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Features

Locations of the Future

by Mark Arend

Which countries and metros deserve a “Location of the Future” designation is highly subjective. It depends on what your company does, where it needs to operate and what you consider to be the leading site criteria. This exercise is meant simply to depict, in the word clouds, which countries and cities were referenced most often in a recent survey of site selectors who were asked where they were most likely to invest in the next five years in a given world region. Non-location terms in the clouds are included according to the frequency with which they were mentioned by the respondents as factors they associate with those countries and metros.

The survey, conducted in the spring, also asked in which industry sectors they were most likely to invest in the locations they favored. The pie charts show where the action will be in each region, which reflects what those locations are clearly good at. They likely are already clusters for those sectors, or they may soon be. This exercise isn’t scientific, but it points to the locations on the minds of your peers.

North American Graphic HR

South and Central America Graphic HR

Eastern Europe Graphic HR

Western Europe Graphic HR

Asia Pacific Graphic HR

Middle East and Africa Graphic HR

Features

Locations of the Future

by Patty Rasmussen

“A large population with a burgeoning middle class.” “Political and economic stability.” “An industrious, well-educated workforce that’s the envy of the region.” “Willingness to invest in quality infrastructure.” Those are among the attributes identified by Site Selection’s recent Locations of the Future survey respondents when asked why they favored one location over another in the world regions provided.

The survey asked site selectors with expertise in a variety of industries to tell us where they believed new sector clusters would locate five to 10 years down the road, and why they would likely emerge there. We asked the respondents to identify their top three areas of expertise. Next, we asked the respondents to identify — not rank — the locations within six regions they believed would be home to new clusters in those sectors in the next five to 10 years, based on their knowledge of the sectors. We also asked them to briefly explain what made the location appealing.