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Originally Posted by Corndogger
This HBR article from 2001 about Boeing's move to Chicago is worth reading. There's a number of interesting parallels with what's happening now with Amazon.
Inside Boeing's Big Move
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Because of the nature of the business, we knew that we needed to remain in the United States. But we do business with 145 countries, and we have significant operations in 26 states. Seattle, southern California, Wichita, Philadelphia, and St. Louis—we have major operations in all of these sites. So we were looking for a place that would minimize travel time throughout the country and internationally and that would also give government leaders and financial markets in Washington, DC, New York, and abroad access to us. We needed a central location near a major airport. Based on that consideration and a number of others [for the full list of the selection criteria, see the accompanying exhibit], we very rapidly narrowed our choices.
You were in charge of the site evaluation process for those three cities. How did you go about it?
First, we decided to go public with the search. Most companies try to keep headquarters’ searches secret. They quietly collect information, and when they announce that they’re moving, they’ve already picked the site. We saw that it would be impossible to gather all the data we needed in such a short time without going public. In retrospect, making the announcement was very much to our advantage. We were given a lot more information than we even needed. Even though we said we were considering only three cities, I have a stack of material in the corner of my office that’s literally about three feet high from various places—big and little cities.
Full article at https://hbr.org/2001/10/inside-boeings-big-move
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Good link.
I need to repeat to those that can't figure our demographics or our business climate.
NO other city in the USA for 7 or of the last 10 years has seen more HQ relocations and expansions than Chicago. Period. Four years in a row. Right after a 3 peat.
http://siteselection.com/issues/2017/mar/top-metropolitans-of-2016.cfm
The US metropolitan areas tallying the most corporate facility investment projects in 2016 aren’t just competitive nationally — they’re succeeding on a global scale
The Windy City keeps coming up. There are reasons for that, says Matthew T. McGuire, who served under President Obama as the US executive director at The World Bank Group. A financial services executive from Chicago, he previously served as director of the Office of the Business Liaison at the U.S. Department of Commerce, which under Chicago native Obama was headed by a third Chicagoan, Penny Pritzker.
World Business Chicago worked with more than 180 companies in 2016, in coordination with the City, bringing nearly 9,000 jobs to Chicago. McGuire says Chicago is a great example of a competitive global city, due to such factors as its central location, a strong cadre of universities, hard-wired digital economy infrastructure from the days of the first Mayor Daley
https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/de...porate_Metro_Investment_Fourht_Year.html
March 1, 2017
Chicago Ranked Top Corporate Metro For Fourth Consecutive Year
Site Selection Magazine Recognized Chicago for Leading the Nation in Corporate Investment in 2017
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and World Business Chicago (WBC) today announced that for the fourth consecutive year, Chicago ranked as the “Top Metro” in the United States for corporate investment by Site Selection Magazine. In 2016, the Chicago metro area saw more new and expanding corporate locations than any other area in the country.
“This is the fourth straight year the city of Chicago has been America’s number one city for corporate investment, a testament to both our talent and the investments we are making in our future,” Mayor Emanuel said.
“Leading the country in corporate investment means more jobs and opportunities throughout Chicago. The city of Chicago has a bright future, and it is clear that businesses from across the country and around the world want to be part of what we are building here.”
The progress is continuing in 2017 - this past week alone, KPMG and GE Healthcare announced they are adding more than 1,000 jobs to Chicago. Today Mayor Emanuel joined Hickory Farms to announce the company is relocating its corporate headquarters to Chicago from Ohio.
In 2016, WBC tracked a record 350 business expansions and relocations in the Chicago metro. These projects accounted for more than $2.8 billion in investment and nearly 14,000 new jobs. Major relocations and expansions last year included: Beam Suntory, Mars Wrigley, McDonald's, Wilson Sporting Goods and Motorola Solutions.
“When corporations choose Chicago, they join a tightly knit corporate community in a global city of talent and innovation, a city with engaged business and civic leaders,” WBC President & CEO Jeff Malehorn said. “We have global markets; our economy is diverse; our talent is diverse and we have unmatched assets. All of this serves up Chicago to be top of mind for companies making location and expansion decisions.”
“The Chicago area is a frequent first place finisher in our ranking of metros according to new and expanding projects announced the previous year,” Mark Arend, editor of Site Selection said. “This means corporate facility planners seeking a large metro location are finding in Chicago the location assets they most require.”
A key source for the corporate relocation community, Site Selection Magazine focuses on new corporate facility projects with significant impact, such as headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D and logistics sites. In order to be considered, new facilities and expansions must meet at least one of three Site Selection criteria: (a) capital investment of at least $1 million, (b) create at least 20 new jobs or (c) add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.
Site Selection is published by Conway Inc., which is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.