What do you do when a Fortune 500 company executive in your community calls and says, “We are restructuring our headquarters and all options are open, including looking outside of our community”? You do anything you can to get the company to stay.
Losing a Fortune 500 company means lost jobs for citizens and lost income tax revenue for the community. It is devastating to families and can impact the entire morale of a city. So, if a company makes that call, it’s important to immediately garner as much support as possible from local, state and federal lawmakers and entities, find out what the company’s new and growing needs are, and provide as much assistance as possible to retain them.
Modernization attracts talent
This happened to Akron with Goodyear and Bridgestone. In order to compete globally, these companies needed to replace old, outdated facilities to attract the best talent in the world.
When marketing ourselves to businesses, we must evaluate and sell our workforce, supporting industry and location to the market. It is also vital to have the latest, cutting-edge technologies that cover many areas and fields. Old, outdated facilities and equipment do not attract a young person coming out of college or from another state.
In order to provide these companies with assistance, we knew we had to enlist the help of the county, the state and the federal government. Together we formed a partnership that provided Goodyear and Bridgestone with the financial and tax incentives to remain in Akron, and I will always be grateful for the tremendous assistance we received.
Both companies built new state-of-the-art facilities and together were able to retain 4,500 jobs in the region. This does not count the multiple small businesses that remain profitable because of Goodyear’s and Bridgestone’s continued and expanding operations. These small businesses include manufacturing, processing and service suppliers to Goodyear and Bridgestone, as well as all the retailers that benefit from the employees and families still here.
Collaboration pays off
Based on a recent review of new employees at Goodyear and Bridgestone, all prospects who have had job offers at these facilities have accepted. In other words, the companies signed all of their top draft choices. This is, in part, due to the new high-tech, state-of-the-art, modern facilities. Everyone in Northeast Ohio can be thankful, as these two companies continue to prosper, that our collaborative efforts to save Goodyear and Bridgestone were successful.
These companies could have literally gone anywhere in the world. They stayed in Akron because our region has a skilled workforce, a high quality of life, multiple higher education institutions and the right business partners to attract and retain the top businesses in the world.
