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Easier to do Business in Greater Washington than Rest of U.S.
Local Business Outlook Survey Cites Key Business Climate Advantages
Washington, DC (February 23, 2009) - - - By a wide margin of 71-to-15 percent, the Greater Washington region's executives say they believe it is easier to do business here than in most other places in the United States, according to a recent business outlook survey, conducted by Clarus Research Group for the Greater Washington Initiative's parent company, the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
When asked about the key advantages of doing business in the Greater Washington region, the top 10 advantages were cited by more than 80 percent of respondents, something that is unprecedented according to Clarus Research Group. The top four advantages were cited by more than 90 percent of respondents.
Advatages included: domestic and international air service, cultural diversity, area colleges and universities, proximity to federal government agencies and international organizations, availability of skilled employees, the quality of life, mass transit system, the local culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, and access to nearby markets.
"Companies in other parts of the country and around the world see Greater Washington as a strong, stable and dynamic place to do business, with a highly-educated workforce and unparallelled access to global markets," said Matt Erskine, executive director of the Greater Washington Initiative, the regional marketing and economic development organization. "Therefore, it is no surprise that we are seeing the likes of Volkswagen North America and Hilton moving their corporate headquarters to our region."
In addition, the business outlook survey indicates that the Greater Washington region continues to display business and economic resilience during the current economic recession. Almost half of the Greater Washington region business executives surveyed said that even during the current recession, their business's financial situation either remained the same or improved over the past year. And in looking ahead over the next year, almost 80 percent of the region's executives said their business would remain on course or improve.
"Overall, the survey makes clear that our region's business executives are significantly more positive about the Greater Washington region's economy than about the national economy, and they are therefore more optimistic about the outlook for their business," said Erskine.
The survey was sponsored by a grant from Tatum, LLC, a leading professional services company supporting the Office of the CFO and was based on a representative sample of 204 business executives in the Greater Washington region with a margin or error of +/- 2.8 percent. The interviewing was conducted February 2 to 10, 2009 by live telephone interview. The full Business Outlook Index is available online at ww.bot.org/businessoutlook/.
The Greater Washington Initiative (GWI) is the regional economic development, marketing and research organization that promotes the area encompassing the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland as the premier business location. GWI is an affiliate of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. For more information, visit www.greaterwashington.org. |
