Customer Development Centers

Competitive Strengths of Clark County

Available and Affordable Sites

  • The Clark County Business Park is being constructed to attract high-paying, knowledge-based companies and information technology firms.  The business park will include state-of-the-art technology and fiber optics infrastructure.
  • The 313-acre Clark County Industrial Park is located on U.S. Highway 67, five miles south of Arkadelphia.  The site is also located within two miles of Interstate 30 and has approximately 160 acres remaining for development.

Skilled and Educated Workforce

  • Clark County has a total labor force of more than 10,000 people and there is a labor force of more than 91,000 within a 50-mile radius of Arkadelphia.
  • Approximately 57 percent of residents in Arkadelphia and 45 percent of residents in Clark County hold an Associate, Bachelor or Graduate degree or have attended some college classes.
  • Henderson State University (HSU) in Arkadelphia has an enrollment of more than 3,600 students and grants Associate's, Bachelor's and Master's degrees.  HSU offers Bachelor's degrees in more than 50 program areas, some of which may be attractive to companies that operate customer development centers including accounting, business administration, business information systems, finance, human services, management, marketing, and mathematics.  HSU also offers a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
  • Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia is a four-year liberal arts college which has an enrollment of approximately 1,450 students.  OBU offers Bachelor's degrees in more than 60 program areas of study including accounting, business administration, and computer science, which may be attractive to companies that operate customer development centers.
  • Both HSU and OBU could provide a source of qualified workers for customer development centers, including both recent graduates for full-time positions and students who are still enrolled for part-time positions.
  • The Southwest Arkansas Technology Learning Center in Arkadelphia is a workforce training consortium that provides credit and non-credit courses as well as training programs as requested by business and industry in order to create a well trained workforce for the surrounding area.

Telecomunications Infrastructure

  • Companies offering various internet services in Clark County include: AT&T, Alltel, Comcast, CNet, Dimensional Sound and Vision, Earthlink, EZClick, IOCC, LocalNet Corp. and Suddenlink.

Competitive state incentives

  • The state of Arkansas offers a competitive array of incentives that include income tax credits, sales and use tax credits and refunds, payroll rebates and cash grants for new and expanding companies.   

Low Cost of Doing Business

  • CNBC's 2008 "Top States for Doing Business" report ranked Arkansas as the state with the 3rd lowest cost of doing business.  Only Iowa and South Dakota have a lower cost of doing business.
  • According to the 2007 Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business Index, Arkansas has a score of 75.9 and ranked tenth overall.  This means only nine states have a cost of doing business lower than in Arkansas.

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