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ADERLY Environmental Scan

Marco Cassone and Antonia Nicols MSOD616: OD Practitioner as a Global Citizen Dr. Miriam Lacey May 26, 2013

Doing Business in Lyon Antonia: Lyon has made a strong push to be business-friendly over the past several years; the Aderly website lists three different relocation services alone, which speaks to both the commitment to business development as well as to the actual need for those services. Much of this focus on attracting large corporations (71 new companies set up shop in Lyon in 2012) appears to be driven by the current Mayor, who has attempted to streamline layers of local administration and bureaucracy, and emphasized upgrading Lyons outdated road network and airport while focusing on cutting edge technologies such as environmental sciences, energy, life sciences, transport and communications, chemicals, and a growing media and gaming industry well-suited to Lyons young population (approximately 28% of Lyons population is under 30). Because of these efforts, Lyon has been able to somewhat offset the rampant unemployment and stagnation found in many parts of France; however, the question remains how much this focus on innovation has become intrinsic to the culture of the city, and how much is the result of the efforts of a few individuals who could be replaced at any time. This is one of the hypotheses I would be interested in testing once in Lyon. Marco: Exploration online gives a favorable, welcoming impression of Lyons business environment, in spite of current economic struggle in France and much of Europe. The progressive, innovative, and pro-business attitude of the city has placed Lyon second in France in international real estate investment, largely thanks to its adaptive infrastructure and central location in the European Union. My Learning Group, Alchemy, interviewed Sakina Zerrel and Dr. Anthony Palombit, who offered insight into Lyon through the lenses of a French-American transplant and an international OD consultant. During the interviews, it was shared that many Parisians hold the prejudice that France can be effectively divided between the sophisticates in Paris and the provincial everyone else. While Lyon may be overlooked in the shadow of its renowned older sibling to the north, it may still proudly boast that it is the seat of Interpol and Euronews, the decision center of over 1,500 businesses, and home to over 900 businesses with foreign capital.

Living in Lyon Antonia: Given the number of new companies moving into Lyon, relocating as a foreigner to Lyon may be easier than moving to other parts of France. In fact, outside of Paris (definitely an international city), it does appear that Lyon has made a concerted effort to welcome foreign nationals and to adopt an international viewpoint. According to the ADDERLY site, the city has made a strong commitment to making the city liveable according to international standards. However, the ADDERLY website did not provide any testimonials from foreign nationals who have relocated to the city; nor was there much in the way of support for expatriates listed on the site itself. This would not be surprising given what we have learned about French culture, and the French position that foreigners should (as they do in the States) assimilate themselves into French culture, as opposed to the French going out of their way to make expats feel at home. As someone who is used to living and working overseas, I think Lyon would be an exceptionally welcoming environment to work in compared to other areas of France; however, compared to a culture like Singapore (with population of approximately 18% expats), I believe that adjusting to living in Lyon would still require me to adjust significantly to French norms and by needing to tone down my American-ness, rather than to operate in an international or expat environment. Marco: Its not hard to google up info confirming Lyons initial appeal to me, such as its position 2nd in France and 39th globally in Mercer's 2010 liveability rankings. Beyond external validation, my personal take on Liveability for Marco has evolved to have more of a systems perspective. Considering the relationship between effectiveness and alignment, I now think of liveability as my capacity to adapt my deep cultural assumptions to fit a new potential environment. Challenging a few, very different deep cultural assumptions can be doable, even fun, as can be challenging many cultural peculiarities. A younger Marco used to love the intensity of adapting to new and bizarre cultures, as it built up what I now see as my

intercultural toolkit. These days, however, the constant state of high inquiry and high advocacy needed to bridge the gap between my and a completely different reality is no longer what Id call liveable. (The chart I created may portray my ideas more clearly.) That said, these impressions of life in Lyon and in France in general do appeal to me: Relationships are said to be deeper and less transactional than relationships in the US. There is a healthier work-life balance; people work to live rather than live to work. The French pace in business is slower, more thoughtful, engaged in their love of debate. The innovative, entrepreneurial nature of Lyon has fostered a thriving startup community. There is a stronger sense of tradition and a broader perspective given by historical context. Antonias and Marcos shared hypotheses to test: Environment How open are people in Lyon to outsiders who fit a certain mold (i.e. educated Northern Europeans/Americans) and how open are they to diversity in general? Can differences in openness to diversity, innovation, modernization of the city, etc. largely be explained by the gap between the older, more traditionalist population and a younger, english-speaking Gen Y? Innovation How much is innovation given by the Mayor and selected officials, and how much is it part of the citys culture? National How important is it for Lyon to be international, and how important is it for it to be French? Lyon is aggressively setting itself up to be dependent on foreign capital. How does that dovetail with the French cultural norm of independence? Integration What does Lyon get out of being a deregulated system within a highly regulated system? What are the costs? How welcome do expats feel to express their own culture, and how much are they expected to adapt to French cultural norms? Is there a clearly defined expat culture, or is that discouraged? Tradition What is the push towards innovation? What is the pull towards tradition?

International Does a younger generation identify themselves as French first or as Gen Y first? Do they even identify themselves as Gen Y? How does that impact how they perceive themselves and how they do business?

References

ADERLY, The Lyon Area Economic Development Agency. Retrieved from: http://www.aderly.com/developpement-economique/french-economic-developmentagency,p,0,EN.jsp The Only Lyon Project. Retrieved from: http://www.onlylyon.org/why-move-to-lyon-28-2.html Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living Ranking. Retrieved from: http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings Live interview with Dr. Anthony Palombit on May 26, 2013.