Business gets the competitive edge in the State of Promise

By Laura Corbin

With Nissan, Mississippi officials turned the South's
"Deal of the Year" in 2000. Pictured here is Carlos Ghosn,
president of Nissan (left) and Mississippi Gov. Ronnie
Musgrove at the company's announcement. Nissan is building
a $930 million, 4,000-employee automotive plant in Canton, Miss.

Businesses are always looking for that edge, that competitive advantage over rivals.

They need look no further than Mississippi, where the public and private sectors alike have opened the doors wider than ever with a new economic development plan designed with business in mindÑAdvantage Mississippi.

We live at the speed of Mississippi and work at the speed of Wall Street, said J.C. Burns, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, a state agency. Our Advantage Mississippi initiative combines tax credits, incentives and customized job training with other competitive strengths to make Mississippi a location of choice.

Advantage Mississippi was developed using research by the Harvard Business School and KPMG, and was embraced so strongly by every sector in the state that the legislature passed the initiative in special session in the fall of 2000; just eight m èonths after Gov. Ronnie Musgrove took office.

Advantage Mississippi brings together in a unified manner a powerful set of tools, the vision and the drive for Mississippi to become a major competitor in economic development, Musgrove said.

Mississippi, dubbed Americas State of Promise by Musgrove, quickly got living proof that its Advantage Mississippi Initiative works. In November 2000, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. announced plans for a $930 million vehicle assembly plant, now under construction; it will employ 4,000 people.

The comprehensive Advantage Mississippi package includes significant tax-credit incentives as well as attractive work force training and retraining capabilities designed to give businesses choosing the state a competitive edge.

Key elements of the package include:

Mississippi Advantage Jobs Act. Allows qualifying businesses to receive up to 4 percent of their employees wages back at the end of each quarter as a rebate from the Mississippi Tax Commission.

Growth and Prosperity Act. Provides 10-year tax exemptions (excluding school taxes) to qualifying companies locating in designated counties.

Tax Credit Amendments. A mixture of tax-credit incentives targeting high-tech, research and higher paying jobs.

Workforce Training and Retraining. Allows flexibility for the state to make multiyear commitments for work force training and retention support.

The program capitalizes on Mississippis leading edge, university-based research in polymer science, engineering, acoustics and other areas to assist related business development.

By making dramatic changes in our economic strategy, we made it possible for Mississippi to compete successfully, Musgrove said of the Nissan project. We redefined the state of Mississippis approach to economic growth; there is a new force driving economic development in Mississippi.

Among the attractions of Mississippi, Nissan officials say, are a high quality work force, good site location and infrastructure, a supportive business climate and excellent cooperation and commitment from leaders at the state, local and federal levels.

The Mississippi plant will produce 250,000 vehicles a year. The 2.6 million-square-foot plant will be located in Canton, about 15 miles north of Jackson. It will produce an all-new, full-size pickup truck, a full-size sport utility vehicle and the next generation Nissan minivan. Production will begin in mid-2003.

The project gained Mississippi recognition as having the largest economic development project in North America in 2000.

Mississippi is rapidly gaining a good reputation as a place to build, relocate or expand businesses, Burns said. Someone once said, ÔYou cant do everything, but you can do anything. With Advantage Mississippi, we can do anything.

For more information on the state of Mississippi, go to www.mississippi.org or call 1-800-360-3323 (email: svance@mississippi.org).