COMPETITIVENESS AWARD

orth Carolina’s strong performance in Site Selection’s recent Business Climate Rankings – it’s claimed first place in four of the past five years – has helped set the stage for yet another accolade. That ranking is one of 10 criteria that form an index for calculating which state- level economic development department wins Site Selection’s annual Competitiveness Award. Now in its fourth year, the Competitiveness Award for 2005 goes to the North Carolina Department of Commerce under the leadership of Commerce Secretary Jim Fain.

   “We are blessed both in the department and with our allies in the local communities and regional offices with good, experienced business developers and recruiters,” says Fain. “It starts with that.”

Dept. of Commerce Secretary Jim Fain spoke at the ground-breaking of Credit Suisse First Boston’s $100-million global operations center in Research Triangle Park in late 2004.

   Within the department, Fain has been focusing resources on targeting key industrial sectors and retaining existing business. “If you look at our numbers, we had a rather substantial number of expansions, and we are working on being attentive to existing business and making sure we understand their business and what their possibilities are in North Carolina. Underlying all of that,” adds Fain, “is the business climate and the attractiveness of North Carolina as a place in which to do business.”

   Looking at the numbers is exactly what Site Selection editors do to determine the Competitiveness Award winner each year. Most of the 10 criteria in the index are based on Site Selection publisher Conway Data’s proprietary New Plant database, which for decades has tracked business expansion activity globally. Projects qualifying for inclusion in the database meet one or more of these criteria: a minimum capital investment of $1 million, generation of 50 or more new jobs and new floor space of at least 20,000 sq. ft. (1,860 sq. m.).