Business Facilities - September 2008 - (Page 16)

COVER STORY Editors’ Location Picks 2008 into account total income and income per person, along with cost of living, the area’s residents have larger amounts of money to spend on products and services than people in most other markets. In 2007, the average income of households residing within the 200-mile market area was $76,900—the second highest among the 12 largest U.S. metros. These are all some pretty impressive numbers, but the real reason we’ve chosen this region as an economic development hot spot is the way Greater Philadelphia is marketed. Lots of MSAs have a chamber of commerce, but this region has a “CEO Council for Growth” that was so determined to create a high-powered entity to market the region it raised $16 million four years ago to establish a business marketing organization called Select Greater Philadelphia, whose job is to be a single source of regional information. But they didn’t stop there: the 425 leaders continue to make themselves available as advocates and ambassaPhiladelphia, PA skyline dors for the region by meeting with companies that are interested in locating there. “One thing that we do very well is that we receive a great deal of help from our business communit,.” says Tom Moore, president of Select Greater Philadelphia. “So when companies are looking at locations, we have senior executives in their industry available to meet with them. We had two companies recently that told me they were worried about finding the people they would need to hire if they moved here. We were quickly able to set them up to speak to 22 human resources executives to answer all of their questions. Because when business leaders are there to give them the good, the bad, and the ugly, it’s so much more credible.” The region, once the heart of the Industrial Revolution, has reinvented itself many times and recently completed another transformation. While there’s still a fairly large manufacturing sector, it’s now a high- tech manufacturing sector building such things as helicopters and large, high-powered ships. “Now 74% of the workforce here are in the service sector, primarily the knowledge-driven sectors such as our most dominant sector, life sciences,” says Moore. “This is our core strength, pharmaceutical, bioscience, and hospitals. We have the history for it here. This area had the first public hospital, the first pharmaceutical school and the first medical school.” The region is also well positioned for future growth, with 7,000 students graduating each year and fueling the workforce from 92 colleges and universities. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK One of the things that impresses us about locations is an innovative approach to attracting new industries and corporations. What could be more innovative than taking the steps necessary to create a whole new industry in your city? That’s exactly what Oklahoma City did a little over a decade ago; now the city is reaping the benefits in a big way with an industry— hospitality—that is now one of its fastest growing sectors in job creation. “In the 1990s our economic development team was doing what everyone else in the country was doing and that was going after large projects by trying to use only tax incentives to get companies to come here,” explains Roy Williams, CEO and president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. “We were not successful, and at that point the leadership here made a strategic decision to concentrate instead on making this a better place to live. We called it 16 SEPTEMBER 2008 PHOTO CREDIT: FLICKR

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Facilities - September 2008

Business Facilities- September 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Corporate Moves:�Mississippi Editor's Location Picks 2008 The Palmetto State Reaches Across the Sea Corporate Moves:�Tennessee Metro Spotlight:�Spokane, WA Biotech: Building Block for Development Wind Power Lifts Iowa Germany:�Europe's Economic Juggernaut California Here We Come Up, Up and Away in North Carolina Corporate Moves:�West Virginia Metro Spotlight:�Decatur/Greensburg, IN Advertiser Index Ask the Expert

Business Facilities - September 2008

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