Study Shows Atlanta Kills Off Start-Up Companies

Atlanta is poised to become the nation’s poster child for how to kill off a burgeoning industry. A new study by professors at Georgia Tech reveals that the city’s reputation as a high technology center masks a decade of erosion. Though it leads the U.S. in the physical resources that attract and sustain high-tech industry, Atlanta companies haven’t meshed within the local economy.
The result has been a steady migration of companies to other states and an industry profile described by the study as “at best, stagnant.” The findings offer a wake-up call to Atlanta and a roadmap for other regions looking to grow high-tech industry.

Study findings show that 40 percent of Atlanta’s high-tech start-up companies leave for other states within three years. California, New York, New Jersey and Florida are common destinations for Georgia-born IT companies. That, combined with a persistent decline in large IT companies, accounts for the industry malaise.

“Instead of building great high-tech companies, Atlanta has become a feeder system for great high-tech companies in other states,” says study author Dan Breznitz, assistant professor in the Schools of International Affairs and Public Policy within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech.

Breznitz, and co-author Mollie Taylor of the Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, set out to settle the debate over what induces sustained regional entrepreneurial growth in the high-tech industry - physical resources or business social structure. They focused their research on the Atlanta metropolitan area because it leads the U.S. in the physical factors necessary for developing technological-entrepreneurial clusters: top research universities, a large educated labor pool, a wealth of new technologies and entrepreneurs, a vibrant creative class and generous venture capital financing. Atlanta has also been perceived as having the social business structure needed to induce growth. The study revealed otherwise.

“The metro area excels at incubating high-tech businesses, but it lacks the cohesive business social structure needed to sustain them, so many of the most promising young companies leave the city,” says Breznitz. “Atlanta high-tech companies don’t interlock with each other, and the large companies that control industry in Georgia don’t interlock with the high-tech industry,” says Breznitz, highlighting a complaint that he and Taylor heard consistently from the area’s high-tech workforce.

Analysis of Atlanta’s most promising new companies and the city’s top 50 technology firms revealed little contact either between IT executives with those of Fortune 500 or with other technology companies. CEOs, attorneys and managers in Atlanta IT companies don’t sit on each other’s boards and don’t communicate. The problem isn’t unique to the city’s IT industry, but there are far fewer interlocks within the IT community than in other industries that are successful in the region.

The study identifies the need for policies and institutions that stimulate information sharing, collective learning, access to resources and business community building. It also identifies venture capital industry with true local focus (which Atlanta lacks) as crucial to embedding a company locally. In conclusion, business social variables are crucial for long-term entrepreneurial-technological economic growth, and unless Atlanta’s high-tech industry develops multi-dimensional locally centered social networks, it will continue to stagnate.

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Coca-Cola to Unveil New Bottle at Turner Field

(BUSINESS WIRE)--There’s a giant new state-of-the-art Coca-Cola bottle stepping up to the plate, and it’s sure to be a hit with Braves fans. The sparkling new 49-foot-tall Coca-Cola Contour bottle will be unveiled at Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves, on July 16th.

The new 21st century rendition of the iconic Coca-Cola Contour bottle replaces the original Coca-Cola Sky Field bottle, which stood high above left field for the past 12 years. With a high-resolution, programmable screen serving as the bottle’s famous red label and lights that can produce millions of different colors, the new bottle will offer a high-tech way to celebrate a Braves’ home run while carrying on the traditional fireworks celebration for which the original bottle was known.

“Enjoying an ice-cold Coca-Cola at a Braves game is the essence of summer in Atlanta, and we think the new Coca-Cola bottle really captures the specialness of that experience,” said Katie Bayne, chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola North America. “The bottle is designed to be entertaining for the fans as well, and we think it will add a new sense of excitement to the experience of being at Turner Field for a game.”

The outside of the bottle is made of a polycarbonate high-impact material and traced in 3,000 tri-colored LED's (Light-Emitting Diodes), each capable of producing over 16 million different colors. The new bottle will be officially unveiled by Coca-Cola and Braves executives including Hank Aaron at a special ceremony at home plate before the start of the Braves July 16th game against the New York Mets at Turner Field. During that game, Coca-Cola and the Braves will distribute genuine pieces of memorabilia from the original Coca-Cola Sky Field bottle to a number of lucky Braves fans. The bottle was fabricated by Freeman Company of Dallas, Texas.

The festivities will continue throughout the weekend, with Coca-Cola Recycling Nights on July 17th and 18th. The Coca-Cola Recycling Education Vehicle (REV) will be on site, featuring recycling trivia games where fans can win prizes, including a Braves Recycling Team t-shirt made from recycled PET. In addition, a concert by the All American Rejects after the Braves game will take place on July 18th.

“The iconic Coca-Cola bottle has been a part of Turner Field since we opened our doors, and the new bottle is an entertaining reminder to Braves fans that America’s favorite pastime and ice-cold Coca-Cola help make summer time special,” said Derek Schiller, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, Atlanta Braves.

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