Page 14 - BV_May-June 2012

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BizVoice
/Indiana Chamber –
May/June 2012
By Tom Schuman
Y
es, we are operating in a global business environment that will likely never retreat
in scope. But it’s the story of the competition between Indiana and a neighboring
state that illustrates the importance of a strong commitment to economic development.
Larry Gigerich, managing director of Indianapolis-based Ginovus (a site
selection and economic development consulting firm), notes that Michigan was
viewed as a “ripe place to pick companies from” 20 years ago. Former Gov. John
Engler put together a strong team, however, and Indiana’s northern neighbor became a viable
competitor.
When Engler left office a decade ago and economic times were good, Michigan “took its foot
off the gas pedal,” according to Gigerich. Now, Gov. Rick Snyder, the former head of a venture
capital firm, is changing the mindset again with a more determined approach to business development.
Bottom line: Indiana needs to build on its current successes.
“I’ve seen the change, in the last five years in particular,” offers Gigerich, who has more than
20 years of experience in the industry and whose company has placed projects in 25 states in the
past 10 years. “Indiana has a brand of being a good place to do business, a place where reforms
are taking place. The state has been managed very well fiscally, and the state has taken a very
aggressive posture in economic development. Because of those things, Indiana is now looked at
as a good place to do business and one that has momentum.”
A state (just like any business) can only be successful, however, if
it has a strong product to sell. That’s why “Attractive Business Climate”
is one of the four drivers of the Indiana Chamber’s
Indiana Vision 2025
plan. The state has several advantages and it has momentum, but few
would question that improvement can – and must – be made and that
the accelerator must continue to be pushed.
Good beginnings
The
Indiana Vision 2025
task force lists 13 diverse goals (see sidebar
box) under the business climate driver. Two – adopting a right-to-
work (RTW) law and eliminating the state inheritance tax – were
accomplished in the 2012 legislative session after many years of effort.
Others are quite complex, ranging from changes in various tax policies
and improved health care to the regulatory, legal and local government
structures.
The initial accomplishments, particularly RTW, were encouraging.
“As we put right-to-work on top, I don’t think we did it because
we thought it had the nearest-term resolution,” states Mike Rechin,
president and CEO of First Merchants Corporation in Muncie. “I think
we put it on top because it was the most substantive. Right-to-work
gives us the highest probability of having a net positive inflow – and
the resources I’m referring to here are jobs, whether at the employer or
individual level.”
Gigerich and Rechin, like the other three contributing to this story
(Wally Brant, president and CEO, Indiana Oxygen Company; Mark
Richards, partner, Ice Miller; and David Wulf, vice president, Templeton
Coal Company), all served on the 24-member task force that
developed
Indiana Vision 2025
.
Brant expects strong results from the right-to-work law and that
employers hold the key to their workplace environment – union or not.
“I’ve been running Indiana Oxygen for 33 years. I’ll put my
Indiana Vision 2025
Heating Up the State’s Business Climate
Attractive Business Climate: Key Goals
• Adopt a right-to-work statute.
• Enact comprehensive government reform at the
state and local levels to increase efficiency and
effectiveness in delivery of services.
• Reform public pension systems to achieve fairness
and cost-containment.
• Preserve and enhance a “Top 5” ranking among all
states for Indiana’s legal environment.
• Attain a “Top 5” ranking among all states for
Indiana’s business regulatory environment.
• Eliminate the business personal property tax.
• Eliminate the state inheritance tax.
• Promote the enactment of a federal solution to
the Internet sales/use tax dilemma.
• Streamline and make consistent the administration
of the state’s tax code.
• Establish government funding mechanisms to more
closely approximate “user fee” model.
• Contain health care costs through patient-directed
access and outcomes-based incentives.
• Reduce smoking levels to less than 15% of the
population.
• Return obesity levels to less than 20% of the
population.