Loading
What makes Florida a desirable place to do business?
Part of a report on Florida’s competitiveness, from the Florida Council of 100, aims to answer that question. It also suggests the Sunshine State could leverage those strengths to even further improve its business climate. The report, Project Sunrise, is an economic competitiveness strategy for the state put together by the council, a private, nonprofit and nonpartisan group made up of individuals from business and civic communities.
To determine Florida’s top business advantages, the group used responses from Florida Council of 100 surveys and interviews collected from December 2017 to January 2018.
The top business advantage cited was quality of life in Florida, with 54 responses. Coming in No. 2 was the light tax burden, with 32 responses. Rounding out the top three advantages was the ease of doing business, which the report says includes registration, license acquisition and permits.
Scoring lower but also listed among the state’s business advantages were the size of the labor force, the availability of transportation infrastructure, the sufficiency of communications/information technology, infrastructure and access to capital.
The report included quotes from people who discuss business advantages that made it to the top of the list.
Some spoke of the business benefit Florida’s lifestyle represents. One says, “Quality of life in Florida is [the] No. 1 recruiter.” Another says: “Taxes in Florida are favorable. Lifestyle is tough to beat.”
People also compared doing business in the Sunshine State to doing business in other U.S. states. A respondent says, “My other 23 companies are in California … horrible place to do business.” Someone else spoke to only one state topping Florida’s advantages, saying, “It’s cheaper to run a business here than in any of the other states in which we do business, except Texas.”
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
