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Competitive Alternatives: KPMG's Guide to International Business Location 2010 Edition

KPMG's Competitive Alternatives ranks 100 cities in 10 countries based on business costs, labor pool, economic conditions, infrastructure, regulatory environment, cost of living, and quality of life.

4/1/2010
Mexico is one of the least expensive places to do business, according to KMPG's 2010 Competitive Alternatives study, which provides a guide to international business locations. The report is the most thorough comparison of international locations the company has ever undertaken.

The KPMG study compares business costs for more than 100 cities in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It focuses on international business costs, as well as non-cost factors that may lure companies to a particular country. Those include labor availability and skills, economic conditions and markets, innovation, infrastructure, regulatory environment, cost of living, and quality of life. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas-Fort Worth served as benchmarks for comparison.

Mexico had the lowest cost of doing business, coming in at more than 18 percent below the U. S. business cost. Canada scored 5 percent lower, and the Netherlands 3.5 percent. Italy ranked equally to the U. S. cost, while Germany was nearly 3 percent above, and Japan nearly 8 percent higher.

Mexico also had the lowest labor and facility costs, while Canada had the lowest corporate income taxes for manufacturing, corporate, and IT businesses.

Since the report analyzed business conditions in different cities within the same country, figures fluctuate. For instance, business costs in Manchester, England are seven percentage points lower than in London.

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