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Old 08-31-2016, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Northwest Houston
6,262 posts, read 7,406,265 times
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Lets talk solely about diversifying Houston's economic base in this thread, not only suggestions of how too diversify ,but also post examples of companies and organizations that are adding to the economic diversity of the Greater Houston economy.

Case in point

Steel distributor Lex Group expands into Houston

"A Chicago-based steel distributor has opened a facility in northwest Houston, improving its access to the Port of Houston and markets in the southwestern United States and Mexico.

The Lex Group, which has two other distribution facilities in Chicago and Los Angeles, produces flat-rolled steel products for office furniture, shelving and other uses. Its 45,000-square-foot facility on Bingle Road is expected to produce as much as 15,000 tons of steel products each month.

The company's expansion will boost steel imports through the Port of Houston, which recently fell from record highs as oil prices dropped and energy-related construction slowed. The company now obtains 5 to 10 percent of its steel through the Houston port, and Douglass said he expects that amount to grow as high as 30 percent."

Steel distributor Lex Group expands into Houston - Houston Chronicle

At this time this facility will only produce 35 local jobs at the warehouse itself, however it will also increase activity and stimulate employment at the Port of Houston if all goes as planned.

P.S. perhaps this will become a sticky at some point...
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Old 08-31-2016, 05:07 PM
 
638 posts, read 560,977 times
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Houston and Dallas should follow the California model. Invest heavily in its universities and turn out the best and brightest. Develop more local funding for startups. California has no magic that can't be replicated. Houston is strong in engineering, Dallas in finance.
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Old 08-31-2016, 05:39 PM
 
Location: Washington D.C. By way of Texas
20,499 posts, read 33,299,328 times
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Good thread and good post Jimmy. California as well as Boston, NYC, Seattle, are creative cities and they attract those likeminded people.
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Old 09-01-2016, 02:36 AM
 
439 posts, read 431,112 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy1953 View Post
Houston and Dallas should follow the California model. Invest heavily in its universities and turn out the best and brightest. Develop more local funding for startups. California has no magic that can't be replicated. Houston is strong in engineering, Dallas in finance.
Dallas? Isn't North Texas just about the most diverse place in the universe? It even has energy companies. All the cities listed above have become flagship cities for the M-word, (Marxism) but let's not go there.

I think Houston will diversify more when the area GDP falls. The GDP is going to fall as the available amount of easy money shrinks. The easy money is going to shrink as less oil and gas becomes available by natural fracturing. A new energy market is now forming as the United States continues to trasition over from the importation of oil to that of exporting it. The downturn today has less to do witg the price of a barrel of oil and more to do with uncertainty about what the new market is going ti look like. This latest bust isn't a repeat of 2008, but the market is about to change forever.

I was speaking to an oil man about the situation. He says companies are laying off contractors to keep good workers. It is a buyers market for employees. That if every good job gained when times were good would add another three contractor jobs, he says the loss of a good job during bad times will subtract about five contractor jobs.

As long as the new oil market remains a mystery, the economy will remain muddled and companies will hesitate to add new employees.
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Old 09-01-2016, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Northwest Houston
6,262 posts, read 7,406,265 times
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I think there is a lot of small street level economic diversity in Houston, stuff that doesn't always show up in Government employment reports. Like this below.

The owners of independent coffeehouse and bakery Tout Suite have started construction on a new co-working space next to their popular EaDo cafe.

The new venture, called The Co-Op HTX, will encompass 10,000 square feet of co-working and retail space with the same look feel as Tout Suite: "industrial, vibrant and hip," said co-owner Anne Le.
"It's a fresh appeal where it's not just a boring, cold work space," Le said.

The Co-Op will be in the same building that houses Tout Suite at 2001 Commerce just east of downtown.

The EaDo neighborhood is emerging as a burgeoning co-working hub.
Start Houston on Delano St. targets technology startups. TX/RX Labs on Roberts Street calls itself a "hackerspace" and offers classes and access to a rapid prototyping lab, wood shop, machine shop and electronics lab.

Tout Suite expanding into co-working through crowdfunding - Houston Chronicle
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Old 09-01-2016, 12:00 PM
 
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yes, more funding for start ups. I could use some more useless phone apps
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Old 09-01-2016, 02:22 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Northwest Houston
6,262 posts, read 7,406,265 times
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Texas biotech, pharmaceutical & life science companies

List of biotech, pharma & medical device companies in Texas

Don't worry I counted them up for you

There are 62 biotech, pharmaceutical & life science companies in the Greater Houston area DFW has 38, The Austin area has 29, San Antonio has 22 and the rest of Texas has 10.

This is not counting the Hospitals rehab centers and government funded research that is being performed by the colleges universities and not for profit institutions in the TMC> That's economic diversity..
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Old 09-01-2016, 02:46 PM
 
Location: Houston
5,580 posts, read 4,834,070 times
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The problem is, the O&G industry generates such huge numbers of high-paying jobs when it's expanding, our other industry sectors can't keep up, even if they're also expanding. What industries are we growing that can approach the kinds of job growth that O&G has during its good times? Health care is the only one at the moment that I see.

In most cities health care is a major industry sector but not a "basic" one, using economists' lingo. It doesn't generally bring in spending from outside the region. However, Houston's health care sector has a mixture of "basic" and "nonbasic" since it pulls in patients and investors from elsewhere, besides serving the immediate population. What would really help is if we could really rev up our biotech innovation sector to the point where the firms don't have to leave for California if they start becoming successful (VC funding has a lot to do with this). TMC is trying to make this happen with TMC3 / TMCx.

Still, I'd be happier if we also grew some other industry sectors that could also achieve large amounts of high-wage job growth.
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Old 09-01-2016, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Westbury
3,283 posts, read 6,012,785 times
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There are several large branches of marketing firms here. A lot of high priced legal services that are not attached to oil and gas, although also many that are involved at least to a degree

New york city and houston are one and two for the most fortune 500 companies within the city.
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Old 09-03-2016, 01:44 PM
 
439 posts, read 431,112 times
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Default If you want your cake, you can't have it too

Quote:
Originally Posted by testmo View Post
There are several large branches of marketing firms here. A lot of high priced legal services that are not attached to oil and gas, although also many that are involved at least to a degree

New york city and houston are one and two for the most fortune 500 companies within the city.
Diversity in Houston will only happen when its dominant energy business decentralizes away from the city towards other parts.

Imagine a train arriving into station. One can tell the train is doing so by how it begins slowing down a few miles before getting there. As the energy market remained unchange during 2008, this was just a quick stop to let off and allow on new passengers. This latest downturn is much different. The Saudies have decided wisely so to alter the energy market forever. This entails taking the train out of service and doing a major overhaul. Much testing of the new market is going to be necessary. Even after the train leaves the station, it is going to require a few miles of track to get up to speed. This is tantamount to a boom and bust cycle. Shoot, even if the energy market in Houston were to make up a third of the regions economy, that would still be too much. This dominance interferes with the industry biting the bullet as state and local governments would step in to baby it with corporate welfare.
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