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May 2013

Digital Edition

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Cover Story

Gauging the Dream

One of the biggest challenges in economic development is determining what to hold economic development organizations (EDOs) and elected officials accountable for.

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Two for Two

Texas is two-thirds of the way to sweeping Site Selection’s big three annual state rankings.

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REWRITING THE NORMS

Breaking the rules may not win many friends, but it sure has a way of influencing people — especially when it comes to the world of economic development.

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Global Best to Invest Report

Site Selection is pleased to present its fifth annual Best to Invest rankings of nations and metro areas for investment-attraction activity in 2012.

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Features

The Assembly Line Effect

Some folks may be wondering why Michigan, Ohio and Indiana are winning a disproportionate share of automotive assembly plant investments these days.

Let the Catalysts Connect

Add biopharma to the long list of robust economic sectors in Texas. It's nearly enough to rekindle talk of secession … if it weren't for that instrusive federal funding helping drive some of the momentum.

Self Starters

Energy efficiency tweaks such as new HVAC systems and long-life light bulbs offer tremendous and quick gains, but they only get you so far.

Portals To the World

Site Selection salutes the best corporate facility projects in the world in 2012, judged by investment, high-value and high-volume job creation, creativity in negotiations and incentives, regional economic impact, competition and speed to market.

Investment Profiles

My Hometown

If you're not familiar with Chambersburg, New Castle or Sayre, Pa., or have somehow missed the turns for Indiana, Sunbury, East Stroudsburg or Meadville, you might need to readjust your navigation settings.

Unfinished Business

Elected four times to serve as governor from 1983 to 1999, Branstad left office 14 years ago as Iowa's longest-serving chief executive.

View from The Top

Northwest Georgia's industrial development reputation aims to be as multifaceted as its landscape, and as rich as its history. But if one thread continues to run through the region, it's thread itself.

Accelerated Production

Powering one of America's most important automotive manufacturing regions is just one of the many tasks of Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative.

‘Breath of Fresh Air’

With a work force ranked among the nation's best, the No. 1 public school system in the U.S., world-class academic and research institutions and a competitive business environment, Maryland is an ideal place for companies to grow and thrive.

International

10 Countries. 10 Challenges.

The following is a compilation highlighting unique initiatives taking place in every South American country, each with its own unique approach to common challenges faced by investment promotion agencies. Examples range from tactical — such as the Peruvian approach to place branding — to strategic, such as Colombia's effort to improve its image.

Industrial Strength

Add the importance of the Mexican market itself to companies' lists of reasons to open operations in Mexico.

Area Spotlights

Valued Outlook

Business activity in New England in many cases is the equivalent of "musical states" or "musical cities." That is, while there is a healthy amount of new business and business expansion activity in the region, a lot of what is taking place is business consolidation and/or moving existing businesses from state to state or city to city.

Less Uncertainty Now, Stronger Growth Coming

The following is excerpted with permission from Dr. George Hammond's March 2013 report in Arizona's Economy, a publication of the Economic and Business Research Center (EBR) at the Eller College of Management, University of Arizona. Dr. Hammond is Associate Director of EBR and Eller Research Professor.

FDI Wave Hits Gulf Coast

Christopher Prentice represents exactly the kind of company that increasingly is finding a home along U.S. Gulf Coast — high-tech, international and rapidly growing.

Mega-Region Momentum

Since January 2012 the Kentucky Golden Triangle of Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky has welcomed 120 corporate facility projects to the three metro areas. The triangle is neither equilateral nor Pythagorean, but it might be isosceles: Greater Lexington and Northern Kentucky tally 30 projects each, while Greater Louisville tallies 60. But each side has its points, so to speak. And each gains strength from the other communities in its ambit.

Plowing the Fast Lane

Every time a new Kubota compact tractor speeds off the assembly line in Jefferson, Ga., it’s a reminder of just how multinational commerce has become in the Peach State.

Risk Management

Companies like eBay, Adobe, IM Flash and FireEye are building their facilities in the Beehive State because that's where their honey is — a strong supply of skilled workers, a business climate that encourages and rewards high-tech enterprise growth and the technical infrastructure statewide that is critical to their businesses.

Old Places See New Faces

In Site Selection's annual sustainability rankings in 2012, Ohio ranked in the top dozen states in the country for federal brownfield funding.