The most listened to, relevant organization in Annapolis,bar none.
Robert L. Ehrlich - Governor, State of Maryland

And the Winner Is... Criteria for Corporate Site Selection"
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I'll give you two recent examples of how the criteria worked its way down. In one case, where Baltimore didn't win and one where it did.

Sea Land made a decision to leave New Jersey because they had a difficult time getting people to come through that location to do business. They were looking for 200,000 sq. ft. of space, a rather significant opportunity for any city. Baltimore was in the original screen but did not win because of real estate costs for a 200,000-sq.-ft. building, labor costs 15 to 20 percent higher than Charlotte, and quality of life issues. Sea Land expected to have as difficult a time recruiting people into the Washington Metropolitan area as they had experienced in New Jersey.

The second example is the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the charitable foundation of United Parcel Service, which, most would assume, would follow UPS down to Atlanta. They selected the Baltimore area. Why? Baltimore had a strong, not-for profit base. The facility was offered at a very competitive rate and its proximity to the D.C. market was a very important factor because they spent a lot of time in D.C. and felt this would make a better home for them than Atlanta.

Time and time again our studies get us into situations where we find an industry that has a specific set of needs. We really work the organization through what drives their business, then we look to areas to find what fits. Every business in every industry is going to have a different set of criteria. So, where does it all start? It really starts with what we call targeting. Targeting what you want to go after or what you want to retain. Let me suggest six particular market segments that generate economic value for an area.

First, start-up businesses. If you're a heavy academic community such as Boston or Baltimore you should be thinking about how to nurture young, entrepreneurial talent into start-up businesses. The circle around Boston was created on the backs of the computer industry out of the universities in the Boston area.

There are venture capitalists who raise money in Maryland, yet they wouldn't think about start-up businesses here, because Maryland does not have a conducive tax structure. Did you know this state raises about the fourth or fifth highest amount of investment capital in the country? I suggest that the state takes a look at start-up businesses and understands how to make them work.

Second, a good retention strategy starts with a good attraction strategy I advocate that economic development be split 80-20: 80 percent of the effort on retaining the businesses that are doing business in your state and 20 percent attracting new ones. Successful businesses will become your best salesmen to bring others in. You can't legislate them into success, they will make themselves successful. You need to listen to business to see what impediments government is creating that makes it more difficult for them to be successful. Then explore what can be done to help them be successful.

Third, tourists are a customer base. I think this state has done a marvelous job with tourism. But look at the years of infrastructure development that you worked with, look at the decisions that were made before the tourists came. You did it and it worked.

Fourth, the retirement community is the fastest growing population for the future. We ought not lose that talent. They don't use the infrastructure nearly as much. They're in volunteer programs. They spend money. They pay property taxes. Why do we create such an income tax burden on them if they're well-to-do, forcing them to go some place else that caters to them?

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