Hillsboro Assessment Blog: Attracting Business

After having a conversation with local a resident, I realized that the success of any community relies upon its ability to sustain itself. I’m not talking about a community recycling program, or some type of “go green” campaign. I’m talking about its ability to have and maintain industry, its ability to recruit business and create jobs. After looking around I noticed that the city has an economic development department, but the website does not have its own address and most of the information on the site is not recent. While driving around Hillsboro, I visited the industrial park which is located just north of town, and has access to I-35 and is rail served. To promote this park, there should be some type of billboard on 35 that has some type campaign such as “You belong here” or Hillsboro is open for Business”.

Example of Billboard advertising the City of Hillsboro

A well thought out attraction plan examines all aspects of the community’s needs and seeks input from a myriad of sources, including economic development professionals, local leadership, existing businesses, and residents. Your ability to focus on the types of businesses (manufacturing, retail, wholesale, energy, call centers, services, etc.) you are looking for will be critical to the overall success of the attraction program. Next you will need to ascertain whether or not your community is positioned to compete in those industry sectors.

A great place to begin that process is to ask the right questions. Does your community have:
• Sufficient housing and infrastructure to recruit businesses?
• Available buildings or a build to suit program?
• Ample workforce numbers that will meet the company’s requirements?
• Appropriate workforce skills that might give you a competitive advantage?
• Proximity/Access to transportation networks that will allow the company to get their product to market?
• Sufficient population numbers to support the business?
• A local incentive package?
• Available land or Industrial Park to meet the company’s needs?
• Available resources such as water, electricity, natural gas, rail access, etc?
• Local financing mechanisms?
• A web site or other marketing presence to showcase the community and provide information?
• Up to date telecommunications access?
• Access to local data?
• A quality of life (QOL) that would entice a company to locate in your community?
• Access to higher education or training to support the company’s needs in that area?

In some cases, effective business recruitment can position your existing businesses for growth through economies of scale. Locating ancillary businesses in your community can benefit your existing businesses in several ways. Attracting vendor companies can enhance the viability of those businesses as the goods and services they supply become cheaper due to proximity and friction of distance which will reduce transportation costs.

In most respects, it is easier to recruit to the community’s strengths, be it available buildings, specialized/skilled workforce, natural resources, low cost of doing business, or geography.
One of the best places to begin is to look at what you currently have in your community, and assess what you have to build on. For instance, if you have more than one metal fabricator in your community, you may have a skilled workforce in your community which may allow you to compete for other businesses in that sector.

Regardless of your size or the amount of your resources, it is important to understand that it is expensive to recruit businesses vs. growing your own, or assisting your existing businesses to expand.

Here are a few links for some communities that can be used as an example: