2004 SB&D 100 Industry Winners

Each Year We Rank States and Communities by Points Earned. Why not Industries, too?

By Lee Burlett

Over the last dozen years Southern Business & Development hasn't tinkered at all with the SB&D 100. Doing so would skew history. You can't compare how states and communities have performed over the last 12 years in job and investment generation if the rules change, now can you? Why, that would be like giving three points for a certain basketball shot, when it only counted for two points for decades.

Naw, we've kept the methodology of this annual ranking as pure as it was when it was first published in 1993. A state or community receives 10 points for a SB&D 100 deal, whether it is the Job 100 or the Investment 100. And states and communities receive five points for each "Just Missed Deal." We define those (JMDs) on the job side as deals with 200 jobs announced up to the Job 100 threshold and $30 million or more invested up to the Investment 100 threshold.

However, while we are not changing those basic point system regulations, we would like to add industry sectors to the points earned rankings. Beginning with this edition of the SB&D 100, we are now ranking how industry sectors fare each year based on how many "100" deals and "Just Missed Deals" they post on to our four lists: SB&D Job 100; Job JMD; SB&D Investment 100; Investment JMD.

The following is the first ranking ever, based on points earned, on how industry sectors fared in the SB&D 100. We have broken it down on the investment and job sides as well as totaled it for both.

SB&D 100 - Industry Winners - Top 10

SB&D Job 100 - Top 10 Industries

Chart No. 1

SB&D Job 100 - Other Selected Industries

SB&D Investment 100 - Top 10 Industries

SB&D Investment 100 - Other Selected Industries