Monday, Aug. 04, 2008

What business says about the Forbes business ranking

Those who somehow haven’t heard by now that last week Forbes magazine named Washington as the nation’s third best state to do business are going to get plenty of chances. Gov. Chris Gregoire and her re-election campaign will make sure of that, just like last year when Forbes ranked Washington 5th.

Rankings such as this are not unlike those trying to determine which state is taxed the highest. There’s a lot of subjectivity that goes into it. It’s not a science. Different methodologies give you different results.

And in a political year you expect these rankings to be promoted as gospel by supporters of office-holders in highly-ranked states and maligned by their opponents.

Business interests in Washington are not entirely singing off the same song sheet. Some question the validity of the ranking, others argue it’s good news even if it isn’t adequately supported.

Over at the Association of Washington Business’ Olympia Business Watch blog, Jocelyn McCabe writes that the announcement “comes as good news, particularly given the current economic climate. To be considered one of the top three states in the nation for business is affirming and underscores the value — and importance — of keeping our sights set on competitiveness.”

At his new post at the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy Richard Davis writes that “more transparency would be nice, but as a marketing coup, this high ranking counts as a plus for the state.” He further writes that “when you're engaged in competition, and we all are, it's good to be high on the list of best places. This is good news.”

But the Washington chapter of the National Federation for Independent Business was less convinced and in a press release “warned lawmakers not to overstate Forbes magazine’s recent ranking.”

“Among several of the categories Forbes uses in its rankings, the results are counterintuitive and their actual relevance to the success of small business is dubious,” state Director Troy Nichols said.

And at the business-centered Washington Policy Center Carl Gipson writes that “in my research into this matter it is pretty clear that Washington is at least a decent place to conduct business. But third in the nation? Forbes is pretty much the only outfit that thinks so. We're nowhere near the worst place, but according to most all the other data I've seen, we're certainly not third.”

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