DevelopOhio

The State of Ohio, the eighth-largest exporting state in the United States, announced it will immediately cancel three of its 11 contracts with its network of international trade offices and evaluate the remaining contracts for their return on investment.  The state will end business relationships with South Africa, Chile and Brazil by October 31, largely because those foreign trade offices only focused on export promotions with Ohio.

Although the majority of the contracts with the remaining offices (six of the eight) are set to expire June 30, 2012 or later, the state has given each of the eight offices a 60-day notice that the state will determine if business relationships will be discontinued or revamped.

The move comes as Gov. John Kasich's JobsOhio, the newly-created private non-profit agency created to take over the State’s economic development efforts, begins its transition from the Ohio Department of Development.  The announcement resonated throughout the economic development community as Ohio has consistently ranked as one of the top ten exporting states in the nation since 2001. 

Ohio exported $41.4 billion in 2010, a 21.5 percent increase from 2009.  Moreover, 3,363 foreign-based corporations from 41 countries are operating in the state of Ohio employing more than 194,000 individuals.  Over the past month, the Department of Development's global markets division has let go of several key staff members and reduced staffing as some operations move over to JobsOhio. 

At a JobsOhio Network meeting in Cincinnati on August 25, Christiane Schmenk, Director of the Ohio Department of Development, stated that a current evaluation of Ohio's global trade office network was being conducted for efficiencies and to assess the credentials of the contracted entities and associated staff in those countries.
 
Thus, it seems possible that under JobsOhio, some of the global trade offices may reopen with new (or old) entities and contacts assisting with the export and procurement of foreign direct investment with the state.

The remaining foreign trade offices that may be affected within the next year include Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Israel, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and India.

Stay tuned...