Photograph: Margaret Bourke-White/Time Life Pictures/Getty
Images: A DC-4 over midtown Manhattan, 1939 A location decision
is, in many respects, a referendum on a nation’s
competitiveness. When a company decides, say, to build a factory
with good jobs in China or Poland rather than in the United
States, it is effectively voting on the question of which
country can best enable its success in the global marketplace.
Those votes matter: Each location decision translates into jobs,
investments, tax revenues, and economic development.
Governments, especially those of the most dynamic countries,
compete fiercely for each vote. The question “Where should we
locate?” is more prominent in the minds of executives than it
has ever been. Over the past three decades, business activities
have become increasingly mobile, and more and more countries
have become viable contenders for them. As a result, the number
and significance of location decisions have exploded.
Considerable evidence, including new data we unveil below, s