destination City based on
investment
• Convenience to global markets and
financial centers
• One of the world's largest and most CME Group Globex Command Center
diversified economies
• Efficient economic powerhouse
• A unique combination of business
resources, quality of life, and great people

12. An Economy that Rivals Nations
RANKING
$GROSS PRODUCT ($US BILLIONS)
19 25
SWITZERLAND NORWAY
$524 $414
16
NETHERLAND
S 23
9
$783
6 SWEDEN
$456 11
15
U.K.
21 RUSSIA
20
CANADA $2,247 $1,465
KOREA
$1,574
5 4
POLAND
$469
FRANCE
$1,007
1 CHICAGO $2,583 GERMANY
2 UNITED STATES $500 12
$3,316
17
CHINA
3 $14,658
SPAIN
8 TURKEY
$5,878
JAPAN
$5,459 14
*1,410 ITALY
$2,055
$742
10
MEXICO 22 INDIA
$1,538
$1,039 BELGIUM
18 $466 24
INDONISIA SAUDI ARABIA
$707
7 $444
BRAZIL
$2,090
13
AUSTRALIA
$1,236
Source: IMF, Moody’s Analytics

13. The Country’s Most Diversified Economy
12 4 8
Detroit Philadelphia Boston
1 10
9 Chicago New York
San Francisco 13
Washington, DC
7
Los Angeles
6
Riverside 2
Atlanta
5
Dallas
11
Houston
Source: Moody’s Investor Services 3
Miami

14. A Strong Metro Area
Chicago is the heart of a major
metropolitan area comprised of:
• 9.5 million residents, a growth of 4% City of Chicago
(+360,000 people) since 2000 2,695,598
• $500 billion annual gross regional product
• 4.3 million workers
The city is home to 2.7 million Total Chicago MSA Population
residents and 1.2 million workers
9,461,105

15. Economic Drivers
Manufacturing Business and Support Services
Financial Services
• Paper and printing • Transportation – air, rail,
• Management of
• Chemicals/petroleum water and ground
companies
and coal products • Durable goods
• Administrative and
• Plastics and rubber wholesalers
support services
• Primary and • Warehousing and
• Securities, commodities
fabricated metals
and other investments storage
• Electrical equipment
• Funds, trusts, and other • Educational services
components and
appliances financial vehicles • Museums and cultural /
historical sites

16. A City of Headquarters
• More than 400 major
corporate headquarters
• 34 S&P 500 companies
• 27 Fortune 500 HQs –
including 7 in the City
• 9 FT Global 500 HQs
• 10 Fortune Global 500 HQs
“It makes sense to grow here. There
is a wealth of financial services and
banking talent available to us in
Chicago at very good value. It’s a
great place to work and live. It’s a
pro-business city.”
- GE Capital CEO Daniel Henson

17. Growth Clusters
Financial trading
• Chicago is home to 17% of the world’s trading
activity for futures, options & derivatives - more
volume than New York, and almost as much volume
as ALL of the European exchanges combined.
High tech
• With 200 of the 5,000 Fastest Growing
Companies in the U.S., Chicago’s high-tech industry
contributed $56 billion to Chicago’s economy in 2010
• Generating an estimated $73 billion dollars of output
and 402,400 jobs in 2010, Chicago’s top 10 export
sectors include:
– Medical instruments
– Electric machinery & computers
– Chemicals & pharmaceuticals
– Aircraft parts

18. Chicago’s Key Industries
Ranked Top 5 among 350+ metro areas
for Gross Regional Product (GRP):
• Business & Professional Services
• Financial Services
• Manufacturing
• Transportation & Distribution
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19. Thinkers and Doers
UIC South Campus
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20. The Country’s Brightest Minds
• Home to Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University and Booth School of
Business at University of Chicago, two of the
top business schools in the world
• Chicago Loop is “the largest college town in
Illinois,” with more than 65,000 students
• Over 100,000 degrees conferred by
Chicago area colleges and universities
annually, including 28,800 bachelor’s degrees,
15,600 masters degrees, and 3,500 doctoral
degrees in the city alone
• Rated #2 Best City to Get a Degree among
60 global cities

21. Center for Innovation
• More than 250 corporate R&D facilities
• 93 Nobel Prize winners
• 1,200+ patents issued by City of Chicago
inventors in 2010 alone
• Over $2 billion in venture capital invested in
Chicago area startups over the past 5 years
• Startup successes including Careerbuilder,
Groupon, Morningstar, Orbitz
• $1.4 billion in R&D expenditures at 16 area
colleges and universities

22. Talent Within Reach
• 600,000+ people flow downtown each
business day – more than half take
mass transit
• 2.4+ million working-age adults are
within a 50-minute commute of
downtown Chicago
≤ 20 min
≤ 50 min
≤ 70 min
≤ 90 min

23. A Highly Diverse Labor Pool
2010 Employment by Industry
Professional Services
Education & Health Services
Government
Retail
Manufacturing
Leisure and Hospitality
Financial Activities
Wholesale Chicago Region (MSA)
Other Services
City of Chicago
Transportation & Utilities
Construction
Information
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000
Source: Illinois Department of Employment Security, Bureau of Labor
Statistics

24. A Global City
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25. Global Competitiveness
Chicago ranked #4 Most Economically Powerful City in
the World (behind Tokyo, New York and London)
• The Global Economic Power Index by Richard Florida and Martin
Prosperity Institute measuring economic output, financial power and
innovation
Among 9 ―Global Leaders‖
• City of London’s 2011 Global Financial Centres, a report identifying
cities with ―broad and deep financial services activities and
connections with many other financial centers‖
#2 in Transportation & Infrastructure (behind Paris) and top
tier in areas such as digital economy, ease of doing
business, R&D, entrepreneurial environment, financial and business
services, low cost of living, diversity, mass transit, and number of
hospitals
• The Partnership for New York City and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2011
Cities of Opportunity, an annual report on what makes cities thrive
#6 Global City of 65 metro areas
• Foreign Policy’s 2010 Global Cities Index

26. International Business Destination
Top 20 Global Destination City based on
investment
Home to well over 1,500 foreign-based companies
and more than $40 billion in foreign direct
investment
Robust international business resources including:
• 79 Consulates/Consuls General and fastest growing
consular corps in the U.S.
• 40+ international/ethnic Chambers of Commerce
• 90+ international trade-based organizations
• 28 international sister cities
Only U.S. city with top ranking for
global investment activity in IBM’s
2009 Global Location Trends report

27. Access to the World
Only ―dual-hub‖ airport system in
North America – handling more than
2,900 flights per day and over 85
million passengers annually
Non-stop service to more
than 200 domestic and
international destinations

28. International Trade Partners
Chicago Customs District – 2010 Total Trade
China
Canada
Japan
EXPORTS IMPORTS
Korea
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Source: WISER Trade , U.S. Census
Taiwan Bureau, Foreign Trade Division, World Bank
$0 $10 $20 $30 $40
Exports & Imports - $US (Billions)

29. Cost of Doing Business
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30. Business Advantages
Chicago offers a business cost advantage
over many global cities:
• Competitive office & industrial rates
• Ranked one of the most cost-effective cities in
the world for doing business—ahead of
London, New York, and Boston
• Central location & time zone eases business travel
and communications with both U.S. coasts
• Top connection point for
air, rail, highway, telecom, and Internet

31. Business Costs
Tokyo
San Francisco
New York
London
Los Angeles
Boston
Paris
CHICAGO
Source: KPMG Guide to Competitive Business
Philadelphia
Alternatives which ranks 112 metro areas and 17
Atlanta industries across 30 cost dimensions including:
Toronto financing, labor, utilities, transportation and taxes
70 80 90 100 110 120

32. Quality of Life
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33. Cost of Living
New York… 216
San Francisco 164
Washington, D.C. 140
Los Angeles 136
Boston 132
Philadelphia 126
Chicago 117
Miami 106
U.S. Average 100
Detroit 99
Atlanta 96
Houston 92
Dallas 92
0 50 100 150 200 250
Source: C2ER Cost of Living Index, 2010 Annual Average Data

34. World Class Dining, Hotels, Shopping
Dining
• More AAA 5-Diamond-rated restaurants than any other city
in the country; 23 Michelin-starred restaurants including
two 3-star restaurants; Nine James Beard Awards in the
past 5 years
Hotels
• 30,000+ hotel rooms downtown including 2 Zagat’s Top 10
World Hotels (Four Seasons and the Peninsula) and 5
Condé Nast Gold List Hotels
Convention Facilities
• 10 million business visitors in 2010
• Largest convention center in the U.S. - McCormick Place
Retail
• Over 600 stores in and around ―The Magnificent Mile‖

35. Nightlife & Entertainment
• 150+ theater companies in the city alone
• Home to world-renowned Chicago
Symphony, Lyric Opera and Joffrey Ballet
• Only city with 5 Tony Award-winning
regional theater companies
• Hundreds of nightclubs with over 1,000
performances during a typical summer
week
• Hundreds of festivals from block parties
to Lollapalooza and Pitchfork

36. Museums & Performing Arts
35+ museums in the City, including:
• Field Museum – the home of the world's most
complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton; 1.3 million
visitors
• Art Institute – 1.8 million visitors and one of the
largest membership bases of any art museum in the
U.S. (89,000 in 2009)
• Museum of Science & Industry – 1.6 million visitors
• Children’s Museum – 718,000 visitors in 2009

37. Parks & Lakefront
• 570 parks with 7,500+ acres of parkland (42
acres of parkland per resident)
• 26 miles of lakefront, 15 miles and 31 beaches
in the City alone
• Millennium Park – a 25-acre park in the heart
of downtown, attracting 4 million visitors
annually
• Lincoln Park – attracts 20 million visitors annually.
Its zoo is the oldest public zoo (and one of
the only free zoos) in the country, with an
estimated annual attendance of 3 million
• 5,200+ public marina boat slips in the City
(+4,000 more in the larger metro region)

38. Think Big
Chicago is a smart, dynamic city “Think Big” Chicago
that offers a quality of life
unparalleled by any other major
metropolis, providing a community
with world class amenities for
businesses, residents, and visitors.
“I am committed to creating an economic
climate in Chicago that attracts and retains
businesses and encourages growth and
investment.” - Mayor Rahm Emanuel
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39. Think Business. Think Chicago.