Best state for manufacturing and logistics - Missouri
…At least according to a report from Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research.
Via Springfield Business Journal:
In addition to landing the top ranking, the Show-Me State was one of six states to earn an “A,” according to the 2008 National Manufacturing and Logistics Report Card issued by the Muncie, Ind.-based university. Missouri earned high marks for research and development efforts as well as relatively low long-term health care costs and health insurance premiums. Corporate and property taxes also are lower in Missouri than most states, according to the report card.
Rounding out the top 5 were Utah, Florida, Alabama and North Dakota. The reports ranks each state in 20 different categories including:
Property taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance, corporate taxes, crime, R&D and percentage of the population with college degrees.
By the way…last place, West Virginia.
Dan on Thu, 31st Jul 2008 9:44 pm
That report looks like pure BS. The rankings appear to be totally arbitrary, they are missing some key metrics like inventory tax rate and proximity to major metros. It just looks stupid. No wonder we seldom hear about Ball State…
3plwire on Fri, 1st Aug 2008 7:10 am
Hi Dan,
I tend to agree with your opinion of the report. In fact, after looking at the key metrics, they could have applied them to virtually any industry. Not sure if you followed the link to the report, but they also had a link to a PDF report that detailed all of the key metrics for their study and you are right, no mention of inventory tax rates or infrastructure attributes. The Ball St. report is nowhere near as thorough as the report put out by Logistics Today (now Outsourced-Logistics) or the report by Expansion Management.