Development of a Competitive Analysis, Strategic Plan and Organizational

Assessment for the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic

Development Corporation

Horry County, SCJuly 28, 2011

Key Goals of the Project

Create sustainable jobs as quickly as possible

Focus on wealth creating strategies – import dollars into the economy from outside sources

Diversify the economy

Identify and leverage the County’s assets

Identify and minimize the impact of the County’s liabilities – do not focus on business targets that lose significant competitive advantages because of liabilities

Make recommendations on a variety of operational issues including organizational structure, budgets and funding

Make recommendations related to product development

Situation Summary and Observations

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP, INC.

Horry County Impression Surveys:

To verify the perceptions of key organizations participating in the

Horry County economic development process

Key Findings of “Impression” Interviews

Site and building offerings for manufacturing locations are limited

Principal points of contact for economic development projects are not clear

Roles of the County and EDC in economic development projects are not clear

Difficult for new property developers to enter the market

Key Findings of “Impression” Interviews

Road logistics for manufacturing projects are difficult

Pricing of key sites is not readily available

Incentive environment is not clear

Current manufacturing base is small and lacks a manufacturing focused labor pool and adequate service providers

Comprehensive Survey –Top 5 Goals

(in order of perceived priority)1. Recruit/Attract new business/employers to Horry

County

2. Job creation

3. Retain/support/expand existing industry/business

4. Diversify industry/business

5. Work to share information and agree on strategies between communities, groups and counties

Workforce Distribution for Horry County, SC and the US

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SubjectTotal -Horry

County

Total -SC

Total –US

Percent -Horry

County

Percent -SC

Percent -US

Civilian employed population 16 years and over 117,288 1,971,789 141,303,145 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining 790 19,573 2,576,402 0.67% 0.99% 1.82%

Construction 13,714 164,715 10,520,876 11.69% 8.35% 7.45%Manufacturing 5,144 287,666 15,887,145 4.39% 14.59% 11.24%Wholesale trade 2,732 59,329 4,516,754 2.33% 3.01% 3.20%

Retail trade 18,263 235,475 16,277,681 15.57% 11.94% 11.52%Transportation and warehousing 2,998 71,365 5,998,817 2.56% 3.62% 4.25%

Utilities 1,189 25,176 1,174,231 1.01% 1.28% 0.83%Information 2,376 36,177 3,450,324 2.03% 1.83% 2.44%

Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing 9,780 120,361 10,033,714 8.34% 6.10% 7.10%

Professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management

services10,754 173,037 14,540,450 9.17% 8.78% 10.29%

Educational services 7,639 170,769 12,713,145 6.51% 8.66% 9.00%Health care and social assistance 10,273 231,266 17,677,068 8.76% 11.73% 12.51%

Arts, entertainment, and recreation 4,612 32,383 2,873,660 3.93% 1.64% 2.03%

Accommodation and food services 17,734 154,330 9,521,504 15.12% 7.83% 6.74%

Other services, except public administration 4,966 96,136 6,842,841 4.23% 4.88% 4.84%

Public administration 4,324 94,031 6,698,533 3.69% 4.77% 4.74%

Horry County has Lowest Weekly Wage of Any Large County in the

US and State

Area Employment Average Weekly Wage (1)September 2009

(thousands)Average weekly

wageNational ranking

by level (2)United States (3) 128,088.7 $840 --South Carolina 1,752.7 $688 43Charleston, S.C. 199.2 $741 223Greenville, S.C. 221.3 $727 245Horry, S.C. 109.4 $534 334Lexington, S.C. 91.7 $647 319Richland, S.C. 204.5 $768 183Spartanburg, S.C. 110.7 $723 248

Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.(2) Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Total out of 334 Large Counties across the US.(3) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Source: BLS- 3rd quarter 2009

Relative Density of Manufacturing (Fee-in-Lieu of Tax (FILOT) Deals)

For the 2010 tax year, Horry County has three fees:AVX Corporation: $401,128 (may be moving to Greenville)Metglas: $47,516New South Companies: $90,163

Total Fee-in-Lieu Collections in SC during 2010: $233,090,089 from 860 fees

Horry County has 2.3% of total state FILOT collections

Capital Investment and Jobs by County(as Reported by the SC Department of Commerce)

Year Jobs Investment

2006 165 $5,860,000

2007 145 $16,900,000

2008 202 $36,600,000

2009 115 $18,500,000

2010 0 $0

Site and Infrastructure Overview

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP, INC.

Key Points - Product Development

The 400-acre Myrtle Beach Airport Site is a significant asset.

The Bucksport Site has good potential as a barge site once permits are approved and infrastructure is installed.

The Cool Springs Park is challenged by location.

There is a small inventory of usable sites and buildings in the County.

Horry County Telecommunications Infrastructure Has Extensive Coverage

Recommendations

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP, INC.

Primary Business TargetsThe following are suggested business development targets

for the MBREDC:

Service centers / Back office / Call centers Large corporations with redundant operations

Aircraft maintenance and related aircraft service businesses

Manufacturing focuses on resort areas: Security systems Golf carts and related products Boats and boat products, etc.

Other manufacturing:Barge traffic relatedLight assembly

Note: It will be key to target sectors that are least sensitive to hurricane and seismic risk.

Primary Business TargetsThe following are suggested business development targets

for the MBREDC:

Agriculture development ventures creating jobs in large increments and focused on resort areas and the emergence of the “Green Food Mile”

Distribution focused on resort areas:Consumable productsRestaurant food productsOther perishable/hard to ship items

Services focuses on resort areas:Software and resort marketing and resort reservations services Linen services Lighting equipment

Growth of existing wealth creating businesses

Note: It will be key to target sectors that are least sensitive to hurricane and seismic risk.

Secondary New Business Targets

The following are suggested business development initiatives that should occur in Horry County and should be supported by the

MBREDC:

Retirement and second home community development

Farm to market initiatives

Convention Center development

Entrepreneurial development

Tourism infrastructure development

Other opportunities to be identified

Horry County must invest significantly in its economic

development program if it desires to dramatically increase job creation and

investment in the County and eventually achieve levels of

performance similar to other South Carolina metro areas.

Proposed Near Term Budget Enhancements for the MBREDC

Capitalization and maintenance of a closing fund.

Funding for development of new sites and buildings tailored to an aggressive recruiting program.

Appropriate funding of operating budget to include two new positions for business recruitment and product development.

MBREDC Proposed Enhanced Site Location/Product Development Budget

Proposal:

Horry County will dedicate 1 mil per year targeted exclusively to enhanced

economic development efforts.

Current Value:$1,800,000