Consultants Site Guide

Of those consultants who claimed they do perform location studies for their clients, nearly half said their clients had already narrowed down the geographic area of search before calling them in; but 25 percent also said their clients expect the consultants to make the location decision for them (Chart C).

The majority of the respondents to our Consultants Survey ( 63 percent) are working for smaller companies in terms of employment numbers (fewer than 500 employees). More than half have worked with both investor-owned and privately held firms (Charts D and E).

Do Their Clients Have New Facilities Plans?

Once again I must note that this survey was conducted in late summer 2008; therefore, the responses might not reflect the events that took place during the year’s final quarter. Nonetheless, the respondents to our 2008 Consultants Survey were about equally divided when asked if the downturn in the U.S. economy had affected their clients’ facility plans: 50 percent of the responding consultants said their clients’ new facility plans had been put on hold, with 28 percent saying their clients were closing/consolidating facilities. However, 47 percent of the responding consultants said their clients still planned to open new facilities (Chart F).

Of those respondents who claimed their clients expected to open new facilities, a third said they planned to do so within one year, and more than half said their clients had two-year new facility plans (Chart G). Only 11 percent said their clients had longer-range new facility plans (compared to the 20 percent of the Corporate Survey respondents with plans three or more years out). This might be an indication of the fact that the consultants’ services are not utilized until their clients’ plans are more firmly in place.

Nearly two-thirds of the respondents to our 2008 Consultants Survey said their clients who have new facility plans expect to open only one new facility. Just 13 percent said their clients had plans for three or more new facilities (Chart H). Interestingly, 28 percent of the Corporate Survey respondents with new facility plans expect to open three or more new facilities within the next five years.

Whereas nearly half of the 2008 Corporate Survey respondents’ new facilities are planned as manufacturing establishments, only 27 percent of the consultants’ clients’ new facilities are expected to house manufacturing opera-

tions (Chart I). Nearly half ( 47 percent) of the responding consultants’ clients’ new facilities are expected to be headquarters, R&D, back office/call center, and other types of