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For example, if things are narrowed to a top 3 list consisting of, say, Raleigh, DC and Atlanta, that'll probably cause even more tension and make it even harder to determine who's going to be the winner.
I'm sure they've already narrowed it to the top 3. They just haven't announced it.
I know it seems like a long time, but it's probably not that much different than the length of time it takes to complete other corporate decisions. It just seems longer because they made all these public announcements about it. Years ago I was part of a team that was put together by TRW to help them decide where to put a facility, and it took us a few years to go through the whole process.
I get what you're saying, but knowing that, IMO they should have just kept their search private instead of turning it into a "beauty pageant."
I'm not sure what their end game was in doing so, but it certainly hasn't helped to put them in a more positive light.
I know it seems like a long time, but it's probably not that much different than the length of time it takes to complete other corporate decisions. It just seems longer because they made all these public announcements about it. Years ago I was part of a team that was put together by TRW to help them decide where to put a facility, and it took us a few years to go through the whole process.
Yeah this has been my opinion as well. Im not bothered at all by this, and neither are people I talk to. In fact it has just recently been rehashed in Miami local news and the people on the street or in my circle seem just as interested as ever.
Perhaps the main disconnect is that the average person with interest in this topic has probably spent 5-10% of the time and energy thinking and discussing this, vs the average poster on this thread. So for some it feels like burnout while others away from CD think it's totally normal. Of course, I am on this thread and I haven't been bothered by the drawn out process at all so there are exceptions I suppose.
You tell me what's easier (cheaper and less time-consuming): Amazon sending out RFPs to thousands of cities across North America privately or making one public announcement asking cities interested in landing their second HQ to send them site information?
You tell me what's easier (cheaper and less time-consuming): Amazon sending out RFPs to thousands of cities across North America privately or making one public announcement asking cities interested in landing their second HQ to send them site information?
Given that hundreds of thousands of other companies have done some variation of the former (and continue to do the former, see Google and Apple), it must not be that much cheaper and less time consuming.
And let's be honest, any company worth their chops (including Amazon) knows where they want to be. They aren't going to waste their time considering places like Witchita, KS.
Given that hundreds of thousands of other companies have done some variation of the former (and continue to do the former, see Google and Apple), it must not be that much cheaper and less time consuming.
No, that's not the same thing at all. Amazon literally made an open announcement and asked interested jurisdictions in North America to submit data about sites, workforces, etc. and over 200 cities/counties/metro areas responded. That's not the typical MO; other companies don't reach out to 200+ jurisdictions for RFPs for projects when they know only a handful of cities will meet their needs. They reach out to those handful of cities/states, not several hundred. Which brings me to the next point...
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And let's be honest, any company worth their chops (including Amazon) knows where they want to be. They aren't going to waste their time considering places like Witchita, KS.
That's because Amazon is smart; the open announcement was never just about HQ2. They will hold on to the information received from cities like Wichita for other projects. We've already seen Amazon announce expansions and warehouses in other cities since making the HQ2 announcement and you can believe that the HQ2-related information submitted by those cities (for those that actually did) was used to make decisions to expand and locate new facilities there.
Folks might be annoyed by what Amazon did, but it was a smart, cheap, and quick way to obtain a lot of data from many different jurisdictions that the company will use for all sorts of economic expansion purposes. They didn't become the world's largest retailer by not making shrewd decisions like this.
No, that's not the same thing at all. Amazon literally made an open announcement and asked interested jurisdictions in North America to submit data about sites, workforces, etc. and over 200 cities/counties/metro areas responded. That's not the typical MO; other companies don't reach out to 200+ jurisdictions for RFPs for projects when they know only a handful of cities will meet their needs. They reach out to those handful of cities/states, not several hundred. Which brings me to the next point...
That's because Amazon is smart; the open announcement was never just about HQ2. They will hold on to the information received from cities like Wichita for other projects. We've already seen Amazon announce expansions and warehouses in other cities since making the HQ2 announcement and you can believe that the HQ2-related information submitted by those cities (for those that actually did) was used to make decisions to expand and locate new facilities there.
Folks might be annoyed by what Amazon did, but it was a smart, cheap, and quick way to obtain a lot of data from many different jurisdictions that the company will use for all sorts of economic expansion purposes. They didn't become the world's largest retailer by not making shrewd decisions like this.
Amazon isn't all that special. Part of the problem too is people elevating Bezos and his company to this god-like stature, as if they're untouchable from criticism and nithing they can be doing is wrong.
A ton of companies were just like Amazon in their heyday (GM, GE, etc.) and one day, Amazon will reach its peak and decline just like they have. That's the nature of business. Yes, the company is doing a good job of maximizing its return from the technological fad of today (online shopping), but like fads, it too shall past amd something new will crop up.
The reality is, Amazon was already engaging in non-HQ2 business expansions all throughout the country before this beauty pageant started (which means, some how and some way, they were already getting the information they needed and engaging with the cities they desired for these develops *privately*) It's not like they had no idea where and how they would invest their money before September 2017.
Why they felt they were suddenly too good to do the same for HQ2, I'd love to know. I'd say it's more plausible that it was an effort to simply soothe Bezos' narcissistic personality and feed his superiority complex, by having so many places who never had a chance in the world grovel at his feet for (relatively to his total net worth and Amazon's total market cap) mere chump change.
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