Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502160013
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The Blue Ridge region from a manufacturing point of view is the export breadbasket of the Commonwealth," said Joe A. Robinson, an international marketing manager with the Virginia Department of Economic Development, who is assigned to the region.
Coal and tobacco are big Virginia exports, but when it comes to Virginia manufacturing, 47 percent of the dollar value of exports comes from the Blue Ridge region, Robinson said. Among the region's exports are fiber optics, telecommunications and electric motors
The Blue Ridge region is defined as 11 cities and 20 counties stretching from Highland and Augusta counties in the northeast to Bland, Wythe and Floyd counties to the Southwest. The New Century Council, on the other hand, is a citizens group concerned with the economic future of counties and cities in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands which occupy the western two-thirds of the Blue Ridge region.
Tuesday's was the third in a series of sessions sponsored by the New Century Council that bring together experts and specialists to talk about issues facing the region. The dialogues are useful to bring another perspective or a "reality check" to the work of several citizens committees that have been studying and discussing the same issues, said Bev Fitzpatrick, the council's executive director.
"We're gaining a lot of information here we didn't gain in the committees," Fitzpatrick said. The next session, on Feb. 28, will be about the region's health care industry.
Engaging in global trade is a worthwhile pursuit for companies because of the growth opportunities it provides and because future business will demand it, speakers said. Hiawatha Nicely, a consultant who formerly was executive vice president at Magnox Inc. in Pulaski, said his company increased its sales by 900 percent and its employment by 400 percent after it plunged into the export market as a major player.
When it comes to exporting and importing goods, the region has advantages over other areas, speakers said. One in particular is the region's well-trained and educated work force, they said. The region has the best factory labor in the world when it comes to cost per unit, Robinson said.
Along those same lines, panelists warned that it is important for the region to maintain and nourish its colleges and universities and to resist efforts to cut back on funding for higher education. The schools were described as gems of technological information and training available for regional businesses.
The presence of Meredith Strohm, the provost of the New College of Global Studies at Radford University, as the dialogue's moderator underscored the panelists' concerns. Strohm's college was axed by Radford's board of visitors this year after Gov. George Allen struck it from his budget. Portions of the college's curriculum are to be incorporated into other Radford programs.
Some of the problems facing companies that want to export, panelists said, were a lack of experience and training among middle managers in selling and buying abroad and a lack of cooperation from the region's traditional banking establishments. High in-state transportation rates can force Southwest Virginia companies to export through Baltimore or Charleston, S.C., rather than through Virginia's ports in Tidewater, one speaker said.
Companies have to be innovative in their financing if they want to export, said Bill Fry, vice president of RADVA Corp. of Radford. Local banks were reluctant to get involved in his company's export plans even though they were protected by federal import-export bank guarantees, he said.
by CNB