Why the sudden climb to No. 6?
      Tammy Propst, founder of the Tax Advantage Group and corporate site consultant in Greenville, S.C., offers this assessment: "In terms of economic development, the state that has consistently been doing the best job in the South is Tennessee. A lot of companies prefer second-tier cities that offer a lower-cost alternative. As a result, we are seeing a lot of corporate relocation to places like Nashville, Memphis and Birmingham."
      Propst added that there is no one single factor that makes Tennessee a preferred choice. Rather, she says, "when you look at everything, Tennessee stacks up very well.
      "You especially have to look at the effectiveness of city government in Nashville and Memphis. They don't provide as many incentives as other states do, but they do a good job. For example, there is not a single health-care corporate relocation today that does not look at Tennessee."
      Another consultant who has worked with Tennessee is Ed McCallum of McCallum Sweeney Consulting in Greenville, S.C. The firm's co-founder and senior principal says that Tennessee's top selling points are its "central proximity to the U.S. population center," its location "midway between the auto clusters of Detroit, Ohio, Indiana, Canada and Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina," its cost of living, good air transportation and positive business climate.
      McCallum cited Nashville as "an emerging headquarters location" and Memphis for "forcing tri-state cooperation heretofore not seen in economic development." But companies shouldn't focus just on the two biggest cities in Tennessee; they should look at emerging markets like Clarksburg, Dyersburg, Jackson and Knoxville.
      "The Clarksville (Tenn.)-Hopkinsville (Ky.) region is a good place to live and work," notes McCallum.
      Several employers agree. On June 14, MW/MB LLC announced that it will open a $100-million fiberglass plant that is expected to employ 98 people in Clarksville. MW/MB was established by a partnership of Tamko Roofing Products, based in Joplin, Mo., and IKO Industries of Calgary, Alberta. The new plant, with an annual payroll of $3.8 million, is expected to open by early 2006.
      Also in Clarksville, on Sept. 8, the Conwood Co. announced plans for a $6.5-million expansion. One of the town's oldest industrial companies, Conwood produces smokeless tobacco products.
      Bryce Sanders, plant manager at Conwood, said the expansion will consolidate the company's threshing, cutting and drying processes under one roof. The firm will build a new loading facility that will help improve current traffic congestion along the downtown 10th Street location. The project will enable Conwood to retain all 50 employees, plus add some new workers.
      In the past year, seven existing industries have announced expansion projects at their Clarksville facilities, creating 695 new jobs and more than $73 million in capital investment.
      Chattanooga also shows signs of robust growth. The city experienced its largest jobs gain in five years by adding 2,000 jobs in the first full year of the Chamber of Commerce's "Tell the World" campaign. The largest project, an expansion of U.S. Xpress Corp. headquarters, will add 1,000 jobs over six years.