Investment Profile

Comprehensive logistics assets and a desirable work force are two criteria common to most site selectors’ wish lists.

The Pittsburgh coal seam discovered in 1750 was expected to have a life of about 100 years. That seam, one of the richest in the world, is still being mined today. So is Pennsylvania’s enduring streak of energy innovation and leadership.

From financial services and insurance firms to retailers and restaurants, Columbus, Ohio, provides a safe haven for corporate management. Jeff Lyttle, region executive for JP Morgan Chase, says the global financial services firm has found the business climate it prefers in Columbus.

Fifteen years after the Thai government shrewdly relaxed monetary policy and allowed its currency, the baht, to drop against the dollar, corporations investing in Thailand are reaping the benefits, accessing a low-cost and educated work force at the crossroads of Asia.

International intermodal logistics center offers promise of ‘game-changing’ industry for Florida’s Heartland. If business leaders and economic developers in Florida’s Heartland have their way, the region will also become known as the sweet spot for global logistics, manufacturing and international trade.

Companies seeking a high-tech manufacturing location in Germany can drastically shorten their search now that First Solar’s site is becoming available in Frankfurt (Oder), on the Polish border.

Malaysia has long been a haven for high-tech companies, with several maintaining operations there for decades. They are staying in Malaysia to take advantage of the country’s forward-thinking approach to keeping these companies from relocating elsewhere in the region.

The High Desert region of San Bernardino County is proving to be an oasis of business opportunity for companies seeking to expand their manufacturing and distribution operations in Southern California.

In a country where the skill set required to perform precision manufacturing is often passed down from generation to generation, Torsten Brumme knows the exact kind of work force needed to keep his company competitive and profitable.

When DuPont needed to make a plant location decision between Luxembourg and Circleville, Ohio, in the Columbus Region, the site selection ultimately came down to one factor — who wanted it more.

Reliable, reasonably priced electricity and natural gas drive economic growth. But as any corporate customer or economic developer will tell you, a utility’s devotion to its territory can usually be measured by actions unrelated to selling more power.

Governor Mitch Daniels leaves office in early 2013, leaving behind a job description that should be of keen interest to new governors taking office that want their states on a firmer fiscal footing. His formula works.

A sequence of infrastructure projects is positioning Georgia for the future. But it’s the people of Georgia who will get you there. Collaboration and teamwork are typical, rather than surprising. Take Baxter International’s billion-dollar biologics manufacturing plant that broke ground this summer at the Stanton Springs site in Covington developed by a four-county coalition. Or Caterpillar’s decision earlier in the year to locate a manufacturing plant at a longstanding candidate site at the juncture of two counties near Athens.

From household brand names like Westinghouse Electric Co., U.S. Steel and Alcoa to emerging energy technology leaders like Aquion Energy, BPL Global and kWantera, Pittsburgh is well on its way to being known as the new center of American energy.

Ingenuity, access and a surprisingly diversified economy make for a bountiful business harvest in North Dakota. It’s a place where seeding the future still means something quite literal. Energy may rule the headlines, but ag still rules the roost, employing 24 percent of the state’s population in related industries and driving some $4 billion in cash receipts.

How did Malaysia outperform South Korea in a recent global competitiveness ranking? How did it perform better than Germany, Japan and Taiwan in another, measuring ease of doing business? In the first case, Malaysia ranks 21st in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, beating South Korea by three places.

New energy and a new mission aim to complete the picture in Greater Metro Atlanta.

That pro-business climate of San Bernardino County has spilled over into many industries, resulting in San Bernardino ushering in a wave of manufacturing and logistics projects in recent months.

Entrepreneurs looking to fast track their enterprise to the commercialization and expansion levels will find the resources they need in abundance in eastern Tennessee — in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley, specifically. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by (UT)-Battelle LLC (a joint venture of the University of Tennessee and Battelle Memorial Institute).

And companies adore the state’s infrastructure for talent, R&D and expertise. Overlay a map of the Empire State’s vast reserves of higher education and institutional firepower with a map of corporate and industrial R&D, and chances are you’ll see two things: a legacy of innovation, and an interwoven network ripe with opportunities for more.

Columbus is changing from a steady performer to one of the country’s most dynamic metro areas. The Columbus Region has been called the test market of the United States because of its diverse economic profile — part university town, a national logistics hub, a center of retail brands such as the Limited Brands and Wendy’s, and the second home of Chase bank, which happens to be the region’s largest employer.

A governor with an ambitious agenda is proving that Iowans are even more resilient than he thought. Battling recession, floods and misperceptions, Gov. Terry Branstad is ahead of schedule in reaching his four main goals.

‘We speak business out here.’ In Fulton County, a community of 43,280 people west of Toledo, manufacturing companies are experiencing robust growth thanks to a home-grown but globally competitive work force.

Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur has a key role to play in the successful implementation of the 10th Malaysia Plan, the government’s blueprint for making the country an effective competitor for global capital investment in high-income industry sectors. The Plan identifies 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) with the potential to produce high incomes and generate sustainable competitiveness on a global scale.