The city of Temple, Texas, is strategically located along the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In addition, it is adjacent to Fort Hood, one of the largest active duty armored posts in the US. In 2011 the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood MSA was ranked among top five best-performing metro areas in the nation, according to the Milken Institute, which ranks metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth.

The Temple EDC wished to position the city to continue this trend through a better targeted business recruitment program. With this in mind, TIP was hired to define the top five industry categories best suited for Temple, taking into account the community’s and region’s existing assets. Additionally TIP was to provide extensive research on each target, as well as a marketing and implementation plan.

The selection of target sectors is traditionally bound to an assessment of only a few determinant factors, such as access to an available workforce, industrial sites, and incentives. Our target industry recommendations are not based solely on these issues, but also on conversations with the area’s business leaders to better understand potential opportunities and challenges that might not be readily identifiable through secondary data sources alone.

Laborshed Analysis: Employees by Zip Code
Source: TIP Strategies

To define the study area for the target industry analysis, we established the actual laborshed of the City of Temple by collecting employee zip code information from the city’s major employers. We obtained data from 11 employers on 17,958 employees or 10% of the Temple Metropolitan Statistical Area’s (MSA) non-military workforce. Employers represented various sectors including healthcare, distribution, back office, education, and manufacturing.

Using tools such as a laborshed analysis, economic base analysis, location quotients, and a shift-share analysis, a quantitative analysis was conducted to identify potential target industry sectors. The list was then filtered further using specific criteria, including location, growth, size, image, and infrastructure. The resulting list includes both existing industry clusters and aspirational targets. Each industry sector was profiled and specific niches are noted. These niches show the greatest potential for growth, pay higher than average earnings, and are sufficiently large to warrant an investment of TEDC’s resources for business recruitment. In addition, they play to Temple’s strengths and fit with Temple’s site availability.

The TEDC adopted the plan in early 2012. With the tools provided by TIP, the TEDC has augmented its marketing program, enhanced its industry research, and re-focused its business recruitment efforts.

By: Michael J. Coren
Via: Co.EXIST

The best way to give economies a little juice is to get their Internet going faster, and not just because it’s annoying to wait for that YouTube video to load.

Each time a country doubles its broadband speed, economic output increases by 0.3%. That may not sound like much, but for the club of rich countries known as the OECD that’s equivalent to $126 billion every year, or more than 14% of the average annual growth rate of those countries during the last decade.

The findings come from a new study conducted in 33 OECD countries that attempts to quantify the impact of broadband speed. One interpretation of the report is that broadband will become the interstate highways of the 21st century: infrastructure that radically improves the exchange of valuable goods (or services and ideas) leading to explosive economic growth over time.


Governments have certainly thrown their support behind it. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act alone committed the U.S. to invest $7.2 billion, including a “National Broadband Plan” promoting universal access. Globally, the International Telecommunication Union reports about 70 countries have adopted plans to promote broadband Internet access.

But the path might not always be smooth. Patrik Regardh, head of strategic marketing for Ericsson, pointed out that broadband would have direct effects (infrastructure investments to build out the wires or wireless), as well as the far larger indirect effects by creating the foundation for new ways of doing business.

Broadband has already created new sectors and redefined (or destroyed) old ones. The music industry, which after years of sales decline as it adopted digital distribution models, is growing again with new players and entirely new ways to deliver and share music online. As broadband becomes ubiquitous, and faster, everything from retail to government services may find ways to reinvent itself, especially in knowledge-based sectors where such speed and efficiency can enhance competitiveness.

“Sectors of society will increasingly base value creation and stakeholder interactions on digital infrastructure [as] this opens up possibilities for more advanced online services, smarter utility services, e-health, telecommuting, and tele-presence,” says Regardh. “All [are] dependent on high-performing broadband networks.”


But this isn’t true for everyone right now. Developing countries, as well as industries less reliant on the digital economy, are unlikely to see the large jumps in productivity that are driving growth elsewhere. For now, simply expanding Internet access, rather than improving speed, gets better bang for the buck in terms of economic growth.

Still, the broadband connection is generally seen as an economic boom once it arrives. The Public Policy Institute of California also found a positive correlation between broadband expansion and economic growth. The strongest effects (verging on causation) were for information technology reliant industries and in sparsely populated regions.

Don’t expect to see your paycheck rise once broadband arrives. Most California residents did not see direct benefits from expanding broadband, as average wages and the employment rate were unaffected. But when looking economy wide, faster gigabytes do seem to give GDP a boost.

Ericsson, which would [sic] to build some of that hardware for the broadband future, sees the benefits only becoming clear in hindsight. “In 20 years, we are likely to see and fully comprehend the importance of digital highways as we currently understand the importance of the interstate highway system,” says Regardh.

By: John Cook
Via: Geek Wire

Walmart is trying to roll onto Amazon's turf

One of the most fascinating rivalries going on in tech right now isn’t between Apple and Microsoft. Or Google and Facebook. It’s actually the battle for online retail dollars between Walmart and Amazon.com, a fight for the hearts and minds of the world’s shoppers.

Through its Walmart Labs unit, the giant Arkansas retailer is investing heavily in e-commerce as it plays a game of catch-up to Amazon.

Walmart is still the bigger of the two companies, with a market value of $207 billion to Amazon’s $89 billion. And because of that you might think it would have the upper hand at the negotiation table, right?

But as Reuters reports today, Walmart has lost out on two big possible acquisition deals to Amazon.com in the past few years. The most recent one occurred this week when Walmart passed on an opportunity to buy warehouse robot maker Kiva Systems, which Amazon gobbled up for $775 million.

A Kiva robot in action

Citing a source familiar with the situation, Reuters reported that Walmart passed because “it did not see an attractive return on the investment.”

In the same report, Reuters noted that Walmart went after Quidsi — operator of Diapers.com and other e-commerce sites — but lost out to Amazon.com which purchased the company for more than $500 million in 2010.

Certainly, Walmart is behind in e-commerce. And one way that it can get into the game is through acquisitions, gobbling up either tech talent (which it has already done), big niche players (like a Quidsi) or pure technology plays (Kiva). Walmart has been making a number of buys in recent months, but they’ve typically been smaller upstarts like Small Society, One Riot, Kosmix and Grabble.

Given that, all I have to say is watch this space. With two well known and well capitalized giants going at one another, I anticipate plenty of fireworks in the coming months.

The rivalry between the two companies has come and gone over the years. Back in 1998, Walmart sued Amazon for stealing trade secrets. At the time, Walmart issued this statement:


That was just three years after Amazon.com launched, and it showed the disdain (or fear) for the young upstart. It also occurred just before the dot-com implosion, a period that nearly killed Amazon. Walmart could have used the time to plant its flag in e-commerce. But it didn’t, and now 10 years later the fight appears to be back on in a big way.

The question now is whether Amazon.com is just too big to kill off.

via TMASC
Opportunity grows in the region

New TMASC report in development
On November 19, 2008, Bexar County Economic Development held its inaugural Texas-Mexico Automotive SuperCluster (TMASC) Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Bexar County created TMASC that year to leverage the changing geography of automotive assembly and automotive markets in North America. TMASC would capitalize on changes in the industrial landscape by building upon the region’s numerous global vehicle and heavy equipment manufacturers, hundreds of Tier 1 original equipment suppliers, and world-class innovative assets. This first look at the region was facilitated by an excellent benchmark study conducted by TIP Strategies, Inc.

Late last year we engaged TIP Strategies to take a look at the region again and create an updated report. The finalization of that report is currently underway. Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of the TMASC region as we saw it three years ago.

TMASC, circa 2008
Heading into 2009, the TMASC region was home to the final assembly plants of nine global manufacturers. These plants employed more than 18,000 workers and were capable of producing almost 900,000 units per year. The region also had over 200 Tier 1 supplier plants, which employed over 133,000 workers.


TMASC, circa 2011
As of the end of last year, the TMASC Region was home to seven automotive assembly plants and parts plants, employing over 17,000 workers and capable of producing over 800,000 units. The region also contained six commercial and military vehicle manufacturing plants.

Over the last few years, TMASC’s scope has broadened to reflect the region’s additional heavy equipment and commercial vehicle manufacturing activity as well. Heavy equipment manufacturers in the region include Caterpillar, John Deere, and Manitou, which together have seven plants in the region. There are also two specialty vehicle manufacturers: Skyline, which manufactures recreational vehicles, and Frazerbilt, which manufactures emergency response vehicles.


Growth hasn’t come in the form of new plants only. In 2010, Toyota invested $100 million to add a Tacoma production line at its plant in San Antonio. Moreover, yesterday GM announced its continued expansion in the region with a new $200 million metal stamping facility at their plant in Arlington. The new operation will create 180 jobs and save GM an estimated $40 million each year is logistics costs.

Regional roll out coming later this quarter
Once the new TMASC report is finalized, we will be sharing it via the TMASC website, as well as through special presentations to selected TMASC partners throughout the region. We look forward to providing an updated vision of the region to our TMASC communities and stakeholders this quarter, and to exploring new collaborations like we did last week with the Capital Area Economic Development District committee of the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG). To schedule a presentation, please contact us. We are excited about the many opportunities 2012 will give us to increase advanced manufacturing assets and activities in the region.

By: Becca Aaronson
Via: The Texas Tribune

In late 2009, when Texas was at its lowest employment total during the the recession, the state had lost more than 400,000 jobs. But since then, Texas has regained nearly 500,000 jobs and began 2012 with the highest employment total in its history.

There are 10.7 million people who currently work in Texas, but nearly 1 million more are still unemployed. Although the unemployment rate has dropped, at 7.3 percent, there’s still room to improve.

The interactive below explores how the Texas economy has changed over the last four years. Use the graph to see how each major industry has fared. You can also compare how industries have changed by using the “command” key on a Mac or the “control” key on a PC to select more than one industry.

Below the graph is a map showing the January 2012 unemployment rate in Texas’ largest metropolitan areas. If you click on a region, details about that region’s economy will pop up in the table below. [click image to view the original interactive version at The Texas Tribune]

Source: Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Labor Market Review Feb. 2012

By: Tom Walsh
Via: Detroit Free Press

For decades, a drumbeat of painful headlines chronicled the decline of Michigan as plant after plant closed, while cities and states in the American South attracted a wave of new investment and jobs by dangling lucrative incentives and spewing anti-union rhetoric.

Foreign automakers settled in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. Boeing began building airplanes in South Carolina. Since 2005, Atlanta has had the busiest airport in the world.

Who could have guessed that by the start of 2012, not long after the bailouts and bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler, unemployment in Georgia would be higher than in Michigan, which had the nation’s worst jobless rate for most of the past decade?

Strange, but true. Michigan’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.0% in January; Georgia’s was 9.2%. Mississippi and both Carolinas also have higher jobless rates than Michigan. During the summer of 2009, when Michigan’s rate soared to a recessionary high of 14.2%, Georgia’s was around 10%.

What on Earth has happened to close that gap?

A report in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, by economics writer Michael Kanell, explored why Georgia’s economy — after decades of rapid growth — is having trouble regaining traction.

A chunk of Georgia’s heady growth had come from success in getting outside companies to locate, or relocate, in the state. But even though Georgia is still luring some big projects — Caterpillar announced a new plant and 1,400 jobs there last month — its economic recovery is lagging.

Two factors may be at work, the AJC report suggested.

• Other states have adopted similar tactics in offering generous tax breaks and other incentives.

• And perhaps more importantly, Georgia’s success in landing big outside deals “has masked a little-acknowledged fact: corporate relocations do not have a major impact, despite the hoopla,” Kanell wrote. While Georgia was the fourth-best state in the nation from 1994-2008 at recruiting new companies, Kanell added, studies show that 96% of its new jobs came from start-ups, expansions and spin-offs of Georgia businesses.

As a counterpoint to Georgia’s tactics, Kanell invoked the so-called “economic gardening” strategy being touted by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, focusing on nurturing home-grown businesses with a simpler, lower corporate tax in lieu of big tax credits.

Snyder’s radical shift in economic development tactics was driven in part by the need to shore up Michigan’s finances by wiping future tax credits off the books. Now other states may start looking at the Michigan model because they, too, face looming fiscal deficits, or — like Georgia — they see diminishing returns as competing states also spend big bucks to attract a limited number of jobs.

Meanwhile, Michigan is boosting its effort to court site selectors — not so much to tease them with fat incentives, but to correct outdated perceptions of the state as a high-tax, high-labor-cost state.

Nobody knows yet which states or strategies will prevail in the battle for jobs and investment. But Michigan’s at least in the dialogue, without being scoffed at.