Site Selectors Guild

Rick Weddle: Welcome to Site Selection Matters, where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I’m your host, Rick Weddle, president of Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild or economic development partners and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Larry Gigerich, executive managing director with Ginovus, one of the nation’s leading site selection and location advisory firms. Today, Larry will talk with us about the importance of water resources in economic growth and development. Join me as we welcome Larry Gigerich to Site Selection Matters. Larry, arguably, water has become the most important natural resource for communities and states. And the impact on economic development is significant. Take a minute if you will and unpack this a bit for our listeners. Why is it so important and why is it becoming so important now? Larry Gigerich: Yeah, I think as you look at it, Rick, and you think about economic and community development in the U.S., and for that matter globally, you know, water and the ability to access water has become critically important, even more so than in the past. And I think maybe the best way to frame this issue up is to really divide it into two pieces. The first being water that is specifically required to support a company’s operations and the second part being water availability to support people living and working in the geographic area. They’re different, but yet connected. And I think as you think about it, you know, water is required for certain types of industrial primarily projects, as you think about it. So, things like food and beverage manufacturing, data centers, chemical productions, some steel and metal products, things like that where you have to have water as a part of your process. And, you know, if you have an area that can’t meet those availability statistics or numbers, in particular, that’s an issue. And then the second piece is, and I think this is maybe one of the really interesting things that we’ve seen develop over the past couple of years is, the corporate decision-makers are really emphasizing ensuring that water is in available in those communities and states where they look to allocate tower. Where they’re going to put those resources of people because they want to make sure people living in that area are in a position, you know, whether it’s from a quality of place or just general everyday life, that they’re in a place where there’s water that’s available. Because I think that’s going to become even more important as we go forward and decision-makers are starting to look at that. Rick: Two big reasons and we’ll jump into that. So, we get it now, really that water’s important. Obviously, without water we can’t exist and, of course, it’s important for, as you noted, many industrial processes. But now you’re suggesting the second point that corporate decision-makers are really beginning to look at it differently and considering the availability of water when looking at potential facility locations on a broader basis. Explain this if you will. Larry: Absolutely. So, now, you know, with that second focus that has emerged, you know, again ensuring that when they put talent resources in different geographic areas, that water is available not only to meet the needs of that area today, bu

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to Site Selection Matters, where we take a closer look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I’m your host, Rick Weddle, president in the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Dennis Donovan, a principal with Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting, one of the nation’s leading site selection and location advisory firms. Today, Dennis will talk with us about how EDOs or economic developers can work to position their communities in the post-pandemic era. Join me as we welcome Dennis Donovan to Site Selection Matters. Dennis, in this post-pandemic era, it seems like communities, just like companies, should be reassessing their competitive situation and their target industry focus to make sure they’re positioned correctly going forward. Is this correct? Do you see it that way? Dennis Donovan (Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting): Yes, I do. You know, this is really a continuation. I mean, it’s what I call continuous product improvement. Continuous business improvement should always be looking at the assets and liabilities that the community has to offer, and what that holds for the future, and how you rank vis-a-vis the competition. So I think that’s key. And one of…you know, in terms of competitive positioning, coming out of the pandemic, without any question, the number one consideration in terms of how successful a community will be from a retention expansion and a recruitment standpoint is the talent pool. I have never seen, even in the heydays, before the Great Recession, a tighter labor market that we’ve had today. Now, there’s change, there are differences around the country. It’s not uniform. But there are significant challenges. And they stretch from qualified entry-level through semi-skilled through skilled and certain professional positions as well. So documenting in areas labor market resources, especially as they relate to the target industries, is going to be vitally important. And let me tell you, Rick, one of the challenges that I see not being adequately met, I do not see enough workforce assessment that is demand-driven, that we’re just taking stock of what the demand for certain skills are now and in the future. And I see too much in terms of communities and workforce development focusing on jobs. We need to be focusing on skills, the skills required, and then that leads into certain occupations or jobs. So this is gonna be really important, the demand-based, skills-based within your target industries and overall, and then I would say, you know, we hear all about upskilling and so forth. And that is true. But believe me, because of technology, there are going to be portion of the workforce that may not be able to participate fully in the post-COVID recovery. So we need to have a training aimed at not only the marginalized but at those at greatest risk of being displaced. And they can be upskilled to form bottom of the foundation for companies that are gonna require entry-level labor. So this is a new paradigm here. And we don’t have a lot of time to do a lot of redesigning, we do it very quickly. So holistic collaborations of educators, government, business really needs to be business-led. It’s going to be key in terms of making sure that we have a workforce that can sustain

In this episode of Site Selection Matters, host Rick Weddle speaks with Bob Hess, Vice Chairman of Newmark Global Corporate Services and practice lead for its Global Site Selection platform, about diversity and inclusion as a business imperative in corporate site selection.

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to Site Selection Matters, where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I’m your host Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders of the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Andrew Deye, vice president of Strategy for JobsOhio, the lead statewide agency for economic development and job growth in Ohio. Today, Andrew will talk with us about the role talent plays in fueling business opportunities and innovation across the state of Ohio. Please join me as we welcome Andrew Deye to Site Selection Matters. Andrew, your title is vice president of Strategy for JobsOhio. What an interesting role that describes. Take a minute or two if you will, tell our listeners a little bit about exactly what JobsOhio is, maybe what it does. Andrew Deye (JobsOhio): Well, Rick, thank you for the opportunity. JobsOhio is Ohio’s private economic development corporation, and like the Site Selectors Guild, we’re celebrating our tenth anniversary this year. Relative to other state economic development organizations, we’re unique in a number of ways, but let me highlight three. First, our private structure, we’re a private non-profit with a team of industry experts that support businesses with their growth projects that allows us to keep information confidential until the point of announcement. Second, we have a stable funding source. Back in 2013, a 25-year franchise of the state’s liquor enterprise was executed that provides us stable funding through ups and downs. And third, we have statewide coverage, JobsOhio operates with six regional partners, a team in Northeast Ohio, one Columbus, REDI Cincinnati, the Dayton Development Coalition, Regional Growth Partnership Northwest Ohio and Ohio Southeast. We were proud that Cincinnati was the host of the Site Selectors Guild Annual Conference in 2018, and hope you’ll continue to keep an eye on the exciting developments in Ohio. Rick: Well, thank you, Andrew. Thanks for sharing that background on JobsOhio. I think you got my attention when you said stable funding source. I think that speaks to the leadership of the state of Ohio to have an understanding that economic development works best when you can kind of find a line and work it and stay on top of it. So, congratulations to you and the leadership of the state of Ohio for hanging there for 10 years with that stable funding source. I’m sure your partners really appreciate that too? Andrew: Well, ultimately all projects are local, and so we think the three parts, you know, JobsOhio, our regional partner, and our local communities, and ultimately this is always about solving a client opportunity or problem, talent solutions, real estate solutions, and we look forward to continuing to serve clients this year and beyond. Rick: Let me follow up on that, you mentioned talent. One of the most important elements of business investment and site selection decisions really is talent or talent-related. How does Ohio stand or compare today on the issue of talent? What are you doing or going to do specifically to build on your talent ba

Host Rick Weddle interviews Guild Chair Jay Garner about the state of site selection and the Site Selectors Guild. Jay shares unique insights regarding the major questions impacting our economy as we come out of the pandemic and head into what we hope to be a strong and significant economic recovery.

Listen to Site Selection Matters host Rick Weddle talk with Chris Lloyd of McGuireWoods Consulting about what the American Rescue Plan means for economic development and growht.

Rick Weddle: Welcome to Site Selection Matters, where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision making. I’m your host Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Larry Gigerich, executive managing director of Ginovus, one of the nation’s leading location advisory firms. Today, Larry will talk with us about infrastructure. More specifically, Larry will discuss how a national infrastructure plan can position the U.S. for long-term economic development growth. Join me as we welcome Larry Gigerich to Site Selection Matters. Rick: Larry, today we’re going to be talking about infrastructure, and more specifically, a national plan for infrastructure. But before we jump into the details, why don’t you take a minute, if you will, explain to our listeners exactly what is meant by this word infrastructure? Larry Gigerich: Well, absolutely, Rick, and great to be with you as always. In my mind, infrastructure is really a physical asset as you think about. It’s something that’s required to support residential, commercial, and industrial development. So I think about things like roads, rail lines, water, sewer, natural gas, electric, broadband. Those kinds of issues are really key underpinnings to economic development and are physical in nature. You know, without it, businesses can’t operate, individuals can’t live their lives. They’re all things that are important to what we all do day-to-day, and we really need certainly a national plan to help us enhance our infrastructure in our country. It’s something that is important. Again, serves as a key underpinning for economic development over the long-term, and it’s something, honestly, we’ve neglected for a few decades as a country in the U.S. and something needs to be addressed. Rick: You know, Larry with that definition as a baseline, physical infrastructure, you’ve explained that very well kind of what it is. Take a minute, if you can, help us understand why infrastructure development as a process is so important to economic development, and as a follow-up, why a national plan seems to be the right way to go. Larry: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, again, as I think about infrastructure and those physical assets, it’s really important for economic development as it relates to being able to either develop or redevelop sites or buildings, you know, having the things in place that you need to. You know, as I always say, it’s kind of like when you think about infrastructure, you know, when you throw on the light switch and your lights come on, you turn on a faucet, water comes out, you don’t necessarily think about that infrastructure and what it takes to get it to your business, to your home every day until you don’t have access to, until you turn the light switch and the lights don’t come on or turn on the faucet, no water comes out, then it becomes a crisis. So I think that the importance of a national plan, especially one that ends up being focused on physical infrastructure is really important. Again, we’ve not seen anything concentrated, probably close to 30 years now, and we’ve seen a lot of aging of our existing infrastructure, let alone the technological advances t

In this episode of Site Selection Matters, host Rick Weddle discusses the major factors driving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) trends with Courtney Fingar, Editor-in-Chief of the Investment Monitor, a part of the New Statesman Media Group.

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to "Site Selection Matters" where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I'm your host, Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Didi Caldwell, principal with Global Location Strategies, one of the world's leading site selection consultancies for manufacturing and industrial companies. Today Didi will talk with us about how community or state action to combat climate change is emerging as an increasingly important site location factor. Join me as we welcome Didi Caldwell to "Site Selection Matters." Didi, the interest in sustainability is clearly escalating. The new administration's push for climate change programs, renewable energy jobs, plus the recent announcement by BlackRock chief, Laurence Fink, calling for companies to actually disclose plans on how they'll support a net-zero economy all seem to reinforce this point. Take a minute, if you will, to help our listeners understand why this is important, specifically to site location, and what a net-zero economy actually means. Didi Caldwell (Global Location Strategies): Thank you, Rick. It's great to be here with you. We've seen an increasing interest from our clients in net-zero and other sustainability goals over the last, I would say decade. Net-zero essentially means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere and those that are taken out so that we can achieve a net-zero emissions. It differs from gross zero, in that gross zero would mean that we're trying to take out all carbon dioxide emissions, which is, I think most people would agree, is not achievable with today's technology. But net-zero accounts for our ability to take out greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere through nature or through other technologies. Rick: So that would mean we're not making it worse, right? If you're at net zero, it's do no harm, kind of. Didi: Exactly. And the widely accepted increase in temperature that we can achieve... We have to get to net-zero in order to achieve an overall warming of 2 degrees Celsius or less. That's what the scientists are telling us, that we need to in order to avoid major environmental damage and beyond social and all kinds of other things that scientists are telling us that degrees Celsius is about where that threshold is. And in order to achieve that, we really need to get to net-zero and as quickly as possible. Rick: You know, there's a lot of details and a lot of substance to be understood and learned in this. But, you know, we've been talking about global warming and climate change for a long time now, some more intensely, some less intensely, but some of us actually remember back when Al Gore first raised the conscious level with the release of the movie, "Inconvenient Truth." Why do you think it's coming to the forefront now, after all these years? Didi: Well, there's a couple of reasons. I mean, one thing is that was sort of a call-to-action, but we really didn't have the technologies, at least not at a price point where we could implement those technologies back when "I

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to "Site Selection Matters," where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I'm your host, Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest Larry Moretti, principal with LFM Corporate Solutions. With over 30 years of professional experience, Larry focuses on global location strategies and site selection across all industry platforms, corporate real estate advisory services, economic development, and program management. Today, Larry will talk with us about the location strategy decision chain. More specifically, Larry will help us unpack and understand what goes into the decision process? Who was involved in the decision and how it works in practice? Join me as we welcome Larry Moretti to "Site Selection Matters." Rick: Larry, thanks for joining us today and helping us understand the location decision process from the inside out. Why don't you start by giving our listeners your perspective on the strategy decision chain and what's required for a successful decision path? Larry Moretti (LFM Corporate Solutions): Well, thanks, Rick. I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you today. It's interesting having done projects like that, site selection projects for many years, I have seen a pattern I'm sure my colleagues do as well. I mean, the bottom line is the successful project for expanding, consolidating a relocating a company's geographic footprint, they all share a common grounding. They're guided by a logical defendable process to build a business case and to guide that decision. And this is often based on, or always I would say based on underlying business need and the project success factors. So, you know, really important dimension there, in addition to all of the value developments of a citing selection, it's having a clear project management communications and decision structure. And this structure constitutes what I would call a supply and demand decision chain of corporate site selection and economic development. And, you know, this decision involves a couple of categories, I would say three categories in total. One I would call the demand side, then there's a supply side, kind of makes sense, and then the third is a group in between that that evaluates or otherwise influences the decision. So the views and motivations of each of these groups towards alternatives solutions and factors of importance is going to vary, but the underlying process needs to be grounded in project objectives, but it also has to be flexible enough to anticipate actions and reactions to each of these parties. So, it's really, really important for the roles of these key groups to be established and how they fit into the process upfront early in the process. So truly a classic exercise in project management, and we'll go into some of the details. Rick: Very, very interesting. Larry, moving or changing a corporate location, a facility if you will, is clearly a big decision impacting the whole company most likely. As such, I would expect that a lot of different people or stakeholders inside the company would want to have a say or do have a say in that process. Who do you consider to be the key parties in that decision chain from the company or the demand side? Larry: Stepping back a

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to "Site Selection Matters," where we take a closer look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I'm your host, Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Jay Garner, president and founder of Garner Economics and chairman of the Site Selectors Guild. Today Jay will talk with us about the impact COVID-19 has had on food and beverage processing. Jay will also share his unique perspective and insight on the role the Site Selectors Guild has played in professionalizing the location advisory business. Join me as we welcome Jay Garner to "Site Selection Matters." Rick: Jay, I read with interest your recent article on the impact COVID-19 has had on the food and beverage processing industry. You suggest the impact has been both positive and negative. Take a minute, if you will, and tell our listeners how you see this industry in a post-COVID world. Jay (Garner Economics): Hey, Rick, thanks very much for having me. And I love talking about the food and beverage sector, it's our wheelhouse, and so we are engaged in that sector extensively. Boy, let me tell you something, this pandemic really has impacted all of us, many of us negatively, especially economically, health-wise. But some of us, some corporations, have made profits like no other. And the food and beverage sector and all of the downstream companies associated with it, like grocery stores, have done the best they have ever done in the history of their business. So, let me tell you a little bit reason why. Well, obviously, there is no such thing as a recession-proof industry sector, but the food and beverage sector is the closest thing to it because everyone still needs to eat. So, what happens is, because of consumer preference, you have an evolution and always evolving demand of what these products should be. In the case of food and beverage, a number of things were happening before the pandemic, they got exasperated during the pandemic. And what we're seeing, coming out of it, is profound. Protein plants, for example, during the month of May. You know, between 40% and 60% of all protein plants, those are meat-processing facilities went offline. So, not only did you have a shortage in the grocery store and a lot of meat products, but, obviously, you had an escalation in prices as a result of that. And then we all know about paper products associated, in your grocery stores. Those don't typically classify in the food and beverage sector, but you kind of get the idea, get the drift, you know. At the same time, you have sectors like those that have alcohol-infusion that have really grown exponentially. Alcohol sales were on the decline, in the U.S., pre-pandemic. And then during the pandemic, alcohol sales grew significantly because of lockdowns, job losses. You know, there's some inherent psychological challenges that people have faced and continue to face during the pandemic. So, anything...alcohol is classified as food and beverage. And you have alcohol-infusion waters, like these hard seltzer waters, that's the rage now, everyone wants to buy these hard seltzer waters. So, you know, in South Carolina, last month, you had one of these seltzer companies, that's associated with White Claw, doi

In this episode of Site Selection Matters, host Rick Weddle. President and CEO of the Site Selectors Guild, speaks with Bob Hess, Vice Chairman of Newmark's Global Corporate Services practice, about the stay versus go decisions that corporations are making today and the dynamics of such important decsion outcomes.

Rick Weddle (Site Selectors Guild): Welcome to "Site Selection Matters," where we take a closer look at the art and science of site selection decision making. I'm your host, Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, René Buck, CEO of BCI Global, one of the world's leading independent footprint optimization, location strategy, site selection, and supply chain consulting companies. BCI has offices in the U.S., in Europe, and in Asia. Today, René will talk with us about increasing chances for reshoring or production from Asia to the U.S. More specifically, we'll also talk with René about what's driving this movement, and the U.S. states that are the best positioned to capture future reshoring investments. Join me as we welcome René Buck to "Site Selection Matters." René, before we get into a deep dive on this important topic, take a minute, if you will, to explain to our listeners what you mean by decentralization of production, or also called reshoring. And maybe also, a little bit about what the current drivers are of this process. René Buck (BCI Global): Yeah, sure. We hear a lot about reshoring. And reshoring is like something which went out of the U.S. or out of Europe to China/Asia and is now supposed to come back. But let's say we prefer and, I mean, with we also our corporate clients prefer the word decentralization of manufacturing. And decentralization of manufacturing means that is the opposite of having all your eggs in one basket. You can imagine that you have a certain product, or a certain product line and you say, "Well, there's only one place on earth where I produce that." So, it's a global manufacturing plant. Then you will have regional manufacturing plants saying, "Okay. Well, this product, I produce it in a plant for Asia pack, I have a plant for North America, and I have a plant for Europe." And decentralization means even having more plants than just opposite to having one global plant. So, we came for economies of scale reasons. A number of companies chose the last decades to say, "Well, I have one global plant who produces that product." But on the one hand, the U.S.-China trade dispute and on the other hand COVID-19 have made clear that that can be a risky and bumpy road. So, what we see is that companies are looking now into—should we not decentralize our manufacturing, so not having this product produced only in one or two plants, but the more closer to the market so that we are not that vulnerable for business disruption risk? And the reasons, the drivers behind that are there are a couple of drivers. One is from a supply chain risk perspective. You want to reduce the sourcing risk. You want to reduce the risk that you are too dependent of critical suppliers in only one single region. And let's be honest, COVID-19, certainly in February and Marc, and April made clear that supply chains all over the world were disturbed by the fact that the critical suppliers in China could not deliver anymore. So, you have supply chain drivers in terms of mitigating sourcing risk. We have also external disruptions. We talk about pandemic. We talk about trade barrier risk. Let's not forget that for a lot of American companies, this decentralization challenge, where should we produce? What products? With what technologies? For what markets? Where? I repeat, what products do we produce? With what technologies? For what markets? Where? That's a question which for many companies, U.S.-based companies already from e

In this week's episode of Site Selection Matters, Rick Weddle speaks with Larry Gigerich, Executive Managing Director of Ginovus, about incentive compliance management issues in the COVID-19 impacted economic environment.

In this week’s episode of Site Selection Matters, Guild President Rick Weddle speaks with Greg Burkart, Managing Director and Practice Leader with Duff & Phelps, about how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the dynamics of manufacturing location activity around the world. Greg explores manufacturing re-shoring and how it will impact stated, regions and cities in the years ahead.