I have to tell you, in the interest of full disclosure, that several months ago the Savannah Economic Development Authority asked me to serve in an advisory capacity on a new venture capital initiative — more about that in another column.
Furthermore, I have mentioned and supported SEDA many times before and since that appointment, so although I have championed much of what SEDA does, it is because I believe in its role in our region. Most importantly, I agree with the conclusions of the recently released Stanford Research Institute’s report on Savannah and what it will take for our region to be competitive in today’s economic environment.
The report highlighted four significant areas for development of the region’s economy: (1) advanced manufacturing, (2) professional, technical and specialized business services, (3) film/tv/digital media and (4) transportation and logistics.
Two of the four areas, advanced manufacturing and transportation and logistics are obvious, and are part of our regular diet of local business news.
Every city wants advanced manufacturing. It takes skilled labor and brings high wages and the potential for innovative businesses to service that mother lode.
Consultants and major manufacturers are well aware of the region’s excellent manufacturing sites such as the megasite at Interstate 16 and Interstate 95 and Crossroads Industrial Park. However, landing a Mitsubishi Power Systems is a process that involves state and local participation, often requiring property tax relief for the prospective employer and a myriad of other perks that are tailored to the needs of the company.
And, of course, it is a highly competitive process. Nevertheless, this has been SEDA’s primary mission from the beginning.
The state has limits on how far it will bend and must weigh the benefit of jobs and the economic multiplier to be enjoyed by to the chosen community as well as anticipated tax receipts in making a decision to secure a major employer. It is only reasonable to assume the presence of the port and the state’s QuickStart programs are positive parts of the equation for the Savannah metropolitan statistical area.
The ports are regularly mentioned in any media discussion of international trade in Georgia. They hardly need amplification, but there is a caveat: technology. Logistics and the movement of trade goods are quickly becoming automated.
A piece in the New York Times on Sept. 30 (“Rise of the Machines”) referenced the Port of Savannah as a competitor to New York in a report on the shrinking number of longshoremen needed at our largest facilities.
Labor continues to lose out to advancing technology, and the ports will need fewer, more highly skilled people.
The second of the target areas on this list may actually be the most important for our area in the long run, one that gets scant attention — professional, technical and specialized business services. Statistically, with almost one-third of the Savannah area employed in these categories, the region measures up against norms for the U.S., but it is the skill sets and types of employment we are missing.
For example, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey our metro area employs less than 1.5 percent of our workforce in the information industry. Deficient specialized business services include patent attorneys, select accounting services, branch offices of major corporations and home-grown businesses expanding and increasing demand for mid-level managerial talent.
Film/TV/Digital Media is the fourth focus of SRI’s report.
We have little to no shortage of skilled young people coming out of SCAD to fill employment needs, but the experienced people to manage these businesses will have to be recruited.
This is not a secret to anyone. There are numbers of cities moving ahead with sound stages and states providing tax incentives to draw film and TV production, and the talent to support industry growth.
Among those is Atlanta, which boasts TV networks and employs numbers of digital media people as well.
That city has just approved an expenditure of $500,000 in public funds for expansion of existing sound stage facilities, which will clearly bring new jobs.
In other words, in Savannah, if we want a shot at an increasingly competitive business, we must move along quickly. Do the analysis, then build it or forget it and be satisfied with a few crumbs.
Russ Wigh is a professor of business. Email him at rdwigh@bellsouth.net.