Houston's economic diversity Thread .. (Dallas, Austin: vs, manufacturing, relocation)

[atmcclel]

I work for PROS! Great to see someone mention it lol.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by atmcclel

I work for PROS! Great to see someone mention it lol.

Most definitely! You guys are one of the leading tech companies in the city.

[Jack Lance]

Diversity sometimes comes in tiny bites and familiar places.


A Houston health care startup has begun testing people in their homes for COVID-19 after becoming one of the first companies to receive federal approval for distributing at-home test kits.


The company, imaware, has partnered with the Houston Health Department as part of an effort to increase the number of people getting tested for the disease spread by the novel coronavius. The at-home tests — at least for now — are allocated for those who are “symptomatic, exposed and high-risk individuals who are unable to leave their own home,” the Houston Health Department said.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer


Unlike other at-home test kits that are designed to be self-administered, the swabs used to take specimens are administered by medical assistants and nurses to comply with federal regulations barring a patient from collecting their own samples.


https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...photo-19284952

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Here's an interesting read. Houston-based Stage Stores which is a dumb, but has been financially stable enough due to years of monopolizing department stores in small towns, recently bought Gordmans out of bankruptcy. Unlike Stage Stores, Gordmans is actually an attractive store but got in financial trouble when expanding too quickly and in too large of markets (sort of like Krispy Kreme). Stage didn't buy them much to acquire their stores, but instead to secure its naming rights and rebrand its entire nation-wide 800 locations to Gordmans.

A few Texas stores here have done this already, and they proved to be a success, the revenue skyrocketing. Because no one wants to go to Stage when theres any other option available.

Of course, COVID-19 will slow everything down, and retailers are fighting to survive right now, but assuming things get running sooner than later, this is definitely much more to be proud of than Stage/Bealls and all that mess.

https://htownconnection.com/index.ph...e-new-tj-maxx/

[ParaguaneroSwag]

A few weeks ago, Rice University announced it's engineers designed and created a low cost ventilator (as hospitals were and still are going through a ventilator shortage) nicknamed the Apollo BVM. Now, they reached a licensing deal to mass produce the ventilator with Houston based Stewart & Stevenson, making two storied institutions combine to combat the ventilator shortage. Rice's engineering combined with S&S's manufacturing to be able to get this done. This isn't only big for Houston, this is big for the world, since the ventilator shortage has been major. Thousands of clients both domestically and internationally have ordered.

But this is even more relevant to the thread by showing how O&G companies can diversify. While S&S has completely diversified, their biggest customers were O&G companies a few decades ago. Since, they have diversified to car parts, rail, compressors, etc. Hospital equipment is their newest venture.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/...ce-university/

https://htownconnection.com/index.ph...acturing-deal/

[As Above So Below...]

This was an interesting watch:

https://www.click2houston.com/money/...conomists-say/

Unfortunately I think were at a point where the only way to significantly diversify the economy is to shed large numbers of O&G jobs. It looks like that will happen involuntarily due to this crisis. The question becomes what does O&G look like in the future? I dont think there is a chance it resemble anything it has in the past. How many of the jobs in O&G in Houston are needed when this recovers? Is it a matter just chopping 10% of the industry here or will it go much further than that?

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

This was an interesting watch:

https://www.click2houston.com/money/...conomists-say/

Unfortunately I think were at a point where the only way to significantly diversify the economy is to shed large numbers of O&G jobs. It looks like that will happen involuntarily due to this crisis. The question becomes what does O&G look like in the future? I dont think there is a chance it resemble anything it has in the past. How many of the jobs in O&G in Houston are needed when this recovers? Is it a matter just chopping 10% of the industry here or will it go much further than that?

What you’re saying is no doubt part of the process but to say it’s the only thing that’s diversifying the economy is false. The non O&G economic activity going on here is not even comparable to what it was decades ago. As noted, the only O&G companies that will leave are the smaller ones which will result in the giants benefitting.

The smartest thing that oil giants can do is diversify. Just because a company originated in O&G doesn’t mean that’s their only business. Heck, some past O&G companies have completely diversified and don’t even have a presence in the industry anymore. Howard Hughes is an example of these, they’re 100% real estate now and their HQ moves back this year. Shell for example is constantly investing in new businesses. They have invested in many non O&G industries which have sprung up many other companies such as BMC software which branched apart. A lot of manufacturing companies that were once mainly O&G manufacturers have started manufacturing for other fields.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Well would you look at that. Looks like Houston is close to gaining another Fortune 500 company. And for the sakes of this thread, it’s non O&G related. Forbes recently released 2019’s list where cellular tower owner Crown Castle is climbing the list, now ranked 513, they ranked 579 in 2018. Expected to continue the grow.

[Jack Lance]

Houston based electric broker makes retail electric shopping easier and more economical, saving consumers money and increasing Houston's economic diversity.

Trent Crow saw a business opportunity when he was shopping for electricity three years ago for his family.
He was working for JP Morgan trading wholesale power and gas derivatives, so he was used to complex mathematical problems. But buying electricity for his home, a process he figured would be easy and fast, turned out to be confusing and complex. He read the fine print, made spread sheets and was surprised the plans that appeared to be the cheapest were really some of the most expensive.

He figured if he was having problems it was probably much worse for average shoppers who might not understand the marketing tricks that make some plans look too good to be true.

Photo: Michael Wyke / Contributor

To address that, Crow launched Real Simple Energy two years ago as a shopping website that for $9 a month will find the best plan for customers and manage their electricity buying, becoming a pioneer in what has become a niche industry to help Texans in the deregulated market try to get a decent deal on power. Business has grown, allowing Crow to devote full attention to the venture and hire seven employees, including a computer engineer, data scientist and customer service representatives.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/texas-inc/article/Real-Simple-Energy-CEO-Trent-Crow-says-he-has-a-15237572.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=HC_DailyHeadlines&utm_term=news&utm _content=headlines#photo-19358554

[JL]

Tesla planning to move HQ of out of California and considering Texas. Elon should consider Houston.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020...-restrictions/