A decade ago, it was not unusual for a company to spend nine to 12 months gathering information about various prospective locations before finally deciding where to place its new facility.
Those days are long gone. Today, companies want to have their new operations up-and-running as quickly as possible. That means, rather than taking a year to study the situation, they now take just two or three months. That’s not to say that they slack off when it comes to the depth and quality of data they gather on potential sites. If anything, the opposite is true.
What has changed during that past decade that enables site searches to be compressed to such an amazing degree? The Internet.
| The biggest question most executives have is where to begin. Here are some ideas to get you started. |
Through it, corporate site location executives are able to quickly gather a wealth of information that enables them to accurately compare possible locations in order to determine which would have the greatest positive impact on their company’s future growth and success.
The biggest question most executives have is where to begin. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Perhaps this may appear somewhat self-serving, but the best place to start your site location process is to go to Expansion Management’s Web site at www.ExpansionManagement.com.
To read a series of short articles and commentaries on specific subjects related to the site location process (i.e., incentives, taxes, transportation infrastructure, work force, quality of life, economic development, real estate, etc.), go to the EM site and scroll down under “Hot Topics & Opinions.”
To view the most recent of each of Expansion Management’s annual metro area studies (Quotients), scroll down under “Research Studies.”
Demographic Data
The Census Bureau’s site at www.census.gov is one of the best of the free sites for gathering a wealth of demographic data coming from the 2000 Census. Within that site, most of the good stuff can be found by clicking on the “American FactFinder” button. If I had to pick one place to go for demographic information, this is where I would start.
To access the various federal government Web sites, try the FedStats site at www.fedstats.gov.
Tax Information
A great place to consult for comparative information on state taxes is the Tax Foundation’s Web site at www.taxfoundation.org. Go to the section entitled “State Finance” for detailed tax rate information by state and by type of tax, as well as information on state government tax collections and expenditures.
Transportation Data
There is a number of government Web sites you can go to for transportation-related information.
For roads and highways, check out the Federal Highway Administration’s site at www.fhwa.dot.gov. For aviation information, start with the Federal Aviation Administration’s site at www.faa.gov while, for detailed transportation statistics, go to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ site at www.bts.gov, where you can access data by mode of transportation, subject and government agency.
Labor Data
For basic labor statistics, the best place to begin is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ site at www.bls.gov, as well as the Department of Labor’s site at www.dol.gov.
State ED Organizations
Each of the 50 state departments of commerce or economic development has a Web site (see the nearby listing) that will provide you with information on that state’s business attraction and retention programs.
Clearly, some sites are better than others. But each site will, at least, provide you with contact information that will enable you to get started.
Local Community ED Organizations
These days, just about every community in America — and perhaps the entire world — has a Web site. Some are very basic and provide only minimal content while others provide an enormous amount of information.
The best thing about local community ED Web sites is that they are the ones most likely to provide you with specific information on available land and buildings.
With the growth in GIS capabilities, many of these local sites can provide you with the type of detailed information — free of charge — you used to have to pay a fortune to obtain. The best news is that these local community sites are getting better and better as technology costs have declined.
Utility ED Organizations
Utility costs are a major consideration when it comes to comparing future locations. Every major utility has its own economic development department that serves as the central point of contact for potential clients opening up new facilities within their service areas.
Many of these sites also contain functionalities that will allow you to enter your utility load and application and calculate your future costs in that particular utility’s service area.
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