General guidance for the focus of this group
br...@gdi-solutions.com
about major direct investment projects - not every little development.
Who supported the project? Where did it go, what alternatives were
considered, and why was this location chosen? What is the scale of the
project (jobs, $ investment, space) and purpose? What will it enable
the company to do better? Were incentives a significant factor in the
final decision?
This should make it easier for executives and advisors to find out
about recent projects which may be relevant to their own current
interests, and how to find more information.
Examples would include new factories, offices, or other types of
business operations, including expansion or relocation, generally
involving > 50 jobs within 3 years.
We expect topics and replies which provide insights into major project
announcements, because this information is of common interest to the
Group.
This can be of interest by location and industry or type of project,
but all content should obviously be of a non-confidential nature. It
is also helpful to organize the content to reflect the timing - such as
projects in 2004, 2005, etc.
This should not simply duplicate a press release. Instead, a posting
should highlight the key points, and perhaps link to sources of
additional information for those who are interested, such as the press
release or contact for details.
It can also provide updates as a major project develops or grows beyond
the original scale as announced. Note that closures can also be
highlighted, because these may represent relevant opportunities for
other businesses.
It can highlight details such as the service providers involved (site
selection, incentives negotiation, facility design, engineering and
construction, CRE deal, tax and legal services, project finance, etc.).
These details may not appear in the usual press releases or local
website content, but can be very helpful to executives and advisors
with similar project interests.
This is not a local newsletter service or e-mail distribution service
for local area representatives or service providers to broadcast
promotional messages to everyone in the group, and all who may explore
the Group discuss archives. The content which is posted should be
selective, relatively succinct, and provide an easy path for those who
are interested to find more information on the topic. The content
should clearly be of interest to others, rather than just
self-interest.
It is very appropriate to have a topic about investment in a specific
area or industry, or involving a specific type of service or type of
project - but such content should be selective and well-organized for
reference by others by grouping similar announcements together under a
common topic heading.
For example, "Investment Projects in Lake County, Illinois - 2004"
could be a valid topic, with replies posted by county representatives
or local communities about specific project announcements in the county
and their progress.
Some entries may logically fit into more than one topic. The above
example might also fit into "Projects in Illinois - 2004", or "Projects
in the Biotech industry - 2004", or "distribution projects - 2004" as
special groups by region, industry, and type of project (which may cut
across regions and industries).
By contrast, it would not be appropriate to set up a new topic about
each such project announcement. These are postings under the general
topic. Otherwise, the Group would soon become a massive list of press
releases about projects, rather than a structured discussion to help
users find information by geographic region, industry, or project type.
Other services are available to publish press releases online, and such
announcements should typically reside on member websites or elsewhere.
It is not the purpose of these Groups to republish such content, but
rather to to make people aware of major developments which may be
relevant to their future business interests.
There simply needs to be some self-discipline in such postings to avoid
quickly making the content overwhelming and therefore less useful.
It would not be appropriate to set up a separate topic heading for
every project which is announced in every town, or to broadcast every
project announcement in every area worldwide to everyone else in the
Group. Instead, by categorizing the content in this simple manner
through the consistent use of topic headings, it can be easy for users
to quickly find relevant discussions, such as recent investment in a
particular part of Illinois or an industry in the above example.
These groups are not intended to promote or criticize any specific area
or service.
Google policy imposes constraints on the marketing use of Groups.
These Groups are to share useful resources, "lessons learned",
practical experience, and ideas in this niche.
Postings are openly available and indexed by Google for search
purposes. New postings are typically distributed by e-mail to all
Group members, but each member can control this.
Although it would generally be our preference to have completely open
Groups, we feel that there is a need to moderate who is a member of the
group, and then members can guide the appropriate use of postings for
open knowledge-sharing among members of the Group. This should help to
assure the professional quality and relevance of the postings by
members.
We do not control the content of Google Groups, or assume any liability
for such content. Please bring any abuse of the Groups we moderate to
our attention or the member involved.