Jump to content

Virginia Business

wrldcoupe4

By wrldcoupe4
in Virginia

Recommended Posts

wrldcoupe4 Metropolitan Area

wrldcoupe4

Posted
Posted

Thought we could start this thread for discussing broader business issues in Virginia that are non-specific to a certain city or region....

I'll start it off with this:

There are 31 (including Meadwestvaco) Virginia companies on the 2006 Fortune 1000 list! :thumbsup:

I'll try to break it down by region

Fortune 500 list:

Richmond - 9 (including Meadwestvaco)

Northern Virginia - 7

Hampton Roads - 2

Roanoke - 1

Fortune 1000 list:

Richmond - 13 (including Meadwestvaco)

Northern Virginia - 12

Hampton Roads - 4

Roanoke - 1

Abingdon - 1

Fortune 500 - Virginia Companies

Fortune 500 main page

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply
gosscj Whistle-Stop

gosscj

Posted
Posted

HR has a sad total on that list!

Especially when you consider we are the most populous metro area in the state (that is, if you count Northern VA as part of the Washington metro area) and we have such a stable, profitable asset in the Port of Virginia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

Posted
Posted

Especially when you consider we are the most populous metro area in the state (that is, if you count Northern VA as part of the Washington metro area) and we have such a stable, profitable asset in the Port of Virginia.

I have a feeling that once the major expansion of our ports is done a lot of the major shipping lines will take up residence here for logistical reasons. I'm actually surprised we haven't had more do so already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

Posted
Posted

I have a feeling that once the major expansion of our ports is done a lot of the major shipping lines will take up residence here for logistical reasons. I'm actually surprised we haven't had more do so already.

I hope that there will be a change in the total amount of companies HQed in HR. I'm hoping that with all of these developments and Light rail coming it will open peoples eyes to the HR area. I still say that a sports team will help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
urbanvb City

urbanvb

Posted
Posted

So how can we change that? How many universities should we have in the area? We have NSU, ODU, CNU and Regent as well as quite a few other institutions - TCC, Thomas Nelson CC, Strayer is coming to TC, ECPI, EVMS and Virginia Wesleyan. These are just the ones I could think of. I wonder how this stacks up against Richmond and the DC area?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

So how can we change that? How many universities should we have in the area? We have NSU, ODU, CNU and Regent as well as quite a few other institutions - TCC, Thomas Nelson CC, Strayer is coming to TC, ECPI, EVMS and Virginia Wesleyan. These are just the ones I could think of. I wonder how this stacks up against Richmond and the DC area?

It will never change when a majority of the industries here do not requre education. Shipbuilding, Ports, and Military. Unfortunately until a majority of these businesses go away and business jobs requiring education come to the area were stuck with these numbers no matter what types of colleges you have here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hoobo Burg

hoobo

Posted
Posted

It will never change when a majority of the industries here do not requre education. Shipbuilding, Ports, and Military. Unfortunately until a majority of these businesses go away and business jobs requiring education come to the area were stuck with these numbers no matter what types of colleges you have here.

That's a nice way of putting it. Those jobs are not unskilled janitorial services, but highly-skilled and well-paid (except for substandard pay of military enlistees) positions. Also, those industries are full of engineers. HR has a high ratio of engineers per capita.

Really, what kind of business jobs are we talking about here? Account managers? Financial specialists? Tech manufacturing? These aren't glamourous well-paying jobs either. Engineering services, banking, investment firms, and such are found in all metro areas. But I assume we're talking about landing a financial analysis center for a major brokerage house; well those are hard to come by as they are highly sought after. HR is not going to land Fidelity's financial analysis unit or Novartis' flu vaccine facotry because Raleigh already had medium-sized offices of both companies.

Having the military and ports doesn't prevent other types of companies from coming here. Lack of a large highly-ranked university probably does. (ODU is a good university but not in the class of W&M, UVa, or Tech. If only W&M was twice its size.) But what is a bigger drawback is that HR is an unestablished market. It doesn't have the inroads in finance and tech that Raleigh, Richmond, Baltimore, or Charlotte do. It is still developing these bases. M&S is a great start, but HR still has a ways to go to catch up to Orlando in this field. (BTW, one of Orlando's selling points to that industry is that it is within an hour and half of 3 of America's largest universities, one of which has a program dedicated to that field. Good thing ODU is emulating this formula.)

So what HR needs to do is continue working with ODU and EVMS to expand their M&S and biotech research areas, respectively. It also needs to convince W&M to grow beyond its small liberal arts status into a large liberal arts school like UNC and keep improving ODU's prestige. At the same time, HR needs to continue its transition into a metropolis to retain those graduates. HR must continue to nuture its budding M&S industry and grow its biotech research industry centered around EVMS. Finally, HR needs to agressively seek branches of major financial and tech firms by means of incentives. I'm talking a 30-100 person unit that do a specialized service for that company so that when it comes to expand, HR will be one of the first places they look to.

You don't diversify an economy by asking the blue-collar jobs to leave. You do it by figuring out the weaknesses that are holding back the diversification into the white-collar economy and fixing them.

So how can we change that? How many universities should we have in the area? We have NSU, ODU, CNU and Regent as well as quite a few other institutions - TCC, Thomas Nelson CC, Strayer is coming to TC, ECPI, EVMS and Virginia Wesleyan. These are just the ones I could think of. I wonder how this stacks up against Richmond and the DC area?

It's not a matter of quanity but quality. Only ODU is a true research university and a mediocre one at that. The only HR school in the top 100 is W&M and that school has a total undergrad enrollment capped at 5000.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Telmnstr Burg

Telmnstr

Posted
Posted

Heya,

How much business has Virginia Tech attracted to the Blacksburg area? I always thought of Blacksburg as being a college town, and the students leaving to go to jobs elsewhere. I know someone out that way, but he telecommutes.

In regards to Norfolk Southern, their HQ is here but most operations arean't AFAIK.

What about Amerigroup? It is my understanding they are raking in the cash. They are tied to gov't work, so there is money there. Medicare or something. Even more money. Buckets of cash. If they aren't on the top 1000 list they probably will be.

Others have pointed out in the past to me that HR is a cul-de-sack. We aren't on i95. They should take i64 south and reconnect it to 95, and beef it up, so we get all of the people travelling south.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hoobo Burg

hoobo

Posted
Posted

It's not so much about attracting new business but retaining students. Not many want to stay in Bleaksburg. But Tech does have a lot of small tech companies around just as UVa has a lot of biomechanics firms around there. These two schools are the powerhouse research centers of Virginia and therefore will attract the top-tier students and scientists. Just imagine if one or both schools were in a larger metro area like HR or Richmond. It would make sense for larger companies to set up shop to attract the kids right out of school or while they're still in it, because it would be a place they want to live.

Tel, Amerigroup is a Fortune 1000 (#732) and so is Dollar Tree (#555). And forget our NA or company unit HQ's like Ferguson and Newport News Shipbuilding. And HR also has major centers for Siemens, Canon, and Mitsubishi. But you're dead on about the roads. NC-64 (limited-access highway) goes from Raleigh across I-95 to Williamston. Virginia and NC need to work together to build a road from HR through Elizabeth City and Edenton and connect it with the eastern terminus of NC-64. If the Eastern Shore can stop putting traffic lights on Route 13 and those two tunnels can be sunk at the CBBT, then no need to travel through Baltimore and DC to get to NC and points south. Then HR will no longer be a cul-de-sac.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

Posted
Posted

But you're dead on about the roads. NC-64 (limited-access highway) goes from Raleigh across I-95 to Williamston. Virginia and NC need to work together to build a road from HR through Elizabeth City and Edenton and connect it with the eastern terminus of NC-64. If the Eastern Shore can stop putting traffic lights on Route 13 and those two tunnels can be sunk at the CBBT, then no need to travel through Baltimore and DC to get to NC and points south. Then HR will no longer be a cul-De-sac.

I doubt this will ever happen hoobo but you are exactly right. There has got to be something that we can do though. I even wonder if any of the politicians in this region are even dwelling on this. Even if they started now I don't even know that we would even be able to see it in our life time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
wrldcoupe4 Metropolitan Area

wrldcoupe4

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Virginia unemployment drops

The jobless rate fell to 3.1 percent in September from 3.2 percent in August, as the number of unemployed people in the state declined by 3,500 to 125,700, the Virginia Employment Commission reported. When adjusted for seasonal factors, the jobless rate was unchanged at 3.2 percent........
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.