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How business can get the most from development By Shaun Thomas
T
he economic boom associated with potential liquefied natural gas development in the Northwest could be the biggest opportunity businesses in the region have ever seen before or will ever see again. While no final investment decision has been made and no shovels are in the ground, LNG-Buy BC Advocate Gordon Wilson said companies who wait for that to happen may be waiting too long. If businesses in the Northwest, and indeed the province, are to benefit than Wilson said there are some things owners and managers need to know.
Industry holds the cards The first thing business leaders need to be aware of, said Wilson, is that they need to tailor their product or service to the needs of terminal developers and not the other way around. “I think it is important for us to understand at this point, because they have large supply chains, that those supply chains are going to be activated. We have to figure out how we are going to engage and at what level
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“The strength of B.C. business in this industry is going to be our capacity to work together.” - Gordon Wilson we can engage with those supply chains ... we have to understand that their supply chains aren’t going to be tailored to meet our needs. We need to get prepared and positioned to take advantage of those chains when they arrive,” he said. “We cannot, as businesses, say, ‘OK, if you are coming into town here are our conditions and they are the conditions that you have to meet’ ... they are not going to be blackmailed by saying you’re not going to come here if you’re not going to put the money up because, frankly, there are a lot of other places in the world they can go.” See Page 7