Place race | In business attraction, being the winner often depends on wanting it more
More than 30 years ago, I went to the first day of high school basketball practice. The coach had all of us sit in the stands while he gave us the first instructions of the season. There were more kids at the tryout than spots on team, and we were all eager to learn what it would take to make the team. Coach looked at us and said, “I’m looking for five boys with a pocketful of ‘want-to.’” My coach was looking for boys who had a desire to win and a willingness to work hard to achieve that goal.
Three companies have recently picked Maine for expansions: NotifyMD in Farmington, athenahealth in Belfast and, most recently, Boston Financial in Rockland. When asked why he picked Farmington, Gary Ferguson, CEO of NotifyMD said it was “because the people of Farmington wanted it more.” Farmington, Belfast and Rockland had some want-to and used it to take on the world and win.
The desire to compete and win lives here in Maine. But that desire lives other places, too. In Birmingham, Ala., the city has decided to compete for jobs. In the past few years, Birmingham has welcomed Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes facilities, as well as the suppliers who feed those plants. According to Jim Searcy of the Birmingham Metropolitan Development Corporation, the University of Alabama in Birmingham receives the third-highest share of federal R&D money in the country. He says this university-based R&D effort is yielding high growth in his city’s technology sector. With an annual budget of about $4 million, Searcy’s organization is also charged with recruiting companies to the city.
In 1997, Florida decided to compete. It created a public-private partnership — funded about 75% by the state — and charged it with competing for economic development. Now, Enterprise Florida has a budget of more than $15 million per year. This corporation is charged with foreign direct investment, trade, national business attraction, and coordinating local and regional economic development groups. Florida has opened offices in 14 foreign countries and is planning more. Each office is evaluated based on how much investment it generates. Florida expects that a $100,000 investment in a foreign office will yield at least $1 million in foreign direct investment within its borders every year. Eighteen months ago, Florida opened an office in Munich, Germany. Since then, according to an Enterprise Florida official, investments from German companies in Florida are coming in “like a conveyor belt.” It is pretty clear that Florida has some want-to.
A global game
Maine is competing with Florida and Alabama, but it’s also competing with other countries. I recently had the chance to speak with Thomas Gibian, CEO of Emerging Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Washington, D.C. Gibian focuses on investing in emerging markets, and says that “every African president is asking how to make his county more attractive to foreign investors.” Of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies, seven are in Africa. According to Gibian, 15 stock exchanges in Africa have greater than a 50% rate of return over the last five years. Maine is competing with Africa for investment.
In Brazil, there are some interesting displays of want-to. According to Arthur Byrnes of New York-based Deltec Asset Management, Brazil’s paper industry has teamed with research universities to genetically engineer Eucalyptus trees that grow without limbs and mature in only seven years. These trees are planted to minimize harvesting costs. As a result of this effort, Brazilian pulp costs about $250 per ton to produce. In the United States, pulp costs between $650 and $700 per ton to produce.
In India there are more than 630 million people under the age of 29. Arvind Rajpal of Morgan Stanley’s Global Capital Markets group says that education will be the key to India’s growth in the future. India plans to build 200,000 schools and open one university per year for at least the next 10 years. According to Rajpal, 300 million Indians live on $1 per day. Lots of young people who want to earn more money — combined with a significant commitment to education — will result in an even more formidable competitor.
There are a few conclusions from these examples. First, people all over the world are looking for the same things Mainers are: Good jobs, opportunities for their kids, sustainable business practices that don’t wreck their environments, and enough economic activity to finance government services. We are not just competing with New Hampshire anymore.
Second, people in other places are building and utilizing their education assets to compete. Universities are playing a key role in economic development worldwide.
Finally, competition is fierce. More people around the world are in the game. The research and collaboration in Brazil of 20 years ago is resulting in tough competition for Maine pulp producers today.
But Maine can win in this new global game. To succeed, we must compete harder. We need to understand that our only sustainable competitive advantage is our people. Maine has a reputation for hard work and now we need to earn an equal reputation for intelligent work.
Farmington, Belfast and Rockland understand this: good jobs, good quality of life and, indeed, our very survival require Maine to compete. These Maine communities are showing that if we come with a pocketful of want-to, we’ll find a way.
The question is does the rest of Maine have enough want-to to make the team?
Matt Jacobson, president of Maine & Co. in Portland, can be reached at mjacobson@maineco.org.
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