Paris: Paris Sizzles

Along with the Eiffel Tower, the cancan, superb gastronomy and “April,” add an additional attraction to iconic Paris: business. Already one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, with 45 million visitors a year, Paris is also home to Fortune 500 companies — 37 of them. Landmarks joining the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre Museum include the headquarters of L’Oreal, Air France, Renault, Vivendi, Total, Coca-Cola Europe and other international firms.

The locomotives so romantically portrayed in Impressionist paintings were part of a network of railroads bringing 19th-century immigrants to Paris to work in light and heavy industries established across the city in the 1800s. Emerging as an important center of technology, trade and tourism, Paris built the Eiffel Tower, the showy entrance arch of the 1889 World’s Fair, as an early symbol of its technological advancements.

The city’s unchanged historic center, a mere six miles in diameter, retains the traditional financial district scattered around the former Bourse stock exchange and the Opéra. But after World War II, economic activity moved from the city proper toward the suburbs, creating the most populated region of Europe and the continent’s biggest city economy.

Follow the Champs-Élysées straight to the west beyond the Arc de Triomphe, and just beyond the Periphérique ring road lies La Défense, the largest purpose-built business district in Europe. Seventy-two glass and steel buildings on 77 acres, the gleaming complex provides 38 million square feet of office space and restaurants, fountains, an esplanade, public art and malls for 180,000 workers and 20,000 residents. An ambitious plan to regenerate and expand the area’s buildings, transportation and residential balance set for completion in 2015 is stalling in the economic slowdown.

While only the 20th-largest urban area in the world, Paris’ gross domestic product is fifth in the world, ranking after only Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Though manufacturing has declined to 10 percent of the gross domestic product, through sheer size greater Paris is still a manufacturing powerhouse making building materials, automobiles, machine tools and railroad rolling stock. But industry has shifted, evolving to a diverse high-tech and service economy with top businesses including construction, printing and publishing, electric and electronic products, chemicals and processed foods. In a city synonymous with fashion, clothing and luxury goods are prominent. With the city a popular venue for trade shows, fashion shows, international seminars and conferences, tourism remains an important factor.

Since Napoleon III’s mid-19th-century renovation creating the city’s grand boulevards, Paris has been a city of master plans, and recent years have seen several proposals aimed at revitalizing the metropolitan economy and alleviating social tensions in the suburbs. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan for an integrated Grand Paris (Greater Paris) calls for improving the transportation system, boosting economic development, and developing a world-class high-technology center at Saclay in a southern suburb. Recruited teams of architects and urban experts are devising proposals for enlarging and expanding an environmentally sustainable 21st-century city.

Representing the 380,000 companies in Greater Paris, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris offers training, development and business counseling to help start-ups through the red tape. Steeped in bureaucracy and formality, Parisians have their own ways of going about things. Not much work is done during July to mid-September vacations, and normal affaires proceed at their own pace. “To open a business in America it takes a day and $50,” two international businessmen observed. “In France, it’s six months and $15,000.”

French business logic can be perplexing. Presented the solution to a marketing problem, a French manager responded, “It sounds as if it will work in practice, but will it work in theory?” Overseas executives are advised to dress formally, to try to open meetings with a few words of polite French, to start with small talk (perhaps about the weather) and never to exclaim, “Bon appétit!”

Whatever its quirks, a recent survey ranked Paris as the second-best city in the world to locate a business — with 40 companies reporting intentions of expanding there. Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has been implementing “Paris respire” (Paris breathes), his vow to improve the city’s quality of life by reducing pollution and cutting back vehicle traffic. Velib’ stations all over town allow people to rent and drop off serviceable silver bicycles; the first half-hour is free. On weekends, streets are closed to create pedestrian malls; and for a month each summer tons of sand are trucked in, converting the Seine’s La Villette canal basin into a beachside resort with deck chairs, palm trees, special events and sports activities. It may be one of the world’s most expensive cities to live in, but Paris ranks high in quality of life. With wonderful buildings and monuments around each corner, it’s a beautiful place to do business.

Diversions

Paris has always been a wonderful city for simply strolling and sightseeing, and now the mayor’s fitness-friendly programs make the outdoors more attractive than ever. Ping-pong tables, basketball nets and boules courts are set up in several parks; there’s a fitness trail in the Bois de Boulogne; and an elevated park, Le Viaduc des Arts, starts behind the Bastille and runs three-quarters of a mile above Avenue Daumesnil.

Guided tours offer options for seeing the city on foot, by boat, bicycle or skates — even by Segway. Check with the Paris Office of Tourism for tour information. Friday and Sunday bicycle tours with Paris Rando Vélo leave from the Hotel de la Ville, and on Friday nights Pari Roller organizes three-hour rollerblade trips, assembling at 10 p.m. at Place Raoul Dautry in the 14th arrondissement near the Montparnasse train station. Cruise effortlessly through Paris day or night with City Segway Tours; tours begin with a 30-minute Segway orientation session. Running every 15–30 minutes with eight stops from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre, Batobus explores the city by river boat.

After dinner, besides the renowned revues at Crazy Horse (12 Ave. George V, tel 33 1 47 23 32 32) and the Moulin Rouge (82 Blvd. de Clichy, tel 33 1 53 09 82 82), nightlife offers jazz at Caveau de la Huchette (5 Rue de la Huchette, tel 33 1 43 26 65 05) and classic drinks at Le Forum (4 Blvd. Malesherbes, tel 33 1 426 537 88), the self-described “temple to the cocktail.”

Around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe, the remodeled luxury disco and club L’Arc (12 Rue de Presborug, tel 33 1 45 00 78 70) attracts a fashionable crowd for dinner and dancing upstairs and down, and on the terrace at all hours. A recently opened runaway success, Le Renard (12 Rue du Renard, tel 33 1 42 71 86 27) offers drinks, dancing and upscale karaoke in a converted theater near the Centre Pompidou.

Lodging

Hilton Paris La Défense
The 148-room Hilton in the CNIT convention building is a short metro ride to the center. Its L’Echiquier Bar overlooks the Grande Arche. 2 Place de la Défense CNIT, tel 33 1 46 92 10 10 $$$$

Le Meurice
Located across from the Tuileries, the recently renovated palace hotel features popular restaurants, a Valmont Spa and pistachio-green scooters for guests to rent. 228 Rue de Rivoli, tel 33 1 44 58 10 10 $$$$

Radisson Blu Ambassador Hotel, Paris Opéra
In the midtown financial district, the Radisson offers 296 newly redecorated guestrooms, a fitness center and the 16 Haussman restaurant, popular for business lunch. 16 Blvd. Haussmann, tel 33 1 44 83 40 40 $$$$

Dining

Café de La Paix
Close to the financial district, this perennial favorite serves traditional dishes with a twist in the plush Belle Époque interiors or streetside watching the operagoers. 12 Blvd. des Capucines, tel 33 1 40 07 36 36 $$$$

Le Castiglione
Fashionable young Parisians meet for after-work drinks at the brass bar or dinner upstairs in red velvet splendor. 235 Rue Saint-Honoré, tel 33 1 42 60 88 22 $$$$

Ralph’s
Get “home-cooked” American cuisine at the new Ralph Lauren. Dine in the garden courtyard or the former stable on Colorado steak or the best burger in town. 173 Blvd. Saint-Germaine, tel 33 1 44 77 76 00 $$$$