Rebuild business confidence

The General Assembly”™s special session and passage of the bipartisan jobs bill are positive first steps toward stimulating job creation and economic growth in the state.

Businesses are hopeful that this represents a new beginning, and a long-awaited change of attitude. We are encouraged to see state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle working constructively with the Malloy administration.

Now that the special session is over, it might be helpful to look forward to what more needs to be done to reinvent our economy.

Our economic future ultimately depends on the ability of our private sector to compete and to have the confidence to invest and grow here.

We need to learn how to unlock Connecticut”™s tremendous potential for private-sector investment and job creation. We should recognize, and maximize, the strengths of our diverse base of industries that are, after all, the envy of most states.

We also need to understand what some of the best economic development practices are in other states, like North Carolina.

North Carolina”™s Research Triangle Park is often cited as a model for Connecticut. Its success is based on marrying a partnership between the region”™s three world-class research universities, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and NC State, with the state”™s best-in-nation business climate.

Investments in the park by leading businesses would not be so robust if not for the combination of the university partnership and a positive business climate.

Michael Porter, noted author, a professor at Harvard School of Business and considered the “father” of Connecticut”™s economic cluster initiatives, underscored the importance of being globally competitive at the governor”™s Jobs Summit.

Porter is optimistic about Connecticut”™s potential because of the diversity of our economic base industries and their proven ability to compete in global markets. He is particularly upbeat about the state”™s ability to attract investments and jobs in advanced manufacturing, financial services, insurance, media and biosciences.

But he repeatedly cautioned that any state”™s economic growth strategy ”“ whether industry clusters, research parks or both ”” won”™t be successful unless the state is globally competitive.

He added that Connecticut must work every day to improve its competitiveness because its competition is constantly working on theirs. It”™s not a race to the bottom but a race to the top: to create a business climate where high value-added products and services can be created and performed.

Reasonable business costs, an efficient regulatory environment, connections to key markets and a high-quality public education system that consistently graduates productive and innovative citizens are the building blocks to a competitive business climate.

Connecticut has work to do and it begins with building a new relationship with the employer community.

One built on an understanding that the vast majority of businesses are ethical and will do the right thing for their customers, employees and communities. It is in their self-interest to do so; and, for those few businesses that don”™t understand that principle, there are already enough laws and regulations in place to handle them.

Over the past several months, Gov. Malloy visited more than 300 Connecticut businesses and organizations, including CBIA and many of our members.

From small shops to large corporations, he saw firsthand the breadth, creativity and diversity of businesses in the state. He witnessed their hunger to create more jobs and grow in Connecticut. And he praised their ingenuity and resolve to overcome the serious challenges and hurdles they face here.

Lawmakers should have this picture of Connecticut businesses, too. It is a picture that should translate into effective legislative actions to leverage our economic strengths, drive private-sector investments and unlock job creation. And it should restrain them from considering harmful measures.

That”™s how to rebuild business confidence.

We are hopeful of seeing more evidence of a change in attitude to expand on the success of the special session and recognize what Porter, other experts and Connecticut employers know to be our state”™s economic potential and how to achieve it.

 

John R. Rathgeber is president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Reach him at john.rathgeber@cbia.com.