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Beebe: Other companies interested in following HP to Arkansas Monday, Jul 7, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - As expected, the Hewlett-Packard announcement in Conway last month has generated interest in Arkansas among other top-notch employers, Gov. Mike Beebe says. The HP announcement "has actually created some dialogue with other companies that we weren't talking with before the HP announcement," Beebe said in an interview with Arkansas News Bureau columnist Roby Brock. "We're in negotiations and discussions with all sorts of high-tech companies; all sorts of Fortune 500 companies, not necessarily limited to the Conway area," Beebe said. "Some of them are looking at potential sites or exploring opportunities in different parts of the state." HP announced June 19 it would locate a customer service and technical support center in Conway, bringing 1,200 jobs at an average annual starting salary higher than $40,000 to the area. The company said the center's annual payroll will be $50 million. Economic development officials said they would use the announcement as a springboard to recruit similar jobs. The HP announcement would transform the economy and help the state further diversify its economic base, they said. Experts outside the state agreed. As the world's largest information technology company, many other companies in the sector closely track HP, known for having a different tradition and history than other companies, including strong commitments to the places they locate, said Jon Roberts, managing director of TIP Strategies Inc., an Austin-based business and economic development consulting firm. "I think it will be seen as a signal," Roberts said last month. Arkansas Economic Development Commission officials are mum on what companies they are currently recruiting, as is standard, but they're very busy, according to AEDC spokesman Joe Holmes. "I think it's safe to say that, yes, HP is a part of that, but it's not just HP," Holmes said. "We've had a lot of very significant announcements." The state also recently landed numerous jobs from windmill blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber and industrial pipe manufacturers Welspun and Man Industries, among others. Arkansas is getting mentioned in business publications and talked about among site consultants that help companies find locations. In the past, economic development officials have steered companies to the state after Arkansas was not originally on the company's short list, as was the case with LM Glasfiber. "Now we are included in the hunts for a lot of these things," Holmes said. |
