Michigan From Motor Town to Hi Tech State
Luckily, Michigan is not all about the motor industry. The information, computer and biotechnology portions of the economy have found a solid home in Detroit area and Grand Rapids, as well as other Michigan locations. Michigan’s agricultural economy is also significant in the production of cherries, apples, grapes, wine, peaches and other food products. Michigan still has the headquarters of General Motors, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, as well as Kellogg’s and Post Cereals, and significant operations of Compuware and IBM and Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant. Some Fortune 500 companies headquartered around Detroit include General Motors, auto parts maker American Axle & Manufacturing, and DTE Energy. Detroit is also home to operations of Compuware, and the leading accounting firms, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte & Touche.
The Metro Detroit area offers four major casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, Motor City, and Casino Windsor, in Windsor, Canada across the border; moreover, Detroit is the largest city to offer casino gambling. Detroit is the largest U.S. city to have legalized casino gambling.
Michigan has a large tourist industry, with destinations such as Traverse City, Mackinac Island, the Upper Peninsula around its abundant forests and wildlife. Outside of Detroit Metropolitan area and Grand Rapids Metropolitan area, the state is quite rural with large expanses of forests. Michigan has over one million licensed hunters each year, and a significant economy around forest products. Muskegon and Skaugatuck are well-known beach towns on Lake Michigan, known for their beaches, sand dunes and golf courses. Ludington is known for its Big Sable Point Lighthouse, a place to charter a fishing boat, and its miles of hiking and biking trails.
In Grand Rapids, the convention business has seen an increase following the construction of the DeVos Place Convention Center. Grand Rapids is also home to the Mercantile Bank of Michigan.
Kalamazoo is located in the Southwestern part of Michigan and has four popular local breweries and brewpubs producing a variety of beer styles. The A.M. Todd Company, one of the lead producers of peppermint oil and other flavorings, is headquartered in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo was home to The Upjohn Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer which, after a series of mergers beginning in 1995, is now a part of Pfizer. Many of Upjohn's complexes remain, in downtown Kalamazoo and neighboring Portage. The city is also home to the Stryker Corporation, a surgical and medical devices manufacturer. Kalamazoo also has the distinctive flavor of a college town. It is the home of four campuses of Western Michigan University, a public university.
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Howard Giske writes about how to get your
Michigan Incorporation
and other business info at http://www.incparadise.com













