Consortium to Help Boost O.C. Business Climate : Group: It aims to persuade companies that are already here to stay as well as attract firms from elsewhere.

Members of the fledgling Orange County Consortium say that their first venture has drawn positive responses from about 300 businesses contemplating either expansions or relocations here.

The consortium, made up of business, city government and community college officials, was formed earlier this month to help dispel the gloomy perception of the county’s economic prospects.

Last week the 50-member group fired its first salvo during Westcon, a regional electronics trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Consortium members staffed an information booth and handed out brochures touting Orange County’s advantages: a diversified economy larger than Hong Kong’s, a well-trained and educated work force and a convenient location for international shipments and trade with Mexico.

The consortium set goals of getting companies that are already here to stay and attracting businesses from elsewhere, said founding member Bob Bunyan, a vice president of sales and marketing for Mission Viejo Co.

Members include Southern California Edison, Mission Viejo Co., the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, Fullerton College, a few small businesses and the cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange, Brea, Yorba Linda, Garden Grove and Mission Viejo.

Membership in the consortium is small because the group is new, Bunyan said. The participants hope to draw others who see positive results and want to join in, he said.

The consortium’s main goal is to save jobs by persuading businesses to stay and expand in Orange County, Bunyan said. The consortium hopes to do so by serving as a clearinghouse for information and available services to businesses thinking of moving operations--and jobs--out of the county.

Several public and private organizations, including regulatory agencies, already try to keep businesses here by helping them with their problems, Bunyan said.

The consortium’s goal is to link businesses with the appropriate services, he said. The group recently installed a toll-free telephone number--(800) 628-8033--for that purpose.

“So often, businesses leave and don’t let anyone know they were having problems,” said Victoria Cleary, assistant project manager with Orange’s Redevelopment Agency. “There might have been services there to help them that they just didn’t know about.”

The group also hopes to market the county to businesses outside of the area by attending trade shows. The information booth last week at Westcon, helped by $7,000 in seed money given by founding members, was the first of several forays planned, Cleary said.

In February, the group will set up an information booth at the National Electronics Packaging and Production Conference in Anaheim to sell the county to other electronics companies, she said.

“One of the reasons we’re working on (business) attraction is to help the businesses already here to flourish because they’re having some of their customers leave,” Cleary said.

At last week’s trade show, consortium members found that they face competition not only from other states trying to lure away Orange County’s businesses, but also from governments closer to home. A group of Northern California counties had set up a booth called “Team California” at the trade show to promote their locales.

“It was a little disconcerting for us because (the booth) didn’t indicate it was a regional group,” Cleary said. “So if someone was not from California, they would be wondering why Orange County was not with ‘Team California.’ ”