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VIEWPOINT


November 2013  

Playing to Win

 

At Business Leaders for Michigan, we believe in basing actions on facts - not on just what we think. To make MI a Top Ten state again, it's critical that's we know how MI stacks up to our competitors. 

Growing Michigan's economy: The five characteristics of Top 10 States

 

Last week, we issued our 2013 benchmarking report showing where MI is competitive and

Doug Rothwell, BLM President & CEO 
on the characteristics of Top Ten states

where we're not.  Strengths that MI can build on include a greatly improved tax and regulatory climate and a more efficient government that is working better and more collaboratively than in the past.

 

We stack up well to top performing states on measures of innovation. We produce 30% more patents, our universities generate about 30% more research and development, and the value of our exports is 50% more than Top Ten states. Our capacity to innovate positions MI well to provide more of what the world needs - a key characteristic of Top Ten states. Read more. . .

 

View the 2013 Economic Competitiveness Benchmarking Report.

OUR WORK


Business Leaders For Michigan Takes "Michigan Ambassador Program" To The Big Apple

 

Last week, Business Leaders for Michigan visited New York City to meet with "Michigan alumni" and top business development leaders to talk about MI's comeback and reestablished position as a leading location for business development and expansion. Governor Rick Snyder and MEDC President & CEO, Mike Finney, joined BLM in emphasizing the state's strengths on key factors that lead to economic expansion. Read more. . .

 

Media coverage from the event: 

Forbes: Four Months After Bankruptcy, Michigan Leaders Reframe Detroit as America's Comeback City

Reuters Insider: A Conversation with Ford's Executive Chairman, Bill Ford

Reuters Insider: A Conversation with Governor Rick Snyder

Deadline Detroit: Gov. Snyder Pumps Up Detroit on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe'

Detroit Free Press: Tom Walsh: Michigan's big dream echoes New York revival script

BLM EVENTS


Charting Michigan's Comeback

 

BLM's 2013 Michigan CEO Summit showcased growth and progress and pushed for aggressive, yet cohesive growth strategies that leverage the state's competitive strengths.

 

More than 400 business executives, nonprofit and community leaders, and policymakers met in Detroit to take stock of MI's economic transformation to date.  Leaders also rallied around winning competitive strategies for moving MI and its businesses to the front of the line. Click here to download materials and videos from the event.

 

Read articles from the event:

Detroit News: Next wave: Entrepreneurs shaping new Michigan

Detroit News Editorial: When government fails, business fills void

Detroit Free Press: Michigan must step up its game to be a top growth state

Detroit News: Leaders: Michigan still 'got a ways to go'

Crain's Detroit Business: Michigan economy improving, but state falls short of top 10

    ADVANCING THE MICHIGAN TURNAROUND PLAN & THE NEW MICHIGAN STRATEGY


MTP chart simple 6 steps
   

Step 6: New Michigan - Global Center for Mobility


Our view:  As Michigan is the home to the world's largest automotive cluster and the most automotive production/research facilities, the automotive industry is one of our state's six most significant economic assets. BLM supports actions that grow MI's market share of this growing industry sector and positions our state as the Global Center for Mobility.

University of Michigan, Ford joining in $8M electric-car 

battery lab project

Detroit Free Press | October 14, 2013 

  Ford Logo

Automakers, suppliers, students and eventually even consumers will benefit from an $8-million battery lab at the University of Michigan to develop cheaper and more efficient batteries that will make electrified cars more affordable.

 

UM Logog

Ford is the only automaker partnering in the lab housed at the U-M Energy Institute. The ribbon cutting is today, and the lab should be equipped and running by this time next year. It will be used for prototyping, testing and analyzing batteries and the materials that go into them. Read more. . .

DATA SUPPORTING THE TURNAROUND PLAN


MI has a Low Level of State Support for Public Universities

  CollegBoardLogo

The College Board reports that Michigan universities receive rank 46th for state support per FTE student resulting in MI having the 6th highest level of tuition and fees.  MI also had the 2nd highest level of out-of-state tuition and fees - perhaps a reason why the state ranks below the national average attracting these students.  During the last five years, tuition and fees at MI universities had increased by 20 percent - which is less than the national average of 27 percent.  Read more. . .

 

 

 

MI Has Few Incentives to Attract Business

  Tax Fdn Logo

A new report by the Tax Foundation shows that Michigan has few incentive programs to attract business and is the only state with a corporate income tax that has no job creation, R&D or investment tax credits.  While MI does have about $100 M in cash incentives available, this is far less than most competitor states. Read more. . . 

 

MI Ranks #14 Best Business Tax Climate

  Tax Fdn Logo

The Tax Foundation ranked Michigan as having the 14th best overall business tax climate this year.  The composite rankings that made up the score include:

 

* Corporate taxes: 9th (Down from 7th last year)

* Individual tax rates: 14th

* Sales tax rate: 7th

* Unemployment insurance: 44th

* Property taxes: 28th

 

MI has always been a relatively competitive state on taxes most impacting individuals, but significantly improved our competitiveness on taxes on business with the repeal of the MIBusiness Tax in 2011.  Read more. . .

 


Getting a College Education Pays

  CollegBoardLogo

An updated study by the College Board shows that the more education you get, the more you'll earn and be employed over a lifetime.  The study shows that a college education clearly pays off over the long-term.  While the data suggest it has been harder for recent graduates to find high paying jobs than in the past, they are far more likely to find jobs a few years after graduating than those with less education and make more over a lifetime even accounting for the impact from the recession. Read more . . .

   

MI's Job and Income Growth Since 2009

  Atlantic

The Atlantic reports that, from the depth of the recession in 2009, Michigan performed well creating jobs but not so well raising incomes compared to other states.  The "bubble maps" below show relative growth of all jobs and high-wage jobs since 2009.  The data confirms BLM benchmarking which shows MI growing jobs faster than Top Ten states during the past few years, but lagging Top Ten performance growing incomes. The mitigating factor is that most states growing incomes fastest tend to have higher rates of income disparity. Read more. . .

Bankrupt Localities Throughout the Nation

  Governing Logo

Governing Magazine identified on the map below localities in the nation that had filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection since 2010.  Those in red are school districts, counties or cities. Those in grey are other special purpose units of government. Read more. . .  

 

IN THE NEWS


Why Texas Is Our Future

Time Magazine | October 28, 2013

 

They say the Lone Star State has four seasons: drought, flood, blizzard and twister. This summer 97% of the state was in a persistent drought; in 2011 the Dallas-Fort Worth area experienced 40 straight days in July and August of temperatures of 100� or higher. The state's social services are thin. Welfare benefits are skimpy. Roughly a quarter of residents have no health insurance. Many of its schools are less than stellar. Property-crime rates are high. Rates of murder and other violent crimes are hardly sterling either. So why are more Americans moving to Texas than to any other state? Texas is America's fastest-growing large state, with three of the top five fastest-growing cities in the country: Austin, Dallas and Houston. In 2012 alone, total migration to Texas from the other 49 states in the Union was 106,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, 1 million more people have moved to Texas from other states than have left.  Read more. . . 

FUTURE BLM EVENTS


Mark your calendars for 2014!  

Join us at the 2014 New Michigan Summit on March 10, 2014 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center at Michigan State University in  East Lansing, MI. 

Join us at the 2014 MIchigan CEO Summit on November 13, 2014 at The Westin Book Cadillac-Detroit. 

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BLM Contact Info 

Business Leaders for Michigan 
600 Renaissance Center, 
Suite 1760, Detroit, MI, 48243-1802

Phone: 313.259.5400
E-Mail:  [email protected]

About Us

 

Business Leaders for Michigan, the state's business roundtable, is dedicated to making Michigan a "Top Ten" state for job, economic and personal income growth. The organization is composed exclusively of the chairpersons, chief executive officers or most senior executives of Michigan's largest companies and universities, which contribute nearly 25% of the state's economy and provide over 320,000 jobs in Michigan, generate over $1 Trillion in annual revenue and serve over 135,000 students.   

Find out more at:  www.businessleadersformichigan.com