Companies from 16 countries now manufacture in the region. Tupelo has even attracted one U.S. factory back from Mexico. And other Tupelo companies compete successfully against imports, making everything from crepe paper to couches. But other towns in several states can offer the same deal. But much of America engages in that kind of smokestack chasing.
Tupelo has a low cost of living and cheap, nonunion labor.
So does South Carolina. So does South America. What Tupelo offers that's speCIAl is cheap labor that is also skilled, trainable and loyal. Rather than throw money at the biggest factories that are shopping themselves to the highest bidder, Tupelo's industrial-development effort seeks smaller employers across a diverse range of industries. Tupelo was started on the road to success by George McLean, an eccentric teacher turned millionaire who bought the town's newspaper in the early 1930s, then used it to push what he called soCIAl interaction.