September 26, 2012
Reliable, reasonably priced electricity and natural gas drive economic growth. But as any corporate customer or economic developer will tell you, a utility’s devotion to its territory can usually be measured by actions unrelated to selling more power.
September 26, 2012
In August, one year after E.ON, RWE Innogy and WindMW announced plans for the construction of a base for the maintenance and operation of their offshore wind farms, RWE celebrated the topping-out ceremony for two apartment blocks near the inland port on the island of Heligoland that will accommodate service staff for the operation and maintenance of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm, a 295-MW installation being erected some 19 miles (30 km.) further out.
September 26, 2012
Frac sand is quarried in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, making the Mississippi River an important mode of transport by barge. The Port of Natchez has announced a US$34-million expansion for trans-loading and storing sand and resin-coated sand. Blain Sand and Gravel and Fores Frac Sand are investing $7 million and $27 million, respectively, to add new processing and handling facilities and upgrade the rail at the port, creating 60 jobs. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is now home to GNS Frac’s new $10-million sand drying and sorting facility at the Inland Rivers Marine Terminal in Port Allen, La.
September 24, 2012
Governor Mitch Daniels leaves office in early 2013, leaving behind a job description that should be of keen interest to new governors taking office that want their states on a firmer fiscal footing. His formula works.
September 24, 2012
Today’s pathways to financial success lie in innovative, intellect-driven fields. In the South, our heroes are frequently found on the college gridiron. But can entrepreneurs and technological innovators be heroes too? Can our brightest techies make it here at home, or must they travel to California or Massachusetts to seek their fortunes?
September 19, 2012
A sequence of infrastructure projects is positioning Georgia for the future. But it’s the people of Georgia who will get you there. Collaboration and teamwork are typical, rather than surprising. Take Baxter International’s billion-dollar biologics manufacturing plant that broke ground this summer at the Stanton Springs site in Covington developed by a four-county coalition. Or Caterpillar’s decision earlier in the year to locate a manufacturing plant at a longstanding candidate site at the juncture of two counties near Athens.
September 18, 2012
‘Community Fit’ seals a bottling plant deal.
September 17, 2012
From household brand names like Westinghouse Electric Co., U.S. Steel and Alcoa to emerging energy technology leaders like Aquion Energy, BPL Global and kWantera, Pittsburgh is well on its way to being known as the new center of American energy.
September 17, 2012
In 1859, a well was drilled in quiet farm country in northwestern Pennsylvania for the express purpose of finding and extracting rock oil from the ground. This was to be the fuel for lamps. It became much, much more.
September 14, 2012
The introduction of the mobile phone may have done more than any other single technical innovation to improve prosperity, business and innovation in Africa.
September 14, 2012
The most recent edition of the Americas IT Forum took place in Guatemala, bringing together thought leaders and innovators from different fields and countries across North and South America. The discussion ranged from technological issues and marketing trends affecting business on all levels to innovation and technology-led economic development. A novel concept in intertwined topics and in blending together people from different backgrounds, the Forum proved to work.
September 14, 2012
Investors will find much to like about Macedonia’s business climate, which the World Bank ranks 22nd in the world. But they shouldn’t wait long to jump in. The country of 2 million is one of four Balkan countries that are candidates to join the European Union, which gives Macedonia some flexibility in incentives negotiations not afforded to member countries. Other benefits include lower employment costs and less competition for labor.
September 14, 2012
South Korea, China or Malaysia? If you were forced to bet on which of these three ranks highest for global competitiveness, which would you choose? Without knowing the subject of this piece, few would have picked Malaysia, but this beautiful nation in Southeast Asia habitually beats its higher-profile neighbors to the north in some key statistics.
September 13, 2012
It’s not every day a billion-dollar project comes to Hawaii. After all, whatever you produce there has to be transported everywhere else. But the 50th state is part of a very select global club of locations whose conditions produce a rare commodity: transporting views of our planet and of the known universe it occupies.
September 12, 2012
Ingenuity, access and a surprisingly diversified economy make for a bountiful business harvest in North Dakota. It’s a place where seeding the future still means something quite literal. Energy may rule the headlines, but ag still rules the roost, employing 24 percent of the state’s population in related industries and driving some $4 billion in cash receipts.
September 12, 2012
How did Malaysia outperform South Korea in a recent global competitiveness ranking? How did it perform better than Germany, Japan and Taiwan in another, measuring ease of doing business? In the first case, Malaysia ranks 21st in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, beating South Korea by three places.
September 10, 2012
Some tech companies are eschewing Silicon Valley for the quality of life a few miles north. Newly hired software engineers are already busy crafting code for the “Industrial Internet” in GE’s new Global Software Center in San Ramon, Calif. When GE announced its plans for the center late last year, it planned to hire 400 software professionals. The project is going so well that the iconic company is considering doubling that number in the coming years.
September 10, 2012
New energy and a new mission aim to complete the picture in Greater Metro Atlanta.
September 10, 2012
Why would a company locate its business in a small town, far from the economic activity of large cities? Such a decision doesn’t make sense for every company. But for some it makes perfect sense.
September 5, 2012
That pro-business climate of San Bernardino County has spilled over into many industries, resulting in San Bernardino ushering in a wave of manufacturing and logistics projects in recent months.
September 5, 2012
Site Selection Online, July 2012 edition of Site Selection – the magazine of corporate real estate strategy and area economic development. Cover story: iHome: Apple’s Future Pad.
August 31, 2012
Consumer demand patterns are shifting rapidly, affecting shipping requirements, order cycle times, retail formats and service level requirements. Rising fuel and utilities costs, burdensome regulations, changes in tax laws and sustainability requirements, labor supply and union issues, municipal and state economic incentives and so many other cost considerations are volatile and challenging today.
August 31, 2012
Can a nation be stable and dynamic at the same time? The answer from Canada is a distinct “Yes.” A look at the corporate projects unfolding across the nation reveals both Canadian stability and Canadian outreach.
August 30, 2012
The Top Utilities of 2012 transmit positive energy and connect better than most. Utilities today grapple with such thorny issues as EPA regulations, data center demand, customer demands for renewables and lower costs, the on again/off again comeback of nuclear power, catching up with infrastructure investment, and increasing power demand from increasingly populous territories.