Large firms are faced with an ever-widening array of consultancy services and providers. From man... more Large firms are faced with an ever-widening array of consultancy services and providers. From management consulting to accounting to logistics to human relations, the professional services industry has seen extraordinary growth in the number of firms and range of services they provide. In this paper, we examine the history of one consultancy firm, albeit a small and particular one. The Fantus Factory Locating Service was established in 1919 and pioneered what we know today as the site selection or location consulting industry. Brokering between firms and communities seeking to attract investment, Fantus was able to structure and powerfully shape the landscape of economic activity in the United States. Drawing on a variety of secondary sources and a primary source of archived company files the paper examines the growth of the firm, the nature and scale of its work and its extraordinary and lasting influence on the changing US economic landscape.
The local economic development practice of attracting industry, investment, and employment is a l... more The local economic development practice of attracting industry, investment, and employment is a long-standing one in the United States. Yet the manner in which this investment is mediated has always been shrouded in mystery. The mediation of investment and the particular role of site selection consultants in facilitating corporate location decisions is the principal focus of this commentary. The authors draw on a series of recent interviews to illustrate how economic development organizations view the role of site selection consultants and their contribution to the practice of industrial recruitment. The authors conclude that, while location consultants bring certain welcome efficiencies to the practice of industrial recruitment, their presence also raises important questions concerning interplace competition for mobile investment and the general landscape of local economic development in the United States.
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 2018
In part, the origin of this theme issue rests in the view that, as the social division of labor h... more In part, the origin of this theme issue rests in the view that, as the social division of labor has developed and as production has evolved, the economy has become ever more ‘roundabout’ in nature (Young, 1928). However, this theme issue also goes further to explore the ways in which, rather than simply adding ever greater complexity to the pattern of economic activity or increasing the layers through which we make sense of it, the roundabout nature of production also strongly implies an economy in which an influential set of actors, practices, and even industries can no longer be adequately captured through our long-standing frameworks of industrial and occupational classification. The central interest of the papers in this theme issue is the question of intermediation and its role in enabling and shaping the roundabout nature of the economy. Intermediation is, by conventional definition, a relational term and the papers that follow seek to ‘unpack’ the ways in which we might define, theorize, and study the practice of intermediation. Producers and consumers of goods and services have long served as the staple traditional units that frame the study of economic geography. Those interests and organizations that mediate between them have occupied a rather more marginal role. The interest in producer or business services has been one exception to this in which the emergence of intermediaries presages the formation of important new industries and professions. These activities, in turn, commonly make a significant contribution to the productivity and innovative performance of a wide range of established industries (Den Hertog, 2000; Howells, 2006; Rantisi, 2014; Wood, 1986). In many other cases, the actors and activities that play intermediary roles have remained largely in the shadows and bypassed by the literature. Both the place and role of intermediaries and our understanding of them is an uneven one within the economic landscape. Intermediation – in the form of brokering between parties – is particularly important within the financial industries (Allen and Santomero, 1998; French,
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2021
Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financi... more Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financing economic redevelopment. This has involved experimenting with a variety of financial and taxation instruments as a way of growing their economies and redeveloping their built environments. This very general tendency, of course, masks how some cities have done well through the use of these instruments while others have not. The work to date has tended to pivot around a “winner-loser dichotomy”, which emphasises either the capacity of US cities to be able to experiment and speculate through the use of one financial instrument or another or their failings with these instruments, resulting in bankruptcy and fiscal crisis. This paper presents a case study of Lexington, Kentucky and using archival research and interviews we argue that speculative financial instruments are harder to choreograph for some cities than for others. We draw particular attention to US cities beyond those that tend t...
The efficacy of the urban regime and growth machine concepts beyond the US remains a matter of co... more The efficacy of the urban regime and growth machine concepts beyond the US remains a matter of considerable debate. Some argue that these frameworks retain considerable value so long as they are 'properly' applied and that recent concerns about the limits to these frameworks result from no more than their 'misapplication'. I critically examine this argument through a review of recent work on the mobilisation of business interests in British cities. The central claim is that, even when focused on the 'right' issues and questions, US frameworks quickly exhaust their explanatory capacity. In the context of a widening diversity of alternative approaches, I suggest that it is time to move squarely beyond growth coalition and regime accounts. The paper makes a number of suggestions for ways in which this new phase of theory building might proceed.
... Clusters and Regional Development: ... Although in defining industrial districts, Becattini h... more ... Clusters and Regional Development: ... Although in defining industrial districts, Becattini had a particular social divi-sion of labor in mind, the concept has since ... In focusing on the Hollywoodfilm industry, Scott shows that the quality and diversity of the regional labor market, as ...
... Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Crof... more ... Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 0540-4405 Hants GUI 13HR USA England ... Jane Hardy, Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. ...
Large firms are faced with an ever-widening array of consultancy services and providers. From man... more Large firms are faced with an ever-widening array of consultancy services and providers. From management consulting to accounting to logistics to human relations, the professional services industry has seen extraordinary growth in the number of firms and range of services they provide. In this paper, we examine the history of one consultancy firm, albeit a small and particular one. The Fantus Factory Locating Service was established in 1919 and pioneered what we know today as the site selection or location consulting industry. Brokering between firms and communities seeking to attract investment, Fantus was able to structure and powerfully shape the landscape of economic activity in the United States. Drawing on a variety of secondary sources and a primary source of archived company files the paper examines the growth of the firm, the nature and scale of its work and its extraordinary and lasting influence on the changing US economic landscape.
The local economic development practice of attracting industry, investment, and employment is a l... more The local economic development practice of attracting industry, investment, and employment is a long-standing one in the United States. Yet the manner in which this investment is mediated has always been shrouded in mystery. The mediation of investment and the particular role of site selection consultants in facilitating corporate location decisions is the principal focus of this commentary. The authors draw on a series of recent interviews to illustrate how economic development organizations view the role of site selection consultants and their contribution to the practice of industrial recruitment. The authors conclude that, while location consultants bring certain welcome efficiencies to the practice of industrial recruitment, their presence also raises important questions concerning interplace competition for mobile investment and the general landscape of local economic development in the United States.
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 2018
In part, the origin of this theme issue rests in the view that, as the social division of labor h... more In part, the origin of this theme issue rests in the view that, as the social division of labor has developed and as production has evolved, the economy has become ever more ‘roundabout’ in nature (Young, 1928). However, this theme issue also goes further to explore the ways in which, rather than simply adding ever greater complexity to the pattern of economic activity or increasing the layers through which we make sense of it, the roundabout nature of production also strongly implies an economy in which an influential set of actors, practices, and even industries can no longer be adequately captured through our long-standing frameworks of industrial and occupational classification. The central interest of the papers in this theme issue is the question of intermediation and its role in enabling and shaping the roundabout nature of the economy. Intermediation is, by conventional definition, a relational term and the papers that follow seek to ‘unpack’ the ways in which we might define, theorize, and study the practice of intermediation. Producers and consumers of goods and services have long served as the staple traditional units that frame the study of economic geography. Those interests and organizations that mediate between them have occupied a rather more marginal role. The interest in producer or business services has been one exception to this in which the emergence of intermediaries presages the formation of important new industries and professions. These activities, in turn, commonly make a significant contribution to the productivity and innovative performance of a wide range of established industries (Den Hertog, 2000; Howells, 2006; Rantisi, 2014; Wood, 1986). In many other cases, the actors and activities that play intermediary roles have remained largely in the shadows and bypassed by the literature. Both the place and role of intermediaries and our understanding of them is an uneven one within the economic landscape. Intermediation – in the form of brokering between parties – is particularly important within the financial industries (Allen and Santomero, 1998; French,
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2021
Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financi... more Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financing economic redevelopment. This has involved experimenting with a variety of financial and taxation instruments as a way of growing their economies and redeveloping their built environments. This very general tendency, of course, masks how some cities have done well through the use of these instruments while others have not. The work to date has tended to pivot around a “winner-loser dichotomy”, which emphasises either the capacity of US cities to be able to experiment and speculate through the use of one financial instrument or another or their failings with these instruments, resulting in bankruptcy and fiscal crisis. This paper presents a case study of Lexington, Kentucky and using archival research and interviews we argue that speculative financial instruments are harder to choreograph for some cities than for others. We draw particular attention to US cities beyond those that tend t...
The efficacy of the urban regime and growth machine concepts beyond the US remains a matter of co... more The efficacy of the urban regime and growth machine concepts beyond the US remains a matter of considerable debate. Some argue that these frameworks retain considerable value so long as they are 'properly' applied and that recent concerns about the limits to these frameworks result from no more than their 'misapplication'. I critically examine this argument through a review of recent work on the mobilisation of business interests in British cities. The central claim is that, even when focused on the 'right' issues and questions, US frameworks quickly exhaust their explanatory capacity. In the context of a widening diversity of alternative approaches, I suggest that it is time to move squarely beyond growth coalition and regime accounts. The paper makes a number of suggestions for ways in which this new phase of theory building might proceed.
... Clusters and Regional Development: ... Although in defining industrial districts, Becattini h... more ... Clusters and Regional Development: ... Although in defining industrial districts, Becattini had a particular social divi-sion of labor in mind, the concept has since ... In focusing on the Hollywoodfilm industry, Scott shows that the quality and diversity of the regional labor market, as ...
... Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Crof... more ... Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 0540-4405 Hants GUI 13HR USA England ... Jane Hardy, Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. ...
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