No question: It's nice to have a top national business magazine do your marketing for you. And the Forbes report does one powerful sales job.
... Washington is the big story. The biggest mover (tied with Tennessee), rising from 12th to fifth place, Washington is also the only state to finish in the top five in three main categories (labor, regulatory environment and growth). And Washington's numbers are up across the board when you look both backward and at projections into the future.
The governor's office is on it, with a press release laying out additional good news.
“Our top five ranking in the Forbes survey confirms that Washington is moving in the right direction and that our state is a great place to do business, work and raise a family,” said Governor Chris Gregoire.
KING 5 has already posted an online story,which includes my first impressions.
Richard Davis, a spokesperson for the Association of Washington Businesses, told KING 5 the ranking was positive.
"We have become a better place to do business – the economy has been strong," he said. "We need to focus on continuing to streamline regulation to balance economic and other social or environmental interests, and do what we can to control the cost of doing business in the state."
He was concerned that Forbes ranked Washington 33rd in business costs.
"Over time, you can't be uncompetitive in costs and expect to prosper," he said. "Over the last year- we've seen a number of things come out of legislature … that may threaten our ranking here."He pointed to initiatives on health care, climate change and family leave.
Well, I can't argue with that. I've looked at a lot of these reports and there's no getting away from the analysts' subjectivity. Our relatively low ranking on "quality of life" - we're 32nd - will surprise folks, until they read that Forbes Q of L index looks at schools, health, crime, cost of living and poverty rates. We're ranked high on labor (education, net migration, and projected population growth). regulatory environment (regulatory and tort climate, incentives, transportation, and bond ratings), and growth prospects (projected job, income, and gross state product growth).
One of Washington's big strengths is reduced red tape. The Office of Regulatory Assistance helps individuals and businesses sort through the many layers of government regulation all in one place. If a number of state agencies need to be contacted for a new business to obtain permits, it can be handled from one source.
I've no reason to dispute this. AWB applauded continuation of the Office of Regulatory Assistance. With business support, state officials have taken positive steps to improve a regulatory climate that the first Washington Competitiveness Council called "a tangled structure that evolved in piecemeal fashion, resulting in an uncoordinated and inefficient regulatory regime." Few would contend, however, that we're out of the woods.
Take a look at the report. And, if you have comments, please share them. Are we really that good?
David Postman's blog offers a political assessment.
MORE The P-I also has the story. I agree with this comment by Washington State Labor Council spokesman David Groves.
... the ranking doesn't necessarily mean that businesses will flock to Washington, said Groves, who called magazine rankings "interesting curiosities." What really matter are the opinions of site selection consultants, which advise companies on where to locate or expand their businesses, he said.
For example, Pollina Corporate Real Estate Inc., a Chicago-based consultant, has ranked Washington as No. 17 in 2007, based on 29 factors over which the state can control.
Fair enough, although I think labor's wrong when they argue this:
"Organized labor's position is that the state was never a bad place to do business," Groves said.
The reason the site selection assessments matter more than magazine ratings is because site selection consultants match specific businesses with specific locations. The magazine ratings take a broad brush look, sometimes providing useful information, but often masking as much - or more - than they reveal.
And there's this:
In the Forbes study, Washington ranked 33rd in the "business costs" category, which is based on the cost of labor, energy and taxes. Despite a natural economic advantage in energy costs, the state still ranked in the bottom half, Davis said.
"The one area we would worry about is that pride often goes before the fall," Davis said. "We've got some real reason to be concerned about things that the government can affect, such as business costs."
