Here are the answers to the most often asked questions about Boyd and its location services...

Q: What distinguishes Boyd from other management consultants?

A: Two things:   First, specialization.  Boyd specializes exclusively in the field of corporate site selection.  While the location decision is an infrequent event for you, Boyd is constantly monitoring business climates, labor conditions, cost trends, incentive programs and other more subtle geographic variables often overlooked by the inexperienced or the generalist.

Second, independence.  Boyd will objectively and independently recommend the optimum city and site for your project and do so free from the sometimes conflicting influences of downstream commissions or ancillary consulting packages.

Boyd’s four decades of independent counsel, unparalleled in the field, ensures a best practice location recommendation that will stand the test of peer review.   Boyd serves but one interest:  the client’s.

Q: How does Boyd specialization benefit its client?

A: The location decision is one of the most demanding and far-reaching that corporate management will make. A less than optimum site will result in a costliness and compromise of competitive position that will persist for years. Boyd's many years of site selection experience and its specialization in economic geography results in unmatched research and evaluative skills. This specialization enables Boyd to come to grips with your location problem without delay or costly false starts, ensuring on-time success of your relocation or expansion plans.

Q: Why hire Boyd when real estate and economic development agencies offer free services?

A: While the services of realtors and economic development agencies are sometimes helpful, their scope of interest is restricted to the properties and locales that they are promoting. Boyd can objectively explore all your location options without geographic constraints, parochial interests or after-the-fact commission influences.

Q: How do Boyd capabilities differ from our own?

A: Boyd combines many of your own in-house skills with capabilities outside the range of your normal day-to-day operations. Skills which you might expect in economic analysis, telecommunications, taxation, logistics, HR, e.g. are enhanced by Boyd's seasoned, hands-on knowledge of such factors as available sites and financing, incentives, community attitudes, labor relations, inflationary labor cost pressures, availability and dependability of energy supplies, political stability, and lifestyle considerations of the reluctant transferee.  The firm's unique data bank in Princeton reflects its proprietary insights into the hundreds of candidate communities Boyd visits each year, the hundreds of companies privately interviewed by Boyd in the field and client feedback.  
 

Q: What are the key components of a Boyd Site Selection Study?

A: Boyd clients receive a fully-documented written report covering all phases of the consultant effort. While each client project has its own unique demands, the following six elements are common to most Boyd location projects:

Criteria Development--a review of key plant or office operating specifications and client location objectives;

Primary Search Area--a delineation of the geographic region where location objectives can be maximized;

Community Screening--a detailed review of individual candidate locations; including the rationale for rejection of less desirable communities;

Field Research--a review of Boyd investigative field research findings in the most promising communities;

Economic Analysis--a projection of annual operating costs of the proposed new facility at each of the recommended locations and;

Community Audit--a detailed analysis of the labor market, demographics, support services, lifestyle characteristics, incentives, and other client-specific variables associated with each recommended community.

Q: What is Boyd's posture on confidentiality and client anonymity?

A: All Boyd activities are carried out in a highly confidential manner which cannot be traced back to the client. Secrecy and client anonymity are maintained throughout the study period and beyond. Boyd's regimented and well-tested investigative techniques avoid premature disclosure of your plans, preventing troublesome labor and competitive repercussions. Boyd's commitment to secrecy also insulates your executives from disruptive outside sales pressures which can impair the decision-making process. Moreover, representation by Boyd can bring enhanced credibility to your undisclosed project and afford it prompt access to top-level government officials and influential civic leaders.

Q: Is Boyd's experience limited by industry or geography?

A: No. Boyd's worldwide experience crosses many industry lines. Location studies for U.S. and overseas corporations have been prepared covering a broad spectrum of manufacturing, headquarters, R&D, distribution warehousing, and telecommunications-intensive operations such as data centers, help desks, and corporate call centers.  The firm's operations are global including a growing workload in Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Q: What about fees? Is it expensive to use Boyd?

A: Our fees are moderate and usually justified many times over by operating cost savings between an "acceptable" location and the optimum site for your new facility. Our all-inclusive fee, quoted prior to any commitment, is also much less than the cost of assigning your own executive and technical staff. In addition to performing comprehensive location studies, Boyd can also conduct low-cost component investigations, including labor market assessments and comparative economic analyses, establishing preliminary feasibility of your new project. Also, our stand-alone comparative cost-of-doing business studies (BizCosts® Reports) are regarded as definitive benchmarks by corporate planners worldwide.