South Brunswick Business Development Committee

Meeting Minutes from May 14, 2013

In Attendance: Tom Adams, Jack Alexander, Jim Bradshaw, Larry Cheek, Robert Cox, Kim Wiggs Gamin, Tom Hemphill, Sara McCullough, Michael Norton, David Stuart, Kelly Stuart, Gene Vasile, Bob Stinson

CC: Richie Cox, Bobby Davis, Forrest King, Alan Lewis, Rube McMullan, Dianne McRainey, Davis Milligan, Joe Stanley, Keith O’Steen, Tripp Sloane, Shannon Viera, Ron Watts, Percy Woodard

The following subjects were discussed:

Minutes from April 9, 2013 Meeting

Minutes were approved. Motion by Tom Adams, seconded by Larry Cheek

South Brunswick Business Development Committee Blog Site

Bob Stinson reported that the committee now has an active blog site:  http://sbncbdc.blogspot.com/. Meeting minutes and other information will be posted on the site.

Small Business Center

Kim Gamin reported on the summer speakers and seminar programs for small business, Programs will be available on all three campuses. We will post the schedule of programs on our blog site.

Small Business Advisory Commission

The Commission will have an open meeting in Supply at 101 Stone Chimney at 5:30PM to discuss some of the issues effecting small businesses in the county

Economic Development Commission

Jim Bradshaw reported that the commissions marketing focus is currently targeting site consultants. These are individuals and organizations who work with companies on site selection. The commission currently has eight active projects. The business incubator in Leland has 4 open spaces with staff to support start-up businesses. Jim also reported over the previous year 112 new job were created by existing industries in the county.

SBBDC President

Dave Stuart asked the members of the committee to consider the office of President for the next year. This will be discussed during our June Meeting.

NEXT MEETING:

Tuesday, June 11^th at 7:30 AM at the BB&T conference room in Shallotte.

The Following Seminars are Available This Summer From The Small Business Center at Brunswick Community College.

Main Campus

Basic QuickBooks for Small Business

Participants will begin using QuickBooks accounting software as soon as they arrive. By the end of the session, they will have a business checking account and budget ready to use. See how you, the business owner or prospective business owner, can minimize your daily accounting tasks and maximize financial control of your business.

5/20/13 6-9 M

Exploring Entrepreneurship Series-

This series utilizes the NC REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship Through Action Learning) curriculum to examine and learn more about entrepreneurship through interaction, assessments, and activities.  Participants will identify opportunities, organize enterprises to seize opportunities and assume risks to examine entrepreneurship.  Goal setting will be a part of this curriculum.  What is REAL Entrepreneurship-REAL is a program that helps interested individuals grow through hands-on entrepreneurship education. REAL prepares participants to be active, self-sufficient and productive citizens. Gaining the knowledge and confidence from learning to run a business allows entrepreneurs to contribute to community and economic development. Topics covered include:  Self-Assessment, Business Structure/Feasibility, Business Simulation, Marketing Operations, Pricing, Financials, and More Financials! Business Plan, Presentations, and Graduation.  In order to obtain a certificate of completion, participants must complete: How To Start a Business; How To Write a Business Plan; How to Finance Your Small Business; How to Conduct Market Research and Marketing Techniques, Record Keeping and Taxes for the Small Business. 

5/21/13-6/20/13 1-4 T&Th

Basic QuickBooks for Small Business

Participants will begin using QuickBooks accounting software as soon as they arrive. By the end of the session, they will have a business checking account and budget ready to use. See how you, the business owner or prospective business owner, can minimize your daily accounting tasks and maximize financial control of your business.

8/14/13 6-9 W

Leland Center

How Sustainability Practices Can Lead to Profits

Sustainability reporting is becoming a source of competitive advantage and profit increases, according to the MIT Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group study on 2,631 managers and executives. The study indicated that company profit rose by 23% to 37%  from one year to another because of sustainability reporting efforts. This presentation will address how sustainability practices can lead to profits, what companies are doing to stay competitive, sustainability business trends, and sustainability measuring tools.  

5/16/13 12-1:30 p.m. Th

Marketing ROI (Return On Investment) Workshop

This workshop is for business owners who want to get more ROI (return on investment) from their marketing budgets. If you want to realize more revenue from your marketing, attend this workshop and build a plan.

5/22/13  10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Cost $15.00 (Includes Lunch)

Basic QuickBooks for Small Business

Participants will begin using QuickBooks accounting software as soon as they arrive. By the end of the session, they will have a business checking account and budget ready to use. See how you, the business owner or prospective business owner, can minimize your daily accounting tasks and maximize financial control of your business.

6/18/13 1-4 T

Basic QuickBooks for Small Business

Participants will begin using QuickBooks accounting software as soon as they arrive. By the end of the session, they will have a business checking account and budget ready to use. See how you, the business owner or prospective business owner, can minimize your daily accounting tasks and maximize financial control of your business.

8/13/13 1-4 T

South Brunswick Islands

Marketing ROI (Return On Investment) Workshop

This workshop is for business owners who want to get more ROI (return on investment) from their marketing budgets. If you want to realize more revenue from your marketing, attend this workshop and build a plan.

6/12/13  10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Cost $15.00 (Includes Lunch)

Brunswick Community College - Small Business Center | 910.755.7378

Small Business seminars are FREE unless otherwise noted.

 

How ‘Made in the USA’ is Making a Comeback

By Rana ForooharApril 11, 201314 Comments

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS LABROOY FOR TIME

The U.S. economy continues to struggle, and the weak March jobs report — just 88,000 positions were added — briefly spooked the market. But step back and you’ll see a bright spot, perhaps the best economic news the U.S. has witnessed since the rise of Silicon Valley: Made in the USA is making a comeback. Climbing out of the recession, the U.S. has seen its manufacturing growth outpace that of other advanced nations, with some 500,000 jobs created in the past three years. It marks the first time in more than a decade that the number of factory jobs has gone up instead of down. From ExOne’s 3-D manufacturing plant near Pittsburgh to Dow Chemical’s expanding ethylene and propylene production in Louisiana and Texas, which could create 35,000 jobs, American workers are busy making things that customers around the world want to buy — and defying the narrative of the nation’s supposedly inevitable manufacturing decline.

The past several months alone have seen some surprising reversals. Apple, famous for the city-size factories in China that produce its gadgets, decided to assemble one of its Mac computer lines in the U.S. Walmart, which pioneered global sourcing to find the lowest-priced goods for customers, said it would pump up spending with American suppliers by $50 billion over the next decade — and save money by doing so (for TIME’s new cover story, written by myself and Bill Saporito, and available to subscribers,click here). And Airbus will build JetBlue’s new jets in Alabama.

(MORE: The Cult of Apple in China)

Some economists argue that the gains are a natural part of the business cycle, rather than a sustainable recovery in the sector. But I would argue that the improvements of the last three years aren’t a blip. They are the sum of a powerful equation refiguring the global economy. U.S. factories increasingly have access to cheap energy thanks to oil and gas from the shale boom. For companies outside the U.S., it’s the opposite: high global oil prices translate into costlier fuel for ships and planes — which means some labor savings from low-cost plants in China evaporate when the goods are shipped thousands of miles. And about those low-cost plants: workers from China to India are demanding and getting bigger paychecks, while U.S. companies have won massive concessions from unions over the past decade. Suddenly the math on outsourcing doesn’t look quite as attractive. Paul Ashworth, the North America economist for research firm Capital Economics, is willing to go a step further. “The offshoring boom,” Ashworth wrote in a recent report, “does appear to have largely run its course.”

Today’s U.S. factories aren’t the noisy places where your grandfather knocked in four bolts a minute for eight hours a day. Dungarees and lunch pails are out; computer skills and specialized training are in, since the new made-in-America economics is centered largely on cutting-edge technologies. The trick for U.S. companies is to develop new manufacturing techniques ahead of global competitors and then use them to produce goods more efficiently on superautomated factory floors. These factories of the future have more machines and fewer workers — and those workers must be able to master the machines. Many new manufacturing jobs require at least a two-year tech degree to complement artisan skills such as welding or milling. The bar will only get higher: Some experts believe it won’t be too long before employers will expect a four-year degree — a job qualification that will eventually be required in many other places around the world too.

(MORE: Is U.S. Manufacturing Really Back?)

Understanding this new look is critical if the U.S. wants to nurture manufacturing and grow jobs. There are implications for educators (who must ensure that future workers have the right skills) as well as policy-makers (who may have to set new educational standards). “Manufacturing is coming back, but it’s evolving into a very different type of animal than the one most people recognize today,” says James Manyika, a director at McKinsey Global Institute who specializes in global high tech. “We’re going to see new jobs, but nowhere near the number some people expect, especially in the short term.”

Still, if the U.S. can get this right, though, the payoff will be tremendous. Manufacturing represents a whopping 67% of private-sector R&D spending as well as 30% of the country’s productivity growth. Every $1 of manufacturing activity returns $1.48 to the economy. “The ability to make things is fundamental to the ability to innovate things over the long term,” says Willy Shih, a Harvard Business School professor and co-author of Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance. “When you give up making products, you lose a lot of the added value.” In other words, what you make makes you. For more on the rebound in manufacturing and what it means for jobs and economic growth in the US, check out this week’s TIME magazine cover story, “Made In America.”
MORE: Economists: A Profession at Sea

South Brunswick Business Development Committee

Meeting Minutes from April 9, 2013

In Attendance:,  Bobby Davis, Kim Wiggs Gamin, , Joe Stanley, David Stuart, , Bob Stinson, Walt Eccard, Billy Mills, Ed Dunn, Tom Adams, Jack Alexander

CC:  Jim Bradshaw, Larry Cheek, Richie Cox, Robert Cox,, Tom Hemphill, Forrest King, Alan Lewis, Sara McCullough, Rube McMullan, Michael Norton, Dianne McRainey, Davis Milligan, , Keith O’Steen, Tripp Sloane, Kelly Stuart, Gene Vasile, Shannon Viera, Ron Watts, Percy Woodard

The following subjects were discussed:

Minutes from March 12, 2013 Meeting

Minutes were approved. Motion Bobby Davis, seconded by Joe Stanley

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

David and Kelly Stuart attended the meeting in Charlotte. David reported that the primary measurements used to evaluate potential sites for shopping and retail centers is demographics and traffic count. Traffic count statistics are generated by the DOT. Their most recent study was done 2 weeks ago in our area.  Very little consideration is given to the traffic during our summer season.

Comments By Ed Dunn

Ed Dunn from Raleigh visited our meeting. Ed has been involved in development in several areas of the state. He suggested that the committee develop a close relation with the state Economic Development Commission. He also stressed that livability was one of the of our areas primary assets.

Metropolitan/Micropolitan Statistical Area (MAS) Change

The most recent MSA used by the Office of Management and Budget has moved Brunswick County from the Wilmington, NC area to the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach SC NC area. Some concern was expressed and there was uncertainty as to its effect. Is our area now to be considered an extension of the resort area of Myrtle Beach as opposed to the more commercial area of Wilmington? Will this change effect our ability to attract non-resort business to our area. This will be on the agenda for our next meeting.

NEXT MEETING:

Tuesday, May 14 th at 7:30 AM at the BB&T conference room in Shallotte.