CEOs rank South Carolina 7th best state in which to do business

Chief Executive magazine ranked South Carolina the seventh best state in which to do business, an improvement of one spot from the 2011 survey.

The top states include:

  1. Texas
  2. Florida
  3. North Carolina
  4. Tennessee
  5. Indiana
  6. Virginia
  7. South Carolina
The bottom states include:
   44. Connecticut
   45. New Jersey
   46. Michigan
   47. Massachusetts
   48. Illinois
   49. New York
   50. California
The survey asked 650 CEOs to rate states in the areas of tax, regulation, quality of work force, and living environment.  According to the report, most of the top 20 states are right-to-work states.

South Carolina Department of Commerce To 11 Accomplishments in 2011

South Carolina Department of Commerce released its list of top 11 accomplishments for 2011:
  1. Continental Tire the Americas – $500 million investment to generate 1,700 new jobs over the next 10 years. 
  2. TD Bank – $17 million investment creating 1,400 new jobs. 
  3. 5-STAR USA – investing $25 million and creating more than 1,000 jobs over the next five years. 
  4. Bridgestone – $1.2 billion investment, which will result in more than 850 new jobs. 
  5. Amazon – investing $25 million and creating 750 jobs. 
  6. Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation’s – $313 million investment to generate 707 new jobs. 
  7. TIGHITCO Inc.- $30 million investment that will generate 350 new jobs. 
  8. ZF Group – investing an additional $80 million and adding 300 new jobs. 
  9. Bosch Rexroth Corporation – $80 million investment and creating 160 new jobs over the next five years. 
  10. Gestamp South Carolina – investing $51 million and creating 100 new jobs. 
  11. BMW added a $100 million investment and committed to create 100 new jobs.
Note that half of these announcements are in the Upstate.

Magazine ranks South Carolina high in several categories

South Carolina did extremely well on the latest 2011 Rankings Report from Business Facilities magazine, placing in the top ten in four categories. According to the magazine, South Carolina ranked:

  • 3rd for Economic Growth Potential
  • 5th for Best Business Climate
  • 2nd in Automotive Manufacturing Strength
  • 8th for both workforce training and low cost of labor

Source: Business Facilities, July/August 2011.