Economic Development in South Carolina

[g-man430]

International is the key word there. How come they can't attract any companies from the United States? Also, South Financial and Hubbell were already here. They're just building new headquarters. When is Greenville actually going to get a NEW company from a different part of the country or world here?

[goodbye]

You used NASCAR as a reference for Charlotte, which is similar to Hubbell and The South Financial Group here in Greenville, since the home of NASCAR has been considered that region of NC for many decades.

You keep making negative claims without providing any proof to support them. Is Palmetto Bank not a US-based company? JHM Hotels? Genesis Printing? IMI Resort Management? ScanSource (a Platinum 400 Company)? These are only a handful out of many US-based companies with headquarters in Greenville.

[g-man430]

^^^I give up. You win. There is no point in arguing with people on here, because nobody ever agrees with me.

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[krazeeboi]

The point is that you're only making baseless assumptions with nothing to back them up. If you do that, expect people to put you in check. Now quit whining and make some real contributions.

[g-man430]

I just backed up my useless assumptions with an article that talks about 3 corporate headquarters leaving Greenville: http://www.swampfox.ws/companies-sold-headquarters-leave-sc/

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[goodbye]

That article supports the claim that Greenville has lost multiple headquarters, but does not conclude that "Greenville sucks at attracting companies." Those companies mentioned in the article were sold to larger companies elsewhere, just as Bowater was. The real issue at hand is how we as a state can grow and retain large companies.

I found the following quote from your link to be critical in this regard:

[g-man430]

If Ford comes to ICAR, it will be bleak. Hope that doesn't happen after hearing in the news last week about how good they were doing. That's all I have to say. I see this is going nowhere so I give up.

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[CorgiMatt]

I just backed up my useless assumptions with an article that talks about 3 corporate headquarters leaving Greenville: http://www.swampfox.ws/companies-sold-headquarters-leave-sc/

Note the way that article ends - with a man's opinion that headquarters don't have to be big, but just have growth potential to give a city a leg up so to speak (to paraphrase). Those are the kinds of companies that have chosen Columbia recently: Collexis and YrT2 for instance; and they're the kind of companies graduating from the Columbia-USC Business Incubator and setting up shop downtown or elsewhere in the metro. Don't ask me to name anymore right now, but suffice it to say there have been several articles over the years about companies who are making it now in Columbia after a start in the incubator. They are the types of businesses that don't make big headlines with 400-job announcements, but keep adding along and along, growing from 2 employees to 45 or 75 and on up. And those jobs are reflected in the numbers in publications such as "South Carolina Workforce Trends."

[g-man430]

...and how high is South Carolina's unemployment rate?

[goodbye]

CorgiMatt, Exactly. And the same can be said of Greenville. There are so many companies you take for granted, or may never even realize are here until you read about them in some article or press release. In my opinion, SC's major cities are undoubtedly gaining ground with executive and entreprenuerial development. If this were not the case, we wouldn't see so many growing business seminars and conferences here.

Edited January 30, 2007 by Skyliner

[g-man430]

Why does South Carolina have such a high unemployment rate?

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[g-man430]

South Carolina has the 4th highest unemployment rate in the country according to this table released by the BLS showing statistics in December of 2006: http://www.bls.gov/web/lauhsthl.htm

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[GvilleSC]

South Carolina has the 4th highest unemployment rate in the country according to this table released by the BLS showing statistics in December of 2006: http://www.bls.gov/web/lauhsthl.htm

One reason is because of mill closings. The people left unemployed by those companies need jobs at their skill level. It's harder to find those sort of replacement jobs because that kind of labor is cheaper elsewhere. Our homegrown or transplant corporations, such as South Financial and Bowater are NOT going to give job opportunities to these employees. We can attract as many fortune 500 companies and their white collar jobs as we want, but it's not going to give jobs to a big chunk of our unemployed population. People will move here to fill those jobs, leaving the current individuals still out of work. So, my point being, that any of the people affected negatively by the relocation of the Bowater headquarters will be able to find a job a lot easier than most others. They're not throwing our unemployed numbers out of whack.

Edited January 30, 2007 by GvilleSC

[g-man430]

GvilleSC and Skyliner; I was wrong and you were right. I'm fat and you're not. I'm stupid and you're smart. I'm ugly and you're not. Happy Gilmore.

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[Spartan]

I don't see what the problem is here? Bowater is still going to maintain a significant presence in Greenville. This isn't the end of the world. The Upstate is at the center of one of 10 megalapolitan regions that will emerge in the US over the next 50 years. To think that something like this is the end of the world is laughable. Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, etc all stand to gain more than they loose in the future.

Gman- people are just trying to get you to be a little more optimistic here.

[g-man430]

^^^Yeah, I know. It's just it doesn't seem like the leaders in Greenville County don't try hard enough to get companies here.

[krazeeboi]

Gman, what Greenville is experiencing isn't unique to Greenville. Look at Atlanta: they are losing their BellSouth HQ's due to a merger with AT&T, the Ford and GM plants in the metro area are closing, two military bases in the area are closing, and who knows what will come of this potential US Airways/Delta deal. Yet Atlanta is still chugging along with many things going for itself. Greenville is experiencing some hits right now, but it will be fine.

By the way, what that guy said in the quote that Skyliner provided is what I've been saying all along. When we grow headquarters, they will have much more loyalty to their cities and the state than a company we lure here with a bunch of incentives.

[Spartan]

I think the US Air/Delta merger is dead.

[g-man430]

^^^Definitely not. US Airways is offering one billion dollars more now: http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/29/news/compa...sion=2007012918

-Even though it looks like the merger won't happen and I hope it doesn't, you never know in these situations when there is a ton of money involved.

Edited January 30, 2007 by g-man430

[krazeeboi]

Why does South Carolina have such a high unemployment rate?

Concerning this question, this op-ed piece from The State addresses the issue. A pertinent excerpt:

In summary, South Carolina has a huge unemployment problem due to the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots

[krazeeboi]

Kennametal Inc., a leading global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials, broke ground today on its newest facility in Lancaster County. The new operation will be home to Kennametal customer service, human resources and sales functions, and is expected to bring 100 new jobs to the region.

[803metlife]

I wonder what other "deprature of headquarters" this person was referring to? I am unaware (or forgetful) of any others at this point in time. I know we had a discussion recently about the possibility of Lockheed Martin moving to another state, but nothing has been decided in that regard, and our state is considering a proposal to act on a plan in an attempt to retain the company (not a headquarters, BTW). Beyond that, I can only think of the recent additions of headquarters to the Greenville area (Hubbell Lighting, Genesis Press, etc.).

The move of Bowater

[GvilleSC]

The move of Bowater

[goodbye]

The move of Bowater

[Spartan]

Didn't Bi-Lo get purchased a few years ago too? Maybe I'm wrong about that.