Dubai a Top 10 business location

Dubai figures among the top 10 most popular business locations in the world, with almost 56 per cent of the world’s largest companies operating in the emirate, according to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

Of the companies profiled, over half (56.1 per cent) have an office presence in Dubai, ranking it ninth overall, while the UAE as a whole was ranked 15th in the country rankings, with 171 companies present (61.1 per cent), the real estate services firm said in a new report.

Business Footprints – Global Office Locations mapped the global office footprint of 280 major international companies, across 101 countries and 232 cities.

Hong Kong, which is home to 68.2 per cent of companies surveyed, was ranked as the world’s number one business location, followed by Singapore (67.5 per cent) and Tokyo (63.9 per cent).

London was ranked the fourth most popular business location in the world (63.2 per cent), while Shanghai (61.4 per cent) came in fifth.

In the industrial goods and services sector, Dubai was ranked seventh globally, with 23 of the companies surveyed present. This represents 70 per cent of the total amount
Dubai has emerged as a “gateway” city between Europe and the Far East and as a base for conducting business in places such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Nick Maclean, Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis Middle East, said: “The continuing trend to off-shore parts of a business could distribute corporate activities more widely and reduce the degree of sector concentration for some cities. Dubai has a relatively balanced tenant mix. Over the past 10 years the city has been designed and constructed with the specific intention of attracting major international firms from a broad range of sectors.

He added: “Whilst a number of government initiatives and tax breaks have helped do this, it is the creation of an integrated air and sea transport hub and regionally important financial centre which has created a strong resident talent pool, without which internationalisation would have been impossible.”

The CBRE report found a number of cities in less developed emerging markets becoming home to a significant proportion of international companies.

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