Companies are leaving New York City to cut costs and there’s someone directing the traffic.

The Boyd Company, a corporate relocation firm founded by John Boyd, tells companies where they should move as they abandon the city’s high costs and rising rents.

On New York’s side is a strong brand, John Boyd, founder of The Boyd Company, said. The image of a location and the image, or desired image, of a company should mesh. New York City is a very attractive brand for companies like Cadillac, which moved from Detroit to Manhattan to be branded as a younger, hipper company.

Brand is just one factor Boyd considers. Boyd develops a list of candidate cities by analyzing operating costs, incentives and labor market conditions. The firm has a proprietary data bank filled with cost and legislative data for different locations around the country.

But Boyd doesn’t only meet with companies, he also routinely meets with governors, mayors and members of Congress who want to show off their locales for potential Boyd Clients. Access to both government and corporations allows relocation specialists to play both sides of the fence, according to political economist Kenneth Thomas.

“Location consultants, I think in general, are a pernicious force as far as their effect on public policy goes,” Thomas said.

Boyd would have the most impact on public policy in high tax markets like Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York City – where most of his clients come from – and lower cost markets where he advises clients to move.

Boyd would have the most impact on public policy in high tax markets like Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York City – where most of his clients come from – and lower cost markets where he advises clients to move.

New Jersey is a key location for companies moving out of New York City because businesses that move beyond a 60-miles radius of their original location risk losing key employees. They may also need to pay costly severance packages if they move too far from their original location.

Former Boyd client JPMorgan Chase, a major New York City company, has agreed to move 3,150 employees from its city offices across the Hudson to Jersey City to cut costs.

New Jersey also has a large incentives program – another thing Boyd Co. looks at. Corporate relocation can be very expensive, so companies covet incentives, Boyd said.

The firm analyzes competing incentives packages for its clients. Most incentives come with provisions if a company fails to meet certain hiring and investment pledges. Dell, which Boyd scouted for, had to return $40 million to North Carolina for a plant it built, but never opened.

Many incentive packages offered by states are, in part, shaped by Boyd. His company shares cost reports and business climate analyses with legislators to inform mayors and governors what his clients want out of a move.

That’s what can make corporate relocation firms dangerous to the economy, according to Elizabeth Bird, project coordinator at Good Jobs New York. They game the system by capitalizing on governor’s and mayor’s desires to create and retain jobs.

“They capitalize on that insecurity at the high levels and that’s what their whole marketing strategy is based on, unfortunately,” Bird said. “It’s gaming the system.”

Many corporate relocation firms get a percentage of any subsidy received by their client, a factor that pushes them to acquire large incentive packages for their clients, but Boyd works on a flat fee basis.

Not all clients Boyd works with make a move. Some companies hire Boyd to look for new locations so that government in their current location will offer them retention incentives. Companies can also wrangle more favorable leases at their current locations by hiring a company like Boyd and making it look like they are going to move.

Boyd will also on occasion recommend a company stays in its current location, but those instances are rare. Most companies that come to Boyd are already committed to a move by the time they come to him.

“They all know the challenges and drawbacks of their current locations,” Boyd said. “In that regard, our clients don’t need to borrow our watch to tell them what time it is.”