Top 10 Quotes in Southern Business & Development's 10 Years of Publishing

1. "We prefer to market North Carolina's inherent advantages. We are committed to being competitive, but we won't give away the store. In a time of limited resources, it doesn't make sense to spend as much as Alabama has to attract an industrial recruit. They're counting way too much on the multiplier effect. They're never going to get the kind of payback they're projecting."

North Carolina Department of Commerce Assistant Director David Sheehan in the Winter 1994 edition. In hindsight, Sheehan was wrong considering Mercedes has doubled the size of its plant since 1994 and paved the way for Honda and Hyundai's massive assembly plants in the state. In addition, Alabama has positioned itself to garner more suppliers than any state in the South over the next five years to 10 years.

2. "If the phrase 'kill them with kindness' actually worked, then we Southerners want to call for a rematch of the Great War of Northern Aggression (you probably know it as the Civil War). From birth, we Southerners experience, learn and practice until proficient in this cultural phenomenon called Southern hospitality. Why else then would Elvis, after becoming "the King," continued to say ma'am and sir to everyone. With royalty, it's usually the other way around. Southern hospitality is one of the great advantages of operating a business in the South."

David Thornell, fall 1995 Edition. At the time, Thornell was director of the Jackson County Economic Development Authority in Scottsboro, Ala. Currently Thornell serves as the President/CEO of the Greater Starkville Partnership in Starkville, Miss.

3. "Hard work is undeniably a moral issue. Doing things right, finishing what you start, giving customers more than what they paid for: All of that comes right out of Judeo-Christian philosophy."

Lanier Corporation President Wes Cantrell in the spring 1995 edition. Cantrell was commenting on the high quality of labor in the South's "Bible Belt."

4. "I just spoke to one of our largest customers in Los Angeles. He was complaining about L.A. traffic. I can't imagine driving through that every day. Between my home and our office, there's one traffic light and when it's red, I cuss."

Peavey Electronics CEO Hartley Peavey. Peavey Electronics is a well-known manufacturer of sound products and musical instruments. The company is headquartered in Meridian, Miss. Peavey's comments came from the Summer 1996 edition in an article that noted that the South's average hours of vehicular delay were much lower than any other region of the U.S.

5. "For decades the South was labeled the U.S.'s Mexico by the national business media. Isn't it ironic then that apparel and other traditional low-wage industries have left the South to what is the American South's Mexico, which, appropriately, is called Mexico."

SB&D owner and publisher Mike Randle, commenting in an editorial on low-wage industries leaving the South in the fall 1997 edition.

6. "When you go into other countries, you have to go to the officials again, again, again and again. And they will tell you, '"No, you have to wait for another four months.'" Then another six months go by. And then, when you have accomplished A, B and C, they will tell you that you have to wait another six months. Here, we did not have to go through so many hurdles."

Norbert Reithofer, president and chairman of BMW Manufacturing on why South Carolina was chosen for the company's first North American assembly plant. His quotes came from the winter 1999 edition.

7. "I am so tired of the South being hammered by the national media that right now I want to spit, cuss, throw chairs and kick some writer's butt. Does the dude not realize that the South is dominating this nation's -- no, the world's economy right now? That guy needs to bone-up and get a clue. He knows absolutely nothing about the South's economy. Yet, if he will simply call me, I'll invite him down and we'll go on one of my weekly barnstorming tours to 20 or so different markets in South. Maybe then he would realize that the South is the nation's most active and attractive economy right now."

Mike Randle, in an editorial in the fall 1993 edition (only our third issue, so give us some slack on this one) on a Wall Street Journal story written by someone who Randle never identified in the article. We wish we knew who the "dude" was.

8. "It was such a breath of fresh air for us to see that government for the people and citizens working together for the common good still exists in our country."

Bahir Browsh, President of World Marketing Services, a seller of discounted airfare, in the fall 1998 edition. Browsh was very frustrated with Pennsylvania's response to his request for help in finding quality labor for his Philadelphia area offices. He filled out the Reader Service Card found in this magazine, and found a site in Americus, Ga. Browsh was especially pleased with assistance he received from economic development officials in Georgia.

9. "Remember when Ross Perot was running for president in 1992? Remember those 30- minute commercials he bought on network television where he used numerous large charts to pound home his theories to skeptical Americans? Remember Perot claiming the passage of NAFTA would lead to a "giant sucking sound" of manufacturing jobs leaving this country? Well, it took awhile but it looks as if Perot's theory hit the South in big way in 2001. That giant sucking sound you heard were 317,000 manufacturing jobs leaving markets of all sizes in virtually every Southern state last year. Two-thousand-and-one will be remembered as the year scores of manufacturers said goodbye to the industry-friendly American South and for many, said, '"hello Mexico!"

SB&D managing editor Lee Burlett, in the winter 2001/2002 edition.

10. "Today, poverty levels for African Americans in the South are below the national average for the first time in history."

Mike Randle in the Winter 2001/2002 edition. Randle saw Martin Luther King's speech in its entirety for the first time in January of 2002. It motivated him to find out how Southern African Americans have fared economically since King's speech in 1963. Randle's research showed that at 21.4 percent, the poverty rates for blacks in the South are lower than the national average of 22 percent for the first time in U.S. history. In addition, the rate is lower than that found in the Northeast and Midwest, at 22.5 percent and 24.4 percent respectively.