Our refrigerator quit a few weeks ago. 

It was the fridge we bought our second year of marriage, so it was 18 years old.  It was probably time to replace it.  We did a ton of research on the types of refrigerators we wanted and the best place to buy them.  In my mind, there wasn't a lot of difference between products.  They were all big, rectangular, and cold on the inside.  The big deciding factor was price.

We ended up buying our new fridge at a local retailer in Enid that had a huge Labor Day sale, making their deal the best one for us. 

We are now proud owners of a new fridge and all of our leftovers are cold.  Thank you Labor Day Sale.

The world of economic development today happens in a similar way.  Very few companies have an absolute exact location that they have to be in order to be successful.  If you are connected to the web, have an available and skilled workforce, and have utilities to support your needs, you can locate your business just about anywhere.  

The role of a state, and a community, is to make sure they are competitive when compared to their peers. There are many ways to stay competitive in this world.  You can do it through streamlining your permitting processes, lowering taxes or utility costs, and making sure your infrastructure can support more activity.

But the other way to attract the attention of potential investors is to incentivize them to come.  Enid, and Oklahoma, are among the most aggressive in the nation at remaining competitive in this world of company investment.  Here is how it works...

When an oil and gas company is trying to decide where to invest their drilling dollars, they will do the math on every possible formation and determine their best rate of return. They invest in the area where this rate is highest.

When a wind company is trying to decide where to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a new wind farm, they will do the math on every ridge with acceptable wind and determine their best rate of return.  They invest in the area where this rate is highest.

When a retailer is trying to decide where to invest their limited construction dollars, they will do the math on every local economy and determine their best rate of return.  They invest in the area where this rate is highest.

And when companies like Koch Industries, Aztec Industries, AdvancePierre Foods, Parrish Enterprises, Pelagic Tank, Northstar AgriIndustries, Aircraft Structures International, TradeWind Energy, Nextera Energy, Select Energy, TJ Maxx, and Hilton made decisions recently to invest over $2 billion in our Enid economy, they did so because they did the math to determine their best rate of return.  They invested where the rate was the highest. 

That location was Enid, Oklahoma because we were willing to host a Labor Day Sale when others did not. 

I know that incentives are discussed at length in coffee shops, town halls, and legislative committees with both sides making very good points.  But at the end of the day, you have to get the customers through the door and sometimes a Labor Day Sale is the best way to do it.  

Brent Kisling

Executive Director