SBDC Web site assists economic development efforts

|tab|

Picture this: Wanting to relocate his business, a corporate executive is sitting at his desk somewhere in New York late one afternoon, reading a report on the best places in America to move his business.|ret||ret||tab|

After reading the report and identifying his top 15 prospective cities, he de-cides to narrow his search by investigating each city on his own. Of course, Springfield, Missouri, is on that "short list." Where does he turn for information? He starts with the Web, and a simple search quickly turns up www.busi ness4springfield.com.|ret||ret||tab|

Over the next 15 minutes, this executive is able to gain valuable information as to work-force conditions, population growth, and the cost of living. He checks out the list of largest employers and which sectors employ the most people. He finds out which tax incentives might be available to his company and even finds a list of potential buildings he might be interested in purchasing in Springfield. |ret||ret||tab|

So what is this business4springfield Web site? It is the lead site for economic development resources in Springfield and is owned and maintained by the Springfield Business Development Cor-poration, the economic development subsidiary of the Springfield Area Cham-ber of Commerce. The site has one simple goal: to aid Springfield's economic development partnership between the chamber, SBDC, city of Springfield and City Utilities in business attraction, retention and assistance.|ret||ret||tab|

Begun in mid-1999, business4springfield started as a single, central collection point for demographics and other statistical data on the Springfield Metropoli-tan Statistical Area. The Springfield MSA is defined by the federal government and includes Greene, Christian and Webster counties. The statistical collection is the capstone of the site, providing data on population, work force, unemployment, income, tax rates, utility rates, cost of living, economic output, air passengers, crime rates and more.|ret||ret||tab|

In addition to statistics, an up-to-date database of available sites and buildings is housed on the Web site. The database, contains properties listed by many of our local commercial Realtors. Whether they are green field sites or existing buildings, for lease or for sale, 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space or 2,000 square feet of retail space, they're listed on business4springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

As many have said, "Tis a privilege to live in the Ozarks." As residents we're already convinced of the wonderful quality of life here. But how does our economic development partnership market that idea to potential residents and businesses? The quality of living section of the site details our public schools and universities. It provides an online job network for job seekers to locate potential jobs, and offers a slide show tour of what makes Springfield and the Ozarks a great place to live and work.|ret||ret||tab|

Let's jump to another scenario. A lifelong Springfieldian has for months been working over an idea for a new product. She's never owned a business before, but she knows it is worth the effort to give her new idea a try. Knowing the Spring-field chamber represents and assists local member businesses, she turns to www.springfieldchamber.com and quickly links to business4springfield .com. Within 15 minutes she has downloaded helpful publications, determined what she should plan to pay her employees, linked to other local business assistance providers, and found information about the necessary licenses and permits.|ret||ret||tab|

Not only does business4springfield look to attract outside businesses, but it also works to assist existing businesses or new start-ups. Statistical data mentioned before can aid local companies and start-ups with tables of various job titles and the appropriate wage rates, population growth areas, and the consumer price index a measure of inflation which is useful in calculating the "cost of living increase" for employees.|ret||ret||tab|

A directory of business assistance publications also is available. It offers users a variety of documents from business startup guides to economic profiles to a manufacturers' directory.|ret||ret||tab|

Additionally, a referral network links users to other business assistance pro-viders in Springfield. Information on li-censes and permits, available tax benefit information, and links to a multitude of business resources are also available.|ret||ret||tab|

The intent of the Web site was, by no means, to cut out person-to-person interactions. In fact, the most important part of the site might just be two words on the home page: Contact us. The site provides a listing of the individuals that comprise the economic development partnership team, their areas of responsibility and their contact information.|ret||ret||tab|

(Ryan Mooney is economic development program coordinator for the Springfield Area Chamber of Com-merce.)[[In-content Ad]]