Moving to Islands could be on the rise
By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer
Recent global trends favor Hawai'i as a site for companies to set up new offices, a corporate relocation expert told local business leaders.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Robert M. Ady's comments yesterday morning reinforced a theme often mentioned by local economic observers: That Hawai'i is in prime position to become an important business center as Pacific Rim trade increases, U.S. companies look eastward and growing Asian economies extend toward America.
Robert Ady, president of Ady International, Inc., says trends indicate Hawai'i ranks high among locations companies consider for new offices.
Ady spoke to several dozen bankers, developers, government officials and other business leaders at a breakfast sponsored by economic development organization Enterprise Honolulu.
"Trends in the New Economy are very, very good for Hawai'i," said Ady. His company, Ady International Co. of Mount Prospect, Ill., is one of several consulting firms that he said control about 60 percent of major corporate location decisions.
Ady said two trends in particular bode well for the state. The growing potential of South Korean corporations to expand their U.S. presence means many could consider Hawai'i as a corporate site, he said.
Ady also said the corporate trend away from massive central facilities could help Hawai'i, which is a suitable site for small 25- to 75-employee units of large, decentralized companies.
But Ady also had some cautionary comments. Thousands of economic development organizations are engaged in fierce competition to attract companies, and Hawai'i has to have its act together or risk being passed by, he said.
He said Hawai'i needs to develop a focused marketing plan and not send "mixed signals" to the outside world.
"You need to market aggressively — but don't send out three different messages from five different organizations," Ady said. "If I look at one page and it says one thing about Hawai'i, then another page says something else, then I think, 'Maybe Hawai'i doesn't have its act together.' Talk factually, not in platitudes."
Ady also said Hawai'i's tax incentives for technology businesses send a "positive signal" to corporations.
And he downplayed the effect of a recent Forbes magazine article and several surveys portraying Hawai'i as unfriendly for businesses. Businesses don't use such rankings in making their location decisions, he said.
"We would never eliminate a state from consideration because of a ranking in a survey," he said. "Credible surveys are probably non-existent. I don't know who would pay attention to those, but a site consultant surely would not."
As president of Ady International and former president of PHH Fantus, Ady for years has helped corporations select new sites. Recent clients include Best Buy and General Mills.
