Frontier -- In Box

No Place Like Home?

Like the odyssey's sirens, state and local economic development agencies entice businesses to their lands with tax breaks, cheap labor, and a better way of life. But for all the entreaties, hardly any outfits relocate from one state to another--just 0.3% of U.S. companies from 1996 to 1999, says a study for frontier by Brandow Co., a research firm in Camp Hill, Pa. (bizminer.com). True, that's 16,728 companies with more than 517,000 jobs. Companies with fewer than 50 employees represented 86% of movers--and 23% of relocated employees. But many are less mobile than they look, says Jon Brandow, since most moved within interstate metropolitan areas--say, from New York to New Jersey (map). Perhaps, then, the sirens should sing a different tune. "The focus on business migrations is vastly overblown," Brandow says. "Should we help the 3.2 million businesses that failed between 1996 and 1999, or the 17,000 that moved?"Edited by Dennis BermanReturn to top

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TABLE

Most Movers Have Matured...And Cluster in Select Industries

Most Movers Have Matured...

AGE OF FIRMS MIGRATING*

Less then 3 YEARS 10%

4-5 11

6-10 24

11-15 16

16-20 10

21> 16

UNKNOWN 13

*Companies with less than 50 employees

...And Cluster in Select Industries

TYPES OF FIRMS MIGRATING*

SERVICES 32%

WHOLESALE 18

MANUFACTURING 16

RETAIL 10

FINANCE, 9

REAL ESTATE

INSURANCE

CONSTRUCTION 7

OTHER 8

*Companies less than 50 employees

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