Area Development Annual Reports
22nd Annual Corporate Survey
Figure 18, plans for new facilities are down. Only 20 percent of the 2007 survey respondents expect to open new facilities within one year, as compared to 25 percent of the 2006 survey respondents who had expected to do so, and 24 percent of the 2005 respondents with one-year new facility plans.
More than 70 percent of the Corporate Survey respondents represent manufacturing firms; 16 percent are with warehouse/distribution operations (Slideshow, Figure 1). Nearly half of these companies operate five or more domestic facilities, and more than half also operate five or more foreign facilities. Only about a fifth of the respondents said their companies have just one domestic and/or foreign facility (Slideshow, Figure 2).
Interestingly, there’s been a rise in the number of firms increasing their number of facilities over the past 12 months — 35 percent of the respondents said their firms had done so. Last year, only 25 percent of the respondents made a similar claim. And 53 percent reported no change in their number of facilities (as compared to 65 percent last year), while just 13 percent decreased their number of facilities, 3 percent more than reported last year (Slideshow, Figure 4).
Of those respondents reporting an increase in their number of facilities, more than half said this was in response to an increase in sales/production; 44 percent reported the need to serve new markets; and 37 percent said their companies had been acquired by or merged with another firm (Slideshow, Figure 5). About three-quarters of the respondents are also happy with the “service after sale” in their new facilities’ locations — a nice compliment to economic development and other government entities that garnered this new business (Slideshow, Figure 6).
Three-fourths of these respondents also had no problem recruiting labor at their new locations. Of the 23 percent who did experience such difficulties, 88 percent said they couldn’t find highly skilled workers, especially high-tech/IT employees (47 percent) (Slideshow, Figure 7).
Nearly all of those respondents whose companies decreased their number of facilities said this was in response to a consolidation of operations, with 30 percent saying their companies were acquired by or merged with another firm. About a third also cited the need to lower operating/labor costs as the reason for closing facilities (Slideshow, Figure 8).
We also know the responses to our Survey are the “real deal”: 68 percent of the respondents to
our Corporate Survey are involved in their companies preliminary or final location decisions. Nearly 30 percent are their companies’ owner or chief executive; 39 percent are corporate officers; and another fifth are real estate or facilities managers (Slideshow, Figures 9 and 10). Sponsor Directory
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