Site Selection and the Use of Web Sites
Until the late 1990s, corporations and/or their site selection consultants depended primarily on a variety of non-electronic resources for the information needed in locating new facilities.  Unsolicited brochures arrived by mail touting the advantages of particular communities.  Economic development organizations at both the state and local levels made sales calls to promote their area.  Federal data sources were used for preliminary screenings, even though the data often was several years old.

The advent of sophisticated search engines and the ubiquitous use of the Internet have changed the rules of the site selection game.  Now, instead of contacting various economic development agencies at the state or local level, the site selector can use the Internet and web sites to gather preliminary data on virtually any community in the nation without leaving the computer.
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WSJ Agrees with Pharma Trends Reported by Taimerica 
The December 6, 2007 Wall Street Journal reported on the decline in new discoveries and patents and therefore new drugs to replace the existing industry cash cows.  As a result, industry revenue is expected to decline for the first time in nearly four decades beginning in 2011.  For Taimerica's industry forecast, see Life Sciences: How will the Shake-up Shake Out?

Taimerica Facilitates LIDEA Strategy Session
Taimerica facilitated a Strategy Session for the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association (LIDEA) at their Annual Meeting on Dec. 7.  During this session, recommendations were identified and prioritized for Economic Development Legislation in the Regular Legislative Session and for the Jindal Administration for 2008.

Taimerica Training Courses 
Did you know that Taimerica offers a range of training courses for local ED staff and volunteers, and elected officials?  Taimerica's own Dr. David Kolzow recently conducted a 3-day course in Strategic Planning that took students all the way through an actual case study and provided hands-on experience.  Other courses he has conducted recently include a 2-day course in Managing EDOs, a half-day "What is ED?" course, and a one-day course in Site Selection intended to help local officials understand what site selectors look for.   And communities such as Clark County Arkansas rely on his expertise to help set up new organizations, described last month, with training of new board members.  Call us to discuss your training needs.