Corporate Executive Survey Commentary: What Should Be Included in the EDO Toolkit?
EDOs with a mix of sites, manufacturing/distribution experience, strong business retention programs, and proven training solutions will prove valuable to the corporate decision-maker.
Q1 2016
Between 50 percent and 80 percent of the project decisions will be made by executive management and operations positions, while subject matter experts in other functions will be part of the location decision-making process in less than a third of the decisions. In addition, manufacturing and warehouse/distribution facilities make up more than 50 percent of all new domestic projects. About 50 percent plan to open new domestic facilities, but more than 80 percent of these new domestic facilities projects represent less than $50 million in investment. Eighty-five percent of the respondents will use general business magazines to obtain site selection information, but 90 percent will receive their information from site magazines, such as Area Development, coupled with site information gained from robust local and state EDO websites.
From an inventory perspective, prepared EDOs will have a strong mix of small/medium-sized sites coupled with in-depth, searchable websites with demographic information. Regarding staffing, the ED project team will have key members with real experience in manufacturing and/or distribution who can speak the language of the decision-maker. For marketing outreach, since many decisions will be domestic, it will be key for EDOs to maintain a good business retention program, while concurrently becoming much more effective and consistent in international target-marketing to maximize long-term effect. The EDO that has these traits coupled with proven training solutions, will earn their place in the winner’s circle.
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Von Hatley, Managing Director, Jones Walker Consulting, LLC
Von Hatley is the managing director of Jones Walker Consulting, LLC. He has more than 30 years of experience serving as a manufacturing executive, strategic management consultant, university educator, and economic development director. Jones Walker Consulting is a wholly owned subsidiary of the 80-year-old U.S. based law firm, Jones Walker LLP, with offices in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, and Texas serving both corporate and governmental clients. As a manufacturing executive, Hatley was responsible for the management of several hundred employees in multiple plant sites, including overseeing international expansion. As a strategic management consultant, Hatley oversaw the sales and delivery of tens of millions of consulting revenue, including improving overall profitability for his Global 1000 clients by over $500 million. He worked throughout the United States and internationally in the Middle East, Canada, South America, Western Europe, and the Pacific Rim. His siting experience includes project leadership responsibility of more than $10 billion in announced investments, creating and retaining more than 20,000 manufacturing jobs across the globe.
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