The School of Business joined WorldCity as a co-sponsor for its fifth annual Who's Here Celebration May 13 to honor the 1,100-plus multinationals in South Florida and the more than 125,000 employees who work for them here. The annual event also capped a year of research which was conducted to better understand the role of the multinationals in the local community and their impact on Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world. This was the third year that the School of Business co-sponsored the study and celebration.

While the study finds that the region's multinational companies employ more than 125,000 people, it also finds that they oversee close to 600,000 people throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and around the world. The research finds that they oversee more than $200 billion in annual revenues.

"To be sure, the global recession had an impact on the multinationals focused on Latin America, but generally speaking, the impact was indirect as these companies continued to perform well in their region," said WorldCity President Ken Roberts. "Often cutbacks, whether in travel, employees or marketing, were the result of company-wide initiatives rather than the actual performance of the companies in the region."

"Many of the countries in which they are engaged, led by Brazil, but including Colombia, Peru and a number of others, continued to have relatively robust economies," Roberts said. "In particular, health care and telecommunications companies fared quite well and, in many cases, continued to have double-digit growth."

"This research makes it very clear that leading organizations recognize Miami and South Florida as a key hub in the new global economy and vital to conducting business internationally," said Barbara E. Kahn, dean of the School of Business Administration. "As the economy recovers and as business becomes even more global, the region will continue to build on its position as one of the world's most important international business gateways."

The other title sponsors for WorldCity's research are the Beacon Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.