If you haven’t noticed already, the January issue of Oregon Business is a bit of a different animal to the rest of our monthly magazines.
It is our Power Book issue, containing a compilation of more than a dozen lists of businesses representing sectors important to Oregon’s economy.
As the research editor, it is my job to put these lists together. It is a daunting task as it involves surveying hundreds of companies repeatedly for information that goes into the rankings.
After the Power Book is published, we often receive calls from businesses enquiring why they are not on a list. It is important to note that to produce the majority of lists, I rely on companies providing information that is not publicly available. If a business does not respond to my requests for information, they are not included in the rankings.
We do a lot of outreach to different sectors to gather information, but often company representatives do not respond or are not in our database. If you are left off a list, please let me know so that I can include you next time.
By nature, the lists are not definitive because of their reliance on information that companies often prefer not to disclose. But, despite this, the Power Book provides an important snapshot of the overall state of Oregon’s business climate.
This year we changed the look of the lists to make them more readable. Our art director, Wes Boyd, did a great job of restyling the Power Book to streamline the rankings and make them look more aesthetically pleasing.
In 2017 we will also introduce new powerlists to stay up-to-date with the changing face of Oregon’s economy. We plan to include rankings of marijuana businesses, breweries and food processors, among others.
We hope you enjoy the rankings. They are a work in progress, and we always welcome feedback on how they can be improved. Please let us know your thoughts.
