Study probes perceptions of Wisconsin’s business climate

In a recent study among executives across the United States, UW–Madison Business School professor Jon Udell finds that executives outside the state hold a favorable image of the state’s business climate, but Wisconsin executives generally are even more positive about factors concerning the quality of personal and business life in the state.

Udell designed the study to investigate the “image” held by business leaders and to help ascertain the likelihood that companies will increase employment and investment in the state.

The study, recently released by Forward Wisconsin, includes results from 514 high-level executives in 20 other states and a separate study of 270 Wisconsin manufacturers and 151 service industry leaders.

Results indicate that those who run businesses in the state rate its business climate higher than do outsiders. However, executives from other states rate Wisconsin’s tax climate more favorably than Wisconsin executives.

The executives who participated in this study were asked to rate Wisconsin in regard to 20 variables that comprise the quality of business life. More than 86 percent of the non-Wisconsin executives rate Wisconsin well as “a good place to live” and more than three-fourths comment on Wisconsin’s “quality of people and their attitude toward business.”

Udell says Wisconsin executives who rate the state highly also plan to place their largest future investment in Wisconsin. Similarly, those Wisconsin companies planning to expand employment in Wisconsin give the state a high quality-of-business-life rating, whereas those who anticipate decreasing Wisconsin employment rate the state only slightly above average.

Executives perceive as most important:

1) Supply of appropriately skilled labor.

2) Workers’ attitudes and stability.

3) Proximity to major markets for the company’s goods and services.

Wisconsin and out-of-state executives rated Wisconsin’s labor supply and worker attitude favorably. However, Wisconsin executives rate the state’s overall labor force more favorably than did non-Wisconsin executives.

With one major exception, non-Wisconsin executives rate Wisconsin’s government — including taxes — more favorably than did Wisconsin executives. Wisconsin executives rate the “quality of state and local government services such as education, streets and highways, fire and police protection, and other government services that affect the business climate and quality of life” higher than their out-of-state counterparts.

While many out-of-state executives do not consider it to be the case, most Wisconsin executives consider the state to be very well-located. Wisconsin’s proximity to major markets receives a slightly below-average rating from non-Wisconsin executives, but a well-above-average rating from Wisconsin executives.

Non-Wisconsin executives rate Wisconsin as “a good place to live,” but executives who actually live in the state provide a higher rating. The quality of Wisconsin’s people and their attitude toward business also receive a high rating from the non-Wisconsin executives, but the rating from Wisconsin executives is even higher.

Executives from New Jersey provide the highest ratings of Wisconsin and those from Illinois give the second highest. Both sets of executives also rate Wisconsin’s quality of personal life very favorably. In addition, executives from Colorado, Iowa and Ohio provide relatively high ratings of Wisconsin’s quality of business life.

On average, Wisconsin ratings from executives in these five states are higher than those of Wisconsin executives, who provide higher ratings of the state’s quality-of-business life than did out-of-state execs for 16 of the 20 components of business life.

“Wisconsin is favorably perceived by most out-of-state executives,” Udell says. “However, our quality of business life and personal life is still underrated by most of these executives. If one desires more jobs and greater growth in Wisconsin, educate executives in other states about Wisconsin.”