Dave Battagello, The Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, September 02, 2008
There have been few new jobs created and little new investment during the 18 months it's been operating, but officials from the Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation vowed Tuesday it can generate success stories for the region.
"When we took over about a year and half ago, it was a blank sheet in terms of new investment," Michael Burton, vice-president of the corporation, told city council on Tuesday. "We have about 20 specific clients we are looking at for new investment."
He cited potential investment opportunities in such areas as recycling, wind power technology and information technology.
"But I have no companies I can announce tonight in a more positive way," Burton said. "We have a lot of things in the works. We are still slugging away at them. We will be the first to announce the success and highlight it prominently."
The organization's new strategic plan was unveiled Tuesday. It is a blueprint to bring new investment and jobs to Windsor, currently suffering high unemployment because of the decline in manufacturing.
Disarray has so far slowed the development corporation's progress, with last year's hiring and firing 14 months later of CEO Matthew Fischer. A hunt has began for his replacement. More here.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
To Do List for a Down Market
Economic developers across the country are reporting decreased prospect activity. Everywhere there are tales of recessionary and inflationary constraints hampering new business attraction efforts. The smart economic developer will use this time to re-examine and refine marketing efforts. At the end of the cycle you will come out stronger and better positioned to capitalize on pent-up opportunities.
What things should you be considering during this time? Here’s a list for success in difficult economic times:
Focus on retention – we all know this is where the great majority of our growth occurs. Talk with your existing businesses and identify their needs, Understand their challenges and opportunities by learning about their industry. If you have a formal program, step up the effort. If not, now’s a good time to start a formal retention effort.
Refresh and refine marketing vehicles – now’s a good time to take a fresh look at your website and other marketing materials to evaluate whether they are still relevant to your markets. Especially important is providing the web-based tools being expected and demanded by your customers today. Take some time to refresh the look, the capabilities and the information of your website.
Cultivate relationships – develop new relationships with site selection influencers to increase your future prospect activity. Extend your efforts beyond the consultant community only and identify real estate brokers, trade association executives, architects, engineers and others who are influencing site selection decisions everyday. Let them get to know you and your community.
Be creative with your creative – if you continue your brand building efforts by using direct mail, print advertising or other forms of creative pieces, make them stand out above your competition. Focus on your product benefits, not product qualities.
Stop selling, start informing – your potential customers want accurate, current and unbiased information. Shouting your message at prospects only reduces your credibility. Give them unique information about your community instead of reinforcing your sameness with other communities.
Smart marketers know that business downturns are a great time to market. While others are cutting back, those that stay the course will make progress and move ahead when the normal business cycle returns.
What things should you be considering during this time? Here’s a list for success in difficult economic times:
Focus on retention – we all know this is where the great majority of our growth occurs. Talk with your existing businesses and identify their needs, Understand their challenges and opportunities by learning about their industry. If you have a formal program, step up the effort. If not, now’s a good time to start a formal retention effort.
Refresh and refine marketing vehicles – now’s a good time to take a fresh look at your website and other marketing materials to evaluate whether they are still relevant to your markets. Especially important is providing the web-based tools being expected and demanded by your customers today. Take some time to refresh the look, the capabilities and the information of your website.
Cultivate relationships – develop new relationships with site selection influencers to increase your future prospect activity. Extend your efforts beyond the consultant community only and identify real estate brokers, trade association executives, architects, engineers and others who are influencing site selection decisions everyday. Let them get to know you and your community.
Be creative with your creative – if you continue your brand building efforts by using direct mail, print advertising or other forms of creative pieces, make them stand out above your competition. Focus on your product benefits, not product qualities.
Stop selling, start informing – your potential customers want accurate, current and unbiased information. Shouting your message at prospects only reduces your credibility. Give them unique information about your community instead of reinforcing your sameness with other communities.
Smart marketers know that business downturns are a great time to market. While others are cutting back, those that stay the course will make progress and move ahead when the normal business cycle returns.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Economic development is a matter of attitude, say experts
By Ray Chandler
Thursday, August 21, 2008
In the globalized game of competing for businesses and jobs, communities need to think outside their boundaries, say economic development experts.
But they should look farther for their competition than right next door.
“Just moving a business from one county to another isn’t economic development,” said Ronnie Bryant, president and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, a 16-county regional economic development effort spanning the metro Charlotte area in both Carolinas. He was speaking Thursday to an assembly of about 80 Anderson area leaders and residents .
Instead, Bryant said, counties and communities need to think regionally, and market their combined advantages as a package. Elected leaders need to better understand that what benefits a neighboring county or community can also benefit them, he added.
Counties and communities aren’t really competing with their neighbors anymore, he said. They are instead competing with communities around the world offering advantages of their own.
Bryant, together with Hal Johnson, president and CEO of the 10-county Upstate Alliance regional marketing cooperative; and Ray Jones, a partner, banking and capital markets department with the Columbia law firm of Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein LLP; were guest speakers at an economic development summit Thursday at Tri-County Tech’s Anderson campus. The summit was sponsored by Imagine Anderson’s economic development committee.
Imagine Anderson is a 20-year vision plan to improve Anderson County’s quality of life between now and the county’s bicentennial in 2026. Economic development is one of seven major focus areas identified in the Imagine Anderson plan. More here.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
In the globalized game of competing for businesses and jobs, communities need to think outside their boundaries, say economic development experts.
But they should look farther for their competition than right next door.
“Just moving a business from one county to another isn’t economic development,” said Ronnie Bryant, president and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, a 16-county regional economic development effort spanning the metro Charlotte area in both Carolinas. He was speaking Thursday to an assembly of about 80 Anderson area leaders and residents .
Instead, Bryant said, counties and communities need to think regionally, and market their combined advantages as a package. Elected leaders need to better understand that what benefits a neighboring county or community can also benefit them, he added.
Counties and communities aren’t really competing with their neighbors anymore, he said. They are instead competing with communities around the world offering advantages of their own.
Bryant, together with Hal Johnson, president and CEO of the 10-county Upstate Alliance regional marketing cooperative; and Ray Jones, a partner, banking and capital markets department with the Columbia law firm of Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein LLP; were guest speakers at an economic development summit Thursday at Tri-County Tech’s Anderson campus. The summit was sponsored by Imagine Anderson’s economic development committee.
Imagine Anderson is a 20-year vision plan to improve Anderson County’s quality of life between now and the county’s bicentennial in 2026. Economic development is one of seven major focus areas identified in the Imagine Anderson plan. More here.
Small town steps up
By Sarah A. Reid
Staff writer
ROBBINS — Members of RobbinsAlive! joke about the black notebook that sits between dog-eared books at Deep River Coffee Co.
You would think The Plan, as they call the notebook, would be heavily guarded or tucked away in some prominent person’s home. But RobbinsAlive!, a group of residents determined to revitalize their town, wants people to look at what it hopes is the blueprint for Robbins’ rebirth.
So the members have left the plan in the Deep River coffee shop, which has become the unofficial headquarters of Robbins’ revival.
Since 1990, the mill town has lost 1,500 jobs, according to state statistics. Nearly a third of those jobs have been lost since 2005.
Officials at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center have taken notice of Robbins’ plight. Robbins is one of 20 sites taking part in an experimental economic development program called STEP, or Small Towns Economic Prosperity. The pilot, three-year program is designed to revitalize struggling rural communities. More here.
Staff writer
ROBBINS — Members of RobbinsAlive! joke about the black notebook that sits between dog-eared books at Deep River Coffee Co.
You would think The Plan, as they call the notebook, would be heavily guarded or tucked away in some prominent person’s home. But RobbinsAlive!, a group of residents determined to revitalize their town, wants people to look at what it hopes is the blueprint for Robbins’ rebirth.
So the members have left the plan in the Deep River coffee shop, which has become the unofficial headquarters of Robbins’ revival.
Since 1990, the mill town has lost 1,500 jobs, according to state statistics. Nearly a third of those jobs have been lost since 2005.
Officials at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center have taken notice of Robbins’ plight. Robbins is one of 20 sites taking part in an experimental economic development program called STEP, or Small Towns Economic Prosperity. The pilot, three-year program is designed to revitalize struggling rural communities. More here.
Beyond Clusters... Alternative Growth Paths for Economic Development
As economic clusters have attracted criticism for being oversold as a basis for economic development strategy, the Appalachian Regional Commission has published "Sources of Economic Growth", which presents an alternative approach for regional growth. This new series of reports, led by the Economic Development Research Group, discusses how communities and regions can choose to pursue different "growth paths" to successfully achieve economic development. More here.
Website Evaluation Tool
From Blane, Canada.....
Website Evaluation... Website Grader is a no-charge SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a Website. Enter your URL and it gives you an analysis of how well your site is set up from a SEO and marketing perspective. The score you receive incorporates factors like Website traffic, SEO and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the Website can be improved from a marketing perspective. You can also enter the URLs of your competition and get a competitive online marketing analysis. Source: Donna Gunter, SpeakerNet News.
Sign up for Blane Canada's excellent "Economic Development Marketing Letter" here.
Website Evaluation... Website Grader is a no-charge SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a Website. Enter your URL and it gives you an analysis of how well your site is set up from a SEO and marketing perspective. The score you receive incorporates factors like Website traffic, SEO and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the Website can be improved from a marketing perspective. You can also enter the URLs of your competition and get a competitive online marketing analysis. Source: Donna Gunter, SpeakerNet News.
Sign up for Blane Canada's excellent "Economic Development Marketing Letter" here.
Incentives for VW plant total $577 million
8/29/2008, 7:27 p.m. ET
By BILL POOVEY The Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's financial incentives for Volkswagen to pick Chattanooga total $577.4 million, apparently the largest such offer to an automaker joining the South's lineup of assembly plants.
Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber said in announcing the incentives package on Friday that he does not know if the total is a record offer to an automaker.
Kisber said regardless, it is a deal that he "would never turn down."
A state report shows the German automaker's July selection of Chattanooga for the $1 billion plant that will have 2,000 employees is expected to create another 9,477 related jobs.
Kisber joined economic development officials and the mayors of Chattanooga and Hamilton County at a news conference in Chattanooga before the State Funding Board approved the package at a meeting in Nashville.
He said the VW plant represents Tennessee's "largest investment" and the largest projected economic impact of any project since Gov. Phil Bredesen took office after the 2002 election.
Tennessee was a finalist with Alabama and Michigan for the VW plant.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has said Alabama put together incentives worth over $385 million, the most that state had ever offered for an auto project.
A report by Mississippi's economic developers shows incentives totaling $294 million were provided Toyota in 2007 for an assembly plant at Blue Springs. Kia received about $324 million in incentives from Georgia in return for agreeing to build an assembly plant at West Point, Ga., in 2006.
Kisber said the other states' totals, unlike Tennessee, do not necessarily include tax credits for the automaker.
Allison Tyrer, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the projected tax credits, based on the number of jobs, are included in the report on Georgia's incentives for Kia.
Kisber said the other finalists for the VW plant made competitive financial offers and "we are in the same ballpark as the other finalist states."
Linda Swan, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Development Office, said Tennessee's $577.4 million package is "certainly larger than any of ours."
Alabama Development Office director Neal Wade said the Tennessee package is "the largest."
"We went as far as we could go," he said.
Michael Randle, editor and publisher of Southern Business and Development magazine in Birmingham, Ala., said Tennessee's $577.4 million package is unprecedented in the South.
"It is the largest," Randle said. "There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing with a larger economic effect in the South than an auto plant. You can't put a value on that."
Kisber said the planned VW plant and its 2,000 jobs are only part of the projected financial return. A study by the University of Tennessee's Center for Business and Economic Research predicts 11,477 jobs — including construction and suppliers — will be created in the region that also includes northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.
Kisber said the study shows that on a cash-flow basis, for every dollar that state and local governments spend on a one-time basis for the VW project — $229.7 million state and $86.2 million local — both state and local government coffers will get $1 in new tax revenues annually for 30 years.
Kisber said that means a net cash benefit of $526.9 million for the state and $557 million for local government.
Kisber also said that Volkswagen has agreed to fully pay local property taxes that fund public education.
Kisber noted the incentives package is not the most important part of recruiting a major company like Volkswagen.
Volkswagen spokeswoman Jill Bratina agreed, saying the incentives "play an important role" but the selection of Chattanooga as the plant site is mainly due to finding the "right partner" for the company's future plans.
Volkswagen plans to start production at a 1.9 million-square-foot plant by early 2011 at Enterprise South industrial park, making at least 150,000 vehicles.
By BILL POOVEY The Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's financial incentives for Volkswagen to pick Chattanooga total $577.4 million, apparently the largest such offer to an automaker joining the South's lineup of assembly plants.
Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber said in announcing the incentives package on Friday that he does not know if the total is a record offer to an automaker.
Kisber said regardless, it is a deal that he "would never turn down."
A state report shows the German automaker's July selection of Chattanooga for the $1 billion plant that will have 2,000 employees is expected to create another 9,477 related jobs.
Kisber joined economic development officials and the mayors of Chattanooga and Hamilton County at a news conference in Chattanooga before the State Funding Board approved the package at a meeting in Nashville.
He said the VW plant represents Tennessee's "largest investment" and the largest projected economic impact of any project since Gov. Phil Bredesen took office after the 2002 election.
Tennessee was a finalist with Alabama and Michigan for the VW plant.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has said Alabama put together incentives worth over $385 million, the most that state had ever offered for an auto project.
A report by Mississippi's economic developers shows incentives totaling $294 million were provided Toyota in 2007 for an assembly plant at Blue Springs. Kia received about $324 million in incentives from Georgia in return for agreeing to build an assembly plant at West Point, Ga., in 2006.
Kisber said the other states' totals, unlike Tennessee, do not necessarily include tax credits for the automaker.
Allison Tyrer, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the projected tax credits, based on the number of jobs, are included in the report on Georgia's incentives for Kia.
Kisber said the other finalists for the VW plant made competitive financial offers and "we are in the same ballpark as the other finalist states."
Linda Swan, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Development Office, said Tennessee's $577.4 million package is "certainly larger than any of ours."
Alabama Development Office director Neal Wade said the Tennessee package is "the largest."
"We went as far as we could go," he said.
Michael Randle, editor and publisher of Southern Business and Development magazine in Birmingham, Ala., said Tennessee's $577.4 million package is unprecedented in the South.
"It is the largest," Randle said. "There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing with a larger economic effect in the South than an auto plant. You can't put a value on that."
Kisber said the planned VW plant and its 2,000 jobs are only part of the projected financial return. A study by the University of Tennessee's Center for Business and Economic Research predicts 11,477 jobs — including construction and suppliers — will be created in the region that also includes northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.
Kisber said the study shows that on a cash-flow basis, for every dollar that state and local governments spend on a one-time basis for the VW project — $229.7 million state and $86.2 million local — both state and local government coffers will get $1 in new tax revenues annually for 30 years.
Kisber said that means a net cash benefit of $526.9 million for the state and $557 million for local government.
Kisber also said that Volkswagen has agreed to fully pay local property taxes that fund public education.
Kisber noted the incentives package is not the most important part of recruiting a major company like Volkswagen.
Volkswagen spokeswoman Jill Bratina agreed, saying the incentives "play an important role" but the selection of Chattanooga as the plant site is mainly due to finding the "right partner" for the company's future plans.
Volkswagen plans to start production at a 1.9 million-square-foot plant by early 2011 at Enterprise South industrial park, making at least 150,000 vehicles.
2 cities join in appealing to businesses
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: August 30, 2008
Mooresville and Statesville will start a cooperative marketing campaign aimed at site consultants and business owners in September.
The Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. and the Greater Statesville Development Corp. selected a new strategy developed by GSDC marketing strategist John Marek with the tagline, "Business on the Growing Edge," which references Mooresville's and Statesville's status as "edge cities" within the rapidly growing Charlotte region.
This isn't the first time the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. and GSDC have partnered in a marketing effort, Marek said.
The campaign will include advertising placement in Site Selection magazine and a special Web site dedicated to jointly selling the region as a premiere business destination. The campaign will cite a skilled workforce, business-friendly environment, available buildings and high quality of life.
Published: August 30, 2008
Mooresville and Statesville will start a cooperative marketing campaign aimed at site consultants and business owners in September.
The Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. and the Greater Statesville Development Corp. selected a new strategy developed by GSDC marketing strategist John Marek with the tagline, "Business on the Growing Edge," which references Mooresville's and Statesville's status as "edge cities" within the rapidly growing Charlotte region.
This isn't the first time the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. and GSDC have partnered in a marketing effort, Marek said.
The campaign will include advertising placement in Site Selection magazine and a special Web site dedicated to jointly selling the region as a premiere business destination. The campaign will cite a skilled workforce, business-friendly environment, available buildings and high quality of life.
Attracting jobs gets tougher
Regional Development Alliance copes with nation's economic realities
By Katy Stech (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Colorado-based WellDyneRX liked what it saw in the Charleston economy.
While scoping out potential sites for a $20 million, 670-worker business expansion to sort and mail medications, company officials said they were impressed with the local labor costs and the availability of skilled workers.
Plus, they found a building that met their tricky real estate requirements in North Charleston's Remount Business Park.
But it wasn't enough to win the company over in the end. WellDyne said Monday that it opted for a competing site in Lakeland, Fla., putting it closer to distribution companies it already works with closely.
"Charleston did an admirable job," said John Krug of Charlotte-based Development Advisors, a site-selection consulting firm that assisted WellDyne in its search.
It's inevitable in the economic development business that one location loses a big employment prospect to another. But the loss of this particular company stings because the Charleston region has had so few job announcements this year.
So far in 2008, just two companies have announced plans to open or expand local operations with the help of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which markets the three counties as a business destination.
2AM Group LLC, a technical support company that works with the BMW manufacturing plant in the Upstate, launched a 50-worker operation in North Charleston, while Cummins Turbo announced plans to add 100 jobs and invest $11 million in new machinery at its turbocharger assembly plant off Ladson Road.
At the current pace, 2008 could mark the slowest year for the alliance in recent memory as measured by the number of new jobs, the amount of money invested and the number of announcements.
David T. Ginn, the alliance's chief executive officer, said the uncertainties in the financial and energy markets and in the overall economy have forced many companies to re-evaluate their expansion and spending plans.
"Businesses are obviously very cautious with what's going on in the world," Ginn said.
Companies that the alliance has assisted have created an average of almost 1,200 jobs annually for the local economy over the past decade, according to the North Charleston-based group's figures.
The slowdown comes as unemployment is on the rise. In July, the jobless rate for the Charleston region increased to 6 percent compared to 5.4 percent in June and 4.7 percent in July 2007.
Still, alliance officials estimate that they are working with about 15 business prospects on expansion projects that could solidify in the next 90 days. In each of those instances, Charleston is competing only against either one or two other sites, Ginn said.
"It's increased in the last four to six weeks," he said. "We've seen a substantial increase in new projects that have come onto our books. ... That's obviously a very good sign."
The alliance has altered its strategy to keep pace with the changing times, Ginn said.
For example, it is investing more resources to make its Web site more effective and useful. And its marketing efforts are now focused more on the site-selection consultants who advise companies like WellDyne rather than industry trade shows.
The group also continues to pitch success stories about the Charleston economy to an array of publications that reach corporate decision-makers, Ginn said.
Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com
By Katy Stech (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Colorado-based WellDyneRX liked what it saw in the Charleston economy.
While scoping out potential sites for a $20 million, 670-worker business expansion to sort and mail medications, company officials said they were impressed with the local labor costs and the availability of skilled workers.
Plus, they found a building that met their tricky real estate requirements in North Charleston's Remount Business Park.
But it wasn't enough to win the company over in the end. WellDyne said Monday that it opted for a competing site in Lakeland, Fla., putting it closer to distribution companies it already works with closely.
"Charleston did an admirable job," said John Krug of Charlotte-based Development Advisors, a site-selection consulting firm that assisted WellDyne in its search.
It's inevitable in the economic development business that one location loses a big employment prospect to another. But the loss of this particular company stings because the Charleston region has had so few job announcements this year.
So far in 2008, just two companies have announced plans to open or expand local operations with the help of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which markets the three counties as a business destination.
2AM Group LLC, a technical support company that works with the BMW manufacturing plant in the Upstate, launched a 50-worker operation in North Charleston, while Cummins Turbo announced plans to add 100 jobs and invest $11 million in new machinery at its turbocharger assembly plant off Ladson Road.
At the current pace, 2008 could mark the slowest year for the alliance in recent memory as measured by the number of new jobs, the amount of money invested and the number of announcements.
David T. Ginn, the alliance's chief executive officer, said the uncertainties in the financial and energy markets and in the overall economy have forced many companies to re-evaluate their expansion and spending plans.
"Businesses are obviously very cautious with what's going on in the world," Ginn said.
Companies that the alliance has assisted have created an average of almost 1,200 jobs annually for the local economy over the past decade, according to the North Charleston-based group's figures.
The slowdown comes as unemployment is on the rise. In July, the jobless rate for the Charleston region increased to 6 percent compared to 5.4 percent in June and 4.7 percent in July 2007.
Still, alliance officials estimate that they are working with about 15 business prospects on expansion projects that could solidify in the next 90 days. In each of those instances, Charleston is competing only against either one or two other sites, Ginn said.
"It's increased in the last four to six weeks," he said. "We've seen a substantial increase in new projects that have come onto our books. ... That's obviously a very good sign."
The alliance has altered its strategy to keep pace with the changing times, Ginn said.
For example, it is investing more resources to make its Web site more effective and useful. And its marketing efforts are now focused more on the site-selection consultants who advise companies like WellDyne rather than industry trade shows.
The group also continues to pitch success stories about the Charleston economy to an array of publications that reach corporate decision-makers, Ginn said.
Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com
M-7 tallies wins, losses
Organization still searching for an industrial trophy
By JOHN SCHMIDjschmid@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 30, 2008
It was 18 months ago that Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive of Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., argued that the Milwaukee 7 — an organization formed to attract, retain and expand business in southeastern Wisconsin — must “get a real win out of this within the next 12 to 18 months.”
“The Milwaukee 7 will not work if we don’t have a breakthrough soon,” Joerres said at the time.
The verdict, 18 months later?
“There is no big win,” said Tim Sheehy, one of the M-7’s leading collaborators and president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. “And if that’s a surprise to you, then there is no Easter Bunny.”
But the M-7 notes it has had its share of victories — biggest among them the retention and expansion of Direct Supply Inc., which means hundreds of added technology jobs.
And there have been losses, including the high-profile decision to locate the headquarters of the MillerCoors LLC joint venture in Chicago. And lots of opportunities are still pending.
“Have we accomplished a bunch of wins that add up to a big win? Yes,” Sheehy said.
Yet in its fourth year, the M-7 is still scrambling for an industrial trophy that will add momentum to its efforts and possibly compel outsiders to rethink their views of the Wisconsin economy.
In an ideal world, the big win would be akin to the blockbuster 2001 announcement that Boeing Co. would move its headquarters to Chicago, a coup that World Business Chicago, that city’s economic development agency, pulled off 18 months after its inception in 1999. More here.
By JOHN SCHMIDjschmid@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 30, 2008
It was 18 months ago that Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive of Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., argued that the Milwaukee 7 — an organization formed to attract, retain and expand business in southeastern Wisconsin — must “get a real win out of this within the next 12 to 18 months.”
“The Milwaukee 7 will not work if we don’t have a breakthrough soon,” Joerres said at the time.
The verdict, 18 months later?
“There is no big win,” said Tim Sheehy, one of the M-7’s leading collaborators and president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. “And if that’s a surprise to you, then there is no Easter Bunny.”
But the M-7 notes it has had its share of victories — biggest among them the retention and expansion of Direct Supply Inc., which means hundreds of added technology jobs.
And there have been losses, including the high-profile decision to locate the headquarters of the MillerCoors LLC joint venture in Chicago. And lots of opportunities are still pending.
“Have we accomplished a bunch of wins that add up to a big win? Yes,” Sheehy said.
Yet in its fourth year, the M-7 is still scrambling for an industrial trophy that will add momentum to its efforts and possibly compel outsiders to rethink their views of the Wisconsin economy.
In an ideal world, the big win would be akin to the blockbuster 2001 announcement that Boeing Co. would move its headquarters to Chicago, a coup that World Business Chicago, that city’s economic development agency, pulled off 18 months after its inception in 1999. More here.
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