“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Best Place to Start a Business Statistics


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has anyone even bother to look at the statistics and comment on why they weighted the things they did? Is this a standard index of some kind? And what makes them especially relevant to locating a new business?

I have worked in advance site planning/marketing for several industries, as well as retail, and some of these might apply depending on the target business or market. But it seems like a hodgepodge of quality of living , as well as current business health . Those are not bad things. But when locating you seek what you need. You look at labor costs and training, available labor pool, logistics, political red tape/atmosphere, environmental enforcement. If you depend on local market demand- consumer stats, B2B climate IS important. But you generally do restrict your analysis to city limits in such cases. Its to artificial when it is a hub city (Mall).

It is much more interesting in my opinion to see the trend of this study. Run the SAME numbers from ten years ago for the same city, and see what you get. There you see Peru is in a decline. I actually had nothing against Peru when I saw the analysis. It was more the unusual rankings of other Mall cities in the top ten that made me look into the numbers.

The analysis seems to consider all these cities as isolated little kingdoms lol. My second year business analytics professor would have ripped them a new one if they handed this in. It seems like lazy journalism to print it as some kind of fact.

Anonymous said...

Well said 9:25. I would also add that anyone moving another retail business here must also consider how much money the consumer has to spend and how difficult it will be to get a share of their wallet. I think Peru is overbuilt for the local market - just a feeling, nothing to base that thought on other than personal travel.
The Oglesby grocery store is a perfect example of this. Can the local market support another large grocery seller. They pulled out as soon as Hy-Vee expanded - and Hy-Vee did not expand until their market share was threatened.

Anonymous said...

9:25 here. * generally dont restrict. Sorry for the typo.

Its not rocket science. If you open a pet supply store, you dont magically ONLY supply your city or only employ your city personnel. You must look at market radius not city boundary. These kind of studies reward geographical luck more than actual strategic FUTURE business climate. The Peru decline over the Harl years is much more telling, and I never know why opposing candidates dont use those stats.

Probably because Peru voters dont really care I guess.

Anonymous said...

We're #1! We're #1!.............in Unemployment.........awwwwww crap!

Anonymous said...

Peru voters have been brainwashed with repeated claims that sales tax will pay for everything and there is no way that the gravy train will ever end.
I noticed that the new sporting goods store is not doing well. Could it be that the market just does not exist here?

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:35 AM Mayor Harl has held office for 6 of the last 8 years which the entire country has been in a economic disaster. Deep down do you have the belief that the Mayor is also responsible for the national recession. All in all Peru has survived fairly well during horrible economic conditions.

Anonymous said...

10:35 PM, yes, in a way he is. He was Union Man and the Unions are partially to blame for the decline in US manufacturing. So there! Take that !

Anonymous said...

partially to blame? They caused it.

Anonymous said...

Peru's economic success has been a result of many years of consistent government planning. The North area has ample and successful retail tax base and it continues to expand. Peru politicians have placed a emphasis in the last 30 years of low real estate taxes and continued growth of the retail area. It has been a priority. The local residents advantage is the low real estate taxes as well as business profits from those advantages. This has not suddenly happened. The north area has ample industrial jobs and that area continues to expand. And there are plenty of professional areas in which small business thrives. Much credit goes out to the past Mayor and alderman for their consistent attention to those areas of retail and commercial growth. Also Mayor Harl been able to add to the growth and he continues to support business growth in PERU. You need to have a long term commitment to friendly business and Peru leaders who have been in office for a long time look to have the right idea.

Anonymous said...

What the people need now is a job that pays more than $8 to $15 and hour - not a pair of jeans made in China. If something is not done to employ people around here with good jobs - the entire retail house of cards will fall down.

Anonymous said...

All due respect to the posts that paint a rosy picture or blame the recession, but all I said was look at the relative decline of Peru COMPARED to the other cities on the report. I was NOT saying I thought this was all that relevant or accurate of a report regarding business climate. In fact I was saying I thought it was fairly meaningless. But some of the positive in Peru bloggers were pointing to it with pride. You cant have it both ways.

It seems some people wanted to point to it as a positive. I was simply saying that I thought the only analytical value would be to compare the same point (Peru) to its own past performance, to see a trend. I believe that during the Harl administration, by any conceivable statistical analysis, you would see a strong decline in EXCESS of national and state norms.

No one is blaming the mayor for the state of Illinois, or the state of the US economy during those times. There has been reduction in payroll but in my opinion consolidation of payroll toward certain patronage positions. There has been increased focus on the outward "show" of business development, with more revenue spent on lobbying and marketing gimmick. But there is really net loss of jobs and business, and more reliance on retail. There has been emphasis on supporting and entrenching local 150 and projects that benefit that union and its members. The union has been planting candidates all through the valley. There has been a reduction in environmental initiative or concern. there has been an increased loner attitude toward neighboring cities. There is a more confrontational response favoring litigation.

There has been a strong focus on infrastructure and demolition, and unnecessary airport expansion , as the airport seems to have been exposed by another blog as a significant cash pile for local firms. Infrastructure building is not bad, and is needed. The administration HAS done many positive things. But by any objective analysis, business climate and cooperation with the region is NOT among them. It has become a more closed and disconnected ruling body, with more restriction on communication and expression. It is a much more environmentally challenged area than in years past, as reported by several environmental groups. There is no strategic planning available to the public, no erosion control program or flood planning. The growth is opportunistic and reactive, and always sprawl is chosen over renovation and redevelopment.

The city planning seems just trucks and bulldozers and earthmovers. Just like the council meetings. There is a lot of cash flow in this city, and it covers up and masks some weak egos. They need to grow up and build coalitions, not always get into battles and play high school politics.

Anonymous said...

that about sums it up 5;32, thanks!

Anonymous said...

5:32
You should run for office????

Anonymous said...

5:32 We missed you! More hyperbola? Its truly art on how you can attempt to slate a positive article into something baseless. Your looking for something to grab on and its become difficult. Environmental issues? Union control? Flooding problems?
You have some general topics without any examples.

Anonymous said...

7:57 HE DID!

Anonymous said...

11:08 Glad you missed me. It was probably while you were taking your calc class on curves like hyperbola. Maybe you meant hyperbole, or exaggeration?

I don't need to exaggerate the environmental issues or condemnation by environmental groups. I dont need to ignore the prevalence of 150 candidates or the infrastructure agenda. And if I am exaggerating the lack of erosion control and flooding problems, well then I am sorry but you MUST have your head under the the water.

I took a "positive" article and asked a few questions... like where these arbitrary ratings came from and why they were weighted as they were, thats all. I dont think much of them as a stats group, but hey, if you want to run them, run them against Peru over time, if you want examples. No opposition candidates EVER print out the hard facts of Perus decline. Its because they know nobody cares. Its not how the Peru voter thinks.

I even think the administration has done some good things. But if you dont think they have become ruled by a 150 agenda and pulled in ranks, your are just fooling yourself. Peru does NOT play well, or give a damn about, others. They respond, if at all ONLY to legal action or its threat.

Anonymous said...

551

Did you miss the last few elections, that's all we heard on the blog and in the mail box was about those so called hard facts about the city fathers lack of government knowledge. I am not getting this 150 control. What is this about and who is this 150? Who in Peru is in the 150 club?

Anonymous said...

Most Peru employees are in the Local 150 union. Mayor Harl is the Peru top dog in the 150.

Anonymous said...

Although I am not in favor of city employees being members of and represented by organized labor as was also the opinion of FDR, the President of the working man. Since it is legal and the employees prefer this representation I approach the situation with positive feelings and wish for the best for all sides involved. Mayor Harl is a perfect person to be in his present position because his years of experience enable him a depth on the subject most do not possess. I do not want our city employees to be taken advantage of and I know that they would not take advantage of the city not its citizens, but in belonging to a union they are obtaining a specific set of rules for all to live by and which they feel more secure.Anyone who has to work all hours, night and day in a sleet storm or a heavy snowfall with high winds at freezing temperatures, or put a ladder in a ditch to climb down with a gushing broken water line at 5 degrees below or 98 degrees above should have some say so about the conditions of their job. A thanks from us once in a while for a job well done is also deserved.

Anonymous said...

10:28 The union has no governance in work rules! The department of labor has determined those work rules. Union or no Union those work rules are all under the guidance of the labor department. I don't know of any worker at anytime that was taken advantage of in the Peru workforce. Do you? And how did the union help rectify the situation?

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:55 PM Are you a member of the Peru workforce, specifically any of the unions which represent city employees of Peru. The importance of this question is that unions do not advertise or practice bragging rights in negotiations of individual representation and normally keep such business private.