When Reuben Zook, president and CEO of Avantext Inc., began looking for a site for a new production facility, he remembered an acquaintance who already operated a successful garment business in the Dominican Republic.

This person's experience with the Caribbean business community was so positive that Zook decided to have a look for himself. He examined a dozen countries in the Caribbean before choosing a spot on the island of St. Lucia. There, Zook opened a production facility for his electronic document publishing company.

Avantext is best known for its software designed to assist the aircraft maintenance industry. Its new St. Lucia facility assists the company's Reading, Pa., headquarters office with data processing on CD-ROM-based product lines and other electronically managed document needs.

Business climate is right

"The political climate is stable," said Zook. "The labor rate is attractive, and it is possible to find office space at the right price."

Avantext hired 12 people from the local market and started production in March.

"Some of the applicants bring a stack of (educational) documents a half-inch thick," said Zook. "They've gone to school to do this kind of work. There is a readily available work force to do this kind of work."

Avantext plans to hire 250 people within three years, and Zook is confident he will be able to.

"They (workers) will line up at the door," said Zook. "They are readily available."

Specialized business parks fit the bill in Barbados

Barbados' Eastern Standard Time Zone, proximity to the U.S. mainland, and well-educated, English-speaking work force - with a 98 percent literacy rate - attracted Caribbean Call Centers. The company is a venture among Barbados, Canadian and European interests.

Barbados is also targeting the information technology and manufacturing industries, and it has business parks specifically designed to accommodate companies within those sectors.

The Harbor Industrial Park is an IT park with all of the connectivity that Caribbean Software Technologies requires. The American company provides Web site design services and opened a facility in the park because of the telecommunications infrastructure and the factory space.

The Grazzettes Industrial Park is one of 10 business parks designed for manufacturers on Barbados. Glass Fiber Products, a Canadian company that manufactures lamp post lights, wall lights and other decorative lighting products, chose a site in the park because of the accommodations and because of Barbados' attractive tax structure. Companies may establish themselves in Barbados as local firms or international companies, and enjoy tax advantages either way.

Gourmet Foods Service is an American meat processor that moved to Barbados partly because of the tax structure. The company established itself as an international firm and therefore pays a maximum corporate tax of 2.5 percent.

As an international firm, Gourmet Foods can do business only outside Barbados. Glass Fiber Products, on the other hand, established itself as a local firm and may do business in the local market.

Like many of its neighbors in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is targeting the high-tech sector. Puerto Rico's economy has traditionally relied to a large degree on the manufacturing sector.

Intelligroup Inc., a global software developer, recently chose to open a site in Puerto Rico for distribution to the Americas.

"Puerto Rico has some of the most technologically-knowledgeable people, and we plan to tap into this available human resource," said Arjun Valluri, CEO of Intelligroup Inc. "The island also has the benefit of being strategically located, and in close proximity to the U.S. mainland and Latin America."

The picture-perfect tropical landscape of the Caribbean's U.S. Virgin Islands - made up of St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix and Water islands - lured one Massachusetts-based company to set up shop there.

BABP (VI), LLC provides local telephone service to a variety of states and is moving its management functions to the island of St. Thomas, where it plans to open a training facility for its switch employees.

According to Vice President and Senior Counsel William Rooney, the island's quality of life was one of two major draws for his company. The second draw was tax advantages, which include exemptions on corporate and personal income taxes, and a single tax system that mirrors the federal tax system - as opposed to paying a city, state and federal tax.