Quality of Life Doesn’t Matter? Are You Sure?

Economic development guru William Fulton of Governing magazine has an interesting piece on business attraction strategies.

His premise, based on a recent survey, is that manufacturers still dominate and their top factors (cost of labor, access to key transportation and speed to have a new facility ready) don’t correspond with the growing emphasis on quality of life issues.

Fulton advises cities and metro areas to not all try to be the next Silicon Valley and focus on setting themselves apart. Manufacturing churn, he notes, will keep more companies expanding than contracting.

He makes some good points, but the near dismissal of "creative companies" and attributes such as the quality of the symphony run counter to common practice or sense. A hybrid — improve the education, workforce training and infrastructure that all companies need in addition to enhancing quality of life — seems to be the way to go.

Read what Fulton has to say; let us know what you think.