t's a long way from Bielefeld, Germany to Clarksburg, W. Va., but Chris Martinkat, global business development manager at Stockmeier Kunststoffe, says his company's journey was made considerably smoother by West Virginia's one-stop-shop approach to assisting international firms. In June 2003, the privately held maker of polyurethane products purchased a 29,000-sq.-ft. (2,694-sq.-m.) shell building at Harrison County's Business and Technology Center, the firm's first U.S. investment.

Flexibility opens doors and closes deals in West Virginia.

"For a foreign company new to the country, it's been helpful to have a short wire to state officials," says Martinkat, whose facility will eventually employ 25.
      West Virginia's "Open Door" program, which assigns a single point of contact to ease the arrival of international firms, is just one reason the Mountain State has gained the attention of small and mid-sized European companies like Stockmeier Kunststoffe and Sogefi, an Italian automotive parts maker that is sinking US$27 million into a new facility in Wayne County. Another factor is an aggressive marketing presence the state maintains through its Munich office, which extended the initial invitation to Martinkat. Convenient access to consumers, suppliers and business partners in the industrial Midwest, the Northeast and the Southeast enhances West Virginia's appeal, Martinkat says, as does its proximity to Mid-Atlantic ports, through which the company can ship product back to Europe.