for this region last year. There’s a slight decline for the traditional picks of Western Europe (with just 9 percent of
the new foreign facilities planned for this region, down 2
percent from last year), and for Asia, which was expected
Location of new domestic facilities
(as of total new domestic projects):
New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) — 4%
Middle Atlantic (DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) — 7%
South Atlantic (NC, SC, VA, WV) — 12%
Mid-South (AR, KY, MO, TN) — 10%
South (AL, FL, GA, LA, MS) — 14%
Midwest (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) — 13%
Plains (IA, KS, MN, NE, ND, SD) — 10%
Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) — 6%
Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) — 13%
West (CA, NV, OR, WA) — 10%
Offshore (AK, HI, PR, VI) — 2%
03691215
Figure 14
Types of new foreign facilities to be opened
(as of total new foreign projects):
Manufacturing — 44%
Warehouse/Distribution — 25%
Headquarters — 5%
R&D — 12%
Back Office/Call Center — 5%
Other — 9%
Figure 15
Number of new jobs to be created
at new foreign facilities:
Figure 16
Fewer than 20 — 17%
20-49 — 28%
50-99 — 12%
100-499 — 31%
500-999 — 7%
1,000 or more — 5%
to garner 42 percent of the new foreign facilities last year,
but will only get 38 percent of the 2008 Corporate Survey
respondents’ new foreign facilities (Figure 17).
Significantly, when it comes to the new facilities
planned for Asia, 44 percent will go to China — down from
54 percent last year. India is holding its own — accounting
for a quarter of the new foreign projects slated by the Corporate Survey respondents (Figure 18). Let’s hope the
recent tragic events in Mumbai do not cause this nation to
lose its appeal to foreign investors.
Of those planning new foreign facilities, 40 percent or
more of the Corporate Survey respondents expect to
encounter legal and regulatory problems, as well as a shortage of skilled labor. More than a quarter of the respondents
also expect to find the infrastructure (both utility and
transportation) lacking and to run into social/cultural
barriers (Figure 19).
Do They Have Expansion and Relocation Plans?
When asked about their expansion plans at their current location, more than half of the 2008 Corporate Survey
respondents said they had no plans (similar to last year’s
results). Just 16 percent said they planned to expand in one
year, and 33 percent had longer-range expansion plans (
Figure 20). Unfortunately, more than two-thirds of these expansions will create fewer than 50 jobs in total (Figure 21).
About three quarters of the respondents also have no
plans to relocate a domestic facility. Of those with relocation plans, only 8 percent expect to make the move within
one year (Figure 22). These results are remarkably similar
to those reported in 2007.
More than half of those respondents with relocation
plans cite the need to lower operating and occupancy costs
(up from 33 percent last year), and more than a third need
to be closer to suppliers and/or markets served (up from
just 12 percent in 2007) (Figure 23). The escalating costs
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