I, and perhaps others ’round these parts, tend to be so obsessed with politics that we don’t always get around to reading the sections of the newspaper that don’t cover Tom Reilly’s latest speech in Sturbridge, or Deval Patrick’s latest town meeting in Taunton. But the fact is that, at least sometimes, the news that tells us the most about the future of our state appears elsewhere – in particular, in the business pages. The business section of today’s Globe struck me as particularly interesting, and reasonably hopeful.
- A just-announced $10.6 billion merger between two scientific equipment firms will create Thermo Fisher, the world’s largest supplier of laboratory instruments, right here in Massachusetts – Waltham, to be specific. The merged company will have 30,000 employees. At present, Thermo (one of the merger partners) accounts for 178 jobs in Waltham and 1,100 statewide, and Thermo’s senior VP anticipates “stability of jobs in the short term and certainly growth of jobs in the mid- to long-term.” Sounds like a win all around – the investors apparently think so.
- Speaking of Waltham, that city seems to be doing a bunch of things right. It’s got two major educational institutions (Brandeis and Bentley), some terrific restaurants, some of the best movie houses and theatre companies in the area, and a lot of the hottest biotech companies (including the aforementioned Thermo Fisher). And, despite all of that success, it’s a relatively affordable Boston area suburb (though I wouldn’t say it’s cheap – “relatively” is the key word). One thing it seems to be doing right is not making it impossibly hard for businesses to get themselves up and running:
Another advantage for the city, according to [Mass. Biotech spokesman] Mulloney: its willingness to accommodate special permitting needs, such as more access to water supplies and drainage. “There’s a certain expertise that comes with experience in permitting for biotech companies. And Waltham is considered one of the cities where folks know what they’re doing,” he said.
Huh – a city government where “folks know what they’re doing.” No wonder businesses are flocking there! I’d suggest that the candidates for Governor and Lt. Gov. might head over to Waltham sooner rather than later and get their brains around how, exactly, Waltham has managed to turn itself into a pretty good story.
- The “white coat economy” is the now. Nanotech – super-small devices – is the future. And the Nanotech 2006 conference is happening in Boston through Thursday. Seems like nanotech is another area that could and should mean big business for Massachusetts. The more good reasons we give those clever folks graduating from our numerous educational institutions to stick around, the better off our state will be.
- On the “less than good news” side of the ledger, there’s also a story on the declining circulation numbers of the Globe and the Herald – about 9% on weekdays for both papers in the latest six-month reporting period, well ahead of the 2.5% average nationwide decline. And in related news, the Herald is selling off its community newspapers to an out-of-state entity – though Pat Purcell, the Herald’s publisher, insists that the Herald itself isn’t going anywhere. Analysts routinely blame the rise of the internet as a news source for a substantial part of the newspapers’ declining numbers. (Sorry guys!) In any event, we’re very fortunate to live in one of the few remaining two-newspaper towns, and I hope Purcell is right.
I went to Brandeis, then lived in Waltham for three more years (two of those near Moody Street, not Brandeis), and then, after some time in Somerville, lived in Waltham again for two years, this time in the leafy residential northern part of town. I also worked at a tech company in Waltham for my first job out of college, up in the 128 belt. And I sure encountered a lot of strange local folk in the years I rode the #70 bus regularly 🙂
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Waltham has been a great place for business for centuries. Did you know it’s the birthplace of the American industrial revolution? Francis Cabot Lowell built his first mills there on the Charles, right in the center of town (they’re behind today’s commuter rail stop). Those mill buildings now house the Charles River Museum of Industry and the Waltham Mills Artists Association (which hosts a great open studios weekend every fall!). The Waltham Watch Factory further down the Charles was one of the main sources of ball bearings in World War II, and I believe they still fix Waltham Watches though they no longer make them.
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I think what makes Waltham work is how diverse it is. It’s old, large, and has within its confines:
The only other city or town I know in Massachusetts that’s more diverse than Waltham is Brookline, and it sure is a great place to live and has given us many political and business and scientific leaders. And also has the best theater 🙂
[begin huffy voice]
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Did you know it’s the birthplace of the American industrial revolution? Francis Cabot Lowell built his first mills there on the Charles…
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Yeah, but they didn’t have the foresight to name their city after him, now, did they? Huh? Did they?
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Those mill buildings now house the Charles River Museum of Industry and the Waltham Mills Artists Association (which hosts a great open studios weekend every fall!)
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Well we have open studios once a month at our Western Avenue Studios and it’ll be bigger when they finish the second and third floors and we’re gonna have a huge gallery space and maybe a woodworking shop and a foundry and we’ll be better so NYAH!
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[/end huffy voice]
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OK done now being all defensive about Lowell. 😀 Hehe.
Concerning the Globe’s business pages …
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(1) Sorry to burst the good news bubble, but the Thermo/Fisher merger means, at best, little to the MA economy, and at worst spells moderate trouble ahead. What makes you think Thermo/Fisher won’t seek to build a major corporate campus in NH and drain some of Thermo’s existing companies to low-tax, employer friendly NH? I’m in the commercial real estate business, and that’s what I’ll be pitching the company.
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(2) Walthamâs a nice town. Perhaps the rest of MA can follow their example and adopt Walthamâs approach of ânot making it impossibly hard for businesses to get themselves up and running.â (Not likely.) Raytheon moved their HQ out there because of Walthamâs more sensible attitude towards property development. They wanted the tax revenues, too. Good for them.
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(3) Moss-Kanter’s piece on the bio-med industry in MA is interesting, but not earthshaking good news; more like a neutral status report. In the big scheme of things, it’s a super-high-wage, knowledge-based industry which can be accommodated in an handful of buildings, and its labor demands satisfied by an influx of a few hundred scientists, doctors and medical researchers. I donât know the total net increase in this sectorâs âwhite coats,â but one hopes itâs equal to the loss of back-room and administrative jobs in the financial services industry which are leaving MA at a good clip. Furthermore, if this stateâs so on top of the pharma-research game, why did Pfizer relocate itâs 8,600-person, world-wide research to Groton, CT?
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(4) Re: the Globeâs declining readership and circulation, Iâm shocked â shocked! â that fewer people are reading newsprint. Just kidding. Iâm actually surprised the Globe didnât hemorrhage even more, considering its general lack of news content. And perhaps their free web site is cannibalizing the print edition. Or maybe the web will eventually eat printâs lunch.
I was pleasantly surprised to read this nice change of pace post today. Thanks!