32nd Annual Survey of Corporate Executives Commentary: Managing the EDO Investment Portfolio to Maximize Job Growth
The investment conversation has to start somewhere, and when companies are seeking new locations, the conversation begins with site inventory.
Q1 2018
Seventy-three percent of the companies making an investment decision employ fewer than 500 people; 85 percent of the investments will be less than $50 million. Therefore, the EDO that spends more than 70 percent of its time on the small to medium-size companies is going to be more successful than the EDO that spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on or looking for larger projects.
Regarding long-term vs. short-term actions, nearly half of the respondents who are planning to open new domestic facilities say that their ultimate decision will be within two to three years, and 74 percent of the survey respondents say the information-gathering process takes a year or longer. Time is on the side of the EDO to plan, then act.
Looking at the top 20 combined ratings, 16 of the 20 are in the four portfolio categories of financial, workforce, transportation, or available sites and buildings. We know the overall economy is strong, but the survey results show this is driven by factors other than recent economic fiscal policy. The question then becomes, “Which of these four broad categories does the EDO professional have the most ability to influence?” Of the four broad categories, this year, increasing the inventory of available right-sized sites and buildings is where EDOs can make a real impact. The other categories are important, but the investment conversation has to start somewhere, and when companies are seeking new locations, the conversation begins with site inventory.
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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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