News & Resources

In July, the electric carmaker Tesla inked a deal with Travis County to build a $1.1 billion factory called Giga Texas in the community of Del Valle near Austin. The factory, slated to build electric SUVs and car batteries as well as the company’s new “Cybertruck,” is expected to bring abou...Continue Reading

When we hear the word water, an image immediately comes to mind, we know what we are talking about. The same does not happen with the term leadership or when we want to refer to the leader. However, this character plays a fundamental role in cultures and organizations. Jacob Morgan, ...Continue Reading

Business life in the era of Covid has elements of both crisis management and an endurance trial. How can your business join the ranks of those that are succeeding in this environment? LJ Suzuki, founder and fractional CFO at CFOshare and I recently dissected this question together, with an eye toward the actionable step...Continue Reading

This year has been hallmarked by re-evaluation. On all levels, people have taken a second look at their habits, spaces, and lifestyles and have had to adjust greatly to meet the new needs of today. With safety as a priority, people entered their homes in March, and most have no...Continue Reading

E-commerce has exploded in recent years, but as COVID-19 emerged the sector has seen unprecedented growth. While many industries battled disruptions, e-commerce provides opportunity. E-commerce and logistics companies are accelerating planned innovation and restructuring initiatives to stay ahead of the curve — if that’s even possible — spurring the implementatio...Continue Reading

As if manufacturers are not challenged enough by COVID-19, many face shortages of appropriately skilled workers to keep their tech-savvy factories competitive. A 2018 report by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Instituteestimated the manufacturing industry would have as many as 2.4 million jobs to fill by 2028. Last year, the National Association o...Continue Reading

AD: How has COVID-19 changed the employee experience in manufacturing, and what facets of this should organizations retain going forward? Zenk: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees have been experiencing a drastically different work environment. Thousands of manufacturers across the U.S. and around the world were deemed essential during the pandemic...Continue Reading

Leading a successful site and facility master plan challenges even the most seasoned leaders. After all, how often have you undertaken a master-planning process, only to be disappointed in the outcome, or worse yet, end up with a building that doesn’t align with your business goals? Based on over 3...Continue Reading

The Midland Development Corporation (MDC) and the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) have partnered to bring the CEED Incubator to the Center for Energy and Economic Diversification building on UTPB’s Midland campus. The incubator will be a hub of entrepreneurism and innovation, with entrepreneurs having access to a dynami...Continue Reading

There's no shortage of articles that will opine about how tumultuous 2020 was for the economy, jobs, and industry as the world grappled with the impact of COVID-19 on business and daily life. However, there's reason to be optimistic, especially in manufacturing.   Despite 60% of manufacturers feeling the impact of COVID on operations, ...Continue Reading

It would be easy to look at current economic statistics and conclude that we may as well remove words such as “business growth” and “expansion” from our collective vocabularies for the time being. On a macro level, the economy is anything but healthy, thanks to the coronavirus. And yet ther...Continue Reading

Despite some companies pausing projects due to the pandemic and the resulting economic meltdown, Texas has more potential corporate relocations and expansions in the pipeline than before COVID-19 hit, a top state economic development official said in a summit on Thursday. Adriana Cruz, executive director of Economic Development and Tourism fo...Continue Reading

BOERNE, Texas (KXAN) — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on lives and healthcare systems across the country, communities are also having to contend with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, 58 Texas communities beyond metropolitan areas have a new lifeline in weathering this storm...Continue Reading

The increased role of corporate social responsibility in site selection Corporate social responsibility is playing a major factor today in company's decisions on where they're locating their business. That's happening for a few reasons. I think companies are realizing that they need to be more conscious as to what's going o...Continue Reading

The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry had a record year in 2019. Revenue passenger miles set a record, up 4.2 percent from 2018, and have been growing at roughly double GDP for the past two decades. Airbus’ and Boeing’s order backlogs ended 2019 at around 13,000 aircraft. The industry reported a record $78...Continue Reading

Want to know with confidence that your elevator pitch will land? Would clarity and persuasion help you attract more clients, investors, mentors and sales? To maximize success in conversation, ensure you are following Grice’s maxims. Twentieth-century British philosopher Paul Grice shifted the way we think about semantics and language. His maxims for conversation ar...Continue Reading

One of the most cliched statements in starting a small business is that “it takes money to make money”... but it is often true. Many businesses need an infusion of cash to buy essential components of their operations. For a pizzeria, that could be an industrial oven, and for ...Continue Reading

In times of economic struggle — such as the recession that abruptly arrived with the COVID-19 pandemic — analysts and advocates promote an array of options as effective tools for stimulating the economy. One of the most frequently suggested options is infrastructure spending. Proponents of infrastructure spending during dire economi...Continue Reading

In times of economic struggle — such as the recession that abruptly arrived with the COVID-19 pandemic — analysts and advocates promote an array of options as effective tools for stimulating the economy. One of the most frequently suggested options is infrastructure spending. Proponents of infrastructure spending during dire economi...Continue Reading

Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement of support for Senator John Cornyn's 'Eliminate the Digital Divide Act.' This legislation would expand broadband access across the country by sending federal dollars to the states for the purpose of developing programs that fund broadband projects in underserved areas.  Read full article.Continue Reading

If McKinsey & Company insights from July are any indication, consumers have rediscovered their power in the pandemic. Due to a combination of product shortages, economic and job concerns, along with a general willingness to change their purchasing behaviors, 75 percent of shoppers say they’ve behaved differently since coronavirus began spreading. In many cases...Continue Reading

Much has been written about the disruptions of COVID-19 on every line of business. In the realm of economic development, this has included a recommitment to retention and expansion programs, touting quality of life to capture the influx of remote workers, a rush to virtual site tours, and many othe...Continue Reading

The Importance of Software in Incentives Analysis Software is becoming a bigger part of incentives analysis as clients increasingly want to use this tool. Many clients are building the internal capabilities to perform initial credits and incentives and site location analyses. They want to do some of that research on thei...Continue Reading