Why Use a Qualified  Site Location Consultant for Industrial and Headquarters Locations?

I had a very interesting interaction with a large multinational corporation several months ago as Strategic Development Group tried to secure the corporation as a client for site location and incentive negotiation services.  In essence, after months of discussion, the potential client informed me that their firm believed they did not need to retain a site location expert because the US states in which they were searching provided that service.  Given the large investment to be undertaken by this firm, I believe this decision was quite costly to them on many levels.

Now, I must first say that my firm and I have the utmost respect for State development organizations and the Governors that lead them.  I once directed the domestic and global recruiting operations of a State development agency.  Most every site location project we work involves State development agencies to ensure we fully understand the assets of the states where we work.

With that said, achieving  a corporation’s typical top site selection goals of selecting the best available site from and operational and net cost perspective, requires unbiased and deep site selection expertise spanning multiple states that ensures the following occur:

1. All possible sites, typically in multiple, states are considered,
2. Site analysis and site short-listing remains focused on a corporation’s unique site selection goals including labor requirements and site characteristics.
3. A competitive environment is set up between states, local political jurisdictions and service providers to maximize the value of incentives provided to clients.
4. Incentives are analyzed correctly to verify their usable value to the client.
5. Final recommendations that are focused exclusively on fiduciary responsibility to the client and free of bias.

This combination of activities, through use of a qualified site consultant, generally results in selection of an optimal site from an operational and cost perspective and securing the maximum value of incentives.