Wells Fargo is making their takeover a gradual one to ease the pain.
But it’s all gone except the name, and it is fading away.
It has happened before.
Cannon towels. Ivey’s. Eckerd Drugs. Carolina Freight. Piedmont Airlines. McLean Trucking. Cone Mills. They are just a few of other great names have disappeared from our state’s landscape.
It gives me a headache to think about it, which reminds me of other North Carolina names like B-C and Stanback that once represented prospering local businesses whose successes reached far beyond our state’s borders.
There are other great North Carolina business names that still hang around even though the ownership and control has passed on to others, like Pepsi and Reynolds.
We are proud of North Carolina businesses whose products and success become recognized across the country.
They provided jobs for North Carolinians. So, as we lose those kinds of businesses, we are more open to the efforts of the governor and the rest of state government to persuade businesses to relocate or establish branches, manufacturing plants, distribution facilities, and film studios in North Carolina.
We need the jobs and it is a big deal when the state loses any business.
But when we lose a big-time, homegrown, home-owned business, it is a really big deal. Those North Carolina old “homegrown” businesses provided much more than jobs. Their founders and owners usually grew up or lived here. Often, they generously shared their wealth and their talents to make their communities and our state better. They provided leadership for community and statewide improvements in health, education, and infrastructure. They supported the kind of public investments that gave the state the building blocks to build a better economy and expanded opportunities for people to succeed.
Thank goodness, North Carolina still has a host of homegrown businesses that give the state and its citizens good employment opportunities and a lot more. Belk, Duke Energy, Carolina Power, Lowe’s, Family Dollar, First Citizens, BB&T, VF, Harris Teeter, Lance, and others like them have been around a long time. They are rich treasures that are worth fighting hard to keep here.
More recently companies like SAS and Quintiles have developed successful multinational businesses by building on a platform of talent, expertise, and intellectual resources gathered in the state’s universities.
Having companies like SAS and Quintiles, the wealth they have created, the talents of their employees, and their support for the betterment of the state are assets that make other states envious.
Recently, Vice President Joe Biden’s visit called attention to one of these companies, Durham-based Cree, a manufacturer of energy efficient LED lighting products. Biden came to brag about the $39 million in tax credits that Cree was getting under the federal stimulus legislation. The company has hired 375 workers during the last year.
Biden praised Cree’s contribution to clean energy by developing a “more environmentally efficient way to light our world”
Cree’s original technology grew out of research at North Carolina State University. According to its CEO, Charles Swoboda, that relationship and the intellectual and social assets that have developed as the company grew are major reasons the company stays in North Carolina.
What is the point of all this praise for homegrown companies?
It is not that we should stop trying to persuade good businesses to open up operations here. We should go after those filmmakers and anybody else who will bring needed jobs.
But we ought to spend even more effort to promote the formation and expansion of businesses that grow up here and want to keep on calling North Carolina home.
UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch returns to the air this week with a special conversation with Andrew Young author of “The Politician” on Friday, April 2, at 9:30 PM.
Its regular programming on Sundays at 5 PM resumes this week (April 4) with Duke Professor Dan Ariely, author of “Predictably Irrational.”
Post a Comment
