Tennessee Ranked Among the Top Ten for Best Business Climate

NASHVILLE - Governor Phil Bredesen announced today that the editors of Site Selection magazine, one of the nation’s premier economic development publications, have ranked Tennessee as the second best business location in the U.S. The closely watched annual rankings appear in the November issue and mark Tennessee’s highest-ever ranking, up from last year’s number six spot.

 

“We’ve worked hard to create a business friendly climate in Tennessee, and this new ranking tells me our investments are yielding tangible results,” said Bredesen. “We will continue to focus on job creation efforts that help businesses grow and create high skilled, high paying jobs for Tennesseans.” 

 

The annual business climate rankings are determined 50 percent by the state’s economic performance in Conway Data’s New Plant Database, which tracks new and expanded business facility activity, and 50 percent by a survey of corporate site selectors across the country. The survey focused on factors including lack of red tape and ease of permitting and regulatory procedures, financial assistance, government officials’ cooperation, transportation infrastructure and existing work force. 

 

"Tennessee rose from sixth place in 2007 to second place this year in our annual ranking of state business climates," says Mark Arend, editor in chief of Site Selection. "The state had strong finishes in the objective, actual facility announcement component of the ranking and in the subjective, survey of site selectors component. This means to me that recent state-level economic development initiatives are bearing fruit."

 

Tennessee has had a banner year with announcements such as Volkswagen Group of America’s decision to build a $1 billion auto assembly plant in Chattanooga and create 2,000 jobs for the area. 

 

The state is also exploring new markets and avenues of job creation to further strengthen and diversify Tennessee’s economy. Last month the first-ever Governor’s Summit on Clean Energy Technology was held in Knoxville and brought together thought leaders in business, government, energy and the environment to develop strategies for Tennessee to become a leader in this emerging industry.  

 

“Under Governor Bredesen’s leadership, new business expansions or relocations have garnered more than 145,000 jobs and more than $22 billion in capital investments. We’ve made immense progress in positioning Tennessee as a great place to do business on the national and international stage,” said Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber.

 

The entire Business Climate story, as well as the publication’s annual state legislative and incentives update, appears in the November 2008 edition of Site Selection and at www.sitenet.com. The magazine, published by Conway Data Inc., delivers expansion planning information to 44,000 executives of fast-growing firms.