Where ever you live the big competition among cities greater than one million population is the desire to have Amazon locate to the city. The prize is 50,000 jobs and good high tech service jobs and who would not want that?

Amazon has set criteria of one million population, great airport, reasonably inexpensive land, an educated work force ( nearby university or universities which train engineers) and tolerant culture (Amazon wants their brains, but people have to live and want to live in the community).  Noah Smith writing for Bloomberg News expects not only the 50,000 would be needed, but others tech companies would settle to be near Amazon. Think of auto manufacturing companies and other companies locating nearby to make things for the manufacturing company. If you are interested in the culture of Amazon – on their website is the Leadership Principles which they take seriously.

Given the reality, not many companies are expecting to hire 50,000 people the selection process is expected to be fierce. Remember while you live in your community, what the politicians are willing to give away should not put you at a disadvantage. Make sure to focus on the benefits besides the new jobs.

Mr. Smith notes there are communities which easily the bill – the Boston area, Raleigh North Carolina, Nashville, Minneapolis and Austin, Texas to name a few. Austin is a great example because it lured a government agency called Sematech  which was home to Dell, Texas Instruments, and Motorola. Austin also had a group of visionaries leaders ready to transform Austin into a tech center. The people ensure sufficient land and water resources was available, encourage the university to be co-operative (not be in an ivory tower), the infrastructure of the city was up to date and the culture was livable. These aspects will keep you in the city.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while these companies are profitable it makes their head offices and main areas of producing goods and services even more valuable because they can stay and pay taxes. The trick is always, not to pay too much tax and contribute to the city. It is good for all cities to go through the process because what is good for Amazon is good for any company. The more the home city co-operates and nurture the existing businesses is good for the bottom line.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.