January 2015

2015: Charting a path to a vibrant, prosperous future

A majority of Michigan local governments firm up financial practices

CLOSEUP | December 18, 2014

A majority of Michigan jurisdictions, or 53 percent, report that their financial practices have become more formal during the last five years, as recessionary shortfalls have highlighted the pitfalls of lax policy. A University of Michigan survey of top elected and appointed officials in the state's 1,856 units of government found that the number rises to 72 percent when looking at jurisdictions with more than 30,000 residents. Click here to download the report.  Read more. . .

Michigan's 'blue economy' a growing industry

Detroit News  | January 2, 2015 

 Water emerged as one of the most compelling issues for Michigan's economic future during a five-city "Blue Economy Tour" led by the University Research Corridor (URC) - an alliance of Michigan's three leading research institutions, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.  Read more. . .

Download the URC's report, "Innovating for the Blue Economy".     

Transformative Deals Not Coming To MI or Northern States

The Top Ten most transformative projects for 2013 according to Site Selection magazine are listed below.  Note that all of these are located in the South or Southwest.  Our understanding is that Michigan did not get serious consideration for any of these except the Boeing opportunity. 

• Apple, Mesa AZ: $1.5B, 700 jobs
• Boeing, N. Charleston, SC: $1B, 2000 jobs
• Cerner Corp., Kansas City, MO: $4.3B, 15,000 jobs (Health care IT center)
• Engineered Floors, Dalton, GA: $450M, 2000 jobs
• Hankook Tire, Clarksville, TN: $800M, 1800 jobs
• IBM, Baton Rouge, LA: $55M, 800 jobs
• MetLife, Cary, NC: $125M, 2622 jobs
• Motorola, Fort Worth, TX: $3M, 2000 jobs
• State Farm Insurance, Richardson, TX: $1.5B, 8000 jobs
• Tenaris, Bay City, TX: $1.5B, 600 jobs

How College Grads Impact Urban Redevelopment in MI

Many American cities are being repopulated with young college graduates.  While the trend is stronger in western and southern cities, MI cities are also experiencing this phenomenon.  But MI faces a fundamental challenge to fully take advantage of this trend - we aren't producing enough college graduates to repopulate our cities at the rate of Top Ten states.  Here are some facts:

• MI retains more in-state college grads than the average state, but we rank last attracting out-of-state college grads. 
• While we're producing more college graduates than a decade ago, we only rank in the middle of our peer states and 9% below the Top Ten states. 
• Compounding the matter: MI's aging demographics - we have a shrinking pool of young people to educate.

These factors are a big reason why places like Detroit compare so poorly to other cities - even those in the Upper Midwest - for the growth of college graduate residents.  MI just isn't producing enough of the college grads to catch up with our peer and Top Ten states.  The chart below from the New York Times shows the comparisons.  Read more. . .

Michigan Ranks Average on Innovation Index

A study published in Harvard Business Review identifies the most innovation-friendly states based on the effectiveness of each state's top publicly-traded companys' R&D efforts.  The measure essentially looks at what these companies spend on R&D relative to the impact that spending has had on company revenues.  The index ranks MI slightly below average - meaning R&D spending by our publicly-traded companies is having below average impact on income generation. Read more. . . 

Q&A: Domino's Pizza CEO on 2015 outlook

Detroit Free Press  | January 4, 2015

The consistent growth of Domino's Pizza under CEO Patrick Doyle's reign has thrilled investors.  The Ann Arbor Township-based company's stock has increased more than fivefold since Doyle took over for former CEO David Brandon in March 2010.  Doyle killed Domino's costly strategy of introducing a slew of new products every year, expanded the company's highly profitable online ordering system and helped the company accelerate its international expansion. He recently spoke to the Free Press about his outlook for Michigan and for Domino's in 2015.  Read more. . .

Two executives lauded for business leadership

Detroit Free Press  | January 2, 2015

Sandra (Sandy) Pierce, vice chairman of FirstMerit Corporation and chairman and CEO of FirstMerit Michigan, was one to two executives named Business Leaders of the Year by the Harvard Business School Club of Michigan. The executives are to be honored at a dinner on March 26 at the Michigan State University Management Education Center in Troy. "Both Sandy Pierce and Gordon Krater exemplify strong leaders who are able to direct growing and complex enterprises while creating and sustaining a culture of corporate citizenship that fosters community engagement for the betterment of the region," the club's chair, Richard Shapack, said.  Read more. . .

Little Caesars Pizza to double its downtown space

Detroit News | December 10, 2014

Little Caesars $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza is helping deliver some of the biggest plans to overhaul downtown Detroit in recent history, including Wednesday's announcement that the company will build a new eight-story headquarters on Woodward Avenue. The large pepperoni pizza catapulted Little Caesar's company into the upper echelon of pizza chains and is the driver behind the Ilitch family's billion-dollar sports and entertainment empire. Read more. . .

Detroit Manufacturing Systems aims to hire 200

ModelD | December 9, 2014

Detroit Manufacturing Systems is in the process of hiring 200 people for its new manufacturing facility near Brightmoor. The company specializes in making automotive interior systems and employs about 750 people. It took over an older plant in 2012 to build the new aluminum body for the Ford F-150 pickup. Read more. . .

Poll: Michigan voters more optimistic about future of the state than nation

MLive.com | December 24, 2014

Michigan voters are more optimistic about the future of the state than the country, according to the results of a year-end public opinion poll released this week. Fifty-two percent of Michiganders believe the state is "headed in the right direction," according to a telephone survey of 600 likely voters conducted December 10-14 by EPIC-MRA of Lansing.  Read more. . .

Detroit in good shape after bankruptcy 

Detroit News | December 11, 2014

Detroit wakes up today with a clean balance sheet, a solid plan for keeping its finances on course, and a leadership team that is demonstrating a commitment to changing both the culture and fate of the city.  That's about as good an outcome as anyone could have hoped for when state intervention in the city's operation began nearly two years ago. Read more. . .