BID Group of Companies: selecting a strategic location for expansion to the south eastern United States

The owners of the BID Group of Companies (BID) want to establish a manufacturing operation within the high growth southern United States (US) sawmilling industry. The purpose of this project was to gain an overall understanding of the southern US in order to determine the best strategic location and the best mode of entry. A major challenge was determining where the industry was situated within this vast geographical area. A detail map of the southern US sawmill industry was developed to obtain a better understanding of the market concentration. This mapping exercise indicated that the top four states to consider for expansion were Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. In terms of entry mode, analysis indicated that buying and refurbishing an existing building was the most economical choice due to the high availability of affordable commercial real estate compared to the substantially higher costs to build new. The best building choice from each state was selected and examined against a top ten criteria of preferred attributes of both the building and the surrounding amenities. This process resulted in the recommendation of the building located in St. George, SC. The physical attributes of the St. George building combined with the amenities of the surrounding Dorchester County indicate that this is the right building in the right location and should contribute greatly to the success of BID's expansion into the southern US. --Leaf i.