Trying times or hiring time?

by Robert C. Powell III
Virginia Business
July 2005

Some corporate leaders used to think that “What’s good for General Motors is good for the USA.” That logic would suggest that, when things are bad for GM, they are also bad for everyone else. But at a time when the giant automaker is talking about shutting down plants and cutting 25,000 jobs, many Virginia companies are rapidly expanding. Their problem is not figuring out how to get rid of workers but how to find and keep the best ones.

Richmond-based contributing writer Lisa Antonelli Bacon examines this issue in this month’s cover story and finds that many companies have come up with innovative ways to nurture employees. But, she cautions, employees should not expect a return to the coddling some enjoyed in the tech boom of the late 1990s.

Another story focuses on work force development from a different angle. Contributing writer Heather Hays discovers that many companies are developing customized executive education programs for their top managers.

Revitalization of places rather than people is the subject of two other articles. Contributing writer Dena Sloan looks at state historic tax credits and the influence they are having on the rehabilitation of old buildings in Virginia’s cities. Meanwhile, one of Virginia’s most historic cities, Williamsburg, is finding ways to rejuvenate its tourism industry while diversifying its economy.

The economics lesson that may be drawn from these stories is that a business environment that is bad for some companies is good for others. All companies have to adapt to their times, or else they are history.