New Tracking System Finds California Business Departures at New High

April 15, 2011 - PRLog -- Irvine, Calif.,  – California is experiencing the fastest rate of companies moving out of state since a tracking system designed to identify such events was created two years ago by a specialist in business relocations.

So far this year, the state has undergone 70 business disinvestment events with losses averaging 4.8 per week, greater than the 3.9 per-week average for all of last year. All 70 companies are named on a list with links provided to information that support their listing.

“The numbers understate our losses because we only learn about one out of every five moves,” said Joseph Vranich, a business relocation coach-consultant who created the system based on public domain information and a network of sources who are industry professionals. “Those of us who want to revive California’s economy can point to this trend as a reason for the state to become friendlier to business.”

“Disinvestments” are defined as companies moving an entire facility to another state or foreign nation or, in carefully selected instances, companies making major capital investments in plants elsewhere that in the past would have been built in California.

Excluded from the listing are out-of-state expansions that have nothing to do with California’s difficulties but are driven by understandable growth, marketing or logistical factors.

While companies relocate because of costs, taxes and regulations, the number of employees who want to move for lifestyle reasons seems to be increasing.

“We now have a phenomena where employees are encouraging their employers to move out of state,” Vranich said. “People give reasons like ‘I want to put my kids in a better school system’ and ‘I can afford to buy a nice house in other states that I can’t afford here.’ The most humorous reason I’ve heard was ‘My company is fabulous. I will move wherever it decides to go. If it’s someplace that’s cold, I’ll get used to it!’”

Published along with the latest tally is an updated version of “The Top Ten Reasons Why California Companies Are Calling the Moving Companies.” The list includes a new reason – higher utility costs caused by an energy law passed this week that will affect all types of businesses.

“California’s commercial and industrial users, who already pay the highest electricity rates in the nation, will see costs rise by another 19 percent in many places and by a whopping 74 percent in Los Angeles,” Vranich said. “We are creating overwhelming obstacles for our companies as they try to meet competition based in other states and in foreign nations.”

“There is little evidence that California’s business environment will improve considering that the legislature recently voted down litigation reform, taxes may increase, and a host of new regulations will increase costs for literally every type of business,” Vranich concluded.

For a listing of the 70 companies and events, see: http://tinyurl.com/3b7lke6
Examples of companies and events left off the list are here: http://tinyurl.com/3mx7ujy
See the “The Top Ten Reasons Why California Companies Are Calling the Moving Companies” here: http://tinyurl.com/3sy5265

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