FIRST WORD: The Best (Not the Rest)

From the July/August 2012 issue

Jack Rogers, Editor in Chief, Business Facilities

After the financial collapse and the Great Recession—and throughout the sputtering recovery which has followed—perception has been almost as important as reality.

Everyone is reading the economic tea leaves, hoping to glean some positive sign that tomorrow will be better than today. Stock markets rise and fall on whispers of instability or the smallest glimmer of progress.

In this environment, we know our Rankings Report is viewed through a prism colored by the hopes and fears of all the locations we evaluate. So we’ve taken special care to make sure the nearly 50 categories that comprise our 8th annual rankings exercise are configured to produce credible, informative results.

We also keep our spotlight fixed on the locations that have succeeded, which is why we limit our results to the top 10 states or metros (in some categories, the top five). We assume everyone has better things to do than to argue over who finished 40th or 41st. We hope you agree.

Business Facilities always has considered its primary mission to be your guide to the most suitable locations for your development projects. Our showcase is reserved for those who deserve it—and we’re not going to kick anybody who’s struggling to climb the ladder.

We congratulate all of the top-ranked locations in our 8th Annual Ranking Report. We invite you to visit this link and give them a cheer.

Jack Rogers
Editor in Chief
jrogers@groupc.com