Simply put, a BizCosts® Report is the counterpart of a cost of living report. A BizCosts® Report measures the comparative cost of doing business for a specific industry or distinct corporate function in a series of different geographic locations. The focus of a BizCosts® Report may be a specific industry or industry group (plastics, aerospace, biotechnology, motor vehicle parts, e.g.) or a particular corporate function (headquarters, R&D, distribution warehousing, I.T., customer service, e.g.).

Costs included in a BizCosts® Report are termed geographically-variable, that is to say, those operating costs that vary significantly by geography. Depending on the BizCosts® Report, these geographically-variable costs typically include:

 

• Labor Costs (by industry-specific job titles, including benefits)
• Construction Costs (office, manufacturing, distribution, research)
• Lease Costs (industrial, class-A office, class-B office, warehouse, research);
• Utilities (telecommunications, electric power, natural gas)
• Heating and Air Conditioning Costs
• Shipping Costs
• Property Taxes
• Sales Taxes
• Land Costs (industrial, commercial, office, research)
• Financing and Amortization Costs
• Travel Costs (on-site and air travel)
• Other costs that drive the corporate site selection process and dictate industry-wide competitiveness.

 

Distinguishing BizCosts® Reports is the fact that they are grounded in empirical field research conducted in candidate cities and draw from The Boyd Company’s four decades of corporate site selection casework and client cost-positioning. Feedback from Boyd clients in the field and other reliable third-party sources further augment the BizCosts® data bank.

 

Operating costs in the BizCosts® Reports are annualized and scaled to a representative model operation. The factor-by-factor format of the individual cost exhibits easily allows the user to tailor the BizCosts® data to reflect alternate scales of operation, staffing needs, shipping patterns, growth expectations and other occupancy assumptions. When off-shore locations are included, costs are presented in U.S. dollars at prevailing exchange rates.