Analysis by Crossborder Group Finds Tijuana #1 City in North America for Medical Device Manufacturing Employment

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Recently released research by Crossborder Group on the medical device industry shows that Tijuana, Baja California, has the highest amount of medical device manufacturing employment in North America, with over 30,000 employees in this city alone.

In a new briefing paper prepared for the Tijuana Economic Development Corporation (DEITAC), “Tijuana: North America’s Medical Device Manufacturing Capital”, Crossborder Group compared medical device cluster employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for key U.S. counties and States,  along with late-2010  employment data from 38 companies in Tijuana surveyed by Crossborder, and regional data from Canada. The result: Tijuana’s medical device manufacturing employment was larger than that of the number two region (the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area) by more than 7,000 employees.

           

“We knew that putting Tijuana up as a leader in North America for such an important technology sector would create some controversy,” states Kenn Morris, President of Crossborder Group, in charge of the study. “But the reality is that it’s based on data and independent facts…

Gaining Altitude: Aerospace industry report by Crossborder Group shows 7,300+ employees in Tijuana

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FACT: there are 29 aerospace industry firms operating in the City of Tijuana, Baja California.

FACT: based on a company survey of each of those 29 firms, Crossborder Group found average Q2-2011 employment totaling 7,313 workers, making Tijuana the Mexican city with the largest number of aerospace cluster employees within 400 miles of the US-Mexico border.

These are just two of the many findings in a recent aerospace industry white paper developed by Crossborder Group for the City of Tijuana Economic Development Corporation (DEITAC) and released at this year’s Paris Air Show by DEITAC and Baja California business and economic leaders. As with most of Crossborder’s business projects,

Border Surveys: Crossborder Holiday Shoppers Leave the Green in San Diego Stores

Download: PDF CrossborderInforma Brief on Crossborder Shoppers

Crossborder Group has released initial findings from their December 2010 (Winter Quarter) at-border surveys, conducted among nearly 1,000, randomly-selected northbound car, SENTRI, and pedestrian travelers at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry.  These results (download PDF at right) highlight nearly 800 responses from Mexico-residing visitors into San Diego and their Christmas Holiday purchases in San Diego County.

“Since 2003 we’ve been surveying border crossers, and have repeatedly asked Mexican shoppers to estimate their household expenditures on Christmas gifts purchased in San Diego,” explains Kenn Morris, President of California-based Crossborder Group and it’s Mexico subsidiary, Crossborder NS, S de RL de CV.  “This last Holiday season, Baja California visitors estimated that they’d spent $536 dollars per household on Christmas gifts purchased in San Diego — that’s an enormous and positive economic impact that the public should know about.”

Crossborder’s Research Data Highlighted in Article

We must admit:  it’s nice when your work gets some recognition — so it was a real treat for our Mexico market research staff to see data from some recent industry research being used in by the San Diego Union Tribune in a recent article (“Tijuana group aims to change city’s image” – August 8, 2010, by Sandra Dibble).

Tijuana Employment by Sectors - Data by Crossborder Group

While the print edition included two graphics (including some data we provided on the number of IMMEX/maquiladora firms in major Mexican cities), the online edition included the graph at right — which shows approximate employment numbers for various tech clusters in Tijuana based on research our team did over the last few months (including medical devices, aerospace, and others).

One piece of new information (which didn’t really get covered in the article) was our estimate of Call Center employment in Tijuana.  This is an emerging industry not just in Tijuana, but other parts of Mexico as well — and one that has much potential for growth (particularly given the bilingual nature of the US-Mexico border States). Look for more research from Crossborder Group on this topic in the coming months….

Our Two Pesos: Time to Make the San Diego-Tijuana Crossborder Airport Terminal a Reality

US-Mexico Border & Tijuana's Airport (TIJ)

For those keeping up on border infrastructure issues in the California-Baja California region, some quiet progress has been happening that could dramatically shape the future of the binational sister cities of Tijuana and San Diego.  On July 23, the U.S. State Department issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) [link] for Otay-Tijuana Venture, LLC’s proposed crossborder airport terminal — followed even more quickly than some (including ourselves) could imagine with the issuance on August 4 (only hours ago, as of this writing) by Secretary of State Clinton of the Presidential Permit required to authorize moving forward on the project [link to announcement].

While many may not be familiar with this project, the concept has been discussed at various governmental levels (and various levels of interest) since at least 1991 — the year that Mexico’s Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) proposed an expansion of Tijuana’s International Airport (TIJ) that included two runways and a US terminal in Otay Mesa. More recently, a local economic development organization, the South County Economic Development Council (SCEDC), has championed the concept, resulting in a positive preliminary study in 2007-2008 by the San Diego Airport Authority. Our own firm, in fact, included questions about the crossborder terminal concept in our own at-border surveys for several years — a few results of which are presented at bottom — finding that over one-third of San Diego residents that crossed the border had flown out of TIJ at least once within the last year.

Front Page Union-Tribune Article Features Crossborder’s President on Border Crossing Trends

This week, the San Diego Union-Tribune covered recent trends of border crossings between San Diego and Tijuana — quoting Crossborder Group’s President, Kenn Morris, and highlighting some of the firm’s recent research. “It is great to see the U-T covering such an important aspect of our binational economy.  This is an area that has been in steady decline since 2003, but is finally starting to show signs of stabilization,” states Morris.  “There’s really a huge lack of data available about who’s crossing the border and why — something that our own team at Crossborder Group has been trying to solve with periodic at-border surveys.”  Current plans are, in fact, underway by Crossborder to conduct these surveys on a quarterly basis to create more real data, and up-to-date information regarding border crossers and their impact on the binational region.

You can access the Union-Tribune article here

Crossborder News: Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods Eats Up Baja California (and likes it!)

The border can be a pretty serious place, but sometimes we can find some unexpected fun.  Last December, Crossborder Group received a call from a good friend, Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA fame, who had reached out to the adventurous people of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.  At the time, with all of the bad news circulating about Tijuana, we didn’t think his outreach would go too far…but, thankfully, we were wrong.  In fact, the production company, Tremendous! Entertainment, was asking for some insights into Baja California’s security situation — as well as some suggestions on how to handle security when the crew was on the ground.  The team from Crossborder Group sprung into action, pulling together the most recent security statistics, providing some context about comparative risks in Baja California (which we still find are relatively low, compared with many other regions of the world…and even a few popular places in the United States), and got in touch with the State of Baja California Tourism Secretariat — which worked closely with Mr. Zimmern’s crew while they were visiting Tijuana and Ensenada in January of this year.  Remember January? All of the bad press about security in Tijuana and Mexico?  Well…thankfully, Andrew Zimmern and Bizarre Foods got to see for themselves.

Andrew Zimmern...enjoying Baja California

The result:  Bizarre Foods in Baja California, airing this coming Monday, June 14th.  For those that have been wondering if they should return back to Baja — check it out.  For those that love great food in Tijuana and Ensenada (oh…yes, and La Paz, too!), it’s a great program, too.  The only thing better:  going back and eating at your favorite places in Baja California.  After some excellent meals with clients recently at Casa Plasencia and Cheripan in Tijuana…well, all we can say is “thanks” for Mr. Zimmern for coming, and while most of the food is far from bizarre — a lot of people appreciate his effort to highlight a part of what Mexico has to offer (oh, and thanks to Tremendous! Entertainment for appreciating the work that went into the security and risk analysis that Crossborder Group provided).

Update (6/10/2010):  Looks like some additional information about this episode is now on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BizarreFoods) and the BF Twitter page (http://twitter.com/bizarrefoods), including some TwitPics of Mr. Zimmern in Ensenada… If you like the episode, let them know (or invite them back for more!).

Our Two-Pesos: Today’s Travel Warning for Mexico – What Does it Mean?

Yesterday, Mexico joined a long list of countries — including Colombia, Eritrea, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iran (among others) — on the U.S. State Department’s Travel Warning list. This Warning comes only three weeks after the State Department issued a Travel Alert for Mexico — one that used more than 80% of the same text as used in a previous Alert, and was the subject of our blog posting on February 25th, “Is New U.S. State Department Travel Alert on Mexico Fair?”

What has prompted this change — the “downgrading” of Mexico (in essence) from an Alert to a Warning? The sad facts are…[read more]

Spring At-Border Surveys Underway – Otay Mesa & San Ysidro POEs

If you’re seeing bright yellow shirts with the US-Mexico region and big words saying “CrossborderSurveys” on them… then you know that Crossborder Group staff is hard at work conducting at-border surveys!

Over the next few weeks, you’ll find our crews at the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro Ports of Entry, surveying northbound border crossers about a variety of subjects.  Beyond questions related to crossborder shopping and economic impacts, we’re also collecting some insights about crossborder insurance and perceptions of security.

One other new set of data also will relate to time:  we’re doing some random sampling of car crossings to better understand the time-savings for inspections of SENTRI versus regular cars crossing at those POEs.  Look for some new reports and data coming out in late-April — and feel free to contact us at Answers@CrossborderBusiness.com if you have any questions!

Crossborder's Staff Surveying SENTRI Border Crossers - Otay Mesa

Client News: Tijuana EDC & Industry Leaders Announce 1st International Aerospace Forum on March 17-19, 2010

Some good news today out of Tijuana — related to the upcoming March 17-19 International Aerospace Supplier Forum being organized later this month. Previously, Crossborder had developed an Aerospace/Defense Industry Fact Sheet for our client (the Tijuana EDC [DEITAC]), and today our CrossborderComunica marketing team distributed the following press release about Mexico’s “1st International Aerospace Supplier Forum” to business media contacts in the U.S. and Mexico…[read more]