Arkansas favours bold company leaders who want a central location and comprehensive transportation infrastructure that will allow them to get their products to consumers quickly and efficiently. The state is especially friendly to European businesses looking to expand westward.

For more than half a century, Arkansas has been a leader in manufacturing, and that expertise continues today as the industry becomes increasingly focused on 21st century advanced manufacturing jobs. Arkansas’s cost of doing business is among the lowest in the United States. CNBC recently ranked Arkansas as having the second lowest cost of doing business among all states.

Six European countries were among Arkansas’s top 20 trading partners in 2013 (France, Germany, Belgium, UK, Turkey and Austria). These six countries accounted for 18 per cent of all Arkansas exports. Britain is well-represented in Arkansas with 10 companies with UK parents. These companies have 28 locations around Arkansas and account for about 1800 jobs.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Arkansas has about 31,000 workers employed by foreign-owned firms. More than half of these jobs are in manufacturing.

Arkansas has the tools that help businesses succeed. Just look at our seven home-grown Fortune 500 companies headquartered here: Dillard’s, JB Hunt, Murphy Oil, Murphy USA, Tyson Foods, Windstream and Walmart – the world’s largest company. More than one hundred Fortune 500 parent firms operate facilities in Arkansas.

One of these tools, our central location makes getting your products to worldwide markets easier and more cost-efficient than ever before. Interstate 40 is the major east-west thoroughfare reaching from North Carolina to California that runs through Arkansas. Interstate 55 links eastern Arkansas to St Louis and Chicago to the north and New Orleans to the south, while Interstate 30 connects Arkansas with markets to the south west, including Texas and Mexico.

Arkansas’s railroad infrastructure includes three Class I systems: Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway. Union Pacific operates major yards in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, along with a locomotive repair facility in North Little Rock. In addition, the state has 22 smaller railroads operating over more than 2700 miles of track.

If you prefer other modes of distribution, make note of the two major commercial airports in Central and Northwest Arkansas as well as the commercial passenger service available at six regional airports throughout the state. And, a network of waterways along the Arkansas River contains ports in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Fort Smith, in addition to Mississippi River terminals in Osceola, West Memphis and McGehee.

We will help you feel at home in one of several available sites ranging in size from as little as 10 acres to more than 10,000 acres. In addition, Arkansas has more than 500 available buildings which range from 2400 square feet to 1.4 million square feet.

But more importantly what you will find when you are ready to begin hiring is that the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), working with other state agencies, offers a Career Readiness Certificate to potential employees. This helps make certain the people you interview are qualified and those you hire have the skills, or can be trained in the skills, that you need. This greatly increases your return on your training dollars and efforts.

Arkansas’s incentives are nationally competitive, understandable and easy to use. Arkansas works with new and existing industries and will focus on each business’s specific needs to provide a tailored incentive proposal for the project.

Our project managers at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission are eager to speak with you and take you on a tour of an appropriate available site.

Please visit www.arkansasfavorsthebold.com to start your own Arkansas success story.