WINdiana? State collects magazine's top ranking, but exactly what have we won?

• Author: Marcus, Morton J.
• Position: Viewpoint

SITE SELECTION MAGAZINE recognized the Hoosier state with its 2003 Competitiveness Award in its latest issue. Appropriately, chants of "We're No. 1!" echoed through the Statehouse. Copies of the magazine article, "WINdiana," were distributed at a meeting I attended along with business leaders and legislators. There was a sense of pride and accomplishment comparable only to winning a major basketball tournament.

Sometimes Indiana does well in these rankings; sometimes we do poorly. It's nice to rank well and not as nice to rank poorly. This high ranking seems to recognize the sustained efforts of the state to keep our economy moving forward despite most difficult circumstances.

But exactly what contest have we won? It is hard to answer that question since "most of the criteria are related to Conway Data Inc.'s proprietary New Plant database." Who can verify the data? How can we replicate the results? The database "tracks new and expanding corporate facilities." Hence, only good news is included. What about plant closings and contractions? Don't they count in a measure of competitiveness? The data used by Site Selection are like baseball statistics for batters that count only hits and not strikeouts.

"Projects qualifying for inclusion in the database meet one or more of these criteria: a minimum capital investment of $1 million, generation of 50 or more new jobs and new floor space of at least 20,000 square feet." And what about promoting small businesses? If Indiana is doing a good job there, it does not count toward a favorable competitiveness ranking by Site Selection magazine.

What investment do we have here? The examples given in the magazine article are manufacturing and distribution facilities for DaimlerChrysler, Visteon Automotive, General Motors, Roche...