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| Tom Cox Vice-President of Digital Content Meredith Corporation |
Central Iowa is in a very sweet
spot in the U.S. economy. In addition to
being ground zero for agricultural related industry and commodity production,
our region is fortunate to be home to the corporate headquarters of the some
very large publicly traded insurance, media and financial services companies,
or to at least host their major operational centers. Their campuses of gleaming buildings and
manicured lawns, art installations and inspired architecture are sprinkled
around downtown and increasingly around the western suburbs.
The thought of contemplating
business relationships with these corporate giants is likely very appealing for
many of the locally owned businesses that comprise the rolls of the West Des
Moines Chamber. It is however, important
for owners and employees of local firms to remember one thing about their
friends, neighbors and colleagues who work for these big firms; while these
fine folks live in central Iowa and have homes and offices here, and send their
kids to school here...they don't really work here.
What?
If you think about the major
employers in our community, with the exception of primary health care delivery,
almost none of them earn the bulk of their revenue from within the boundaries
of our state. That’s a good thing for
the local economy, but it can be challenging for local firms as well. The majority of the employees of the giants are
busy all day long serving customers who live across the U.S. and around the
world. And, like all other major modern
enterprises, these corporations are able to source goods and services from
across the country and the world.
Personally, I take a phone call a week from any number of earnest sales
representatives who would like me to outsource work halfway around the globe.
In my own case, when I go to work
each day, unless I am travelling, I may sit downtown but am really in New York,
or Atlanta, or Hartford, or Phoenix, or Portland, or any number of other places
where we have business units or major vendor relationships. I do occasionally get to spend budgeted
dollars with local firms who directly benefit from having us in town. But to compete for this, these small firms
must continue to provide competitively priced services that go beyond having a
local phone number. All things being
equal, it is nice to be able to see the people you work with without going to
the airport, but it is no longer essential.
The point of all this is to
remember that being near the corporate giants is only an advantage if you are
either able to provide a service where relationships and closeness matter, or
where your local cost is truly advantageous to the client firm. Certainly one distinct advantage local firms
have is that it is easier to get that first opportunity for a meeting with the
folks who they see at school functions or rub elbows with at civic events. And herein lies a secret... managers like me
who have some small part in the overall budgeting process really do like to
source locally, but proximity is often far from the top factor in play. The billions of dollars in earnings the
giants bring home each year is a lot of money, but the profits from that are not
derived by spending freely or without strict observance to shareholder demands
and the "strategic sourcing" of vendor relationships; locally,
regionally, nationally and globally. So when
contemplating doing business with the giants among us, find your reason for why
being local matters.
Tom Cox is the Vice President of
Digital Content for Meredith Corporation's Local Media Group (which owns no
Iowa television stations). He resides in
West Des Moines with his wife, Liz, and three children who attend West Des
Moines schools.
