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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

2023 Top States Commentary: The Importance of Speed to Market

A balanced regulatory, permitting, and cost structure allows companies to get up and running and get their products to market quickly.

Q3 2023
While lower than it was just a year ago, remaining inflation pressures — combined with strong consumer demand and growth brought on by onshoring — are making speed to market one of the most important site selection criteria. Speed to market also impacts the two other important site selection criteria — site availability and workforce availability.

Speed to market is often measured by the interrelationship among three of the criteria used in this year’s rankings — favorable regulatory environment, speed of permitting, and the overall cost of doing business. And in reviewing those rankings, nine of top 10 states are in each of those three categories.

A common misconception about speed to market is that it implies a lax regulatory climate that exposes the public and workers to unsafe conditions. A review of the top states, however, does not bear this out. Instead, what most of these states have done is developed a regulatory, permitting, and cost structure that fairly balances the needs of business and mandates to protect the public.

This has often been accomplished through several paths. Some states have created fast-track permitting processes that designate a “strike force” to quickly review and address permitting issues for new projects. Others have brought on board third-party resources that can be quickly deployed on an as-needed basis. There are even places where companies can pay extra fees to be put on the top of the stack for review.

The great benefit of implementing these programs at the state and local levels is that they are often achieved at very little cost. Instead, they are about prioritizing public resources to facilitate efforts that will enhance economic growth and competitiveness. And, since time is money, the value of these activities can sometimes outweigh the benefits achieved through incentives.

TOP STATES FOR DOING BUSINESS 2023

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. South Carolina
  3. 3. Tennessee
  4. 4. North Carolina
  5. 5. Ohio
  6. 6. Alabama
  7. 7. Indiana
  8. 8. Texas
  9. 9. Virginia
  10. 10. Mississippi
  11. 11. Louisiana
  12. 12. Arizona
  13. 13. Michigan
  14. 14. Kentucky
  15. 15. Florida
  16. 16. New York
  17. 17. Iowa
  18. 18. Arkansas
  19. 19. Kansas
  20. 20. Illinois

Individual Categories

Workforce Training Programs

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Virginia
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4. Louisiana
  5. 5. Alabama
  6. 6. Tennessee
  7. 7. North Carolina
  8. 8. Indiana
  9. 9. Arizona
  10. 10. Ohio

Overall Cost of Doing Business

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Alabama
  3. 3. Tennessee
  4. 4. South Carolina
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Mississippi
  8. 8. Ohio
  9. 9. Texas
  10. 10. Louisiana

Business Incentives Programs

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. South Carolina
  3. 3. Ohio
  4. 4. Indiana
  5. 5. Tennessee
  6. 6. North Carolina
  7. 7. Alabama
  8. 8. Virginia
  9. 9. Arkansas
  10. 10. Mississippi

Access to Capital & Funding

  1. 1. California
  2. 2. New York
  4. 3. Texas
  5. 4. Massachusetts
  6. 5. Georgia
  7. 6. Virginia
  8. 7. Illinois
  9. 8. North Carolina
  10. 9.Arizona
  11. 10. Maryland

Competitive Labor Environment

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. North Carolina
  3. 3. Ohio
  4. 4. South Carolina
  5. 5. Indiana
  6. 6. Texas
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8. Tennessee
  9. 9. Arizona
  10. 10. Alabama

Energy Availability & Costs

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Tennessee
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4. Alabama
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Texas
  7. 7.
  8. 8. Oregon
  9. 9. Indiana
  10. 10. Iowa

Water Availability

  1. 1. Ohio
  2. 2. Michigan
  3. 3. Tennessee
  4. 4. South Carolina
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Georgia
  7. 7. New York
  8. 8. Wisconsin
  9. 9.
  10. 10. Virginia

Logistics & Infrastructure

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Texas
  3. 3. Indiana
  4. 4. Ohio
  5. 5. South Carolina
  6. 6. Virginia
  7. 7. Tennessee
  8. 8. Kentucky
  9. 9. North Carolina
  10. 10. Illinois

Available Real Estate

  1. 1. South Carolina
  2. 2. Texas
  3. 3. Ohio
  4. 4. Georgia
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Tennessee
  8. 8. Virginia
  9. 9. Alabama
  10. 10. Arizona

Cooperative & Responsive State Government

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Tennessee
  3. 3. North Carolina
  4. 4. South Carolina
  5. 5. Ohio
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8. Alabama
  9. 9. Arizona
  10. 10. Michigan

Corporate Tax Structure

  1. 1. Florida
  2. 2. North Carolina
  3. 3. Texas
  4. 4. Tennessee
  5. 5. Indiana
  6. 6. Georgia
  7. 7. Nevada
  8. 8. South Dakota
  9. 9. Ohio
  10. 10. Arizona

Site-Readiness Programs

  1. 1. South Carolina
  2. 2. Georgia
  3. 3. Ohio
  4. 4. Tennessee
  5. 5. Indiana
  6. 6. North Carolina
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8. Alabama
  9. 9. Kentucky
  10. 10. Iowa

Favorable Regulatory Environment

  1. 1. Alabama
  2. 2. South Carolina
  3. 3. Georgia
  4. 4. Tennessee
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Ohio
  8. 8. Texas
  9. 9. Louisiana
  10. 10. Mississippi

Speed of Project Permitting

  1. 1. South Carolina
  2. 2. Alabama
  3. 3. Georgia
  4. 4. Mississippi
  5. 5. Tennessee
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8. Ohio
  9. 9. Iowa
  10. 10. North Carolina

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