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November 2009

Cover Story

Watch and Learn

How has North Carolina managed to rank No. 1 in Site Selection’s annual business climate rankings eight times in the past nine years? It may have something to do with its infrastructure of higher learning.

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Features

Behind Cleveland’s BioMed Hub

Cleveland’s aspirations of being a leading center of biomedical device manufacturing will take a step forward when the Medical Mart and Convention Center opens in 2013.

Location Tax Incentives: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Periods of economic crisis are the worst of times and the best of times for state and local business location tax incentives. These tax expenditures, like all expenditures, face an uphill battle when revenues have collapsed and the number of needy residents requiring assistance has increased. At the same time, economic stringency and lack of revenue sharpen government appreciation for business development and job creation. If a crisis combines danger and opportunity, the current downturn could offer an opportunity to improve these incentive programs.

‘Aggressive, Yet Responsible’

The Kansas Dept. of Commerce in October said it wants to offer healthcare IT firm and Kansas City mainstay Cerner Corp. $85 million in tax and other incentives for a new office complex, and toss in another $144.5 million from state sales tax revenue to pay for bonds used to build a new soccer stadium next door. If the Unified Government of Wyandotte County accepts the proposal, Cerner says it will create 4,500 new jobs in Kansas at an average salary of $65,000. A youth soccer complex and hotel, with no incentives aid, also would be built as part of the $414-million project.

Carolinian Cluster Approaches Critical Mass

Students of industry clusters will find in North Carolina’s new aerospace industry a case study in how a sector takes root in a given area. Several companies, including Federal Express, Spirit AeroSystems and Honda Aircraft among others have begun operations in the state, adding thousands of jobs and justification for a closer look from aviation-related corporate site selectors.

Investment Profiles

At the Center of a Bright Idea

Dr. Jorg Bagdahn surrounds himself daily with the keenest minds in photovoltaic research and development. He’s hoping that model replicates itself in similar choices by executives at world-leading solar energy manufacturing companies.

The Pelepas Free Zone: More Than Just Cost Advantages

Among the companies to have found both advantages in the Pelepas Free Zone at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) are Flextronics, JST Connectors, Schenker Logistics, CIBA Vision and many others. MNCs with locations at PTP, in the Iskandar Development Region in Malaysia’s southernmost point, seek a southeast Asian base from which to serve the region cost-effectively and efficiently.

Labor on Demand

A region with thousands of college graduates, many in the life sciences sector, now has the work force for the jobs requiring technical skills.

Busan-Jinhae FEZ: Growing Fast and Green

Officials of the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone recently visited Hawaii, Los Angeles and Seattle to promote the FEZ and Busan’s new “eco-friendly logistics business model.”

International

Busy Berlin

Merging real estate portfolios after a corporate acquisition is never easy. When it involves a portfolio the size of a small city, the task becomes daunting. Such is the case in the heart of Berlin, where Bayer AG is digesting Schering AG’s huge pharmaceutical and manufacturing complex following the companies’ 2006 merger.

Digital Destination

Toronto is making a concerted effort to become Canada’s next nexus of digital media. .

Good Prognosis

Korea’s economy is exhibiting encouraging signs as 2009 draws to a close. FDI announcements for the first nine months reached US$8 billion, up 8 percent from 2008.

Departments

Project Finance: Wish List to Punch List

Ten months from groundbreaking to financing completion: In the best of times, one might look askance at such a delay. In today’s economy it counts as a solid success.

SITE Visit: L.A. Story

A desire to stop shipping railcars halfway around the world has helped convince an Italian manufacturer to commit for the long haul.

Area Spotlights

Cooling It

Yahoo! is building its latest data center in Lockport, a northern suburb of Buffalo.

Cleared For Landing

Mark Siegel, president of Advance Broadcast Solutions, says the combination of convenient transport and a pro-business philosophy by the local government was enough to convince him to relocate his company to the City of SeaTac.

Omaha: The Next Financial Capital

When a metro area has accounted for nearly half of its entire state’s corporate facility locations and expansions since the beginning of 2008, it’s hard to ignore.

Iron in the Fire

Resurgence in the Northern Minnesota mining industry is forging a lasting footprint on the economy of the entire region and state.

Lookout Towers

Southeastern states aren’t usually on the short list of wind energy equipment builders looking for new manufacturing sites, but a German firm has ambitious plans to make Chattanooga a leading center for wind tower development.

Time for an Incentives Tune-Up?

Third out of 50 is a more-than-respectable finish in Site Selection’s latest ranking of state business climates, and Virginia routinely finishes in the top five or 10.

Energy Injections

A region defined by its days of sun capitalizes on them with technology as well as tourism. But the economies of the Desert Southwest display their energy awareness in many forms: Some save it, some generate it, and some purport to move it where it needs to go.