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Features

March 1, 2002

Take a Closer Look at Small Towns

 L ocation searches frequently focus on the larger metropolitan areas, and for good reason. Data sources are more readily available for these locations, and they represent the largest labor markets, airports, developed properties and other resources. However, there is a whole other layer of locations the small towns — that represent communities with populations of […]

March 1, 2002

America’s Top 60 Cybercities

 W hen the Intel Corp. started searching two years ago for a place to build a new wafer fabrication plant for manufacturing semiconductor chips, the world’s largest chip-maker found exactly what it needed in Chandler, Ariz.         When WorldCom needed to expand its international telecommunications empire in December 2001, it announced a […]

March 1, 2002

IDRC Abstracts

From Site Selection magazine, March 2002 IDRC ABSTRACTS Following are abstracts of major presentations of the International Development Research Council, which this year is merging with NACORE to form CoreNet Global — the world’s pre-eminent corporate real estate association. “Corporate Energy Strategies: Corporate Real Estate and Economic Development Perspectives,” Texas World Congress, Oct. 22, 2001: […]

March 1, 2002

Making Real Estate Pull Its Corporate Weight

 D uring the closing months of 2001, activity in the real estate sale-leaseback market surged as more and more corporations sought to raise cash in a declining economic environment.         W. P. Carey & Co., LLC, completed US$185 million worth of transactions in the fourth quarter of 2001, nearly half of the […]

March 1, 2002

‘Change’ Is Not a Bad Word

 E ven a cursory look at the best-performing states in the Governor’s Cup competition — our annual ranking of states based on their business-expansion success — reveals a new competitive landscape. Relatively sparsely populated states, such as South Dakota and Mississippi, are finalists in the overall ranking, for instance. And the perennial favorites in the […]

March 1, 2002

Build To Suit; Build To Grow

 O ver the past decade, build-to-suit (BTS) commercial real estate has proven to companies that expansion or relocation requirements can be better filled by going beyond finding available market vacancies. Whether the company’s main consideration is to have its name on a cornerstone or to move into a commercial or office facility that’s individually tailored […]

March 1, 2002

IDRC Survey Measures Corporate Real Estate Practices

 T he International Development Research Council’s Annual Survey of Corporate Real Estate Practices is a one-of-a-kind resource for tracking corporate real estate and facility management trends. Since first conducted in 1993, the survey has provided insights into how these corporate functions and their service providers operate.         Here’s a survey nugget for […]

March 1, 2002

Energy Procurement Tools for Property Asset Managers

 C ompanies whose business is not producing, but rather using, energy have discovered the havoc which volatile energy costs can play upon one’s financial statements. Perhaps with the possible exception of labor costs, few other elements of variable corporate expenses have been paid such attention as energy recently.         This has been […]

March 1, 2002

Economist to CoreNet: Recovery to Exceed Expectations

 R ising employment, industrial inventories and prices will make the American economy’s recovery this year even stronger than most blue-chip economists forecast, Prudential Financial’s chief economist told a gathering of corporate and commercial real estate leaders Jan. 10 in Atlanta.         Susan Hickok, the keynote speaker at a forum of CoreNet Global […]

March 1, 2002

U.N. Survey Reveals Transnational Companies’ Location Preferences

 T ransnational corporations (TNCs) will favor Germany, the United Kingdom and France when they invest in Western Europe during the next three years. This prediction is among the findings of a recent survey of 129 TNCs conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Invest in France Agency and Andersen, the […]

March 1, 2002

Risk Deconstruction and the Site Selection Process

 M anaging risk has always been the cornerstone of the corporate relocation process, although rarely has a corporate executive or his economic development counterpart framed the decision-making process in quite those terms. In the post September 11th environment, however, risk management has moved beyond its traditional spheres of technological and financial risk assessment and now […]

March 1, 2002

Vendor Alliance Drives Industrial Purchasing Efficiencies

Service Providers on the Move…. USAA Realty Co., San Antonio, has named David L. Reahl to head its north-central region and the Chicago office. Reahl previously was vice president and asset manager at LaSalle Investment Management, Chicago, where he was responsible for overall performance of property portfolios of $400 million in assets. Insignia/ESG has hired […]

March 1, 2002

Europe Calling: Was it Too Much Too Soon?

 T he heat created by the North American push into Europe for new call centers has turned desirable locations into no-go areas for some U.S. corporates. But while some locations have become victims of their own success, others are emerging as new winners in the current cooler environment for new call center operations — especially […]

March 1, 2002

How Does Your Vendor Define Second

 C orporate real estate managers with outsourcing contracts coming up for renewal have a unique opportunity, which is to hear how the provider of the service defines what has come to be known as “second-generation outsourcing.” If that provider cannot articulate how the next chapter in a service provider agreement will be better than the […]

March 1, 2002

The Strategy Alignment Model: Principles for Enhancing Real Estate Planning Processes

 I n the January issue of Site Selection, I introduced the Strategy Alignment Model, which is a framework for directly aligning corporate real estate with the core business. As shown in Figure 1, the model is comprised of three components and seven guiding principles.         The focus of the first installment was […]

January 1, 2002

Going the Extra Mile — and Then Some

 W hen it comes time to deliver on a pledge to go the extra mile, service providers have lots of options, depending on the assignment and the nature of the client relationship. One that rarely gets much serious consideration is to simply give the service away. After all, service providers in the business world exist […]

January 1, 2002

The Strategy Alignment Model

 A n increasingly sophisticated body of theory and practice has emerged over the past 20 years among those working to define the role of real estate in enhancing corporate business strategy. The discussion has covered many levels, from on- and off-site workplace concepts, to overall site and facility guidelines, to the planning and management of […]

January 1, 2002

Why Corporate Campuses Make Sense In All Economic Conditions

 T he Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “flexible” as something that is “characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements.” Many real estate strategists and planners consider it to be the word that best describes the concept of corporate campuses. In a discussion on campuses, it also translates into smart design, operational […]

January 1, 2002

Shopping for a Bargain in Europe

 T he American dream came to Europe and created its teenage information technology (IT) millionaires. Up went property prices, property availability and the cost of hiring. Europe had its very own IT hot spots. Next came dot.com gloom: tech stock exchanges were on their knees, and the hot spots turned warm. But silver linings are […]

January 1, 2002

BMW Leads the Auto Pack in European Investment

    What’s the big news in the European automotive industry? BMW, the Munich-based automaker, plans to produce 650 BMW 3-series autos each day beginning in 2005 at its newly announced US$860 million, 2,500-employee plant in Leipzig. BMW Chairman Joachim Milberg says that choosing the location “wasn’t an easy decision.”       The year-long search […]

January 1, 2002

Portugal Promises Investment Opportunities

 M oney talks, or so they say. So the US$315 million and 18 investments Portugal attracted in a one-month time frame (July 2001) certainly speak volumes about the country’s appeal as a business location. The fact that these investments came from major U.S., European and Asian companies only reinforces the idea that Portugal is a […]

January 1, 2002

A ‘GILDed’ Look at Automotive Investments in Europe

    Eastern Europe is the main beneficiary of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Europe’s automotive sector, according to analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers-Plant Location International (PwC-PLI), Brussels, developer of the Global Investment Location Database (GILD). “In terms of greenfield FDI projects in the automotive sector, non-European Union (EU) countries have attracted 3.5 times more projects than EU […]

January 1, 2002

IDRC Abstracts

Abstracts of major presentations of the International Development Research Council, the world’s pre-eminent corporate real estate association. “Disposition Strategies for Surplus Property in the Economic Downturn,” Texas World Congress, Oct. 23, 2001:         “What every corporate real estate department needs to realize in this economic downturn is that every asset has a […]

January 1, 2002

The Customer Is Always Right

 T he maxim used as a headline here is worth thinking about carefully the next time you prepare to sign a service provider contract, no matter how it’s structured. The agreement you commit to will be the starting point of any number of business scenarios, and how you and your service provider relate at the […]