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November 2011

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Cover Story

A Better Mousetrap

If the path being beaten to Texas’ front door is any indication, there’s a better way to do things in the Lone Star State. Giving businesses some certainty with which to risk investment capital and expand their enterprises has been central to the state’s economic success.

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Features

India’s New Auto Cluster

India’s western state of Gujarat has long been an industrial nexus, specializing in petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

Thinking Ahead

China’s plan to build thousands of hospitals and other healthcare facilities bodes well for the medical device sector. U.K.-based consultancy Epsicom Business Intelligence says the prospects for medical device spending in China are huge as the country’s healthcare reform plan unfolds over the next several years.

Cargo Evolution

John Carver, Jones Lang LaSalle's vice president for port, airport and global infrastructure, says there will be four East Coast ports ready to receive the mammoth post-panamax ships in 2014.

Let’s Talk

For those struggling to create jobs in their communities, it may pay to take up the art of real conversation with business leaders. By now, most economic developers have at least a cursory knowledge of a growing field within their profession called business retention and expansion, often referred to as “BR&E.” The concept or strategy behind BR&E is relatively simple: Concentrate your efforts on existing industry, as that will be where most newly created jobs and investment will occur.

Next-Gen Site Selection

A new generation of commercial transport changes the rules of where facilities supporting this bellwether industry are located. Airbus has opened a new, 650-employee facility in Broughton, Wales, where wings for the A350 XWB will be manufactured. Boeing has not yet determined where it will build its new 737 MAX airliner. Renton, Wash., has been home to 737 production for decades, but the aerospace giant is also considering other locations.

FDI Sweepstakes

You load 16 tons and what do you get? A high-tech wind turbine gear box bound for Colorado.

Investment Profiles

A Sweet Deal

Mars Chocolate North America likes to say that “Snickers really satisfies.” The 100-year-old confectionary company may soon be saying that “Topeka really satisfies Mars.”
The city of Topeka, Kan., received a sweet treat of its own when Mars announced a $250-million, 200-job plant investment in the capital community.

How To Fast-Track a Shanghai Operation

Executives at small and mid-sized companies assigned the task of opening a Shanghai office or facility might find that assignment daunting if it’s the company’s first foray into the Chinese market.

International

Billions and Billions

Even if they are not permanent jobs, 6,500 direct and indirect jobs will boost any area’s economic prospects. Chevron Australia’s Wheatstone Project, a major LNG plant investment on Australia’s northwest coast, will have that effect and will result in revenues to the government of about AU$20 billion (US$19 billion) and $17 billion (US$16 billion) to Australian businesses over the next 30 years.

Teeming with Activity

Perched on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula is the city of Yeosu. Known for its ocean ecology, the city of just under 300,000 also boasts an ocean-port economy driven by its own historic port and the nearby Port of Gwanyang, home to Korean giant POSCO’s largest steelmaking complex in the world, as well as the Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone (GFEZ).

‘Where the World Is Going’

In January 2010, based on Ontario’s feed-in tariff scheme for renewable power put into place in 2009, Samsung C&T and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) signed a C$7-billion renewable energy agreement with the provincial government that would include multiple solar and wind farm projects as well as a commitment of four in-province manufacturing complexes from Samsung.

Making Room for Making Things

Energy businesses such as Norway’s Aker Solutions and U.S. firm FMC Technologies are landing more jobs on Scottish shores, as well as in London. Food companies such as Kraft are growing from Ballymena to York. Car companies Jaguar Land Rover, Lear and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (a unit of BMW) are growing and steel is rolling.

Still Good Chemistry

Does the photograph on this page frighten or inspire? How a company or a country answers that question goes a long way toward explaining the maturing and increasingly integrated global role of China as a production, research, talent and market base.

Departments

Area Spotlights

Clean-Room Capital

In late September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new agreements with Intel, IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, TSMC and Samsung that will result in US$4.4 billion of investments over the next five years to create the next generation of computer chip technology. The state said the investments were secured in competition with countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Moving Along

A strong logistics network and vibrant cities drive growing global companies to thrive in Washington.

Win-Win Locations

Two homegrown Omaha companies — TD Ameritrade and CSG Systems International — are building new headquarters campuses in their home town, adding hundreds of thousands of square feet of new work space to Nebraska’s chief commercial center. Both are consolidating operations from multiple locations around the metro — five locations in TD Ameritrade’s case.

Engineering Innovation

When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently rated Montana the No. 1 state for business startups and the sixth best business climate in the nation, the news may have surprised some people.

New Heights

Technology is pushing wind turbines higher and putting them into all sorts of new locations, including on top of skyscrapers, data centers and big-box retailers.