Business in Hawaii

Hawaii is famous for its beaches and multicultural ambiance, as well as challenging golf courses and five-star hotels. Less well known is Hawaii as a business center offering the business person an array of commercial opportunities, from providing goods and services to seven million annual visitors, to expanding operations in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, and meeting the day-to-day needs of Hawaii's one million plus population.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Basin Economic Council is an association of senior business leaders from throughout the Pacific Basin Region dedicated to expanding trade and investment through fostering open markets.

Advanced technology is one of the fastest growing sectors of Hawaii's economy, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the private sector, University of Hawaii research, and a state government attuned to industry's special needs. Hawaii's pristine natural resources have long made it the premier place for advanced technology - astronomy, oceanography, and biosciences. Hawaii is also fully connected globally with its diverse network of trans-Pacific cables, satellite communications, and cellular and wireless services.

The Pacific Telecommunications Council, also based in Hawaii, is an international membership organization that brings together in a single forum both the producers and users of communication services.

Hawaii's state-of-the-art convention center accommodates every need of today's internationally minded business and professional associations. It has recently hosted annual meetings for both the Pacific Basin Economic Council and the Asian Development Bank.

The beautiful island of Maui is home to one of the world's most powerful parallel processing super computers. The Maui Research and Technology Center assists companies by working with them to explore the computer's potential in meeting complex business and scientific applications.

The state's technological support capability is further enhanced by programs of Hawaii's High Technology Development Corporation and venture capital funding of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation.

The international film industry is discovering how Hawaii's dramatic scenery, rich cultural tapestry and abundant technical expertise can spell profits for all varieties of filmmaking.

The Big Island of Hawaii is a leader in using new ocean technologies for product development. The Big Island's Mauna Kea volcano is the preferred site of European, Japanese and U.S. astronomers for locating their most powerful telescopes.

Hawaii's thirteen foreign trade zones offer significant tax benefits for those companies interested in storing, assembling, or manufacturing goods for international markets.

Hawaii offers you the convenience of talking to New York and Tokyo during the same business day. You can be ahead of your competitors and treat yourself to the best things in life by making Hawaii your place of business.

For more information, visit the Department of Business & Economic Development And Tourism website.

Hawaii is perfectly located for global commerce, and has the strongest and most fully-developed business infrastructure in the Pacific. No other area rivals Hawaii's strength in industries such as oceanography, astronomy, aquaculture, renewable energy, marine biology and biotechnology. No other area offers the ethnic and cultural mix that Hawaii offers: Polynesian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, European and mainland-American work ethics, languages and skills are blended here.

A study by the Academy of Management ranked the research productivity of the College of Business Administration at the University of Hawaii among the top twenty-five among all business schools in the United States in both international business and information technology. Business Week Magazine ranked the school's executive-education programs among the top thirty in the world and the very best on Asia-Pacific business.

Employees can experience fresh, leading-edge courses in entrepreneurism and e-commerce. The school offers MBA programs with either a China- or Japan-based focus, in cooperation with the Japan-America Institute of Management Science, or "JAIMS." Both the college and JAIMS have been universally recognized for decades of excellence in international business with an Asia-Pacific focus.

Students from all 50 United States and more than 94 countries worldwide attend Hawaii Pacific University, the largest independent university in Hawaii, with a wide range of graduate programs. The Pacific-Asian Management Institute offers the only US international business program to concentrate exclusively on the Asian region. The Asia-Pacific Center for Executive Development conducts education and training programs for executives.

The Academy for International Business is a professional organization for international business educators, researchers and consultants with almost three thousand members in sixty-five countries.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center does collaborative research on issues that are important to the economic growth and stability of the area.

Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
250 S. Hotel Street, 5th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813

Telephone: (808) 586-2355
Email: dbedt.director@hawaii.gov

Content provided courtesy of Aloha Hawaii Guide.