S P O N S O R   S P O T L I G H T:

Tennessee has spent the past year relishing its well-deserved national recognition as a great place to live and do business. Let's face it, when it comes to receiving attention from the business and economic development world, Tennessee is sizzling.

Tennessee has been mentioned in several publications including mention among the top ten states for conducting business by the nation's Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) according to Chief Executive Magazine. The CEOs considered taxation, location, regulation, labor laws and education in their determination. One key business factor for businesses is the low tax rates provided for Tennessee residents. According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Tennessee boasts the lowest state and local taxes in the nation (paying just under $84 for every $1,000 of income compared to New York's $121 for every $1,000).

Among the many recent projects demonstrating Tennessee's technological leadership is the $65-million Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS), the first of five DOE nanotechnology research centers, which opened in October at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The $1.4-billion Spallation Neutron Source complex, adjacent to CNMS, will open in 2006. Click here to read more on this project from the July 2005 issue of Site Selection.

The state, as well as numerous Tennessee communities from Memphis to Mountain City, has been recognized as a leading state in education, quality of work force, quality of life and other attributes key to business relocation.

One poll conducted by a leading site location magazine ranked the Nashville MSA as the hottest city in the nation for expansion and relocation with Knoxville and Memphis trailing close behind (No. 14 and No. 16 respectively). The poll asked 80 prominent corporate site location consultants to rank leading cities by business climate, work force quality, operating cost and ease of doing business.

Another poll commissioned by Inc. magazine, ranked the best cities for doing business in America with Knoxville named 18th overall. Nashville took 19th and Memphis 21st in the large city category and Chattanooga ranked 31st in the medium city polls. The study looked at economic balance and growth and the markets with the fastest and most sustained growth for their rankings.

Tennessee's major metros are not the only communities that have been recognized as great business locations, many of Tennessee's micropolitan communities have also been recognized by Site Selection magazine as leading communities for economic development. Communities including Dyersburg, Humboldt, Cookeville, Paris, Athens and Tullahoma all received recognition this past year.

Finally, other notable accolades for Tennessee include Rutherford County's first place national ranking for new job growth from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Tri-Cities area's All American City Award from the National Civic League. East Tennessee's award-winning Oak Ridge Schools have received the notable Gold Medal from a leading site location publication magazine for eight years running.

All this together demonstrates a consolidated effort to expand job growth for the state.

The Tennessee Economic Partnership (TEP), a public-private partnership of business and economic development officials, continues to tell the Tennessee success story to companies and consultants interested in learning more about the state. More information about Tennessee's business climate can be found online at www.state.tn.us/ecd or by calling 615-741-1888.