Global economy will affect employment in Peoria region – Peoria Journal Star

How will business trends affect Peoria’s largest employers?

No one has a crystal ball that’s 100 percent exact. However, Bradley University’s Turner Center for Entrepreneurship has taken a long look toward the horizon.

With the area’s top employers in mind, the Turner Center — part of the school’s Foster College of Business Administration — took a team approach in peeking ahead and picking out key factors and developments.
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James Foley, Turner Center director of operations:

► International opportunities will continue to be strong but mostly in selective countries. Local companies already engaged in Asia (including China or India), Latin America (Mexico and Brazil), Middle East and Africa would be particularly well positioned.

► International opportunities will continue to serve manufacturers of consumer goods seen as “Western” will do well as emerging markets continue to expand their middle class and upper class.

► Any company relating to supporting manufacturing should see good growth opportunities especially relating to manufacturing technologies and manufacturing automation. This would also include factory maintenance and support. This growth is driven by continued interest in on-shoring from Asia (bringing manufacturing back from Asia) as costs continue to rise, quality and controls issues persist and companies seek ways to shorten their supply chain. Companies related to supply chain and logistics should also benefit.

► Niche tourism: Local economies will benefit from increased opportunities for niche tourism, including wineries, historic landmarks and natural landscapes. This is driven by focus on “buy local,” “farm to fork” and other campaigns relating to supporting local business and communities.
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Carey Novak, Turner Center’s director of Technology Commercialization:

In the medical field, there are two evolving trends that create opportunities for the health care industry in Peoria. There is a very large and tech-based health care footprint in Peoria because of the four major hospitals here that conduct research and development and adopt and deploy new technologies. This local industry segment is also an early adopter: ideas are being tested and adopted here before the rest of the industry sees it. These are the two trends:

► Health care IT (HIT). This includes using computer simulation to develop new products, services, and business models and for training docs and nurses (the OSF Simulation Center); the use of electronic medical records for patients; using interactive media to engage patients to become active in managing their health care; and using objective data to measure patient outcomes. These areas will require many kinds of new hardware and software applications that can be developed here.

► The finance of health care. There will be a tidal wave of change coming as health care providers adopt patient outcome-based health care. Payments for health care will be determined by patient health outcomes rather than the procedures provided to the patient. The Peoria health care industry is at the cutting edge of this. This creates growth opportunities for companies to develop new products, services and business models We are seeing this happen now and this should grow significantly, as the rest of the health care industry will be in need of solutions.
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Ross Miller, director of the Turner Center’s Small Business Development Center:

► Organic and locally grown foods are influencing the way local restaurants buy produce and how consumer purchase for home use. This will affect large grocery stores, as well as restaurants.

► Healthy living is a focus for large employers. This aims to improve employee living choices in order to reduce medical expenses.

► Baby Boomer business owners are getting ready to retire. About 12 million boomers own a business, and 70 percent will retire over the next couple decades. A boomer needs to start succession planning now, so the company has maximum value when the owner is ready to sell and retire.
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Ken Klotz, Turner Center director of programs:

According to Sageworks, a leader in the financial analyses of private U.S. companies, the fastest growing privately-held industry segments for 2013 include:

► Industrial machinery manufacturing (25-percent growth)

► Machine shops (19 percent)

► Employment services (18 percent)

► Computer system design and service (18 percent)

Top manufacturing and non-manufacturing employers by pjstar