Behind the scenes of corporate site selection

Do you know what actually happens when a company considers locating in Wisconsin?

Who do companies rely on to obtain data when deciding where to locate their new or expanding business?

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If you are not involved in the economic development field, you may be surprised to learn that the site selection process � the steps firms use to find new locations for business facilities or expansions of their operations � is often not carried out by executives within the company itself.

Increasingly, large and medium-sized businesses are using specialized firms to do the legwork.

These firms, known as "site selection consultants," usually fly below the radar screen and out of the public eye, but they have come to play a significant part in the business location process. More than 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies use site selection consultants when looking for new locations.

For example, when Ford Motor Co. chose Menomonie for a new parts distribution center, it used the services of a site selection consultant for the location decision-making process. The same for Rockwell when it moved its corporate headquarters to Milwaukee from California, as well as when Nestle located a second production facility in our state.

Site selection consultants are experts in pulling together detailed data on potential business locations as they guide company executives through extensive site, demographic and local information.

This process is designed to identify places that meet the criteria, standards or deadlines of the business. A list of three to five communities is then developed. Some site selection consultants even have specialized internal departments that stay involved in the process through the final negotiations with local and state governments to advise their clients on financial incentives and other finer points of the deal.

While there are hundreds of people who work in the site selection field, there are about a dozen or so major site selection firms, many of which are associated with accounting or real estate firms.

A few of the players in the field are Wadley-Donovan Group, Deloitte Consulting, Staubach Co. and Moran, Stahl & Boyer.

Because site selection consultants work on several corporate location projects a year for different clients, it is important to have a relationship with them.

Any one firm can potentially give our state several chances to obtain corporate expansion projects.

In addition, these projects tend to include a large capital investment with many family-supporting jobs � the exact kind of business expansions and growth that Gov. Jim Doyle has sparked with his Grow Wisconsin Plan.

As Wisconsin's public-private business marketing group, Forward Wisconsin is working to make sure our state is on the minds of site selectors when their clients are looking to expand.

Our job is to open their eyes to the many attractive things going on in our state, including our world-class research and educational institutions, our highly productive and educated work force, the top-notch companies already here and our tremendous quality of life, to name a few.

Forward Wisconsin's traditional economic development marketing activities include participating in industry trade shows, advertising in trade publications, conducting marketing missions to neighboring states, distributing direct mail, dispatching electronic communications, and working with regional and national media.

Because of the important role that site selection consultants now play, Forward Wisconsin has revamped what has become the most important tool in economic development: our Web site located at ForwardWI.com.

We now maintain a comprehensive database of locations, available buildings and community information on the Internet.

Our Web site, which recently won an award from the Mid-America Economic Development Council, has moved Wisconsin to the forefront with regard to accessibility of the types of information that site selection consultants want.

The next time you read about a major corporation opening a new facility in Wisconsin, you'll know it is likely that a site selection consultant was involved.

You will also know the vital role Forward Wisconsin plays in the process of creating relationships with these "mystery" consultants.

The key to our success is to communicate and create awareness about Wisconsin's many assets. The best part is that we have a tremendous story to tell! Take a look at ForwardWI.com for more information.