1. Software Development Center California Scotland Benchmark Report 2016
Source: Financial Times, FDI Benchmark

2. Financial Times Benchmarking Tool – FDI Benchmark
The fDi Benchmark tool is provided by the Financial Times Group (FTG) and specialises in the analysis of all areas relating to foreign direct investment.
Working in partnership with FTG, Scottish Development International (SDI) can help provide access to over 700 Quality and Cost data points - across 600+ global locations and in more than 65 sectors – to help you to easily compare the sites that are relevant to your organisation in the form of detailed benchmark reports.
This can help your organisation to
Streamline the site selection decision  - Save time, capital and team resources by quickly accessing information on locations that your organisation can rely on.
- Shortlist potential location options based on objective criteria.
2. Carry out comprehensive site assessments 
- Compare over 600 locations globally using all main assessment criteria.
- Validate, using strictly independent criteria, your existing and potential investment locations
3. Analyse a location’s trends at country, regional or city level 
- Trend data is available for a selection of data points, providing you with the historical and transitional view of locations
The following benchmark report provides comparative information in terms of Cost and Quality for selected locations. Please note that this provides a high level perspective and we at SDI may be able to provide more detailed and specific information in relation to your project. For more information on how we can help you and your business, let us know more about your project and one of our staff will be in touch with a bespoke benchmark report.
Request a bespoke benchmarking report tailored to your business

3. Sector profile: Software development center
In analysing the competitiveness of locations, fDi Benchmark evaluates the key Quality factors of locations together with the primary Cost inputs of the selected operation.
The Quality model for the 'Software development center' sector profile categorises and weights a total of 92 data points into 23 Tier 2 sub categories, which in turn are categorised into 5 Tier 1 categories.
In evaluating Quality for the 'Software development center ' sector profile, an emphasis is placed on Labour Availability and Quality, and Industry Cluster, which represent 40% and 35% of total Quality respectively. Within, Labour Availability and Quality, the primary Tier 2 sub categories are Experienced industry-specific staff, Non-experienced staff and Skills, attitudes and productivity, while within Labour Availability and Quality, Size of industry and Research and Development Capabilities are the key sub categories.

4. Sector profile: Software development center
Key data points
The table below lists the top 10 Tier 3 data points (by overall weight) in the 'Software development center' sector profile.
These are essentially the most important data points in calculating the overall Quality model scores/results.
Data point (Tier 3)
Tier 2 sub category
Companies in software & IT services
Size of industry
Employment in Computer Activities
Experienced industry-specific staff
Specialization in software and IT services
Industry Specialization
Software and IT services (inward FDI)
Track record
Proportion of employment in Computer Activities
Number of international destinations served from airports
Access to major overseas markets
Unemployment rate
Tightness and competition for labour
Number of students
Non-experienced staff
Student intensity (%)
Tertiary education
Skills, attitudes and productivity

5. Sector profile: Software development center
The cost model for the 'Software development center' sector profile combines the key inputs of labour and
property, based on a facility of 21,528 square feet accommodating 100 employees across 11 job titles.
Job title
Head count
Computer Operator 28
Web Developer 5
Programmer 25
Senior Web Developer 3
Software Development Engineer 14
R&D Team Leader 2
Senior Software Development Engineer 8
Secretary
Technology Engineering Specialist 6
Business Unit Manager 1
Senior Programmer
Utilities / Property
Usage
Office space
Property
21,528 feet squared

6. Matrix - Software development center
The fDi Benchmark Matrix shows the trade-off between Cost and Quality across the 5 selected locations for the 'Software development center' sector profile. The average Cost and Quality score is 100 across all the locations.
Scottish Central Belt ranks 1st in Cost and ranks 3rd in Quality (out of 5 locations) giving it an overall rank of 1st in this study based on the Cost to Quality ratio (Cost 50% / Quality 50%).
Scottish Central Belt performs relatively better in Cost than Quality with total costs of GBP 5.04 m; making it 42% more cost effective than the study average total Cost of GBP 8.75 m. Scottish Central Belt has a Quality score of 96.45; which is 4% below the study average Quality score of 100.

7. Matrix - Software development center
The matrix is based on the Cost model and Quality model for the 'Software development center' sector profile. The Cost model shows the primary cost inputs for the operation
and the Quality model identifies the most important location determinants for the project. The Cost and Quality scores are calculated using real data on all the locations.

8. Matrix - Software development center - Data
The table lists the performance of all 5 locations on Cost score, Quality score and Competitiveness Rating.
Location
Rank
Rating
Quality Rank
Quality Score
Cost Rank
Cost Index
Total Cost (GBP)
Scottish Central Belt
1st
100.00
3rd
96.45
57.62
5,038,645
Los Angeles (CA)
2nd
79.47
101.35
90.23
7,890,726
San Francisco (CA)
76.72
123.98
4th
127.70
11,167,731
San Diego (CA)
75.76
90.65
89.13
7,794,271
San Jose (CA)
5th
60.83
87.53
135.33
11,834,562

9. Attractiveness Index - Software development center
This Index measures the attractiveness of the locations based on the overall performance in both Operating Cost and Quality for the Software development center sector profile.
The index uses the pre-selected Cost to Quality ratio when totalling the overall attractiveness score. A location is more attractive, shown by a higher Attractiveness rating, if it has a high Cost score (which is an inversion of the Cost index) and/or a high Quality score.
Scottish Central Belt Attractiveness
Scottish Central Belt ranks 1st in Cost and ranks 3rd in Quality (out of 5 locations) giving it an Attractiveness rank of 1st (using the Cost to Quality ratio: Cost 50% / Quality 50%). This gives Scottish Central Belt the best Attractiveness rating of 100.
Scottish Central Belt performs relatively better in Cost than Quality with a ratio adjusted Cost score of 79.07; making it 58% above the adjusted average of 50. Scottish Central Belt has a ratio adjusted Quality score of 48.23; which is 4% below the adjusted average of 50.

10. Attractiveness Index - Chart
The ratios set for this report are Cost: 50% importance and Quality: 50% importance.

11. Attractiveness Index - Data
The ratios set for this report are Cost: 50% importance and Quality: 50% importance.
Location
Rank
Rating
Quality rank
Quality score
Cost rank
Cost score
Total cost (GBP)
Scottish Central Belt
1st
100.00
3rd
96.45
79.07
5,038,645
Los Angeles (CA)
2nd
79.47
101.35
50.49
7,890,726
San Francisco (CA)
76.72
123.98
4th
35.67
11,167,731
San Diego (CA)
75.76
90.65
51.11
7,794,271
San Jose (CA)
5th
60.83
87.53
33.66
11,834,562