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t's not news that in the heart of the country's industrial belt, the paradigm has shifted. No longer the collective bastion of the nation's manufacturing base, the states of the upper Midwest are on the prowl for new ways to lure companies in expansion or relocation mode. They are also scrambling to protect their tentatively recovering economies from the fallout as several U.S. manufacturing giants — notably GM and Maytag — retrench after months of bad news.
      A look at the priorities of elected officials in five states — Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin — reveals the importance of attracting and retaining businesses in the minds of state decision-makers. All five states have embarked on initiatives designed to win over corporate site selection teams evaluating numerous location options. It's not just about competing to win the big corporate announcement. The good news for companies considering expansion or upgrades is that these states are focusing on real ways to help companies stay strong amidst an increasingly competitive and complex market environment.
      How successful are these initiatives? It remains to be seen. Early reviews, for the most part, seem positive. "What each of these governors has done, just in the last 18 months alone, in pushing through changes, has sent positive signals to companies looking for a new site," notes veteran consultant Dennis Donovan, director, global site selection, for Wadley-Donovan-Gutshaw Consulting. "It is a red herring that manufacturing in the Midwest is dead. But what is true is that globalization forces states to focus on what they do best, production requiring higher skill levels, and more educated workers."
      For their part, he says, manufacturing companies are also paying more attention to proximity to institutions of higher learning, to customized training programs and to the availability of incentives designed to help companies keep workers up to speed with the latest technology.