You can now use the "Add to Google" button (above) to save a custom search tool to your own iGoogle home page (free Google Account login required to set up such a page) to easily search the content of our 3 business location research websites and fDi magazine at any time.

Try our unique Global Corporate Real Estate Search tool, too.

For economic development professionals and chambers:

Advertising and how to Add News through ShortListNews.com

Northeast          NY   CT   MA   RI   NH  VT  ME

Mid-Atlantic       PA   NJ   MD   DE   DC   WV   VA   NC

Southeast         SC   GA   FL   AL   MS   TN

Great Lakes      KY   OH   MI   IN    IL   WI   MN

North Central     MO  IA   KS   NE   ND  SD

South Central    TX   OK   AR   LA

Mountain          AZ   NM  CO   UT    WY   ID   MT

West Coast      CA  NV   OR   WA   HI   AK

Refer to Directories for other regions of the world, or Search.

How to request a relevant directory listing  or reciprocal links

Economic development directory - alphabetical list by state for convenience - Same links as provided by the abbreviations at left.

Alabama   Alaska   Arizona  Arkansas  California  Colorado  Connecticut  Delaware  Florida  Georgia   Hawaii  Idaho  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas  Kentucky  Louisiana  Maine  Maryland  Massachusetts  Michigan  Minnesota  Mississippi  Missouri  Montana  Nebraska  Nevada  New Hampshire  New Jersey  New Mexico  New York  North Carolina  North Dakota  Ohio  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Rhode Island  South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Texas   Utah  Vermont  Virginia  Washington   West Virginia   Wisconsin   Wyoming

Seek advice for project plans through our independent referrals, or refer to our many other regional development and professional services directories, such as site selection consultants.

We make it easier for executives and their advisors to plan and implement capital investment projects for business expansion anywhere to achieve their strategic and ROI goals faster and better.

 You can easily search this website for over 25,000 relevant research sources in this niche market, including content which highlights national, regional, state, and local economic development organizations and professional service providers.  Let us help you to find what you are seeking.

Search WWW Search www.gdi-solutions.com      This website - many reference directories and links Search www.ShortListNews.com        ShortListNews - offers unique market research tools Search www.ontheshortlist.com          On The Short List - selective professionals and locations Search www.fdimagazine.com            fDi - Foreign Direct Investment (FT Business) magazine    Tip : See Google "Cheat Sheet" help page for advanced web search features.

This Google site search tool is available by the Search button at the top of each page.  Other custom search features are provided through www.ShortListNews.com  and  www.OnTheShortList.com to make it easy to selectively search many other relevant sites.  The directory pages on this website keep related content together so that it can be browsed quickly and easily (unlike repeated database queries).

Try Search: Americas or Search: Global CRE (commercial real estate)

Search or refer to our many directories and other content for 25,000+ resources to support business site selection decisions in the USA and worldwide.  Just ask us for free help reflecting over 15 years of experience in this niche and thousands of business contacts.

Our independent research and referral work is free for executives who are facing business expansion decisions because we are supported by leading professionals who can deliver valuable services to more executives than they might reach through their own professional networking activities, events, and exclusive marketing efforts.

This website attracted over 1 million visits in the first 3 years after it was launched.  We now attract over 600,000 visitors per year.

Unfortunately, our success has also attracted malicious attacks - see our spam or virus warnings if you receive unexpected or suspicious messages which purport to be from somebody at this business.

•  Top executives facing strategic choices and capital investment decisions about where they will do business : where to establish, acquire, expand, move or restructure their operations or alliances as markets and plans change.
•  Economic development professionals representing communities and regions whose leaders are highly motivated to attract and retain growing companies and develop globally competitive business clusters.
•  Professional service providers who assist executives with capital investment project plans in North America, Europe, Asia or worldwide.  These may be local specialists or global experts in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worldwide.

OnTheShortList includes some unique search features and reports, such as those highlighted through links below (Area Search, USA Search, CRE Search, etc.).  These make it easy for executives and their advisors to selectively search relevant websites for additional details beyond the executive summary content and links which we provide.

List of winners   Background   fDi press release of April 23

North American Cities of the Future 2007/08  Article in fDi.

The April 2007 issue of fDi was distributed at BIO 2007 at the time of the fDi North American Cities of the Future award presentations and a special event about global investment trends in the biotech and life sciences industry.

Contact us as above to meet at BIO 2008 in San Diego (June 17-20, 2008) or at other events this year.

How to advertise in fDi magazine. 2008 fDi media kit (.pdf)

fDi magazine is a specialty publication of the Financial Times group for C-level executives about the business of globalization.

The North American "Cities of the Future" awards are featured in the April 2007 issue, similar to the June / July 2005 issue.  This was distributed at the BIO 2007 conference in Boston in May.

fDi Atlas explanation

Cities of the Future

in the April 2007 issue.

City Spotlights:

Arizona cities (.pdf) Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff

Toronto Canada (.pdf)

The .pdf versions to download are large files - roughly 1MB.

fDi Atlas Toronto presentation

Intro : about fDi magazine

Contact for US advertising

TEL 847-304-4655 in Chicago.

Editorial calendar and rates

 How to advertise in fDi.

Ad Recall : fDi advertisers

Examples : Who reads fDi?

Search back issues of fDi

www.fdimagazine.com

Area Search - unique tool at www.OnTheShortList.com  to find content very easily on recent fDi advertiser websites

• World Business Chicago ad

  •  Illinois economic development directory

• Enterprise Florida ad (eFlorida)

  •  Florida economic development directory

• Imagine Pittsburgh ad

  • Pennsylvania economic development directory

• Huntsville, AL ad

  • Alabama economic development directory

• City of Surprise, AZ ad

  • Arizona economic development directory

• State of Nevada - fDi Atlas presentation

  • Nevada economic development directory

Financial Times ad campaign for fDi Atlas

North American map links

April 2007 issue of fDi

fDi magazine is a trusted reference tool for executives and their advisors.

It reaches "C-level" executives and professionals in North America (40%), Europe (40%), and Asia (20%) who are responsible for corporate development strategies, organizational change, and capital investment project location decisions worldwide.  85% of readers are CEO's or CFO's.  80% are at large companies (>500 employees).

The fDi website attract 30,000+ visits per month as a very targeted publication for top executives.  We attract 50,000+ visitors per month, so together we should reach over 1 million in 2007.  See our daily visit or monthly visit graphs and regional analysis.  After only 3 years, our own visit levels already exceed most of the specialty magazines in this market even though they have been in circulation for 20 - 50 years.

Past award winners

June / July 2005 feature

2005 US winners and

US Regional finalists

Canada winners and finalists

Mexican winners in 2005

Award presentations

We welcome enquiries from senior executives who would like to subscribe to fDi, and from professional service providers who specialize in this market.

In the past, Commerce Department officials in the International Trade Administration, including Foreign Commercial Service officers and other staff at US embassies, have been tasked primarily with US export promotion and trade policy tasks.  Now they will also focus on the attraction of foreign direct investment projects to the USA.

White House press release and policy statement about Open Economies

See also further background at www.ShortListNews.com

This is a major change in US policy.  Other countries proactively seek to attract and retain foreign direct investment projects.

The US has left that almost entirely up to US states and local areas until now as a very fragmented approach with limited resources.

It will take time for this new policy to have a significant impact, but it seems to be a major change in policy which may attract both bi-partisan support and criticism.

www.investamerica.gov

Why invest in ?  Alabama  Idaho  Iowa  Missouri   New Hampshire  New Jersey  North Dakota  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Utah   Virginia  Wisconsin

We have added relevant links to other content we provide from these article pages.

Many states did not yet reply to this free offer last year, despite reminders and assurances that they intended to do so.

State economic development professionals who are responsible for attracting business investment and providing site selection assistance to executives and their consultants were invited in April 2006 to provide an informative article on this simple topic : "Why should a business invest in your state?"

The article content and size was entirely discretionary to share their point of view as a free service to our 500,000+ visitors in 2006.

We published their "Point of View" articles here for convenient reference by executives.  Other replies will be published once they are received from the remaining state officials.

Our 7 year analysis of investment project trends by state and our analysis of economic development lead generation costs per job created may also be of interest.

Our April 2006 newsletter (4 pages with graphs) summarizes this market research and analysis, including a 12 year chart of major project announcements.

Our work is analogous to a concierge service, personally assisting executives to invest in the growth of their companies anywhere by introducing valuable contacts in confidence.

We organize and share valuable market knowledge and networks of contacts in a globally consistent way through targeted market research and relationship development work.  This helps company executives, community leaders, and service providers to meet.

Contact us (TEL 847-304-4655) to discuss business expansion interests in confidence.

Our independent marketing, research, relationship development, and well-qualified referral work can share knowledge of service capabilities and benefits to advance the marketing interests of :

• Economic development professionals

• Professional services providers

We can introduce relevant executives and their advisors to the benefits you offer.  See how to request a relevant directory listing (free), and our suggestions for reciprocal links.

573,665 visitors took advantage in 2006 of the extensive information we share about economic development agencies and professional services.  There were over 600,000 visitors in 2007.

2006 was up 185% from 200,000+ visits in 2004 when we launched this website.  See our daily visit or monthly visit graphs for details.

A new book in 2006 by a global site selection consultant may also be of interest.

Location Location Location : A Plant Location and Site Selection Guide

Contact us (TEL 847-304-4655 in Chicago)  if you would like to meet to introduce ourselves at any time.

There is also an Ad Recall feature to highlight areas which are known to advertise, such as to easily find their ads, websites, and contacts through search tools.

A new Ad Recall feature highlights advertisers in fDi magazine.

Although we make it easy to find thousands of useful resources worldwide through this website, we primarily share market knowledge personally in response to specific requests from executives about their interests, such as well-qualified referrals.

Please contact us to discuss how our work could support your interests.

We apply our research capabilities and extensive networks of contacts and working relationships beyond the extensive published content of this website.  We are also experimenting with Google Groups as another way to openly share market knowledge.

Virus warning : Hackers continue to spoof our published e-mail address or use fictitious addresses with our domain name as they send out spam or infected messages.  Messages which may appear to be from us do not actually come from any of our systems.  Please refer to our latest information about known attacks of this nature.

Congratulations to 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded to promote local economic development and alleviate poverty through microcredit programs.

These enabled small groups of poor people in Bangladesh to access unsecured loans in very small amounts for their own self-help business efforts which would not be possible through the traditional bank loan processes.  This made it possible for many poor people to find their own path out of poverty through their work and savings, rather than rely on high-cost sources of capital or continuous government aid, social programs, or charity.  This development model has been repeated elsewhere as an effective approach to poverty reduction challenges, and adopted by various non-profit charitable organizations as a way to leverage the economic impact of their limited resources.

The Nobel Lecture by Muhammad Yunus in December 2006 was a very interesting presentation on the larger theme of how we can create the world we want rather than accept problems such as poverty as though they were inevitable and insoluble.  Similarly, the 2004 Lecture was very inspiring when Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai of Kenya won it for her Green Belt Movement's contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace.  It is noteworthy that in both cases women have taken the lead role in transformation of the societies around them by small-scale initiatives at the local level which have had a great cumulative impact by unleashing the potential of people who governments and businesses have not adequately respected or served.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/

One of the interesting concepts promoted by Muhammad Yunus and others is the idea of "non-loss" companies with a clear social purpose as their main objective.  In short, they are managed like for-profit business ventures, but are not managed for profit maximization, but rather to maximize the desired social impact of their work.

This differs from the typical nature of "non profit" organizations, which may similarly focus on trying to achieve good social outcomes, but perhaps more from the perspective of raising and distributing money or other benefits as charity rather than by managing the process for demonstrable results as in a business venture.

In other words, a non-profit may measure activity (how much it has given away and to how many) rather than results (what has been changed to achieve sustainable social or economic progress beyond immediate crisis-response).  This concept of business-like social ventures has started to catch on with philanthropic business leaders who want to achieve lasting results, as reflected in some of the resources listed in our Humanitarian / Philanthropy directory.

This website was designed for high resolution display settings (1280x1024 or higher) as typically used by the executives and professionals we serve, instead of older display standards.  More scrolling may be required at lower resolution settings.  We regret any inconvenience to users of lower resolution display settings who may need to scroll more than we anticipated.