The One That Didn’t Get Away
It’s not a one-way street entirely, but it seems more companies relocate their headquarters out of Illinois than into Illinois.
March 2014
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Top Industries: Spheres of Influence
Analysis of all projects entered into Site Selection’s New Plant Database during the 2013 calendar year shows transportation is driving economies, especially in Asia.
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Top Micropolitans: The Ladder Effect
The last exclusively domestic ladder manufacturer in the US helped Wooster, Ohio, claim a title it’s been chasing for a long time: Top Micropolitan Area in America.
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Top Metropolitans: The Connected City
From digital startups to behemoths of industry, Chicago fosters corporate facility growth better than any other metro area in the U.S.
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The Governors Cups: Double Take
Texas and Nebraska have won the 2013 Site Selection Governor’s Cup. This year marks the inauguration of a second Governor’s Cup, recognizing the state with the most qualifying new and expanded facilities per capita.
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Seeking Partner Who Wants Same
Recent biopharma project news, policy evolution and research offer some ideas on the way forward for industry executives facing location decisions.
The Connected
Forty percent of the world’s mobile traffic goes through the networks of Sweden-based telecommunications and network company Ericsson, and the company supports customers’ networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscriptions.
Blown On Course
In January, using new employment data from 123 countries and the European Union, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said that in 2012, employment in renewable energy worldwide stood at 5.7 million with the potential for adding 11 million jobs in the years to 2030, with 2.1 million of the new jobs coming from the wind sector.
Can ‘Airport Cities’ Close the Deal?
Airport Cities are developing rapidly into office locations for non-aviation related companies.
Five To Thrive
If you like challenges, here’s one: Pick up today’s Wall Street Journal and highlight companies that don’t depend on technology.
Investment Profiles
Origin and Destination
Interstate highway access — check. Commercial airport site — check. Quick proximity to 50 percent of Florida’s population — check. Abundant and growing workforce — check. Foreign Trade Zone — check.
Play To Your Strengths
Cincinnati-area natives increasingly appreciate their region’s advantages and the global arena in which the city competes for new investment — and jobs.
Quality Personified
Griffin Land, the owner-operator of almost 3 million sq. ft. of commercial space on land holdings of nearly 4,000 acres in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, is seeing its tobacco nursery heritage supplanted by its choice reputation as a developer and partner.
Full of Energy
Gov. Tom Corbett laid out Pennsylvania’s most ambitious energy plan ever on Jan. 21. The bottom line? Expanding companies will find even more cost savings when they invest in the Keystone State.
A Vision Come To Life
The cauldron of innovation that gave rise to one of the world’s most successful drugs is poised to produce more where that came from.
Headquarters City, Fla.
“Wages, logistics and taxes are three big advantages for South Florida.”
SEED of Opportunity
Never before has one building symbolized so much.
The SEED Center in Lake Charles, La., represents the culmination of a regional partnership aimed at bringing new business and industry to Southwest Louisiana.
International
Supersized Ambition
To the south is a nation where a woman is arrested if she drives an automobile. To the north, across a narrow strait, is a nation which mixes religious politics with nuclear politics.
Toyota at Daytona; PepsiCo in Mexico; Airbus in Ontario; a floating wind farm off the Oregon coast; big jobs from Conduit in Memphis; and the latest robot stats.
International Speedway Corporation announced a multi-year partnership with Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc., making Toyota the first Founding Partner at Daytona International Speedway, part of the $400-million DAYTONA Rising redevelopment project.
Ripe for an Upswing?
With the fall of the Iron Curtain a quarter century ago, previously closed nations in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) welcomed an immense influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), helping it become one of the world’s fastest growing regions.
Tramagal, Greenest Countries, Novelis in Brazil, IBM in Africa
The FUSO Canter Truck plant in Tramagal, Portugal, celebrated its 50th anniversary in early February.
Departments
Unconventional Wisdom: Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Vine, Instagram … the list goes on. Social media is everywhere, and it seems as if everyone is using it, including economic developers.
Area Spotlights
Right in Tune?
The state and provincial governments of the Pacific Northwest already are known for their strong environmental positions when it comes to development and permitting.
Netting Results
In 2013 Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and the state legislature demonstrated a financial commitment to future economic development by allocating $86.6 million in funding for business incentives in the state’s biennium, the two year budget cycle covering fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015
Scaling New Heights
An overhauled tax code, a revamped incentives package and a reinvigorated energy plan are making the Northeast U.S. one of the most closely watched regions of the country.
A Tax Climate To Write Home About
Wyoming is the best state in the US for taxes on businesses, and its capital, Cheyenne, is the best city in which to find a job, according to recent analysis.
Power Surge
Energy is big business in Eddy County, N.M., the busiest community currently drilling in the oil-and-gas-rich Permian Basin.
Beating the Spread
Chicago, like many cities, is seeing a return to the city center from corporations and regular folks alike. But Chicagoland by definition encompasses 15 Illinois counties other than Cook County (21 if you count northwest Indiana and southeast Wisconsin).
‘Seamless Pipeline’
Marjorie Taylor had a challenge. She needed to find a way to communicate to high school students the importance of taking the ACT WorkKeys assessment seriously.
Elsewhere in South Carolina
Kids’ bikes and scooters can’t compete with a Boeing 787 or a BMW 4-Series in the expensive-transportation arena. And Kent International doesn’t try to compete with Boeing and BMW on the economic impact of their new facilities, either.
Central Casting
The mutual benefits that corporations and higher learning institutions can confer on one another were illustrated in December when Lilly Endowment awarded $5 million to Indiana University, one of a series of grants totaling nearly $63 million.
Into the Stratosphere
Citing a highly skilled workforce, the cost of doing business and the number of aerospace companies already located in the state, a report released in December 2013 by PricewaterhouseCoopers proclaimed Florida number one in aviation manufacturing attractiveness.
Original by Design
California’s automotive design cluster has 22 design centers in Southern California alone, including facilities from GM, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen (Santa Monica), BMW (Newbury Park), Volvo and Mercedes (Carlsbad).
From Inner Harbor to Outer Space
If Maryland state leaders have their way, the aviation and aerospace sectors will blast off with new opportunities in high tech and high-paying jobs in the next few years.
Commanding View
Mark Twain found the Upper Mississippi otherworldly, serene and bucolic when he traveled through the region 130 years ago.