One of the areas we always ask our group of corporate site consultants to consider is the working relationship with local officials, as well as with the local economic development organization. Why is that important?
A couple of months ago I was playing in a foursome with the local economic development chief and two of his board members in a charity golf tournament. I asked the economic developer, given the fact that unemployment was rising and new capital investment by companies was stagnant at best – jobs and new capital investment being the two classic benchmarks for his profession -- how he was evaluated by his board of directors. When he responded that it was by the quality of the information he provided, we all burst out laughing. What a classic dodge, we all said. Preparing himself for a long career in government, we all snickered.
And yet, the more I thought about it, the smarter that answer appeared.
After all, that’s really what you as a corporate site selector want from the local, regional and state economic development officials is current, complete and accurate answers to the questions you ask.
You don’t want a ton of glossy marketing material that you then have to spend hours or days sifting through a bunch of useless information in order to find the answers you’re looking for. As a corporate executive or site selector, time is money and you don’t have much of either to waste. Just answer my questions – no more and no less, you think to yourself.
We also ask them to consider the cooperation of local political officials in assisting them in the site selection process.
By local officials we mean both elected – the mayor and city council – as well as appointed government officials down at city hall.
Is the mayor interested in having your company join the local business community, or does she have a tendency to discourage the type of new manufacturing or distribution facilities you may be proposing?
What about the city council? Do they support robust economic development initiatives, or are they likely to put stumbling blocks in the way of agreements your company may have reached with the mayor and the local economic developer? Trust me, that happens.
What about the local news media? Are they generally supportive of new business expansions, or are they likely to trumpet the bad things about business in general, and your company in specific, on the front page or over the airwaves?
And finally, what about the local community? Are there any active interest groups that consistently try to block or impede the creation of new industrial facilities?
These are all important things for your company to know before it makes a multi-million dollar investment in a new community, and it’s not the type of information you are likely to pick up in the tons of data you collect on a community’s economic climate, its tax base, its work force or its transportation infrastructure.
It’s something you learn only by talking to other people who have been down that road before.
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