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Coordinated Efforts in the Southern States Make Them Top States for Doing Business

All regions work together and even the governors’ offices get involved in driving business to the states that are leading the pack.

Q3 2014
As I look over the survey results, a few items remained constant: the Southeast is still viewed as the leader, the Midwest is coming back, and does anyone look at the West?

The survey shows the same results we have become accustomed to seeing for the past five years. This data does not shock me, nor do I expect it to shock any of my fellow site selectors across the country. These are states that not only show well when you bring a project on site, but also do a fantastic job marketing and recruiting. This really makes a difference to our clients. In greater than 50 percent of my meetings with clients, the first question they ask is whether they should move to one of the states on the top-10 list.

So I have to wonder, why is that the case? Is it good marketing? I am going to go out on a limb and say no, it is the coordinated effort of all the branches of state government. I think the marketing departments are effective, but of the states listed as top-10 places to do business, a coordinated economic development team is in front of every project. Additionally, these states get the executive branch involved, and that involvement is tipping the scales.

Today’s economic development landscape has become a team sport. The states that are leading the pack are looking to drive business to the state, and all the regions work together to find the right home for the company looking at the state. There are a lot of location factors that could be equalized with states that are not on this list, but they sometimes miss out because they fail to recognize that economic development is a team sport.

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