In continuing our series of posts on economic development, we felt that it would be valuable to explore the approach that site selection professionals use in helping their clients find the best places to locate new facilities. With that in mind, I approached Dr. C. R. “Buzz” Canup, founder and president of the site selection and community consulting firm Canup & Associates, and asked for some insights into how the process of choosing a community for a new enterprise really works. While much of the process is just as you might suspect, the sequence of the evaluation, the role of incentives, and the places where communities fall short might surprise you.

“One of the key things communities need to understand is that every site location study really is a custom study for a specific client based on the specific project requirements,” Dr. Canup began. “The process we go through is to help our client define the criteria of the project, and then that criteria drives where we search, how we search, what we look at, how we evaluate it, and how communities stack up against each other.”

Meeting these criteria is the first hurdle for a community to clear in order to be in the running, and while communities can prepare for some, others are more innate and are based on the geographic location. (more…)

Canup & Associates, Economic Development, Economic Incentives, Site Selection

In our last post, Mr. Jeff Finkle, CEO of the International Economic Development Council, shared some insights on economic development mistakes to avoid. In this post we will share the rest of our Q&A session with him, which includes discussion about incentives, investment, and marketing venues for small to mid-sized communities:

What types of incentives seem to be sparking the most activity right now, and what should a community be offering to stay competitive?

It is worth noting that no two communities are created equal. Each community faces diverse factors that impact the types of incentive programs they can and should offer and the actual effectiveness of those programs. (more…)

Community Marketing, Economic Development, Economic Incentives, International Economic Development Council