NCR Moving to Georgia? (Columbus, Dayton: 2009, credit card, neighborhoods)

[aboutmetro]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting NCR is moving to metro Atlanta. It's also rumored to be a move to Savannah, GA and even Columbus, GA - perhaps 400 to 500 back office ops. Atlanta Biz Journals article here
Columbus is the HT to AFLAC and TSYS, the worlds largest credit card processor and growing rapidly thanks to miltary base re-alignments to Ft Benning. (Article here)

[wrightflyer]

Personally, I think all this reporting is based around rumors as of now. Note the "could" in the title. This is nowhere near definite. What's worrisome however is that neither the Dayton Daily News, the Montgomery County Commissioners Office, nor the Ohio Governors office can get a straight answer from NCR.

If they move, I'm guessing they'll move to Peachtree City, GA, where they have an office already. The question then becomes whether or not its employees follow, or if they even can. I say this because of the housing market in the Dayton area (It is less than optimal). My guess is that some will. Losing two national headquarters (Iams to Mason and now possibly NCR) in less than three months will surely drag Dayton down further.

[otters21]

Please I hope not !!! Dayton does not need another blow to it's economy. What is the attraction about the car oriented sprawling South? Thats what started to kill the blue collar Joe neighborhoods in Philly ( and also in other cities ) beginning in the late 70s after a certain President got elected into the White House. He promised the manufacturing companies tax breaks if they moved to the South and sadly that became the death knell to large swaths of blue collar Joe areas in the older cities up north.

[dayton_ohio]

The appeal of Atlanta is low taxes, easy global transportation, and a large and cheap workforce. I can't imagine how they are justifying the move financially unless they are going to cut a lot of jobs or they are getting major tax incentives from Georgia.

That said, Atlanta is a terrible place to live: heavy traffic, very little culture, ugly sprawl, and very little sense of place. (Though the weather is fantastic) I feel bad for the NCR people if they need to move.

Iams isn't terrible news for the region (people could still live in south Dayton and work in Mason), but NCR is

[JefferyT]

^
It is because this is 1,300 management/executive jobs, mostly. That would be a big hit in any mid-sized city. And NCR does contribute to the arts here, so a source of donations goes away.

For an Atlanta location: I can see the postives as Heartsfield has pretty good international air connections, and NCR seems to be a true global corporation. Atlanta, for all its sprawl, is a fairly cosmopolitan place for the South..the regional metropolis for the Southeast, in fact.

This seems like an example of a trend that has been going on for some time now, the location of large corporations to major business centers and away from the smaller places.

[dayton_ohio]

That's a very true statement about corporations concentrating their HQs in the largest business centers -- New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas. I think that's generally been because of mergers and acquisitions, when companies have a choice of two locations to consolidate into. I can't think of a large company that has made an unnecessary headquarters move and prospered afterward.

Atlanta positions itself as cosmopolitan, but it's really just a large and diverse provincial city. It doesn't have the culture, universities, local media, government institutions, or commercial innovation to be a true global city like New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, or even Chicago. To me, it's more on par with cities like Phoenix, Dallas, or Seattle -- an important city, but not a cosmopolitan center.

[JefferyT]

To me, it's more on par with cities like Phoenix, Dallas, or Seattle -- an important city, but not a cosmopolitan center.

Seattle sounds like good analogy. I would also put it in the same league as maybe Philadelpia and Minneapolis/St Paul.

For me there are only three unquestionable world cities in the US: NYC, Chicago, Los Angles, and two others that are maybe in this range: The Bay Area and Washington DC area.

Below that you have the regional centers, which is what Atlanta is for the Southeast.

[wrightflyer]

Well, it's official. NCR is moving to Deluth, GA.

NCR confirms move to Georgia - Dayton Business Journal:

[Clevelander17]

Shame on NCR.

[PT 3000]

Originally Posted by dayton_ohio

That's a very true statement about corporations concentrating their HQs in the largest business centers -- New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas. I think that's generally been because of mergers and acquisitions, when companies have a choice of two locations to consolidate into. I can't think of a large company that has made an unnecessary headquarters move and prospered afterward.

Atlanta positions itself as cosmopolitan, but it's really just a large and diverse provincial city. It doesn't have the culture, universities, local media, government institutions, or commercial innovation to be a true global city like New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, or even Chicago. To me, it's more on par with cities like Phoenix, Dallas, or Seattle -- an important city, but not a cosmopolitan center.

You can say what you want about Atlanta but we do have culture and if you don't call The Civil Rights movement culture then I don't know what to tell you bud, we may not be more cosmo than NY or LA but we sure are more cosmo than Dayton