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Virginia
Business 20th Anniversary
Economic trends since 1986
Virginia Business
March 2006
The real estate boom and
bust of the late 1980s. Particularly
in Northern Virginia, fortunes are made and lost
in a short period of time. The bust precipitates
the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s.
The acquisition of Virginia
banks by out-of-state banks in the late 1990s. North
Carolina’s intrastate
banking rules dating to the 1960s allow its banks
to reach a critical mass much faster than those in
Virginia,
and these larger institutions go on a buying spree
in Virginia.
The emergence of Northern
Virginia’s
high-tech sector since the 1980s. The
systems integration boom
of the 1980s is followed by the Internet/telecommunications
boom of the 1990s. Dulles-based America Online introduces
millions to the Internet.
The dot-com boom of the late 1990s and the bust of
2000. The wild enthusiasm
for Internet startups evaporates in the face of the
hard economic realities of a new
century.
The
decline of the textile and furniture industries in
Virginia’s
Southside. Textiles and
furniture companies lose out to cheaper production
overseas.
The waning position of tobacco
in Virginia agriculture. Domestic
demand slows, and restrictions grow on smoking in
public places. Quotas and subsidies end.
A national
settlement between tobacco manufacturers and the
states begins providing funds for farming communities
to develop
new industries. The
unfulfilled promise of the “Silicon Dominion” in
the mid-1990s. Toshiba sets
up shop in Manassas, and Infineon Technologies opens
in Richmond. But Motorola,
the company that started all of the “Silicon
Dominion” talk, never builds a plant in Virginia.
The coordination of statewide and regional economic
development efforts. A bipartisan
economic development effort starts with the Baliles
administration.
Major corporate relocations. Philip
Morris USA moves its headquarters to Richmond in
2003, reasserting its
influence in an area where it once was the top private
employer. Following its merger with Exxon in 1999,
Mobil Corp. retains a regional headquarters in Merrifield.
It had moved its corporate headquarters to Fairfax
County in the mid-1970s, identifying the county and
Northern Virginia as a prime location for major companies.
Emergence of the homeland security industry since
9/11. The national emphasis on security creates tens
of thousands
of jobs, primarily in Northern Virginia
Economic swings caused by military
restructuring. Military spending
is a double-edged sword for many areas of
the state, especially Hampton Roads. The local economy
booms during buildups and suffers during cutbacks.
Hampton’s Fort Monroe is slated for elimination
in the latest round of base closings while the fate
of Naval Air Station Oceana still hangs in the balance. Former Virginia Business Editor Karl Rhodes, an original
member of the staff, contributed to this list. He now
is editor of Richmond Alumni Magazine at the University
of Richmond.
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