We were thrilled to be on hand last Thursday when banking and investment firm Goldman Sachs announced its plans to relocate and greatly expand its regional office in Salt Lake City. The firm will move from the University of Utah's Research Park to the new 222 Main building, where it will occupy seven floors in the newly completed office tower next year. Better yet, the firm will grow from 720 employees to more than 1,150 by the end of this year.

Goldman Sach's move to downtown Salt Lake City will be a significant boon to the vitality and transformation of the central business district. The company's success here also bodes well for our efforts to recruit other financial services firms to the state. Follow the links in our "In the News" section in the right-hand column for media stories about the announcement.

Also, as a reminder, next Monday, March 29, is the Governor's Economic Summit at the Grand America Hotel. Sign up today. You will not want to miss this event!

Today's Economic Review also includes links to many of the ED-related news stories from the past week. As always, if you have comments, suggestions or topics you'd like to see in the Economic Review, please contact us by clicking the "Comments" link on the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

Jeff Edwards
President and CEO

During January and February 2010 EDCUtah hosted seven national site consultants -- the highly specialized professionals that handle the early details in business relocation decisions -- during two specially designed Utah familiarization trips.

The purpose and strategy for the site consultant events is simple: "The site consultants call people they think they can do business with," says EDCUtah President & CEO Jeff Edwards, "We want to have face time with these important people, and help them see all that Utah has to offer, so they will feel comfortable about calling us. A large number of the high-level, high-paying company relocations that come to Utah originate through site consultants, so they are an important group for us."

Annual Site Consultant Events
EDCUtah typically hosts several site consultant familiarization events each year. The events last several days and include a variety of meetings and receptions with business and government leaders and EDCUtah board members, tours, and focus group sessions. The January event was associated with the Sundance Film Festival, while the February event included skiing at Deer Valley.

Since site consultants get invited to events throughout the country every weekend, and since they are typically inundated with mountains of details about communities and locations, EDCUtah focuses the major portion of its efforts on building relationships with the site consultants rather than overwhelming them with data.

"Our goal in reaching out to the site consultants is always to build their confidence in EDCUtah, the Governor's Office of Economic Development and our great state," Edwards says.

The site consultants brought to Utah on familiarization trips generally do not know much about the state, its business climate, culture, or spectacular scenery, so the familiarization trips also give EDCUtah an opportunity to shed new light on the state, says Kim Lofgreen, EDCUtah's vice president of marketing.

One of the site consultant hosted in February was specifically interested in the life sciences industry. Consequently, he was given a tour of WorldHeart Corporation's facilities in Salt Lake City. Another site selector toured the massive City Creek Center project, which is under construction in downtown Salt Lake City.

Two-Way Exchange
In addition to introducing Utah to the site consultants, Lofgreen says the familiarization trips provide EDCUtah with a unique opportunity to find out what perceptions (or misperceptions) the site consultants have about the state. Furthermore, EDCUtah conducts focus group sessions with the site consultants to obtain their perspectives on subjects such as market trends and opportunities, incentives, branding and marketing.

"A few site consultants still have the misperception that you have to have a connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in order to do business here, so the familiarization trips also provide us the opportunity to dispel that misperception," Lofgreen adds. "What they find is that Utah is much more inclusive than many other areas of the country."

After the familiarization visits, the comments EDCUtah receives from the site consultants are almost always very positive. "They are always awe-struck by the natural beauty of the state, and often note how genuinely friendly, welcoming and inclusive Utahns are. They also notice how the state has such great collaboration between government, business and civic leaders for economic development, and how everyone is on the same page," he says. "They see first-hand how well the private and public sectors work together -- it's not something you find in many other states."

Key Observations
EDCUtah finds the focus group sessions to be an invaluable resource, as the site consultants open up regarding what they perceive to be Utah's strengths and weaknesses. The following are some of their observations.

-- Utah has several industry segments where it has a competitive advantage. Because few states have the resources to target many broad industries, the site selectors suggest that Utah focus its limited resources on a few segments where it has the most competitive advantage and the greatest opportunity for expansion. They also suggest that Utah’s collaborative environment could go a long way as it is applied in this effort.

-- Utah is known among many site consultants as having a strong labor market with a talented and loyal workforce. In order to maximize this attribute in the minds of companies that might be considering moving or expanding to Utah, the site consultants suggest that EDCUtah should map Utah's talent base to the specific industry niches within the economic clusters that Utah is most interested in targeting. For example, data should drill down to the number of Utah university students that will graduate with specific degrees relating to specific targeted industries, or the number of people with certain job titles within a targeted industry. This makes for a much more compelling story for companies considering Utah for relocation and expansion.

-- Utah is well positioned to compete globally in the segments where it has a competitive advantage. Utah has a wonderful resource in the number bilingual residents and the large number of residents that have lived in other countries. Utah's diversity of language skills and cultural understanding is without equal in the U.S. Therefore, Utah's talent pool could be a boon to businesses competing in the global marketplace. The site consultants suggest Utah businesses not only consider how they compete regionally or nationally, but more importantly, how they compete globally.